| Good morning, early birds. Bill Shorten has claimed responsibility for the Labor Party’s shock federal election loss, and the government addresses claims of water hoarding in the Murray-Darling basin. It’s the news you need to know, with Rachel Withers. | | | | | | THE BLAME GAME Former opposition leader Bill Shorten has issued a mea culpa for Labor’s federal election loss, saying he “misread” the electorate. Speaking ahead of the release of Labor’s official campaign review, Shorten told a press conference that the party failed to anticipate the level of anxiety its franking credit policy would cause, and failed to promise enough tax cuts to people earning under $125,000, Nine reports. ALP financial documents reveal the campaign cost $31.9 million, leaving it with a budget deficit of nearly $1 million. Greens leader Richard Di Natale, meanwhile, says that Bob Brown’s anti-Adani convoy hurt Labor’s chances “because the Labor Party refused to take a clear position”. | FARMERS BLAST WATER BARONS The government has arranged a “secret” crisis meeting with farm leaders ($), following claims investors are hoarding Murray River water and driving a spike in prices, The Australian reports. Water resources minister David Littleproud has invited representatives of several agriculture industries to a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, after leaders wrote a letter alleging that the “immoral” market tactics of “water barons” had driven up the price of water in the basin sixfold. Littleproud has also acknowledged that worsening droughts are linked to climate change, telling the ABC he “totally” accepts that, after last month questioning whether climate change was man made. | NAUGHTY BANKS Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers says the government should consider measures to boost competition in the banking sector, including increasing the bank levy, after the major banks failed to pass on the RBA’s full interest rate cut. Chalmers told Sky News on Sunday that the government needed to sign off on the ACCC’s new inquiry into competition in the banking sector and consider all options, while adding that Labor would not support a law requiring the banks to pass on the full value of the cuts. By failing to pass on the full value of rate cuts since 2011, the big four banks are reaping an extra $14 billion per year in interest repayments ($), The Australian reports. | THEY REALLY SAID THAT? | “ | It wasn’t that we had a divided government, it was more that there was one person who was determined to get to the top by hook or by crook. — Tony Abbott |
The former prime minister says Malcolm Turnbull’s ambition was his undoing ($), while refusing to rule out a return to parliament. | READ ALL ABOUT IT | CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY | | | | “In this context, Morrison was doing what conservatives love to accuse the left of engaging in: some good old fashioned virtue-signalling. It is cost-free, gets a friendly headline from the usual cheer squad, and takes some pressure off the prime minister at a time he’s being beaten up by megaphone critics like Alan Jones because of the government’s insufficient action on the drought. However, it’s another sign Morrison is not concerned about hitching his wagon to Trump, something that carriers significant risk. While the US retains significant support with the Australian public, the view of Trump is very negative.” |
| | | | “The Australian government reacted quickly to last week’s protests, spooked no doubt by the thought of countless Australian holiday-makers caught up by the new sex laws. But it’s the broader notion of an increasingly conservative Indonesia, and the radical side of Islam that rides along in the shadows, that has never boded well for Australia — either in terms of the micro level of tourism or the macro level of getting along with a neighbour that we will find increasingly difficult to understand.” |
| | | | “It’s not the first time he’s turned fact or fear into folly; Putin has a penchant for cracking jokes about serious issues. Some may be objectively funny, some abhorrently sexist and others just plain weird. In 2013, while visiting a school in Siberia, Putin tested the capabilities of an interactive whiteboard — by drawing a cat’s bum. He told the class of chuckling students ‘this is for you to remember me’. The gag just goes to show that, no matter how terrified the students were, butt jokes will never fail to get a laugh. When addressing Russia’s meddling in the US election in 2017, Putin joked that Russia’s foreign minister would have to be reprimanded for ‘not sharing these secrets with me or the intelligence services’.” |
| | | | | | THE COMMENTARIAT Right to be a bigot hidden in the government’s religious freedom bill – Luke Beck (The Age/Sydney Morning Herald): “Most of the bill is a standard anti-discrimination law that protects people against being discriminated against on the basis of their religion, or lack thereof. To that extent, the bill operates as an uncontroversial protective shield. But the government has added in extra provisions that operate as a sword, allowing people to inflict harm on others. One of those swords is section 41, which establishes a right to make statements of belief. This right overrides all eight state and territory anti-discrimination laws and all of the existing federal anti-discrimination laws, including the Race Discrimination Act and the Sex Discrimination Act.” The need for sustainable farming ($) – Matthew Evans (The Saturday Paper): “If they are honest, farmers know the climate is changing. They notice drier years, tougher years, warmer temperatures and more evaporation of the rain that does fall. Despite knowing things are shifting, a sizeable number of farmers still question human impacts on climate. I admire farmers. I think the alchemy of producing food using sunlight, air, soil and water should be celebrated. But I’d rather get my science from a scientist. And what the science says that should interest farmers most is that the magic bit of earth that does all of the growing, the topsoil, is quickly diminishing.” Scott Morrison is right to put Australia first ($) – Peta Credlin (The Daily Telegraph): “I’m not surprised at Scott Morrison’s tough speech this week, after being at the UN last week, because walking the halls at the UN’s headquarters in New York, even some years back, you could sense the ego, posturing and celebrity that’s infected an organisation that once had the highest of ideals; then there’s the scandalous waste, corruption, and appalling failures like inaction in the face of the Rwandan genocide. In his speech to the Lowy Institute, he articulated a hard-headed view of where Australia sits in the global order and was unapologetic in his “Australia first” positioning. Putting “Australia first” — a more polite version of Trump’s “America first” doctrine does not mean, “Australia only” — as the globalists claim it must — but it does recognise that people’s principal attachments are to family, to community and to country rather than to mankind in general.” | | Know an early bird who doesn’t get the worm?
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| | | HOLD THE FRONT PAGE | WHAT’S ON TODAY Nationwide Extinction Rebellion activists will take part in a week of actions to demand action on climate change, including voting on a motion to declare themselves in rebellion against the government. Melbourne The Aged Care Royal Commission will hold hearing about diversity in aged care. The latest Melbourne Art Trams will be launched, with designs by industrial designer Nyein Chan Aung. Brisbane The NSW Architecture Registration Board will present the 2019 World Architecture Day Oration, “Calling Australia Home”, with architect Tim Williams, artist Fiona Hall and designer Linda Kennedy. Adelaide Semaphore Music Festival will host its inaugural “Down by the River” Opening Ceremony, with Jack Buckskin performing the Kaurna Welcome to Country. Darwin Charles Darwin University will host Innov8, with eight innovators speaking for eight minutes about their new research projects. Brisbane Brisbane’s Boutique Outdoor Cinema, Sunset Cinema, will begin a seven week season. |
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