BLACK AND BLUE
“If your aim was to hurt me, well, you’ve succeeded,” the ABC’s Q+A host Stan Grant said last night, addressing those who have abused him. “I’m sorry that I must have given you so much cause to hate me.” It’s gut-wrenching stuff from the Indigenous veteran journalist who walked away from his broadcasting career amid a storm of racial abuse. But it’s not goodbye forever, he said — “I will get back up” and will meet abuse with the “love of my people”. Grant’s hiatus is a story that’s gone around the world: CNN, the BBC and Al Jazeera among those covering it. ABC News operations team member Dylan Anderson was one of the scores of ABC employees who walked out yesterday in support of Grant. He tweeted that it was hard to go through the same-sex plebiscite, and now his mob faces the Voice referendum. “This rhetoric isn’t new, but how we go forward can be,” he said.
Meanwhile Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney has slammed Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for spreading “misinformation” after he brought up George Orwell when saying the Voice would unwind the civil rights movement. Guardian Australia reports he said the Voice would have “an Orwellian effect where all Australians are equal, but some Australians are more equal than others”, which would “re-racialise our nation”. Get a grip, it’s an advisory body. Burney said Dutton’s woeful speech included every piece of misinformation and disinformation in the Voice debate, and pointed to the solicitor-general’s legal advice that the Voice would actually improve Australia’s system of government.
AGED CARELESSNESS
The watchdog looking into the NSW Police tasering 95-year-old Clare Nowland has some illusory powers, according to its own admission. The SMH ($) reports that an 80-page report released yesterday by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) — which NSW Premier Chris Minns engaged after the shocking incident — says the law states cops have to allow it to monitor interviews live. Usually their lawyers tell them not to, creating “illusory” powers to investigate in this way. The LECC can review the footage afterwards, but it stops it from probing further during the interview. The SMH ($) also revealed the police officer who tasered Nowland was called “outrageous” and “unprofessional” by a judge in 2020, after he and another NSW cop detained a guy in the ACT until the federal police arrived. ACT magistrate Bernadette Boss said she was astounded they’d acted like “vigilante enforcers” outside their jurisdiction.
Meanwhile at least 23 aged-care homes have closed since September last year, The Australian ($) reports, and it’s blaming Labor’s policy of having 24/7 registered nurses on site. Aged and Community Care Providers Association chief executive Tom Symondson didn’t go that far, but did say reforms should be manageable in an already tricky situation. “Of the 17 homes closed from September to February, 12 were in NSW, three in Victoria, and one each in Queensland and South Australia,” the paper says.
DEAD-END JOB
Jobseekers were told to use ChatGPT to write résumés and study the laws of attraction, Guardian Australia reports, in a weird-as-hell taxpayer-funded job preparation course. It’s all part of this Coalition-era policy that paid private providers about $300 million over five years to run employability skills training (EST) courses. But one participant told the paper he’d been forced to watch videos about safety protocols at a Dutch gas company just to ensure his JobSeeker payments continued.
Meanwhile the rags are still going after Jeremy ‘Jez’ Heywood, president of the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union, who is trying to get the government to raise the rate. He caught their attention after he spoke to The Australian ($) about his ire for the paltry $20-a-week increase to JobSeeker, which doesn’t bring recipients even close to the poverty line. Then 2GB’s breakfast host Ben Fordham slammed Heywood and demanded he “get a job”, even though Heywood had applied for 11 in the past fortnight. Side note: Fordham reportedly makes $1.5 million a year, Yahoo adds. Anyway Daily Mail Australia reports Heywood told it to “absolutely get f***ed” when it approached him outside his parents’ place yesterday. Good for him.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
US couple Alexander and Andrea Campagna were gazing out their window at an icy blizzard raging across upstate New York when they heard the doorbell. No doubt assuming it was malfunctioning, they opened their door to 10 rather windswept South Korean travellers peering back at them hopefully. The group’s van had become lodged into the snow, one explained, and they had no idea what to do. The Campagnas looked at the foreign strangers, then at each other, and responded: “Come on in!”. Park Gun-Young, who stumbled in with his wife and daughter, told The New York Times ($) that as soon as he saw their rice cooker he knew everything was going to be OK. The group stayed for the entire weekend, learning about each other, laughing, cooking and relaxing, before moving on. “We bonded so much with them,” Andrea said.
Looking back, it was kind of like inyeon, or fate, she continues, because Korean food had been a part of the pair’s relationship since the beginning. Their first date was bibimbap and stir-fried pork at a local Korean restaurant, and they’d loved to cook the cuisine since, with a stocked pantry of gochujang (chilli paste) and chamgileum (sesame oil). Once South Korea’s tourism body learnt of the couple’s “warmhearted kindness”, it promptly organised an all-expenses paid trip. The couple was treated to Michelin-star restaurants, but nothing was as good as getting together with the group again. There was barely a dry eye between them all, Andrea said: “It was like reuniting with family.” The outpouring of appreciation has been profoundly moving, she added, and just goes to show the world is “hungry for a heartwarming story”.
