PAYING FOR NEWS
Despite the prime minister experiencing yet another bruising week of news coverage, the announcements show no sign of letting up (perhaps there’s an election looming or something). Yesterday we got the childcare subsidies news and today the Albanese government is set to provide details on a plan to force big tech companies to pay for Australian journalism.
The Nine newspapers first reported the plans, saying the scheme “seeks to punish platforms such as Facebook for refusing to sign content deals, raising the prospect of a financial penalty if they do not contribute to local news”.
The papers say Anthony Albanese is expected to release the plan today with the hope it will pressure social media companies to honour a “bargaining code” with publishers or face the risk of being forced to pay to keep operating in Australia.
Meta has previously warned it will no longer pay Australian news companies for content after deals signed with media companies expired earlier this year and threatened to block news content if forced to pay. Google has voluntarily renewed previous agreements but Meta has said it will not, Guardian Australia recalls.
The Australian reports that in order to stop platforms from pulling news content to avoid the levy, the proposed scheme will capture companies based on revenue rather than whether or not they use Australian news content. The paper says it understands the threshold for turnover being considered is in the order of hundreds of millions of dollars. It also says a lengthy consultation period is expected after the announcement.
With many places reporting Albanese’s latest social media announcement, the wait goes on for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s nuclear power costings which we were promised this week. My colleague Anton Nilsson points out the Coalition leader is running out of time if he wants to show us his workings before the weekend.
Anton reported yesterday: “One well-connected journalist at a major publication speculated to Crikey that if the news is indeed to be communicated this week, it will have to be done on Thursday with an embargo to lift for publication on Friday.” So who knows, we may be able to finally reveal those sought-after costings in tomorrow’s Worm. Or perhaps not.
As we wait, Guardian Australia has led overnight on energy experts claiming the cost of building nuclear power plants in Australia could be more than double what the CSIRO has previously suggested. The experts have flagged CSIRO’s estimate is benchmarked to costs in South Korea, a country with a long-running nuclear program, which is “likely to substantially underestimate the ultimate costs of building reactors in Australia”.
Tennant Reed, climate and energy director at the Australian Industry Group, is quoted as saying: “The actual costs in these Western countries are a great deal higher [than GenCost’s estimate]. We should have that in mind when looking at what the costs might turn out to be here.”
Some journalists have speculated that Dutton may wait until next week to make his nuclear announcement given the news cycle this week has once again been bad for the PM.
On that theme, the AFR reports the Albanese government has “no chance” of hitting its migration target this financial year and is expected to revise its net migration forecast next week.
Abul Rizvi, a former deputy secretary of the Immigration Department, is quoted as saying that in October net migration was about 100,000 people higher than it needed to be to meet the target of 260,000 for the year. The paper said that “students, who make up around half of the net migration total, continue to arrive in large numbers, although that is expected to start moderating in the coming months”.
Speaking to Guardian Australia, Rizvi predicted a “very embarrassing” time for the government, with data today expected to show the 2023-24 net overseas migration forecast was “missed by a long, long way”.
“In next week’s [mid-year economic and fiscal update] they’re going to have to revise the net overseas migration projection upwards very significantly,” he said.
BANNING PROTESTS
Albanese has received continuing criticism over his government’s response to the Melbourne synagogue attack last Friday. Following anti-Israel vandalism in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Wednesday, the PM announced $8.5 million would be spent on the redevelopment of the Sydney Jewish Museum, the ABC reports. He added: “There’s no place for antisemitism in this country or anywhere else for that matter. This is an attack on people because they happen to be Jewish.”
As part of his response he also said he would back state governments banning protests outside places of worship, which according to Guardian Australia was quickly criticised by civil liberties groups.
“I certainly support the banning of demonstrations outside any place of worship. I cannot conceive of any reason, apart from creating division in our community, of why someone would want to hold a demonstration outside a place of worship,” Albanese said
Countering, Timothy Roberts, president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, said he was concerned “kneejerk reactions” were being offered in response to negative media coverage instead of providing “measured leadership”.
“With all due respect [Albanese] hasn’t given this a moment’s thought. The prime minister’s comments do not reflect what are often highly complex issues that intersect with power,” he said.
The AFR flags even widely supported measures are not without their headaches for Albanese, with the Coalition saying it is unlikely to back the removal of the activity test that requires parents to have a job, look for work or study, in return for childcare subsidies.
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor claims the proposal would add demand to a sector where supply was already a problem. “Australia needs solutions to our collapsing economy, not more subsidies and more big government,” he said. “Families are already struggling to access childcare. This risks making the situation worse.”
Elsewhere, AAP flags the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release an update on the Australian jobs market today.
The jobless rate in October was at 4.1% for the second month in a row, with the newswire stating: “The 15,900 employment gain was below expectations, and followed consistently strong employment growth in months prior. In November, Westpac economists expected the labour market to continue its very gradual unwinding.”
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reckons Elon Musk’s net worth has now surpassed $400 billion (A$630 billion).
