ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
The Commonwealth did not admit any liability in the settlement between it and Brittany Higgins which actually came to $2.445 million, The Australian ($) reports. It means Higgins was wrong to say in the Federal Court earlier this week during the Bruce Lehrmann defamation suit both that it was $2.3 million, as the AFR ($) reported, and that the government had admitted it breached its duty of care, as Guardian Australia reported. Here’s the carve up: $400,000 for hurt, distress and humiliation; $1,480,000 as a capital payment for loss of earning capacity; $220,000 for medical and like expenses arising from the alleged sexual assault; $100,000 for past and future domestic assistance; $245,000 to cover legal costs. The deed did not say Higgins couldn’t make further claims against former Liberal ministers Linda Reynolds and Michaelia Cash, which neither reportedly knew about.
Meanwhile, conservative broadcaster Alan Jones says he’ll sue over the SMH’s ($) investigation into allegations he indecently assaulted young men, which he denies. Radio station 2GB’s Ray Hadley says he cut ties with Jones after he heard allegations a while back, but billionaire James Packer backed Jones (he was a multimillion-dollar investor in Jones’ Australian Digital Holdings). Speaking of billionaires… Australia’s second-richest person says fossil-fuel companies will have “blood on their hands” and paid for ads in the AFR, The New York Times, and the Times of India accusing polluters of ignoring the science, Guardian Australia reports. Mining boss Andrew Forrest — who has vowed to reach zero emissions by 2030 at Forestcue — spoke at COP28 in Dubai, noting that “the petrostate and fossil-fuel sector sent thousands and thousands of lobbyists here”. It comes as Santos and Woodside are talking about merging, the AFR ($) reports, which’d bring their market value to almost $80 billion.
MORE AUKUS AWKS
The Australian government has quietly commited another $3 billion towards the US shipyards building AUKUS submarines, Rex Patrick writes for Michael West Media, on top of the $4.7 billion we’ve already promised. Patrick says the US Defense Security Co-operation Agency posted an announcement on its website that confirmed the figure to go to Huntington Ingalls Industries, General Dynamics Electric Boat and the US Defense company, System Planning and Analysis Inc, over the next three years. It’ll be used to provide “the equipment to train Royal Australian Navy crews in areas such as submarine navigation, communications, ship control and other capabilities”.
Meanwhile Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Tim Watts will go to Israel (and Qatar and Egypt) next week ahead of Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong’s trip early next year, The Australian ($) reports. Watts will condemn Hamas terrorist attacks and “raise the plight of civilians in Gaza”, as the paper put it. The government wants “continued steps towards a sustained ceasefire”, Watts says, but it “cannot be one-sided”. Carefully worded or weak as water? You decide. Wong acknowledged yesterday that her language regarding the conflict did not go “as far as some might want”, Guardian Australia reports, but says she really was worried about civilians dying. It comes as the SMH ($) reports one of the actors who donned a keffiyeh, a Palestinian scarf, after a Sydney Theatre Company play, causing sponsors to take their cash and walk, has promised to wear it every night of the season.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Australians would not get automatic access to the NDIS based on a medical diagnosis anymore in a sweeping review that made 26 recommendations and a further 140 actions, the ABC reports. Instead eligibility would be based on how much their disability affects their daily life. Another major change will force all NDIS support providers to register — about 16,000 are, but 154,000 are not. Interestingly, about a quarter of all NDIS participants are kids under nine. This comes as taxpayers forked out $33 million for a mental health app that didn’t help our health, according to a study that Guardian Australia reports on. The money was awarded to the mostly PwC and University of Sydney-owned Innowell without a tender during the Turnbull years.
Speaking of the private sector — business groups representing companies including BHP and Qantas would be livid today after Employment Minister Tony Burke made a deal with Senate crossbenchers to pass his same-job, same-pay laws, The Age ($) reports. Under the changes, employers who underpay workers on purpose could be jailed for up to 10 years or fined $7.8 million, rather than only being forced to pay back workers. But places with 15 or fewer employees will be exempt. This comes as McDonald’s Australia copped a $100 million class action for allegedly asking staff to work one hour each shift for free, the Brisbane Times reports — 30 minutes before their shift for a “check” and 30 minutes after to finish handover. Get ‘im!
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
The world’s oldest living land animal — a giant tortoise named Jonathan — has just turned 191 alongside his male partner of 26 years. He’s lived on the beautiful island of Saint Helena since 1882, when he was 50. Yes, that makes Jonno’s birth year 1832, before the invention of the telephone, the photograph and even the postage stamp, as euronews writes. When he was born, folks, we did not even know dinosaurs existed. He’s lost his sense of sight and smell in the many decades since, but he’s very happy and healthy, his vet Joe Hollins told Guinness World Records, spending his days roaming slowly through the grounds of the governor’s house.
It wasn’t always so. During the 1980s when much of the world suffered an economic depression, Jonno battled a personal bout. He seems really lonely, experts said (presumably spending time in his shell listening to Bob Dylan, or mournfully eating ice cream right out of the carton). Enter Frederica in 1991, a gorgeous fellow giant tortoise, who evidently lit Jonno’s sad old heart on fire. The two swiftly became partners but never had any kids, with experts shrugging that maybe they liked their life the way it was. Some 26 years later, it turned out Frederica was actually Fred. The passion burns as bright as ever, Hollins says. He still has a “good libido”. Good for him.
