WHO COMES HERE — AND WHY
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Legal professional-Normal Mark Dreyfus haven’t corresponded with the US about Julian Assange for greater than six months, in accordance with a freedom of data request, that’s. Former senator and transparency advocate Rex Patrick says FOIs to each places of work in regards to the Australian got here up empty, regardless of the Albanese authorities’s announcement of a media freedom roundtable. Unbiased MP Monique Ryan says it stinks. She requested Albanese in Parliament final yr about Assange, and his reply supplied a “glimmer of hope” for Assange supporters, as Patrick wrote for Michael West Media. Ryan continued that Assange’s predicament was “a serious risk to press freedom all over the world” but the proof reveals we’ve not requested about him in a very long time. It comes as former British Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, and US public mental Noam Chomsky all testified on Friday in Washington DC to name for US President Joe Biden to drop the costs towards Assange, Democracy Now stories.
In the meantime, a quite totally different case of somebody hoping to enter our shores. US rapper Kanye West (who modified his identify to Ye) ought to be barred from coming to Australia, Opposition Chief Peter Dutton informed 3AW. It comes after West’s snap “marriage ceremony” to Melbourne architect Bianca Censori — the Herald Solar says he desires to fulfill her household. However West’s obvious unravelling prior to now few months has seen him reward Adolf Hitler, spruik far-right conspiracies and insult Jewish folks, amongst different issues. The SMH stories the Govt Council of Australian Jewry has written to Immigration Minister Andrew Giles (who wouldn’t say if West had utilized for an entry visa) saying the rapper has big sway over folks and he’d in all probability rant about anti-Semitism right here too. We have now blocked an anti-Semite earlier than, a former immigration division official informed the paper, however in contrast to West, that particular person was formally charged over a Holocaust denial. It comes as a person accused of killing 24-year-old Cairns girl Toyal Cordingley might be extradited from India to Australia to face trial for her homicide, the ABC stories.
THORPEDOING THE VOICE
Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe says an advisory physique that has parliamentary energy over it’s a “joke”, The Australian ($) stories. It’s nonetheless not clear whether or not the Greens will assist the Voice to Parliament (we must always discover out after the partyroom assembly in February) however Thorpe claims the “top-down” method will imply grassroots voices wouldn’t be heard. Thorpe has lengthy advocated for a treaty earlier than — or perhaps even as an alternative of — the Voice (and, to be truthful, we’re centuries behind nations like Canada on that one) however it’s unwittingly aligning her with conservative staunch No campaigners like Andrew Bolt. Bolt urged Opposition Chief Peter Dutton to oppose it on precept on Sky Information, with the host saying he doesn’t know why the Liberals can’t say “no to racism”, an argument that requires Olympic-level psychological gymnastics to grasp, however anyway.
It comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed the NT authorities’s three-month ban on shopping for takeaway alcohol in Alice Springs on Mondays and Tuesdays (and it may be bought solely between 3pm and 7pm on different days). The NT’s Chief Minister Natasha Fyles additionally introduced takeaways can be one transaction for every particular person every day, which comes after a surge in “alcohol-fuelled youth violence” in Alice Springs, as The Australian ($) places it. It’s a troublesome one, Albo stated — we have to deal with folks with respect; we will’t simply steamroll in with sweeping restrictions. Indigenous elders are cautiously optimistic about Fyles’ and Albanese’s method, Guardian Australia says, however urged folks to hearken to group leaders. Since bans on alcohol in Indigenous communities had been lifted in July, property offences have jumped nearly 60%, in accordance with the NT cops.
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LIMPING KANGAROO
The nosedive of our nationwide spirit continues after the seventh Qantas aircraft in every week bumped into hassle. An hour-long flight from Perth to Kalgoorlie was compelled to land after a mechanical difficulty, information.com.au stories, and was in the end delayed three hours, a lot to the chagrin of the 100 folks on board. On Monday, an Adelaide to Perth flight was 45 minutes in when it rotated due to incomplete paperwork, and an Auckland to Sydney flight issued a mayday name (downgraded later) after an unsettling engine failure final week. Then there was a Qantas aircraft headed from Fiji to Sydney that rotated after crew seen smoke within the cabin on Sunday. Cripes. However one former pilot waved all of it away. Richard de Crespigny stated issues go unsuitable on a regular basis, and “a variety of them usually are not that essential”.
