COP THIS
Foreign governments are helping Australian drug cartels and crime groups, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) says, though didn’t name names. AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw told Five Eyes (the FBI, DEA, UK Met Police, NZ Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police) yesterday that “state aggression” was seeing an increase in serious crime, ABC reports. It comes as police uncovered a suspected Chinese money laundering syndicate in NSW and Victoria that is allegedly moving hundreds of millions of dollars annually to China and other places, SMH reports. The so-called “Chen Organisation” has customers including a relative of Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to officials.
Meanwhile, NT cops have been told the training instruction that “knife equals gun” is wrong, NT News reports. The internal memo continues somewhat confusingly that if cops did hear that phrase during their training, it was either used “incorrectly”, was “poorly explained”, or “wrongfully interpreted”. It comes after NT constable Zachary Rolfe testified he had heard the phrase during his training, and understood it to mean if a victim is threatening him with an edged weapon, go for the firearm. Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker had a pair of small nail scissors while being restrained by Rolfe and another officer — he was shot three times by Rolfe, and died. He was 19. Rolfe was acquitted of Walker’s murder, as BBC reported.
TRASH TALK
Good news, folks — there’s 29% less plastic pollution on our coastlines, the CSIRO says. It surveyed 183 coastal sites and reported some showed a whopping 73% less litter. It’s thanks to clean-up efforts from local governments, Guardian Australia reports, after scientists compared 2012-13 levels with 2018-19 levels. So how can we continue this good work? Local programs like container deposit schemes and reliable kerbside collections have the biggest impact — it makes it easier for folks to do the right thing, the CSIRO says. It comes as microplastics have been discovered for the first time in the Antarctic, The New Daily reports — snow samples from 19 sites were littered with the microscopic pollution.
Back home now, state and territory energy ministers have unanimously voted on sweeping reforms that’ll phase out fossil fuels, weather-proof the grid, and empower the market operator, the SMH reports. Among the changes was a capacity mechanism that should prevent electricity shortages — it’ll force energy retailers like Origin and AGL to lock in supply with power companies ahead of time, The Australian ($) reports. But do we want that? It’s actually an Angus Taylor-era proposal, Crikey reports, and may mean coal burns even when it’s not needed — our very own CoalKeeper. It’s not clear yet whether the mechanism will mean higher bills either, Bernard Keane adds.
HAVING A BLAST
For the first time, NASA will launch three commercial rockets from Arnhem Space Centre in the Northern Territory. It’ll also be our first NASA launch since 1995, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said yesterday, as Bloomberg ($) reports. So why the NT? No air traffic mostly, and plus, the earth spins fastest at the equator, meaning the rockets go faster with less fuel. The rockets, which will blast off from June 26, are 13 metres tall and will surge upwards at 500m a second — indeed we’ll only see them for 10 seconds before they disappear into the skies, the NT News explains. They won’t go into orbit around our planet like a satellite, however — they’ll exit our atmosphere before parachuting back down to earth.
So why a short getaway instead of an extended stay? Well, they’re heading up to bring back with them crucial data about two stars, Alpha Centauri A and B — it’ll help boffins understand how, for instance, a star’s light helps sustain life on a planet, The Age continues. But the launch is also good for jobs — a burgeoning industry in the Top End will mean high-paying jobs in science and engineering fields. Indeed Albanese says it’s a new era for Australia’s space sector, and Science and Industry Minister Ed Husic added it strengthens our economy. And there’s an argument to be made that space investment is actually good for our lives on Earth — there’s a rather moving letter written by a NASA boss to a nun in 1970, after she had questioned the billions in space investment when people are starving. He rather beautifully writes that the satellite can help world hunger, space collaboration can be good for international cooperation, and space technology trickles down to things like kitchen appliances and medical instruments. Check it out here.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
“Where’s the thing?” I yell to my partner Ryan who is sitting placidly in the next room. His mind starts whirling. I could mean anything — the lint brush, the “good” lemon juicer, the small part of the bin that fell off rendering the pop-up lid limp and lifeless. “The black thing,” I clarify unhelpfully, getting steadily more frustrated, and by now he’s going through a mental teletex of all the black things we own — the TV remote? The actual lounge?! I find the “thing” — it’s the specific cord that charges my headphones — and we both exhale. There’s something so satisfying about finding the thing. Just ask Ann Kendrick — the 90-year-old British woman was quietly gardening in April when she found what looked like a dirty piece of metal in the soil near her apple tree. Incredibly, it was the wedding ring of her late husband Peter, who died 22 years ago. He had lost it while gardening in 1987 — Kendrick says she was a bit choked up to find it again.
Then there’s Cambridge University’s director of library services Jessica Gardner, who found something thought lost forever too — two of Charles Darwin’s notebooks that were reported stolen in 2020. One of the notebooks had his famous 1837 “Tree of Life” sketch in it, and an international search was launched — but to no avail. On an average day in March, two gingerly wrapped packages appeared outside the librarian’s office, in a spot with no cameras. It was the treasured notebooks, with a note that said “Librarian Happy Easter X”. Gardner says her reaction to finding the books on her stoop was “profound and almost impossible to adequately express”, while the books will go on display in their rightful place alongside Darwin’s archive in July.
Hoping you get something you’ve been missing today too.
SAY WHAT?
Dutton has got to do better than this. In the end, what are we? One cohesive nation or a collection of tribes, ethnicities and genders all nursing our grievances and looking for the next chance to take offence? So far, the new opposition leader is saying that he has an ‘open mind’ on the Indigenous Voice while asking the government for more detail.
Peta Credlin
Someone tell Credlin it’s 2022, the Coalition just suffered their biggest election loss in decades, the Indigenous Voice to Parliament (giving advice on policy that affects them) falls woefully short of other nations’ Indigenous recognition, and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is now faced with the daunting task of winning back oodles of seats lost to Teals amid voter disgust for the Liberals.
