Labor MP Matt Thistlethwaite’s Greens preference a betrayal of Jewish community
No one’s cuddled up to the Jews quite like Labor MP Matt Thistlethwaite, which is why we keep seeing him jump at every opportunity to shake hands or stand solemnly at a photo call with the community’s biggest machers.
There he was at a synagogue prayer service in January with Board of Deputies president David Ossip, the picture dutifully uploaded to Thistlethwaite’s Facebook account for everyone to admire. A week ago he was videoed shaking hands with Jewish House CEO Rabbi Mendel Kastel and promising $2m for the charity if good fortune rained upon Labor come polling day (dutifully uploaded to the Facebook account as well).
Much solidarity with the Jews of Kingsford Smith, that seems to be the essence of the Thistle. When he’s not railing against the recrudescence of anti-Semitism he’s giving longwinded interviews belabouring every tired talking point of how the government really, truly, hasn’t abandoned the Jewish community, even though it really, truly has, and did for many, many months, starting with the insanity of telling Jews to stay out of the Sydney CBD on October 9, 2023 for their own safety, while a thuggish mob corralled outside the Opera House threatening violence.
“I understand that sentiment,” Thistlethwaite told the J-Wire news website a few days ago, speaking of this abandonment, “but I ask people to look at the facts: reform after reform, funding, engagement. That’s what matters.”
Is that what matters? We thought it was not BSing people that really mattered, which is why everyone following this story was left aghast on Wednesday when Thistlethwaite unveiled his How to Vote card for the 2025 election. It features the startling and straight-faced instruction that voters should preference the Greens and their candidate Keiron Brown when they vote on May 3.
Yes, the Greens, who effectively reject Israel’s existence; who walked out of parliament chanting “Free, free Palestine” when Labor tried to pass a solidarity motion with Israel in the days after the October 7 attacks; who were accused by Foreign Minister Penny Wong of collaborating with violent pro-Palestine demonstrators; who were similarly accused by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus of inciting attacks on political offices; and whose deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqi, can’t bring herself to say whether terrorist group Hamas should be dismantled or not.
No great shock that such a lavishly chicane turn by Thistlethwaite is being viewed as high treachery by the very community he’s sought to ingratiate himself with for months. No abandonment by Labor, none at all.
“Knife in the back” was the response from the Australian Jewish Association on Instagram. And can you blame it?
Kingsford Smith is a safe Labor seat with a margin of 13.3 per cent that Thistlethwaite has held since 2013. He doesn’t need the Greens to stay in parliament, so it beats us as to why he’s hopped into bed with them anyway. YB
More power issues
Queensland’s state-owned power company, CS Energy, has been nothing but trouble for successive Queensland governments. And that seems likely to continue, with Czech investor Sev.en Global looking set to emerge as the half-owner of the Callide C power plant.
Yep, that’s the Callide C station that has plunged the Crisfulli government into turmoil, after Queensland Treasurer and Energy Minister David Janetzki somehow failed to mention a fresh explosion crippling its output during a major energy policy speech that put the benefits of coal-fired power at its heart.
The omission, allegedly the result of CS Energy downplaying the incident in its report to Queensland ministers, led to the accelerated exit of power boss Darren Busine, along with the power plant’s general manager.
And on Wednesday the CS Energy board put out a grovelling apology, saying senior management had “understated the gravity of the incident”.
“The recent incident has once again highlighted the deep-seated cultural problems at CS Energy that have not been addressed,” the statement said.
Those would be the deep-seated cultural problems identified in the report into earlier explosions at Callide C conducted by forensic engineer Sean Brady – a report that CS Energy and its lawyers tried mightily to keep the public from seeing.
It only came to light because Sev.en funded the appointment of FTI Consulting’s John Parks as a special purpose administrator to the private company that owned half of Callide C. Remember also that Labor premier Steven Miles swore to return the power plant to full public ownership in the wake of the Brady Report’s release. Well, here’s another thing CS Energy and the Queensland government have forgotten to mention.
That’s not going to happen.
Sev.en, owned by Czech coal baron Pavel Tykac, has quietly bought out its Chinese former partners in the joint venture that owns half of the power station.
And CS Energy didn’t buy out its share of Callide C, as promised by Miles.
Now, according to the latest missive from FTI, Sev.en’s proposal to recapitalise the companies that own the half-share in Callide C will head to court at the end of the month. If successful, that will leave CS Energy to deal with an angry co-owner for the remaining life of the asset.
Why does that matter? Having a private owner looking over its shoulder is probably the last thing CS Energy wants, given ongoing troubles at the plant. And remember, the entire point of appointing Parks as an administrator was to help make sure investigations into the 2021 explosions were done properly – with a view to lodging a substantial claim for compensation if their cause was bumbling incompetence at the state-owned power company.
Given Janetzki’s power plan revolves around keeping Queensland’s coal-fired fleet running for years longer than previously forecast, you’d think Sev.en will remain a thorn in the state government’s side for quite some time. NE
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