TURN AND FACE THE CHANGE
The flood crisis is one of the most extreme disasters in Australia’s history — that’s according to a report from the Climate Council, who say climate change is supercharging rain bombs, flash floods and destruction, The West ($) reports. The council says climate change is also getting more expensive for Australians, pointing to the chatter about extending the cyclone insurance pool. Prime Minister Scott Morrison didn’t utter the C-words but did say Australia is getting harder to live in because of these disasters.
The PM made the comments during a trip to Lismore, where he apologised to flood victims for being so slow to act on the crisis, the SMH reports. He also confirmed up to $3000 in emergency payments for some flood victims. Some might say they fall short considering so many have lost everything — but Morrison told victims “no amount of support is going to measure up to what people need in a desperate situation like this”, as the AFR reports (which no doubt raised a few eyebrows).
The situation has at long last been declared a national emergency, but Labor’s Murray Watt questioned why Morrison had to wait until “he can be surrounded by TV cameras” to declare it so. Incredibly, Mullumbimby, Ballina, Byron, and Tweed are not eligible for the disaster payments, Guardian Australia continues. Apparently, the National Recovery and Resilience Agency (NRRA) and Emergency Management Australia had jointly decided those areas weren’t among the neediest.
SITTING ON DEFENCE
Australian uranium in Ukraine could be seized and used to fuel Russian nuclear weapons, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) has warned Prime Minister Scott Morrison. News.com.au reports the ETU sent him an open letter this week urging the government to create a plan to remove the nuclear material, saying it could be “catastrophic” if Russia gets its hands on it.
It comes as Labor Leader Anthony Albanese has warned about another superpower — China. In his speech today, he’ll accuse Chinese President Xi Jinping of dangerous authoritarianism, The Australian ($) reports, in offering Russia relief from sanctions. Albanese will basically say there’s no real difference between the national security approach of Labor and the Coalition — both have the same view on the South China Sea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and human rights abuses against Uyghurs and Tibetans. Albanese is also on the defence — literally. He’ll today commit to a review of our defence capability, including looking at strike capability, Tomahawk missiles for our submarines, and adding weapons to patrol boats.
It comes as Australia’s army, air force and navy is set to grow by a third over the next two decades, the government has announced, taking the personnel number from 60,000 to 80,000 by 2040, the SMH reports. It’ll see recruitment for people to build our nuclear submarines, the first of which is scheduled to go into the water by 2040, though Defence Minister Peter Dutton reckons it’ll happen before then. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is warning this morning that we should prepare for a rising cost of living in our efforts to stand up to international bullies, the AFR reports.
COURTING JUSTICE
Well, it’s official — United Australia Party (UAP) chairman and known COVID-19 vaccine sceptic Clive Palmer has COVID-19. His lawyers confirmed it when he was unable to front the Supreme Court yesterday, the Brisbane Times reports. Things aren’t going very well for Palmer. He’s trying to avoid criminal charges from ASIC after he transferred more than $12.1 million using his company Mineralogy — the money was eventually used to bankroll the 2013 federal campaign, as Guardian Australia reported at the time. ASIC slapped him with two counts of dishonestly using his position as a director and fraudulently gaining a benefit. The jail terms are 10-17 years. Yikes. Yesterday a Supreme Court judge knocked back his request for a summary judgement, and the case will continue May 31.
In the Top End, another high profile case continues — that of NT cop Zachary Rolfe, who is charged with the shooting murder of Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker, 19. In his closing address, Rolfe’s barrister told the court each of the three times Rolfe pulled the trigger, he acted in good faith, as the NT News reports. Much has been made of Walker’s attempt to stab the police officers with nail scissors while he was pinned to the ground, as The Washington Post ($) delved into, but the Crown prosecutor said bodycam footage showed Rolfe could not have seen his colleague being stabbed, nor was the phrase “knife” heard. The prosecutor told the court Rolfe knew Walker was restrained when he fired his Glock for the second and third time, leaving Walker dead. Closing remarks continue today.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
The year is 1915, and explorers across the world are racing to the icy end of the Earth in what is now known as the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. A 41-year-old Anglo-Irish man named Ernest Shackleton had left England with 27 brave souls — and one cat — aboard the Endurance. The ship was built for the ice, with a hull considered too round for the open ocean, but they ploughed forward towards the Weddell Sea anyway. But Weddell was no average sea — it was thick with unyielding sea ice, and in January 1915, the Endurance was officially stuck — a measly 160km from its destination.
Living up to their ship’s name, all 28 men trekked across sea ice and lived off seals and penguins before setting sail in three lifeboats, somehow reaching Elephant Island. Then, Shackleton and some guys rowed an incredible 1300km to South Georgia. It took four rescue attempts, but Shackleton got every man home alive, two years after they’d set sail from London. Fast-forward to over a century later, and the Endurance has been found. It was no easy feat — the search mission battled sea ice, blizzards and -18C temps. Because the water is so cold, the ship is actually in pretty good nick — it’s upright about 3km down, and the name Endurance is clearly visible on the stern. The mission’s leader says his jaw just dropped. “At that moment, you really do feel the breath of the great man upon the back of your neck,” he says.
