Your noon Briefing: Life-changing decisions made ‘without due regard’, says Bishop
Welcome to your noon digest of what’s been making news and what to watch for.
Hello readers. Here is your noon roundup of today’s top stories and a long read for lunchtime.
Decisions, decisions
Outgoing Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is staying in federal parliament and says she still wants justice for the families of MH17 victims. The Perth MP will sit on the backbench as the member for Curtin, despite speculation she could immediately leave parliament. At a press conference this morning, Ms Bishop suggested she had some regrets over the events of last week. The 62-year-old launched a failed bid to replace Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister on Friday, knocked out in the first round of voting for the Liberal leadership. She quit as foreign minister on Sunday after five years in the job and more than a decade as the Liberals’ deputy leader.
“The chain of events that unfolded last week was at such a rapid pace that I had to make a number of life-changing decisions without giving them my usual due regard for the consequences.”
Julie Bishop
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Melbourne Metro
Melbourne could become home to Australia’s first New York or Paris-style underground Metro system as part of a $50 billion vision for city and suburban rail, announced today by Victoria’s Andrews government. In his biggest and most ambitious pre-election pitch to date, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrew unveiled a $50 billion, decades-long plan to create a new, underground train system in Melbourne’s suburbs which connects 10 train lines with one, massive suburban loop.
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‘Slut-shamed out of politics’
Emma Husar has claimed she was “slut-shamed” out of politics after scandalous allegations of sexual harassment, bullying and entitlement misuse were made public. The 44 complaints levelled against Ms Husar made by 22 people included allegations of sexual harassment and bullying and that diverted Labor funds into her personal bank account.
“That’s actually what brought my career in politics to an end was being slut-shamed so viciously, with no ability to come back and stand up for myself. I guess slut-shaming is the oldest trick in the book to bring down a woman. It’s almost used as a method of torture.”
Emma Husar
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Parting shot
In his final public words to America, John McCain has both expressed his love of his country and launched an implicit attack on Donald Trump. In a statement read by his family spokesman yesterday the Arizona senator pleaded with Americans to overcome their divisions and not to “despair of our present difficulties.”
“We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been.”
John McCain
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The long read: Voluntourism for a better world
Combining good works with your overseas travel seems like a perfectly altruistic adventure. Alas “voluntourism” is a road with twists and shocking turns, the worst being the discovery that tourists’ generous empathy for orphans created a child-trafficking racket in several countries. The key to getting best results for all concerned? Do your homework.
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Comment of the day
“I think Dutton sacrificed himself to get rid of Turnbull, no one else had enough balls to take him on so he forced others in the party to step forward.”
Ron, in response to ‘Clowns to the left, jokers to the right: Dutton’s amateur hour failure’.
China’s great wall of silence
China deliberately concealed information about the coronavirus, and now it is fighting an inquiry. So what is Beijing hiding?
Your noon Briefing
Your 2-minute digest of the day’s top stories.