GOVERNMENT COULD BUY REX
And so the countdown is on: Anthony Albanese has just under three weeks to convince Donald Trump to agree to a tariff exemption for Australian steel and aluminium exports to the United States. Yesterday, Albanese finally got his big phone call with President Trump and declared the exemption was “under consideration”. Not long after, Trump announced there would, in fact, be “no exceptions or exemptions” for the tariffs that will apparently kick in on March 4 (although as history/every day has shown us, what Trump says and what actually happens are very different things).
While the prime minister mulls how to approach that threatened deadline, among the leading stories this morning is the news the Labor government will consider acquiring the embattled regional carrier Rex if a suitable buyer can not be found.
The federal government has said it will work with the airline’s administrators and shortlisted bidders to find a buyer. The Conversation reports the support offered will be conditional on bidders committing to provide an “ongoing, reasonable level of service to regional and remote communities”.
If no buyer is found, the government will “begin working on contingency plans — including preparations for a potential Commonwealth acquisition”, the AAP reports. The newswire highlights that should Rex be nationalised, it would be the first time a federal government has owned an airline in three decades since Qantas was privatised in 1995.
The ABC highlights how Regional Express entered voluntary administration in July last year and administrators from EY were appointed to oversee the business. This is now the second attempt to try and sell Australia’s third-largest airline.
The Albanese government has already acquired $50 million of debt from Rex’s largest creditor to ensure the airline can continue operations, AAP recalls. The government has also loaned up to $80 million so Rex can run regional routes until the end of June this year.
The Conversation quotes Transport Minister Catherine King as saying of the latest intervention: “When markets fail or struggle to deliver for regional communities the government has a role to ensure people do not miss out on opportunities, education and critical connections. We are recognising that [today] and stepping in to keep these routes in the air.”
The other announcement from the federal government creating headlines overnight is the news “banks will be told not to count HECS-HELP and other student loans in debt calculations for home loans”, the ABC reports. Regulators ASIC and APRA have agreed to clarify their guidance to lenders following a request from Treasurer Jim Chalmers, AAP says.
The Australian reckons the changes are an attempt by the Albanese government to help it achieve its 1.2 million new homes target, as well as attract younger voters who are struggling to get onto the housing ladder. The paper explains the reforms as “APRA will tell banks they can exclude Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) repayments from serviceability assessments where they expect a borrower to pay off their debt in the near term. APRA will also change debt to income reporting definitions so that HELP debts are not treated as debt for reporting purposes, recognising ‘the income-contingent nature of HELP debts’.”
Chalmers called the clarifications “common sense”, the ABC reports. The treasurer added: “We’re tackling this housing challenge from every possible angle. People with a HELP debt should be treated fairly when they want to buy a house and we’re working with the regulators to make sure they are.”
The Australian says the announcement arrives ahead of “expected” housing policies from the Coalition, and the ABC says it comes ahead of “a possible Coalition move” to relax lending rules for first homebuyers.
Talking of the Coalition and its approach to housing, the Australian Financial Review reports Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has told the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Michele Bullock to ignore political pressure to cut interest rates too early.
As we keep mentioning, the RBA will make its decision on interest rates next Tuesday and it could have a huge impact on when the federal election is called. Yesterday, Dutton said there was “obviously a real concern to economists and families” over the RBA cutting rates too early and then having to raise them again in the future.
“I hope for the sake of families and small businesses that there is an interest rate cut, but that’s a decision for the Reserve Bank governor and she shouldn’t feel pressured one way or the other,” he said. “She will do what is in our country’s best interests, and she’ll do that based on looking at the economic settings and what is happening in the economy that is relevant to her consideration.”
Dutton, by the way, is continuing his strategy of selected media appearances — this time he’s set to appear with his family on 60 Minutes on Sunday. A trailer for the show, “From Mr Unpopular to preferred PM”, is here.
SAM KERR NOT GUILTY
Australia women’s soccer captain Sam Kerr has been found not guilty of racially harassing a British police officer, the ABC reports in its top story this morning.
The jury at Kingston upon Thames Crown Court in London took four hours to consider its verdict before acquitting Kerr, the AAP said, adding Kerr did not react when the verdict was read out but gave a thumbs up to her barrister Grace Forbes.