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
A whale has made global headlines after making one of the longest and most unusual migrations ever recorded.
In 2017, the male humpback whale was spotted off Colombia in the Pacific Ocean and then in 2022 it was seen near Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean, the BBC reports, a distance of 13,000km.
Ekaterina Kalashnikova from the Tanzania Cetaceans Program called the journey “truly impressive and unusual even for this highly migratory species”.
Experts think the reason for the epic trip could be due to food stocks being depleted by climate change or a very long search for a mate.
Ted Cheeseman, co-author of the research published in Royal Society Open Science, said the odyssey was almost twice the typical migration, The Guardian reports.
In terms of how the whale would have been received after travelling so far out of its usual area and population group, Cheeseman said: “When he showed up, was it like, ‘Oooh, sexy foreigner with a cool accent’?”
Say What?
It’s beyond human scale, so we need to start to lean in heavily on AI, and we’re using it across a number of areas.
Benjamin Lamont
The Australian Federal Police’s manager for technology strategy and data said the AFP had “no choice” but to lean into using AI to search seized phones and emails.
CRIKEY RECAP
This is not a central bank that understands what’s going on in the economy. It is not a bank that understands (from the vantage point of its comfortable Martin Place digs in Sydney) how ordinary Australian workers and small businesses without the security of a government job and generous pay and super are struggling. It is not a bank genuinely curious about what is driving phenomena like inflation. It is not a bank that wants to know if its ideological model of the world accords with reality.
It is, however, a bank that is actively harming the national interest.
We’re all used to the Murdoch empire’s endless holy wars against perceived enemies or progressive causes. But when it comes to his own children, surely Rupert Murdoch has a limit to abusing his power and stripping their privileges.
After copping a 93-page shellacking from Nevada probate commissioner Edmund J. Gorman Jr, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch should give this scandalous family control grab a rest and instead embrace the peace sentiment from James, Elisabeth and Prudence, who jointly said yesterday they hope they can “move beyond this litigation to focus on strengthening and rebuilding relationships among all family members”.
And what does Rupert’s big-noting celebrity lawyer Adam Streisand do in response? He immediately declares a plan to appeal. Talk about tone-deaf. It’s fair to say that James Murdoch, who turns 51 on Friday, won’t be getting any birthday wishes from father Rupert and older brother Lachlan, who reportedly spent some time together in Australia.
“There’s never a good time to go, but as he signalled in his statement, he’s just looking to take a holiday and then go into the private sector,” one Liberal said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal party matters.
Nevertheless, the sudden announcement struck some local party colleagues as curious.
“It was very surprising — he had already begun campaigning for reelection and has been working the local crowds very hard,” one source said. “He’s invested a lot into this so it came as a shock.”
Boele managed to cut the Liberal margin in Bradfield by 12.3% at the 2022 election after the party previously held it on a very safe 16.6% margin.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Greens staffer reprimanded for suggesting synagogue arson may have been ‘false flag’ (The Sydney Morning Herald) ($)
How Saudi Arabia steamrolled Australia’s 2034 World Cup hopes (The Age) ($)
Former female employees detail alleged sexual harassment in class actions against Rio Tinto and BHP (ABC)
Labor to pay $2.3bn to controversial US prison operator subsidiary to run onshore detention (Guardian Australia)
Syrian rebel fighters set fire to tomb of Bashar al-Assad’s father (BBC)
Argentina: Has Javier Milei proved his critics wrong? (The Financial Times) ($)
THE COMMENTARIAT
The PM has been shown how to respond to antisemitism, but not by Peter Dutton — Alexandra Smith (The Sydney Morning Herald): News Corp did not hold back in attacking Albanese’s tennis match, although Opposition Leader Peter Dutton did. After all, the Coalition does not have a great track record when it comes to going missing in action. Albanese’s hit of tennis was no match for Scott Morrison’s family holiday to Hawaii as Australia burnt.
But it does bring into question the prime minister’s political judgment and his ability to be agile when it matters.
The roles of prime minister and premier are very different. While the leader of Australia needs to respond to issues of national and international significance, state leaders are more practised in day-to-day crisis management. Bushfires, flood, train breakdowns. They are bread and butter for a premier. Regardless, Albanese looks increasingly flat-footed compared with Minns’ quick reactions.
Women in immigration detention are trapped in a system designed for men. Many have not hugged a family member in years — Lorraine Finlay (Guardian Australia): Picture this. It has been months since you last saw or hugged a loved one, including your children. You are a survivor of domestic violence but are now living next door to men who are sex offenders. You speak little English. And your life in detention has no end date.
This is a common experience for women in Australia’s immigration detention system. Their visas have either lapsed or been revoked, or they never had one in the first place after arriving here in a way deemed to be illegal.
In Australia, women make up a small number, roughly 6%, of people in immigration detention. These women are wedged into a system which operates predominantly with men in mind, with their separate and specific needs widely overlooked.
