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PRESSING ISSUENote: This story discusses sexual assault and suicide. The cabinet minister at the centre of rape allegations is expected to address the Australian public this morning, with the ABC reporting that government sources indicate he will front a press conference, deny the allegations, and not step down from his position. The man has reportedly sought legal advice from defamation lawyer Peter Bartlett, a partner at MinterEllison, while the Morrison government apparently hopes this morning’s statement “will mark the end of the matter”. The news comes after NSW police declared their examination of the claim “closed” on the basis that, after the woman’s death last year, there was “insufficient admissible evidence” to proceed, while news.com.au reports that a photo has emerged of the alleged victim and minister on the night of the claimed incident. Malcolm Turnbull had earlier in the day called for the man to identify himself, while Barnaby Joyce has added his voice to calls for an independent investigation. PS: In state news, an Equal Opportunity Commission review has found eight people reported sexual harassment by South Australian MPs or their staff in the past five years. The Sydney Morning Herald also reports that the NSW Liberal Party has adopted a mandatory Code of Conduct and Ethics that targets harassment and includes a pledge, not yet codified in the party’s constitution, to establish an autonomous Conduct Review Committee for complaints. 1800 Respect: 1800 737 732; Lifeline: 13 11 14. | |||||||||||||
MEANWHILE, IN RACISM NEWSAccording to The Sydney Morning Herald, a new Lowy Institute report finds that a whopping one in five Chinese-Australians report being physically threatened or attacked because of their heritage over the past year, with most blaming the global pandemic and the breakdown in relations between Australia and China. In other racism news, The New Daily reports that British neo-Nazi group Sonnenkrieg Division will become the first right-wing group to be formally listed as a terrorist organisation. Elsewhere, SBS investigates how a neo-Nazi was able to use Telegram to gain thousands of followers after uploading a video of himself punching a black security guard at Channel Nine. The assault, which led to two arrests, occurred ahead of the airing of a segment by A Current Affair, into “homegrown extremists”. | |||||||||||||
OPEN AND SHUTThe Victorian government has extended its state of emergency until December, The Age reports, after crossbenchers agreed to a new bill in return for reduced lockdown penalties for children and a new fines review officer for appeals. Meanwhile, the Morrison government has extended the international border ban until June, citing the emergence of more transmissible COVID-19 variants — a move that leaves at least 40,000 Australians stranded amid quarantine caps. | |||||||||||||
LIBERAL MEDIAFinally, in terrific news for media diversity, The Australian ($) reports that chairman of Nine Entertainment and former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello has assumed a greater role in the day-to-day running of the media giant amid a deepening split between directors aligned with competing broadcasting and print divisions. Outgoing chief executive Hugh Marks has reportedly been absent from the past week’s investor meetings ahead of his resignation in November and has left key negotiations with Google and Facebook to Costello and Chris Janz, who runs publishing. Separately, Nine sources point to the speed at which an independent investigation was established into deputy chairman and former Fairfax chairman Nick Falloon — who The Sydney Morning Herald revealed has been accused of allowing his son to use a corporate membership at a prestigious Sydney golf club — relative to Costello’s reluctance to examine Marks’ conduct after he disclosed a personal relationship with former senior executive Alexi Baker. | |||||||||||||
THEY REALLY SAID THAT?
The former finance minister and top-two candidate for OECD Secretary General has come a long way since calling Julia Gillard’s carbon price “a very expensive hoax”, gutting it, and leaving Australia with a seven-year policy vacuum. | |||||||||||||
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THE COMMENTARIATNSW police rape case closure means there is clear precedent on how to behave ($) — Dennis Shanahan (The Australian): “Parliamentarians, politicians, media and victims’ advocates all have a template based on their own behaviour when Bill Shorten, who had been subjected to a decades-old rape allegation, was told Victorian police would not proceed with the case for lack of evidence he identified himself. The then opposition leader said how terrible it had been, how abhorrent the allegation was and how it was untrue.” We need to spend more on aged care and we need to spend it smarter — Editorial (The Age): “The funding question, meanwhile, can only be faithfully answered once the government demonstrates the courage of its stated convictions. Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the existing aged care system, where the focus is on funding providers, as ‘constrained’. He pledged instead “a needs-based system that puts the person at the centre”. Surely the Australian public should only be asked how much they are willing to pay for such a system after Morrison and his government have set out their design for it.” Michael Gudinski: how a titan of the industry shaped Australian music for five decades — Liz Giuffre (The Conversation): “In the book 25 years of Mushroom Records, published in 1998, Michael Gudinski described himself as ‘Chairman, Mushroom Group of Companies and music fan’. There could be no better description of Gudinski, an icon of the Australian popular music industry, who has died at the age of 68.” | |||||||||||||
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