The ABC says that in a written statement following the verdict, Kerr stressed she didn’t intend to insult or harm PC Stephen Lovell when she called him “stupid and white”, amid a dispute over a taxi ride in January 2023.
“Following today’s not guilty verdict, I can finally put this challenging period behind me,” she said. “While I apologise for expressing myself poorly on what was a traumatic evening, I have always maintained that I did not intend to insult or harm anyone and I am thankful that the jury unanimously agreed.
“I would like to thank my partner Kristie, my family, friends and all the fans for their love and support, especially those who attended court each day. I am fully focused on getting back on to the pitch and look forward to an exciting year ahead for me and my family.”
The rest of the global headlines are dominated once again by a certain president, with the SMH reporting Trump renewed suggestions that Gaza could be emptied of residents when he met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House earlier today.
The New York Times recalls how Trump has previously threatened to end American financial support for Jordan if the king does not accept his plan to expel Palestinians to nearby countries, including Jordan, though he appeared to walk back on that rhetoric during the pair’s meeting, saying “I don’t have to threaten that. I do believe we’re above that.”
Last week, the Jordanian Royal Court said of Trump’s rhetoric: “His Majesty King Abdullah II stresses the need to put a stop to (Israeli) settlement expansion, expressing rejection of any attempts to annex land and displace the Palestinians.”
The NYT says the dispute is “one of several that imperil the fragile truce between Hamas and Israel”. That truce looked even further under threat in the last couple of hours after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire in Gaza would end if Hamas does not release all hostages on Saturday, the ABC reports.
“If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon — the ceasefire will be terminated, and the IDF will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated,” Netanyahu said.
Earlier in the week, Trump had declared: “As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday 12 o’clock — I think it’s an appropriate time — I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out,” AFP recalls.
Hamas has said it will delay the release of hostages if Israel does not send more aid into Gaza.
Meanwhile, Trump has told Fox News that Ukraine “may be Russian someday”. Discussing ending the war in Ukraine, the 78-year-old said: “They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday.”
US Vice President JD Vance is set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later this week.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
A man who reckons his hard drive containing a $1.2 billion (£600m) bitcoin fortune is buried in a council dump is considering trying to buy the site so he can search for it.
The Guardian reports James Howells has battled for a decade to try and retrieve his hard drive and last month lost a High Court case forcing Newport city council to allow him to search the tip for it.
The 39-year-old claims he accidentally put the drive containing his bitcoin wallet in a black bag and his (now-ex) girlfriend took it to the dump in 2013 thinking it was rubbish.
Newport council has announced it plans to close the dump and has secured planning permission for a solar farm on the site.
“It [the council] claimed at the High Court that closing the landfill to allow me to search would have a huge detrimental impact on the people of Newport, whilst at the same time they were planning to close the landfill anyway,” The Guardian quotes Howells as saying.
“I expected it would be closed in the coming years because it’s 80/90% full — but didn’t expect its closure so soon. If Newport city council would be willing, I would potentially be interested in purchasing the landfill site ‘as is’ and have discussed this option with investment partners and it is something that is very much on the table.”
Howells has even offered to share the money with the council if he’s allowed to try and find it. His attempts have been rejected.
Say What?
No.
Donald Trump
The US president had a fairly blunt response when asked by Fox News’ Bret Baier if he saw Vice President JD Vance as his successor. Trump did add “but he’s very capable”, so that should help.
CRIKEY RECAP
Australian National University Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies Hugh White said AUKUS was in “even deeper trouble than before” with Trump back in the Oval Office.
“Of course Trump will be tempted to up the price, because he has Australia over a barrel. But it is worse than that,” White told Crikey. “Huge problems in US shipyards meant it was always a long shot that America would have submarines to spare to pass to Australia. The chaos in Washington engineered by Trump makes it even less likely that the problems will be fixed.”
In White’s view, the US will only be able to honour the AUKUS deal by “seriously weakening” America’s naval capabilities.
“Trump is the least likely person to reduce America’s strength to help an ally,” White said. “Whatever his lieutenants might be saying now, Trump will abandon the whole deal in a heartbeat when these realities sink in.”
