Caitlyn Jenner cheers for Cate Campbell and more flag drama
All the news that's fit to mint.
All the news that's fit to mint.
Happening in (The) Oz today:
🥘 Make a casserole today
🇦🇺 More Aussie flag dramas
🗳 The Senate has been decided
🏊🏻♀️ Caitlyn Jenner cheers for Cate Campbell
🆘 Jordan De Goey has made a mess
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Welcome to the shortest day of the year.
The bad news: it's going to be dark today thanks to the shittiest day on the Pagan calendar - the Winter Solstice. So it's time to dry brush your scales, put on a casserole, sip some mulled wine and lean into what you want to manifest this year.
The good news: the days are only set to get longer as we start the march toward summer once again (thank Baby Cheeses) and we can wear our puffers with shorts instead of thermals.
Speaking of good news, there is some for energy minister Chris Bowen and our power grid.
The Australian Energy Market Operator said electricity reserves are improving, but conditions remain "volatile" in the National Energy Market.
The AEMO confirmed in a late update on Monday that there was enough power for us to have hot showers before bed and before work on Tuesday morning.
“The current position has improved due to softer electricity demand driven by increased temperatures, the return to service of several large generating units, and other measures implemented in collaboration with network businesses to ensure maximum availability of critical transmission infrastructure,” a spokesperson said.
How good. Except on second thought, the sooner this place warms up the sooner we'll all start being told to turn off our air conditioners instead of our heaters.
No idea what we'll do when our summer electricity demands kick in, but at least when we're confronted with issues like this we'll now know what to expect - more sweat from both us plebs and the politicians who still haven't sorted out the electricity crisis.
Mercy mission
Meanwhile, we should be thanking our lucky stars right now that things are at least stable here in Australia from a political and economic point of view, as Sri Lanka is a mess.
Yet another boat of people seeking asylum has been intercepted trying to make it to Australia. That's now the fourth Border Force and Sri Lankan authorities have rescued since the election four weeks ago.
The new home affairs minister Clare O'Neil made an urgent trip to Colombo to address an apparent rise in people smugglers heading for Australia from Sri Lanka.
She met with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and, separately, with prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister G L Peiris to reinstate Australia’s commitment to help the government there tackle crime including people smuggling and drug smuggling .
But Labor has maintained its hard line on refugees and boat turn backs and confirmed it will continue the take-back operations that took place under the Coalition government.
Australia will provide Sri Lanka about $50m to help feed and care for its people.
Penny Wong, the foreign affairs minister, announced the urgent aid package on Monday, with nearly half to be contributed immediately.
Senator Wong said Sri Lanka was facing its “worst economic crisis in 70 years” and there will be “deeper consequences for the region if this crisis continues”.
Crisis is correct.
As far back as last year the health system in Sri Lanka was so stretched hospitals were running out of endotracheal tubes - the material necessary to help keep premature and sick babies alive. Doctors have now taken to calling old uni mates or putting calls out on social media for supplies.
Food is set to run out in September so people are being told to start growing their own vegetables at home.
Bandt ban
Greens leader Adam Bandt has refused to stand next to the Australian flag. He told reporters it's a “hurtful” symbol to many Indigenous Australians.
A Greens staffer moved the flag out of view ahead of Bandt’s press conference in Sydney on Monday.
“For many people, this flag represents dispossession and the lingering pains of colonisation,” Mr Bandt said.
“Through Treaty with First Nations’ People and by moving to a Republic, we can have a flag that represents all of us.”
Ahead of a press conference with Greens leader Adam Bandt, a Greens staffer has just moved the Australian flag out of the TV camera shot. #auspol pic.twitter.com/g524GbpKKH
— Isobel Roe (@isobelroe) June 20, 2022
It's now day three of flags being in the news.
It comes after NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet pledged $25 million to fly an Aboriginal flag permanently from the Harbour Bridge, despite not knowing why it would cost so much to add an extra flagpole to the structure.
Flying the Aboriginal flag on the Coat Hanger was also a policy idea of former NSW Labor leader Luke Foley.
Something the premier called "Labor's latest social justice warrior cause" back in 2018.
NSW's shadow minister for water and homelessness Rose Jackson had the receipts.
I have a great idea for Dom Perrottet. Apologise for this ugly and partisan attack on the policy of flying the indigenous flag on the Harbour Bridge now that your policy is *double checks notes* flying the indigenous flag on the Harbour Bridge. pic.twitter.com/dwN2sqh1UD
— Rose Jackson (@RoseBJackson) June 20, 2022
Perrottet said on Monday he had changed his position since spending more time listening to and learning from Indigenous Australians about the importance of the flag being flown daily on top of one of our most important landmarks.
What's slower than a wet week?
The counting of votes for the Senate following an election.
Monday - a full month after we cast our votes - we finally got confirmation of who more of our Senators will be with counts finishing in WA and Victoria.
So here's the official results of the upper house:
- The Liberal-Nationals coalition won 32 seats
- Labor won 26
- The Greens have 12, after gaining three seats
- One Nation have two
- Jacqui Lambie Network have two
Clive Palmer spent about $100m on the election, fielding candidates in every seat. All he got was a bloke called Ralph Babet who won for the United Australia Party in Victoria. Babet, who also goes by the name "Deej" (I don't know either) is a real estate agent who attended a few of those "freedom rallies" and he thinks Canberra is "horrible" and he's only taking his seat - which comes with a $211k base salary - as he wants to end North Korean "dictatorship" