HOT AIR
Japan doesn’t trust us to supply liquified natural gas any more, the country’s top energy adviser said via the AFR ($), and it’s looking for new sources in Alaska. It comes as Labor’s safeguard mechanism reforms kicked in on July 1, which say new gas fields to supply LNG plants have to be net zero, Reuters adds. The boss of Japan’s Institute of Energy Economics, Tatsuya Terazawa, said the Albanese government should help Japanese operators pay for the carbon credits or carbon storage. Meanwhile, Nationals Leader David Littleproud has not confirmed the $30 billion worth of projects promised by former PM Scott Morrison for net-zero support will come through under now Coalition Leader Peter Dutton, sparking mutinous rumours Littleproud is about to get rolled. That’s “rubbish” and “bullshit”, senior figures told the ABC, though they conceded there are “one or two disgruntled MPs” in the partyroom.
Speaking of messy internal drama, SA Liberal Nick McBride has ditched his party to sit on the crossbench, The Advertiser ($) reports. The centre-right MP says the factional division makes the SA Liberals, that were beaten by Labor in 2022, “unelectable”. It means there are just 15 lower house Liberals to Labor’s 27 seats, with five on the crossbench. Renegade McBride has long been disillusioned, hitting the headlines in 2019 when he said the SA Liberals had “spent 16 years in opposition and now I see why”. Ouch. To another leader who may never leave opposition, and Dutton has been accused of bully-boy tactics by Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney for attacking Wesfarmers, BHP and Rio Tinto after they donated to the Yes23 campaign. Coalition frontbencher Jacinta Nampijinpa Price retorted, via the SMH ($): actually you’re the bully, Burney! Sure, Jan.
ANIMAL CRACKERS
Former Australian Christian Lobby boss Lyle Shelton has registered Family First with the NSW Electoral Commission after missing the deadline for the last state election, Brisbane Times ($) reports. Shelton made headlines this week for claiming gay penguins Sphen and Magic are faking it for some reason. As Crikey writes, Shelton has a proud history of coming up short: “failing to prevent marriage equality, failing as its communications director to get a single Australian Conservative elected, failing to replace Fred Nile in the Christian Democrats, and failing to be elected as an independent in NSW in 2023″. No doubt this campaign to stop Sphen and Magic’s story from forming part of the NSW syllabus about sexuality and consent will go the same way.
To another right-wing figure now and Donald Trump Jr was forced to delay his speaking tour of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne because he didn’t apply for a visa until two weeks before the trip and it was approved only 24 hours before the flight, according to government sources who spoke to the Herald Sun ($). Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said her department did not stand in his way — there is “no immigration impediment” to the former president’s son. That didn’t stop the tour promoter pontificating: “It seems America isn’t the only country that makes it difficult for the Trumps.” Speaking of a load of crap — Sydney Water has been fined $365,000 for spilling 16 million litres of raw sewage into Flat Rock Creek in Naremburn, The New Daily reports.
FOLLOWING THE LEADER
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has been given a shortlist of candidates for the Reserve Bank governorship, including frontrunner Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy and Finance Department secretary Jenny Wilkinson, according to sources The Australian ($) spoke to. The paper notes if either were appointed it would be the first time a public service figure was made central bank boss since Bernie Fraser in 1989. There was an awkward moment yesterday when opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said Philip Lowe should stay in the job beyond his September end date — she said there was barely a better qualified person and that he had been “demonised”. In related news, the past year has seen the steepest interest rate rise in history, forcing many Australians to sell their homes, Guardian Australia reports.
Meanwhile a cyberattack on law firm HWL Ebsworth has exposed sensitive info from a “number of Australian government entities” as well as several banks, our cyber security coordinator says. Russian hackers claimed they published info from the hack on to the dark web last month, The New Daily reports. From shady state actors to uppity foreign officials, and should Prime Minister Anthony Albanese cancel his Beijing trip considering China’s foreign ministry called for us to “stop providing a safe haven for fugitives”? Former Hong Kong politician Ted Hui, who lives in Adelaide and is one of the democracy advocates on the wanted list, told the SMH ($) many will think Australia is “softening its attitude” towards Beijing if Albo goes.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
The “greatest tightwire artist of all time”, Con Colleano, was balancing on a string as Adolf Hitler looked on in admiration, eventually giving him a German passport for his performance. He wasn’t the only famed racist Colleano had performed for — he also walked in front of a shining-faced Benito Mussolini, who called Colleano a “stud”. Little did the pair know Colleano was conning the racist dictators with his gleeful secret — this artist you admire so much is a proud Blak man from Lismore. Colleano hid his Gamilaroi background as he travelled the world as a star circus performer in the 1920s and ’30s, at a time when many weren’t even able to leave their suburb. Simone O’Brien, who is directing a show to honour the man dubbed “the wizard”, says the whole thing makes her cackle.
“I love the fact that there’s a First Nations artist up there tricking one of the most infamous, evil, racist bastards of all time,” she told the ABC. “He had all the dictators under his belt.” Colleano was described as not only incredibly handsome, but incredibly skilled — at 19 he became the first person to do a front somersault on the wire. It was described as impossible, because it’s a blind landing — the artist can’t see where their feet are until they land, at least six metres off the ground, on a length of taut wire. Not only that, but Colleano was known to play the trumpet, box, even somersault on a horse — a king of circus, when it was at its peak. His incredible story is being told at The Quad in Lismore this weekend by performance group Seedarts.