It comes as Office Relations Minister Tony Burke will entrance courtroom alongside the Transport Employees Union, Guardian Australia stories. The union is battling Qantas because it tries to overturn a ruling that discovered the airline illegally outsourced 1700 ground-handlers’ jobs. Burke filed a discover of look on January 16 to intervene within the case. Qantas has lengthy argued the choice was all in regards to the cash, saving it about $100 million yearly, however pundits say it’s about greater than that. It’s in regards to the rights of staff, in an period of industrial reform from the federal government. “It is a matter that may have an effect on many Australians into the long run,” Labor Senator Tony Sheldon stated.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
What’s it in regards to the lure of a queue? As quickly as one sees three or extra folks standing in a line (that appears to be some kind of magic quantity) some deeply bedded sense of curiosity is piqued within the human mind. “Why are they ready? How lengthy have they been ready? How lengthy will they preserve ready?” The New York Occasions’ Dodai Stewart asks urgently. “And most pressing: what do they know that I don’t?” The ability of the queue is so potent you could even rent folks to line up at your store or café simply to ensure passersby decelerate to see what the fuss is about. Just lately Stewart got down to discover out why so many individuals within the Massive Apple are standing in a line. It’s type of at odds with huge metropolis life, the place people are consistently and unerringly late for an important date, and much more curious within the useless of winter. “No matter it’s, it should be essential sufficient to threat the ache of numb toes,” she says.
At 7am in Brooklyn, it’s a line-up for croissants, which received’t shock anybody conversant in Melbourne’s Lune Croissanterie. One frank queuer informed Stewart “I’m French,” as if that settles it. In NoHo, it’s a queue for a cream-filled spherical croissant (I’m detecting a sample right here) that prices the equal of $13.50 (!). When a harried employee emerged to warn that the creamy filling was made with pork gelatin, not less than 5 “trendy younger girls” stalked off from the road. In SoHo, much less pleased line-waiters. One man informed Stewart he couldn’t even pronounce the identify of the store, and after they lastly obtained an opportunity to browse, some gadgets had been too cool to even embody a price ticket. “I hated being in there,” one despondent former queuer stated. Within the East Village, people had been lining up for cancellation tickets for a present beginning Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe (no, not the nude-next-to-a-horse one). However a surprisingly tender second unfolded when one particular person quietly admitted to Stewart: “I get pleasure from a line,” persevering with that “I nearly all the time meet folks.”
Hoping you admire the journey and the vacation spot as we speak.
Only a heads up that there’ll be no Worm tomorrow, people. Warmly wishing you a reflective day.
SAY WHAT?
Weight will change however evil folks will stay evil. I’m right here, combating for all these on the market being abused, fats shamed … I can’t change the world however I’m going to proceed talking up, calling this behaviour out, utilizing my platform for one thing good and to assist different folks on the market and to provide others a voice and attempt to make others really feel much less alone and scared.
Jelena Dokic
The previous Australian tennis champ and Australian Open commentator says she will be able to’t imagine the “insane” insults hurled at her currently, together with that she was a “whale”, “tubby”, and that she “wanted to chop again on the snacks”. Dokic posted a number of the vitriol on-line, including: “Kindness and being a superb particular person issues … dimension shouldn’t matter.”
Ought to we abolish Australia Day awards?
“In years passed by, as Crikey has reported, senior honours had been handed to buddies of the Coalition authorities at a dizzying price. Our trawl by means of the awards made to politicians within the Australia Day and Queen’s birthday honours of 2019 and 2020 confirmed that out of a complete of 62 honours 42 went to Liberal or Nationwide occasion figures whereas 20 went to ALP and independents.
“This implies two-thirds of all gongs went to conservative parliamentarians. There was a big distinction within the distribution, too. In probably the most prestigious classes, the AC and the AO, Liberal and Nationwide occasion grandees obtained 14 of 18 awards.”
‘That is about defending artwork’: why this local weather protester spray-painted a McCubbin portray
“She was arrested on-site on the Artwork Gallery of Western Australia and charged with ‘felony injury or destruction of property’. In addition to tagging the piece in vivid yellow, Partyka glued her arms to the gallery’s partitions whereas Ballardong Noongar man Desmond Blurton rolled out an Aboriginal flag, made an Acknowledgement of Nation, and detailed the destruction of historic and cultural First Nations heritage by the hands of Woodside.