Wishing you a little bravery against the odds today too.
SAY WHAT?
In these disasters, not everybody wants a camera shoved in their face. I came down to listen to them and what they are going through.
Scott Morrison
Including him, one assumes. Who can forget the PM reaching out to force a bushfire victim to shake his hand? Morrison made the comments when asked why the media wasn’t invited to his meet and greets with victims of the flood crisis in Lismore.
CRIKEY RECAP
A city is flooded, a state in chaos — but the business elite are told: ‘Get greedy’
“Costello, who remains Australia’s highest-taxing treasurer, used the summit to urge the government to slash spending. For anyone who recalls the last days of the Howard-Costello government, which perished throwing money at anyone who might vote for it, Costello’s words were risible.
“But let’s not forget his failure, along with that of John Howard, to do anything on climate change — either emissions abatement or even adaptation investment that might have spared regional communities their current crisis.”
Is Putin rational? A Kremlin insider’s view
“I will take it a step further. The threat of nuclear war is another example of his rationality. The Kremlin knows it can try to extract concessions, whether from Ukraine or the West, by sabre-rattling its last remaining card in the deck: nuclear weapons.
“The ultimate conclusion here is that the West should not agree to any unilateral concessions or limit its support of Ukraine too much for the fear of nuclear war.”
‘A lake in the sky’: 17m-high Roseville Bridge floods as rain batters Sydney
“The city has had its wettest start to a year in history, recording 822mm at the Observatory Hill weather station in the CBD so far in 2022. It would usually take until August to accumulate that amount of rain.
“While the Roseville Bridge’s flooding receded fairly quickly, many will never forget the sight. Its symbolism sends the strong message that even city-dwellers can no longer avoid the impacts of increasingly prevalent natural disasters.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: List of key events from day 14 (Al Jazeera)
Empty stores and an exodus: Hong Kong’s COVID crackdown stirs panic (The New York Times)
Ukraine maternity hospital ‘destroyed’ by Russian shelling (BBC)
Infographic: Which countries buy the most Russian weapons? (Al Jazeera)
Woman who ran Russia propaganda centre in New York charged as foreign agent (The Guardian)
Explained: The three things to know about Long COVID (NZ Herald)
Here are the companies pulling back from Russia (CNN)
All Blacks apologise for International Women’s Day Twitter post (BBC)
Resistance is in our blood: A personal history of Ukraine (Quillette)
Basketball star Brittney Griner is the latest American to be detained in Russia (CNN)
THE COMMENTARIAT
The death sentence: bureaucratic gobbledygook is killing our language — Warwick McFadyen (The Age): “Humpty arose after reading this in a local paper: ‘The prospectus supports our ongoing advocacy discussions with key decision makers and has been developed to reflect the needs of our community and complement existing government strategies and policies. It highlights our willingness and ability to seek out and foster new and exciting partnerships with all levels of government.’
“I’m sure it means something to the council. Indeed, I’m sure there are people who understand it, after all that would be part of their job. But. I realise I say this as an outsider. But. If this is language, it is dead. Surely when no one can understand the meaning of the message, then communication becomes redundant. Why bother at all? That would be when the chickens of meaninglessness come home to roost.”
As a Russian news anchor, I was there when the free press ended in my country — Denis Kataev (The Guardian): “I hosted a news show on Dozhd called Here and Now. We’ve been broadcasting since 2010, and we’ve been through tough times before. During the poisoning and later arrest of Alexei Navalny — and the subsequent protests — in 2020 and 2021, we totalled 1.1b views through our streaming and YouTube channels. Despite being thrown out of the Kremlin journalist pool, and being branded ‘a foreign agent’ by the justice ministry, we were proud to stay on air and reach millions during those historic times …
“It felt as if we really were the powerful free press of Russia. On YouTube we were getting 10-25m views a day. In some ways I’ve never felt more invigorated than during that excruciating first week. But it rapidly became too dangerous to continue. A law introducing a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison for spreading ‘fake news’ about the actions of Russian soldiers came into effect on March 4 … We will continue the spirit of the free press embodied by Dozhd, by that name or another, from abroad if we have to.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Online
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Labor Leader Anthony Albanese will speak to the Lowy Institute about how a Labor government would deliver national security in a complex world. There’ll be a Q&A afterwards — watch the speech here.
Kaurna Country (also known as Adelaide)
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Premier Steven Marshall and Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas will go head to head at the SA Press Club for a leaders debate.
Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)
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The Ukrainian Embassy’s Volodymyr Shalkivskyi will address the National Press Club.
Kulin Nation Country (also known as Melbourne)
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Indigenous musician Emma Donovan will perform a free gig near the GPO Steps in the Bourke Street Mall as part of the Victorian Government On The Road Again initiative.