The individual cases add up to a pattern: Australian institutions, and especially its major media institutions, will punish you for criticising Israel. Pro-Israel groups will demand you be sacked, they will call for your career to be destroyed. Those groups will be protected. Media companies will ride roughshod over basic rights and due process to comply with their demands. You will be smeared and publicly vilified on completely spurious bases. Politicians will join in, as Jason Clare did with the campaign against Schwartz and as Chris Minns is doing in NSW, imposing hate speech laws that even Christian groups think are a bad idea.
This is how the campaign to legitimise the Palestinian genocide and destroy critics of the Netanyahu government has damaged the fabric of Australia’s democracy and the rule of law. The basic rights and protections that Australians should have under a legal system devoted to preventing discrimination can be stripped away in a moment, while those engaged in destroying people’s careers and livelihoods are protected. Ill-advised laws are rushed in to stifle freedom of speech. Australian Jews are stereotyped as a politically convenient monolith aligned with the Israeli government. The experience of Palestinians themselves, and of Arab communities in Australia, is minimised and erased. And the media are the worst perpetrators of all.
There’s a lot of porn on Australian government websites, according to Google and other search engines.
Websites for federal, state and local government agencies are filled with pages dedicated to explicit adult content, and they’re all hidden in plain sight.
They have titles like “~[FREE] hd sex videos ! hd sex videos, XXX Video & XXX porn HD04473with cast Q&As, expert blogs, BTS photos, and more!” and “rough · finnish · extreme · cougar, milf”.
From the National Museum of Australia to the website for the Hume City Council in Victoria, enterprising individuals have taken advantage of how the internet works to make it look like government websites are hosting their content. And in this case, it’s mostly explicit content.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Teal MPs invited to The Lodge for first time by Anthony Albanese as minority government looms (The Australian) ($)
Bridget McKenzie, Moira Deeming and key News Corp figures to attend Jordan Peterson’s ‘civilisation’ conference (Guardian Australia)
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton confirms Coalition maintains conscience vote on transgender matters (Sky News)
‘Complete fabrication’: Dutton wrong about antisemitism apology, says Dreyfus (The Sydney Morning Herald)
UK and US refuse to sign international AI declaration (BBC)
THE COMMENTARIAT
‘Fine man’ Anthony Albanese has had a good call with Donald Trump on tariffs, but he still has work to do — Simon Benson (The Australian): Labor types might be cringing at the personal endorsement of Albanese from Trump, but this was an important moment for the prime minister.
There is now a lot riding on this for Albanese, beyond just the impact of the tariffs on local industry and the broader economy. The political optics demand that Albanese secure a win on this, not least of all to buttress the attacks from the opposition that he is a weak leader. And the signs are encouraging that he may get there.
The Coalition needs to be careful about how it prosecutes the politics from here. Peter Dutton can’t be seen to be barracking against Australia, particularly if Albanese manages to secure a deal with Trump in coming days.
Donald Trump has declared war on international justice. Australia must speak up — Geoffrey Robertson (Guardian Australia): The ICC is not alone. Trump has pulled out of the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Accords, and his disbandment of USAID is acknowledged as a catastrophe for humanitarian assistance. His contempt for law extends to the law of the US, with his blatantly unconstitutional executive order to deny citizenship rights to many immigrant children “born in the USA”. As for his pardoning of criminals guilty of serious assaults on the police in the January 6 insurrection, perhaps a journalist could ask our own former police officer Peter Dutton how that sits with him.
Trump’s attack on the ICC is designed to intimidate and stop it from working against war criminals. But the most damage it will do is to the standing of Americans in general, tarred with the brush of this felon that their fellow citizens have elected to be their president. US international lawyers played a leading role in Nuremberg and beyond, envisioning and building the ICC, but no-one bothers to take notice of them now.
US diplomats cannot be trusted, and heaven knows what dodgy contributor to his campaign Trump will appoint as his ambassador to Australia. Some readers may be old enough to remember “Mr Ed”, the friend of “LBJ”, widely likened to television’s talking horse. At the end of the day, Trump is a problem for Americans — but Australia must speak up with its other allies to express unwavering support for international justice.