“Partyka didn’t dispute the costs however informed Crikey she rejected the characterisation of the motion as defacing artwork. The 1889 portray was protected by perspex and got here out unscathed.”
The Lewinsky scandal, Clinton’s worst failing, ushered in an unpleasant period of US politics
“Today, two of the legs of Clinton’s coverage stool have damaged off. Massive authorities is again, thanks largely to the pandemic and its spending agenda which is tough to shake, and free commerce has been reshaped right into a narrower coverage of ‘good friend shoring’ and a type of artistic protectionism. Trade coverage is certainly in vogue lately.
“Maybe one of many key issues in Clinton’s legacy is one thing acknowledged however seldom adopted by his successors: his finest on floor communication expertise …In fact, the Clinton years had been stained by the Lewinsky scandal. An affair with a White Home intern — seen as a matter of mendacity and never a lot a gross abuse of energy in a office relationship that couldn’t be extra imbalanced …”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Colombia shifts technique in drug battle away from coca eradication (Al Jazeera)
Ukraine purges officers and governors in largest shake-up of battle (Reuters)
Campaigners criticise Japan agency promoting whale meat from merchandising machines (The Guardian)
Not less than seven useless in California’s second mass capturing in three days (The Washington Put up) ($)
Jacinda Ardern makes one ultimate journey as PM, Hipkins, Sepuloni put together for first day within the job (NZ Herald)
Tanks for Ukraine: Polish PM urges German bravery on Leopard 2 determination (BBC)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Is Australia Day the one factor on the calendar previous its use-by date — Nick Bryant (The SMH) ($): “To my English eyes, selecting January 26 as Australia Day has not solely appeared hard-hearted however weird, for the easy cause it marks the second of British colonisation when the Union flag was first hoisted over Sydney Cove. This ought to be a problematic anniversary for post-colonial Britain, nonetheless extra so for contemporary, multicultural Australia. Even in 1935, when all of the states first determined to have fun Australia Day, it ought to have already got been considered a historic anachronism in a fledging Federation trying to assert itself by itself phrases.
“Coming to dwell in Sydney for the primary time greater than a decade in the past after being posted for various years in Delhi made this public vacation much more incongruous. In India, January 26 is Structure Day, the anniversary of when the nation’s foundational constitution got here into impact, reaffirming its independence from the British Raj. Axiomatically, any nationwide day that alienates, offends and traumatises a good portion of a rustic’s inhabitants isn’t a nationwide day. That January 26, and its murderous and infrequently genocidal colonial aftermath, continues to trigger a lot anguish to the descendants of the unique custodians of the land is cause alone to banish it. ”
China in decline a larger hazard to the worldwide order — Dave Sharma (The Australian) ($): “In terms of nationwide energy, demography may not be all the things, however in the long term it’s nearly all the things. China’s untrammelled rise as a serious financial and strategic energy has been the principle structural driver of the worldwide order these previous three a long time, reshaping buying and selling patterns, diplomatic alliances and the centre of world gravity. China’s rise has been pushed by financial reform and opening, but in addition by beneficial demography — a rising and urbanising working-age inhabitants.
“However as latest Chinese language census knowledge reveals, this demographic tailwind has now gone into reverse. China’s inhabitants fell in 2022, for the primary time since 1961, dropping by 850,000 to 1.41 billion. That is no statistical blip. It displays a gentle drop in China’s beginning price, prompted at first by the introduction of the one-child coverage in 1980, and since pushed by greater family incomes and the accompanying tendency towards smaller households and having kids later. Steps to calm down the one-child coverage, by elevating the restrict to 2 in 2016 after which three in 2021, and state incentives to have extra kids, have did not reverse this development. China’s fertility price is now 1.18 kids per feminine, decrease than many Western nations and decrease even than Japan. This issues globally for 3 causes.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Ngunnawal Nation (also called Canberra)
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Affiliate professor on the Centre for Social Sciences, Southern College of Science and Know-how Jinghong Zhang will communicate at a seminar exploring Gongfu tea’s impression on conventional and cosmopolitan consumption in on a regular basis China, held on the ANU.
