AFL LOSES ITS VOICE
The AFL Grand Final will not promote the First Nations Voice to Parliament, dashing the government’s hopes the mega-event would boost support for the Yes side a fortnight out from the referendum.
The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald report today an AFL spokesman confirmed the promotion wouldn’t happen. “Top government figures had said privately earlier this year they expected the AFL and NRL, who both declared support for the referendum in May, to capture the millions watching their grand final events to bring home the Yes message,” the story says. One Yes campaign source told the newspapers the AFL had decided Grand Final day was “sacrosanct”: “People just want to watch the footy”.
Yesterday, Indigenous leader Marcia Langton urged the Albanese government to lay out plans for what will happen if the referendum fails, saying she feared it would provide an excuse for governments to “do nothing and to make our lives worse”. “If the government is not inclined to set out the agenda before the vote, then they should do so immediately afterwards and that means they should be prepared now to tell us what the future holds for us,” Langton told the National Press Club, as The Australian and others report.
QANTAS CEO TO FRONT INQUIRY?
Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson and her predecessor Alan Joyce will be asked to appear before a Senate inquiry into the federal government’s move to block Qatar Airways from increasing flights to Australia. The inquiry wants to ask about “the lobbying behind a decision that shielded the company from greater competition”, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. It’s also likely the Qatari ambassador will be asked to give evidence. Meanwhile, Trade Minister Don Farrell has indicated Qatar could get another go at applying to add more flights. “Companies can always put in a further application for consideration and Qatar is welcome to do that,” he told Sky News Australia.
For Qantas, it might take a while to dig itself out of the public relations hole where it currently dwells. “The damage to Qantas’ reputation is deep, costly to mend, and will weigh on its profits as business customers reconsider their corporate accounts, brand and travel experts say,” reports Guardian Australia. Luckily Hudson has already begun the work. She spent her first day in her new job “holding meetings, shaking hands and issuing platitudes”, The Daily Telegraph reports in a paper-only story, alongside pictures of Hudson speaking to staff and customers at Sydney and Melbourne airports.
SAY WHAT?
The abnormal [is] becoming normalised.
David Miliband
The former British foreign secretary and current head of the International Rescue Committee says Russian war crimes in Ukraine and attacks on civilians are “becoming background music in global affairs, rather than something that is a poster child for the age of impunity”. Miliband made the comments to The Guardian while visiting Kyiv (where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also landed overnight). It comes as 17 people were killed in a Russian attack on a crowded market in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka. CCTV footage released by the Ukrainian president’s office on X (formerly known as Twitter) shows people milling on a street, before the deafening sound of a shell is heard and an explosion is seen in an intersection. “Heinous evil. Brazen wickedness. Utter inhumanity,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote.
CRIKEY RECAP
“A federal Indigenous agency set up by the Morrison government days after the 2019 election — and used to promote a Voice to Parliament before a spectacular backflip — has since given ‘PwC’s Indigenous Consulting’ work worth more than $16 million.
“Investigations show the little-known National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) is the biggest federal funder of disgraced consultancy PwC’s ‘Indigenous’ arm, known as PwC’s Indigenous Consulting — giving it 27 contracts totalling $16.3 million since the 2019 federal election.
“It can also be revealed the NIAA is the first federal agency to give a contract to a PwC entity since a widely reported government ‘clampdown’ over the PwC tax leak scandal in May.”
“The Yes campaign’s last-ditch pitch to convince Australians to vote for a Voice to Parliament starts with an unsolved mystery.
“Released over the weekend, the Uluru Dialogue’s ‘You’re the Voice’ referendum advertisement travels back in time with an opening shot of a vintage television showing black-and-white archival footage of the 1967 referendum with John Farnham’s song of the same name blaring over the top.
“Keen-eyed viewers can spot a red-and-white anachronistic logo in the bottom-left corner of the footage. It belongs to the Australian Television Archive, an archival and video digitisation company run by James Paterson (not the Liberal senator).”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
NATO’s Romania slams Russia for ‘serious violation’ over drone (Politico)
Lawsuit contends US constitution’s ‘insurrection’ clause bars Trump from running again for president (Associated Press)
Jenni Hermoso files legal complaint over Women’s World Cup final kiss (BBC)
Is India changing its name to Bharat? G20 invite controversy explained (Reuters)
US imposes sanctions on leaders of Sudanese paramilitary group over ‘extensive’ abuses (Al Jazeera)
France plans reduction of military presence in Niger (France 24)
Javier Milei’s extreme right threatens to break consensus on Argentina’s military dictatorship (El País)
THE COMMENTARIAT
As Qatar Airways and Qantas fallout continues, Albanese government is stuck with excess political baggage — Brett Worthington (ABC): “For 80 seconds, it looked like it might be a case of third time lucky. After days of pressure in Parliament, and weeks of questions about her decision to block Qatar Airways’ bid for extra flights to Australia, Transport Minister Catherine King looked to be on the cusp of offering an explanation.
“The Coalition had twice asked King to provide details of any meetings she had with now-former Qantas boss Alan Joyce ahead of making the Qatar decision. Those earlier attempts landed a grand total of 11 seconds of answers.
“But with the clock about to tick over to 2.20pm, the third question from the Coalition seemed to have whet the minister’s appetite to provide more fulsome answers.”
Jorge Vilda’s sacking the first sign changes are happening in Spanish soccer — Emma Kemp (SMH): “No sooner had Montse Tome been named as Jorge Vilda’s replacement, videos of her appearing to applaud Luis Rubiales’ ‘false feminism’ diatribe began to circulate on social media. The posts — mostly out of Spain — were propagated as some sort of proof that this change in head coach would not equate to meaningful change for the national women’s team.
“There are two obvious conclusions to be drawn from this video. The first is that Tome, who had been an assistant to Vilda for the past five years, genuinely supported what Rubiales had to say before the Spanish federation assembly on August 25. That she agreed with the president’s refusal to resign over his unwanted kiss of player Jenni Hermoso, and that he claimed it was consensual.
“The other, less black-and-white but possibly more rational deduction is that she and other federation staff members had been obliged to sit in the front row, but that they did so just before they tendered their resignations in protest. The very next day, Tome was one of the 11 staff members who resigned and released a statement calling for the ‘restructuring and professionalisation’ of the national team.”
The optimism of youth has given way to mourning the death of a parent. And friendship is needed more than ever — Ranjana Srivastava (Guardian Australia): “We could scarcely imagine ourselves as parents, let alone mourning the loss of a parent. ‘Hey Siri, what do you wear to a Jewish funeral?’
“Rustling through my wardrobe, I think of the funerals I have attended, many on behalf of patients. Hindu funerals amid a sea of white. Calming Buddhist chants. Sikh prayers at the Gurudwara. A Catholic mass. Funerals with standing room only and an Orthodox one with an audience of three: the priest, social worker and me. A Polish mass conducted entirely in Polish lasting three hours, an exercise in discipline.
“But my first Jewish funeral to farewell the father of my friend feels too close to home.”