Hoping you feel a little human kindness today too.
SAY WHAT?
Is it supply, or is it people who have multiple homes? … 63% of politicians own more than one, 37% own three or more properties, which is you, Michelle, isn’t it?
Stan Grant
Labor MP Michelle Ananda-Rajah was left squirming in her seat after Q+A host Stan Grant pointed out she was among the two-thirds of pollies who own more than one home after Ananda-Rajah called the housing crisis a “supply issue”.
CRIKEY RECAP
“ABC boss David Anderson has apologised to Q+A host Stan Grant, who announced his departure from the broadcaster on Friday after a sustained campaign of abuse mounted against him over his commentary … For some corners of the organisation, the ABC’s failure to offer Grant full-throated support until Sunday struck at the heart of his reasons for leaving.
“Sources in the Melbourne and Sydney newsrooms told Crikey that Grant’s departure had lowered morale, particularly among those staff who hail from culturally diverse backgrounds. Staff are expected to gather in the foyer of the ABC’s Ultimo office around 2.30pm on Monday afternoon in a show of solidarity with Grant, sources say.”
“A more significant step would be to increase taxes that wealthy retirees must pay while reducing the burden on young people, especially those with lower incomes and children. This is the opposite of what the government is doing with stage three tax cuts, which come into force from July next year.
“Young people can’t break into many suburbs because empty nesters can’t afford to pay tens of thousands of dollars in stamp duty to move to something smaller. Let’s remove that obstacle by accelerating the shift from stamp duty to land tax. Then we can further encourage empty nesters, a group I will belong to in just a few years, by raising council rates on large homes with only one or two occupants.”
“An Advance spokesman told Crikey the Facebook page was intended to complement the federal government’s information program launched at the weekend: ‘We are committed to ensuring as many Australians who are undecided or unaware about the referendum have access to content that shows there is another side to the Voice story, one that goes beyond the vibe.’
“A spokesperson for the Yes campaign, Yes23, didn’t answer questions directly about the Referendum News page but instead said it was important to have information from reputable sources …”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Killing of Indigenous Ecuador anti-oil activist spurs questions (Al Jazeera)
Texts tie DeSantis closely to Trump insider Lev Parnas in 2018 race (Reuters)
Meta fined $1.3bn over transfer of EU user data to the US (Al Jazeera)
US [Republican] Senator Tim Scott launches 2024 White House bid (BBC)
Heavy rain could help [British Columbia] wildfire fight but lightning poses risks (CBC)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Biden’s billions create path for critical mineral wealth — Madeleine King (The AFR) ($): “Critical minerals — Australia’s critical minerals — will be essential if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change. We are in the enviable position of holding some of the world’s richest deposits of critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, vanadium and significant deposits of rare earth elements. These minerals are crucial to clean energy technologies such as electric vehicles, storage batteries, solar panels and wind turbines, and for a range of high-technology defence and medical applications.
“The United States has the capital and strategic weight that is needed to help Australia extract and process those essential critical minerals and rare earths and to create the supply chains needed to ensure our critical minerals are available for the world. Increasing global demand for critical minerals is an unmissable opportunity for Australia’s resources sector. The potential for Australia to become a critical minerals and renewable energy superpower cannot be underestimated. Just like the massive growth and investment in the iron ore industry from the 1960s and the more recent growth in our LNG industry, Australia has the potential to build a new industry that will support future jobs and national prosperity.”
Get a grip, Westminster – Suella Braverman speeding is hardly the issue of the day — Simon Jenkins (The Guardian): “Trivial is the default mode of British politics. Whether or not the home secretary did ask civil servants and an aide to help her get out of a group speed-awareness course, and if she did, whether she was right to do so, is not the most urgent issue of the day. Yet, as MPs this week gathered round the Westminster village pump, it pushed immigration, the NHS, Ukraine and the G7 off the agenda. Suella Braverman had few qualifications for high office and even fewer to handle Britain’s vexed immigration challenge. Her workload would indeed be a fit topic of discussion. But she has also, like the archbishop of Canterbury, fallen foul of Britain’s driving speed limits.
“Offenders are offered a choice between a fine and licence points or a speed awareness course, which they aren’t allowed to attend again in three years. It is alleged that Braverman asked if she might do the awareness course one-on-one instead of in a group. This is apparently a facility offered to some people. Reportedly, Braverman first inquired of a civil servant, who correctly but fastidiously refused it as a private matter. She then asked her political adviser, who inquired and was told she had to do a normal course. For a senior minister guilty of a minor offence this process seems reasonable, albeit with a suspiciously harsh outcome. Braverman took it on the chin, paid the fine and took three points on her licence rather than doing the course.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Kulin Nation Country (also known as Melbourne)
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Restaurateur Asma Khan and restaurant critic William Sitwell will speak about their careers in food and media, and about dining today, in a talk at the Wheeler Centre.
Kaurna Country (also known as Adelaide)
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Yes23’s Thomas Mayo and journalist Kerry O’Brien will discuss their Voice to Parliament Handbook at the University of Adelaide.
