| ||
 |
| Good morning, early birds. The government is facing pressure to spark Australia’s sluggish economy, and ASIO reports that it is “spread thin” in the face of mounting threats. It’s the news you need to know, with Rachel Withers. | |||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||
SPARK IT UPBusiness leaders are calling on the government to step up its fiscal efforts, demanding financial stimulus to “spark” Australia’s lagging economy, Nine reports. Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox called the IMF’s latest outlook — which saw Australia’s growth forecast slashed from 2.8% to 1.7% — “disturbing”, calling for tax cuts and infrastructure projects to be brought forward, sentiments echoed by Labor. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has vowed to keep his “cool” on the economy ($), The Australian reports, standing by his belief that tax and interest rate cuts should do it, and claiming the planned surplus will shield Australia from “uncertain times”. | |||||||||||||
BIT OF A STRETCHA “stretched” ASIO ($) has warned the government that it is overworked and underfunded, falling short in intelligence gathering and providing advice to security partners on foreign interference threats, The Australian reports. Former director-general Duncan Lewis used the 2018-19 report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, to argue the agency lacks sufficient funding, with an elevated terrorist threat and “unprecedented” foreign interference increasing its workload. The report also found that the threat from extreme right-wing groups had increased, with such groups “more cohesive and organised than they have been in previous years”, The Guardian notes. | |||||||||||||
MORE ADF SCRUTINYAn Afghan human rights report leaked to the ABC contains new and disturbing allegations of violence against unarmed civilians by Australian special forces. The report into a March 2012 raid on a farming community in southern Afghanistan found that two villagers were shot and killed. Various other villagers were “roughed up” and injured, including a four-year-old boy. An Australian investigation found that the two dead men were combatants and that the raid was justified, but Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission claims otherwise, finding that all the dead and injured were unarmed civilians. | |||||||||||||
THEY REALLY SAID THAT?
The outgoing Liberal senator and soon-to-be ambassador in Washington says Bill Shorten’s unfavourable image was an election-deciding factor. | |||||||||||||
READ ALL ABOUT IT | |||||||||||||
CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
THE COMMENTARIATEnough talk about job equality. Just do it, bosses – Pru Goward (The Age/Sydney Morning Herald):“But wait. Diversity is not rocket science. You want more women as executives, board members, construction hands, Telstra technicians or air traffic controllers? You want more ethnicity? You want more kids from public schools? Do what the books say: first, you measure what you have so there is a benchmark. What gets measured gets done. Then you do it. If the chief executive or board chair wants more women in the team, they should say so. Make it an instruction. Ditto race; make sure the number of freckle-faces around the room reflects the community you’re serving. Ditto disabilities, notwithstanding a job’s physical requirements. Ditto –and here is a big unmentionable elephant in the room – class. ” HSC exams reduce children’s education history to a meaningless number ($) – Louise Roberts (The Daily Telegraph): “Every year in NSW we take a bunch of 17 and 18 year olds and reduce them to a number, their lifetime of achievement to date boiled down to a mere statistic. And this week — as the first HSC exam begins and those teen moods lurch with anxiety — we’re doing it again. It’s the closest thing we have to a rite of passage that pretty much everyone takes part in, a coming of age ritual that we hope will launch them into adulthood. Is this really the best we can offer young people? Yes, of course, this year as every year we hear the calls that the HSC is ‘not the be all and end all’, and that even with a less than stellar result, happiness and career success can still be on the cards. Well, up to a point.” Dear Scott Morrison, I am so scared my ex-husband will kill me I keep a notebook marked ‘for the coroner’ ($) – Anonymous (The Guardian): “I do not need sympathy or hollow words, and nor do the other victims of domestic violence across our country. I need to know that my government cares enough about my life and the lives of my children to act now to implement what you already know needs to be done. It may very well be the case that the terms of reference of your new inquiry are important to many, but they should not undermine the safety of children and families who need you to act now. My concern about the fact of this inquiry is amplified by the appointment of senator Pauline Hanson as co-chair. Hanson has demonstrated through her own words that she is incapable of exercising impartiality in relation to these issues and is therefore an unsuitable choice to lead this piece of work. She has made it clear that she believes that women like me routinely lie about domestic violence. I can assure you, prime minister, that I have not lied, and I am genuinely distressed by Hanson’s comments. I am fearful that my abuser will take confidence from Hanson’s rhetoric and that I will be even less safe than I was before she so publicly called me, and other women like me, a liar.” | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| COPYRIGHT © 2019 PRIVATE MEDIA OPERATIONS PTY LTD, PUBLISHERS OF CRIKEY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