Hoping you pull off something tricky today too.
SAY WHAT?
We’ve just had the hottest June on record, breaking the previous record by nearly a whole degree. Forget strawberries and cream. Scientists are warning of impending food shortages, mass displacement and war.
Deborah Wilde
The Wimbledon protester who stormed the court with orange confetti to protest against new oil and gas projects said she’s just an ordinary grandmother who wants to protect generations to come from a climate collapse. It came as Tuesday smashed Monday’s record as the world’s hottest day ever.
CRIKEY RECAP
“A federal senator has called on the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to explain why officials secretly met with controversial facial recognition company Clearview AI just months after Australia’s privacy watchdog slammed the agency for using its technology.
“Clearview AI is an American tech company founded by Australian Hoan Ton-That that became globally notorious for its facial recognition technology which lets users search for matches among its database of billions of illegally obtained images scraped from public internet sites such as social media platforms.”
“This has been taken up as a simplistic battle cry: if she didn’t commit a crime, that must mean she did nothing wrong! It follows like night follows day, right? Wrong. The conflation of legal principles and functions here is cynical and deceptive, but potentially effective on a half-interested public.
“There are critical distinctions that need to be understood. ICAC is not a part of the apparatus of the criminal law. Its remit is quite different: to investigate allegations of corrupt conduct by or affecting public officials, make findings on those allegations (on the civil standard of proof) and, if warranted, refer individuals to prosecuting authorities such as the police. That is as far as ICAC goes.”
“Whether investigative or policy-focused, commissions give those who have been failed by governments the opportunity to be heard and taken seriously — a crucial benefit of inquiries such as the child sex abuse inquiry and the current veterans’ suicide royal commission. The process of being heard and having pain acknowledged is in itself cathartic, especially for those who have suffered in silence for years, or decades.
“And the hearing process can also be effective in prompting action: the reputational damage inflicted by the hearings of the banking royal commission on banks, financial planners and retail super funds helped drive an exodus of banks from wealth products, forced the departure of a number of a senior and mid-level executives and directors, and accelerated a process already under way of chancers and grifters being pushed out of financial advice.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
China cancels visit from EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell (Al Jazeera)
Cocaine at White House found in cubby hole where visitors leave belongings — source (Reuters)
Jenin: Palestinians fear escalation after destructive West Bank assault (BBC)
Violent protests prompt French president to consider ‘suspending social media tools’ (euronews)
Monday may have set a global record for the hottest day ever. Tuesday broke it (Stuff)
Canada, allies officially launch case against Iran at UN top court over downing of passenger jet (CBC)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Message to Xi: we are all Hong Kongers now — Paul Monk (The Australian) ($): “Do we want this kind of future imposed on Asia? Do we want to pretend that all this is just China being China and that our commercial interests dictate that we turn a blind eye to it all? What do we stand for in our part of the world? The trials and repressions that are part and parcel of the ‘China Dream’ and that are happening right now will be our future if Xiao and his master have their way. Conversely, Ian Johnson, in Wild Grass: China’s Revolution From Below (2021), looked for all the signs that Xi’s regime, precisely because it is expending hundreds of billions of dollars annually on repression and censorship, is built on bloodstained sand.
“That is the context for these political show trials. That is the context for our strategic misgivings — the context of AUKUS. The challenge confronting us all, therefore, is to stand for a different future for Asia in general, for Hong Kong in particular, for Taiwan and for the long-suffering people of China ground under the heel of the CCP. The challenge is to stare down Xi and dare to say to him: ‘No. Your dream is a nightmare and we’re not buying it.’ If we cherish our liberties, we are all Hong Kongers now — just as John F Kennedy declared in Berlin, to a huge, cheering crowd in 1961, that he was a Berliner. And living up to that is going to take something.”
It’s official: Australia is set for a hot, dry El Niño. Here’s what that means for our flammable continent — Kevin Tolhurst (The Conversation): “Now, we’re set to enter into a drying period driven by an El Niño. The abundant plant growth leading into a dry period is likely to result in widespread bushfires across Australia. Initially, this is likely to occur in semi-arid inland areas where grasses have flourished in the wet period, but will dry out quickly. If the drying cycle persists for two or three years, then fires might become more prevalent in forests and woodlands in temperate Australia. But an El Niño year doesn’t necessarily mean a bad bushfire season is certain.
“In Australia, El Niño events are associated with hotter and drier conditions, leading to more days of high fire danger. But large and severe forest fires also need a prolonged drought to dry out fuels, especially in sheltered gullies and slopes. Soils and woody vegetation are currently moist following the La Niña period. So El Niño and its opposite phase, La Niña, on their own are a relatively poor predictor of the number and size of bushfires. Climate change will continue to test our fire management systems. And the return of an El Niño has fire crews on alert.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Online
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UNSW pro vice-chancellor Indigenous Professor Megan Davis will speak about her Quarterly Essay, “Voice of Reason on Recognition and Renewal”, in an Australia Institute webinar.
Yuggera and Turrbal Country (also known as Brisbane)
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Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and journalist Kerry O’Brien will discuss her first year on the job at an event held by Griffith University at the Queensland Conservatorium.
Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)
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Author Pip Adam will talk about her new book, Audition, at Better Read Than Dead bookshop.
