| ||
 |
Good morning, early birds. Tennis, golf and clay shooting clubs with Coalition ties were among the lucky recipients of Bridget McKenzie’s sports grants, and in less scandalous news, Australians are increasingly concerned about the environment. | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||
GUNNING FOR A WINEmbattled minister Bridget McKenzie reportedly approved a $36,000 grant for a clay-target shooting club as part of her sports rort that, despite delivering the funding announcement personally, she had not disclosed her membership to, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. Funds also went to Liberal-linked tennis and golf clubs, The Guardian revealed yesterday, with a Perth tennis club boasting “million-dollar views” receiving $500,000 and an Adelaide Hills golf club bagging $190,000. Meanwhile, the former sports minister has been handballing questions from The Australian ($) about the scheme’s approval process, eligibility guidelines and committee makeup to her successor Richard Colbeck. | |||||||||||||
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERNAn online poll by Ipsos Australia has seen “the environment” surge past “cost of living”, “healthcare” and “the economy” to become participants’ biggest worry, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. The results are perhaps unsurprising. The ABC reports that rain has only slowed, not stopped, bushfires in NSW, and that total fire bans apply across most of Victoria ahead of extreme weather threats today. Further north, more than 16,000 customers in southeast Queensland experienced power outages last night following thunderstorms, according to The New Daily. | |||||||||||||
TWEET AND CHEATFinance Minister Mathias Cormann addressed the World Economic Forum this morning with the Coalition’s “meet and beat” our 2030 emissions projections line — despite the government’s own projections showing a ~50% fail, sans any kind of accounting trick. Meanwhile, Scott Morrison has called for a national standard for hazard reduction, reports The Australian ($) — and in turn, openly downplayed the need for emissions reduction. However, ecologists told The Sydney Morning Herald that decades of underspending on research weakens the government’s assessment abilities, let alone recovery plans. | |||||||||||||
THEY REALLY SAID THAT?
The former secretary of state doesn’t hold back when talking about her former Democratic rival (and subsequent campaigner). | |||||||||||||
CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
READ ALL ABOUT IT | |||||||||||||
THE COMMENTARIATIt’s hard for people with severe mental illness to get in the NDIS – and the problems don’t stop there — Nicola Hancock and Jennifer Smith-Merry (The Conversation): “People with a mental illness were the last group to be included in the NDIS. Initial planning focused on physical and intellectual disability, failing to recognise the unique needs and challenges of people with psychosocial disabilities.” Easing of trade tensions will help the Australian economy ($) — Josh Frydenberg (The Australian): “The phase one trade deal between the US and China is good news. No one benefits when these two economic giants are in conflict. The International Monetary Fund predicted that, if left unresolved, the trade dispute would reduce the level of global GDP by 0.8 per cent — $US700bn by this year.” Our first peoples already have a blueprint to remake the fire-ravaged land, it’s in our country’s bones — Jack Pascoe (The Guardian): “Perhaps what we lack is not a program of land clearing and ramped up fuel reduction burning. Perhaps what we lack, and desperately need, is a vision for our environment, for the species and ecosystems it will support, and how our communities will sit within these environments.” | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| COPYRIGHT © 2020 PRIVATE MEDIA OPERATIONS PTY LTD, PUBLISHERS OF CRIKEY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