CRIKEY RECAP
Hillsong thanks Crikey for our service, and promises ‘no more secrets’
“So kind of him to mention little Crikey alone among the titans of local and international media, but yes, we have developed a special relationship over the past 12 months or so. Just wondering though if that might extend now to Hillsong answering our questions in the future, because it sure hasn’t happened in the past.
“Pastor Phil wasn’t the only church official to adopt a jaundiced position towards the media last night. Even the church’s finance director talked about the ‘horrible environment around media’ that Hillsong has endured ‘in this season’. Old habits die hard. Houston never missed a chance to demonise the media. I guess we now know why, given the amount of scandal that has become public via, err, the media.”
PRGuy17 and friendlyjordies cases show the internet isn’t above defamation law. But does it need to change?
“Before the internet, they couldn’t have existed. If PRGuy17 or friendlyjordies wanted to reach as many people as they do, they would have needed to use a newspaper, a radio or television station. Those institutions come with gatekeepers who probably wouldn’t have let them create content like they have — probably losing part of their appeal that has come from creating a direct relationship with an audience — but also would have been another check and balance against potentially defaming someone.
“We’re long past the point where the internet can be thought of as a wild wild west, unbound by law. If anything, it is now more treacherous for speech online. Offhand comments in context that once would have been snark with friends are recorded forever as data on foreign servers.”
Be careful. Queensland Greens, buoyed by success, are marching on the ’burbs
“Without taking anything away from the Queensland Greens’ actual effort and the role of the floods and their response to them, the backdrop to their success in Brisbane was surely federal Labor’s lack of legitimacy in the Sunshine State. Everywhere else, the swing to Labor was strong enough on issues such as cost of living, integrity and climate change for seats to change hands. Why didn’t Labor get the lion’s share of that?
“The answer is surely that Labor has weakened itself as the party of a left alternative by its unstinting identification with the coal and gas industry and its weakness on land clearing, and a host of other matters. That has had a dual effect. There’s a whole group who want to support Labor, as elsewhere, but just can’t. They have not only voted Green, but a whole tranche have volunteered for, or joined, the Greens.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
The five moments that stole the spotlight as Queensland claimed Origin I (ABC)
Ukrainian troops ‘pushed back’ as Severodonetsk battle rages (Al Jazeera)
How Jared Kushner washed his hands of Donald Trump before January 6 (The New York Times)
Berlin: One dead and others hurt as car drives into pedestrians (BBC)
Boris Johnson says ‘nothing and no one’ will stop him continuing as PM (The Guardian)
Tech’s decade of stock-market dominance ends, for now (The Wall Street Journal) ($)
FBI investigates former US general over Qatar lobbying role (Al Jazeera)
Will Australian-style gang laws actually work in New Zealand? (NZ Herald)
Nassar victims suing F.B.I. for early investigative failures (The New York Times)
President Biden sits down with Jimmy Kimmel for his first in-person late night appearance (CNN)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Labor must not torpedo crucial submarine plan — Peter Dutton (The Australian) ($): “Defence Minister Richard Marles has this plan laid out in front of him, but his early comments on the topic are alarming. He is now talking about a mid-2040s delivery date — and even worse, he is talking about building a new class of diesel-electric submarines. Simplistic suggestions that there can be a ‘son’ of Collins — that is, a new class of submarines designed and built in Australia before the nuclear subs arrive — shows Marles hasn’t sought advice from his naval advisers, or he has rejected their strong advice that this option is unfeasible.
“It is unfeasible because he wouldn’t have the new class of subs (with old diesel-electric systems) in the water before the Chinese have the technology making them easily detectable and inoperable. And as defence leaders here and in the US strongly advised me, Australia doesn’t have the construction workforce, let alone the crew capability, to run three classes of submarines. I am speaking out on this topic because Labor is on the cusp of making a very dangerous decision which would clearly be against our national security interests.”
In need of light relief? Top Gun: Maverick is a reminder that Tom Cruise has still got it — Emma Brockes (The Guardian): “A lot of this has to do with Cruise himself. His persistent strangeness off-screen has made it easy to forget just how good he is on-screen. Cruise has decent acting chops, but it’s not that. It’s the smile, obviously, which he rations so severely every flash of it lights up the scene. It’s the nose. It’s the eyebrows. It’s that weird clenching thing he does with his jaw. It’s the sheer distance between him and his co-stars, in this case Jon Hamm, a prissy creature of the small screen who looks thoroughly out of place in a blockbuster. Only Val Kilmer can hold his own opposite Cruise in this movie.
“There are other films, other movie stars, but it’s never quite the same. Bradley Cooper? Too flimsy. Leonardo DiCaprio? Too — I don’t know what, exactly, but something about his general aspect these days makes me think of the underside of a toad. Brad Pitt — look, we all loved him back in the day, but he’s become incrementally seedier and less appealing over the years, and not just for his behaviour towards Angelina Jolie. He has a new movie out, Bullet Train, in which he bops about in his favourite sub-Kurt Cobain guise, exuding gusts of light irony because don’t you know he’s too fancy for an action movie?”
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WHAT’S ON TODAY
Yuggera Country (also known as Brisbane)
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Author Julie Fison will talk about her new novel, One Punch, at Avid Reader bookshop. You can also catch this one online.
Kulin Nation Country (also known as Melbourne)
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The Dirt Company’s Frankie Layton and Humanism’s Sakshi Thakur will talk about passion and purpose in a panel discussion held at the State Library of Victoria.
Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)
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NSW Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders will be at the Australian Bee Congress where there will also be a live demonstration by FlowHive’s Stuart Anderson.