Hoping you feel young at heart today too, and have a restful weekend.
SAY WHAT?
So far, this prime minister is better known for days at the tennis, or spinning discs on his DJ deck, as well as overseas travel making him look indulgent when he’s supposed to working for the country 24/7.
Peta Credlin
Credlin’s own workplace, News Corp, perpetuated the term “Airbus Albo” to denigrate Anthony Albanese’s official trips overseas for work even former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull commended as furthering Australian outcomes.
CRIKEY RECAP
“Instead of the usual ‘PAK’ to denote Pakistan in a sporting context, Fox’s ticker read “PAKI 0-0” to begin the four-day fixture. Those more culturally educated among you may note that ‘Paki’ is a well-established slur for Pakistanis and other South Asians, originating from the UK and dating back as far as the 1960s.
“A Cricket Australia spokesperson told Crikey: ‘The graphic was an automatic feed from a data provider which had not been used previously for a Pakistan game. This was obviously regrettable, and an error we corrected manually as soon as it came to light.’ “
“This ongoing culture of fear and intimidation — that the government can still wreck your career even if you have moved to the private sector — is extraordinary and has rarely been seen before — outside the days of the Bjelke-Petersen government in Queensland.
“If it were a Coalition government perpetrating such intimidation, the outrage from the left and Labor would be palpable. Daniel Andrews and Victorian Labor have taken the Victorian public service to a very dark place characterised by fear, intimidation and secrecy — and it is Victorian taxpayers who bear the cost for generations to come.”
“An unsealed copy of the indictment issued by a grand jury on November 29, obtained from the FBI by Crikey, shows that one of Day’s alleged threats came in the aftermath of last December’s attack where two police officers, a neighbour and the three shooters, Nathaniel, Stacey and Gareth Train, were all killed.
“Day’s interactions with the Trains were first reported by Crikey as happening on YouTube where the Australian trio posted feverish conspiracy videos in the lead-up to and immediately after shooting the police officers and neighbour.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
UN secretary-general invokes Article 99 on Gaza (Al Jazeera)
Russia hacking: ‘FSB in years-long cyber attacks on UK’, says government (BBC)
Takeaways from the fourth Republican presidential debate (CNN)
50 days in Hamas captivity — Thai man recalls beatings and bleakness (Reuters)
Is ‘something special’ happening at COP28? Campaigners and delegates are divided (euronews)
[Canadian] government unveils framework to cap oil and gas emissions at 35% to 38% below 2019 levels (CBC)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Albanese government’s 2023 mood board had more turtle doves than ever materialised — Annabel Crabb and Brett Worthington (ABC): “Interestingly, not everyone in cabinet is having a bad time of it. Tanya Plibersek — the former deputy Labor leader whose reasonable expectations of being education minister in 2022 were unceremoniously thwarted by her factional rival and brand-new PM Albanese, who instead chucked her the environment portfolio complete with the exploding cigar that is responsibility for water management — is bowling along rather nicely.
“The Murray-Darling Basin Plan is a document whose drafting and amendments have sent many a minister grey before their time. Farmers, irrigators, environmental activists, scientists — every single party to this thing is more or less perpetually disappointed. And yet, Plibersek looks fresh as a daisy after last week landing the deal on the plan, and this week getting the Greens on board to pass the Nature Repair Bill. But basically it allows farmers, resource companies and so on to be rewarded for good environmental practice.”
Fake white benevolence stifles truth-telling — Nat Cromb (IndigenousX): “Truth is something that we grapple with early on; we are doing ourselves no favours to embellish and exaggerate, because we learned the hard way that childish confidence and bravado is fleeting and country humbles us. The kid who overstates his swimming ability but is thrust into deep water off the tube he could no longer cling to is treading water for only so long until he is calling for help (true story). We find the truth through observation and experience. When mob speak the truth, it is not a truth we read in a book written by someone with a narrow lens intended to teach us we are ‘lucky’ to be who we are, living in the country we live in, with the ‘society’ that we have.
“Our truth is raw. However, our propensity for honesty often chafes against the people around us, the institutions and the leaders. In a world where ‘how’ you present is more important than what you say; we are understandably alienated from the Western machine. In a country where your skin colour, your elocution, your clothing and your gender identity are just some of the things that will be weighed against the words that come from your mouth in deciding whether you are to be believed, and whether you have value. Your vindication lies in whether you fit the mould of this settler benevolence that is synonymous with innocence, or whether you are currency to be used to demonstrate said settler benevolence.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Online
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Author Thomas Keneally will speak about his new book, A Bloody Good Rant, in a webinar for the Australia Institute.
Whadjuk Noongar Country (also known as Perth)
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UK Minister of State for Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Trevelyan will speak about the UK in the Indo-Pacific at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)
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The World Economic Forum’s Cathy Li, Google’s James Manyika, the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia’s Luke Achterstraat, the Productivity Commission’s Rosalyn Bell, Amazon’s Tim Bradley and more will speak at CEDA’s AI summit at the Four Seasons
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Editor Esther Anatolitis will launch Meanjin Summer, joined by poets Glenn McPherson and Tina Huang, and writers Em Meller and Daniel Nour, at Better Read Than Dead bookshop.
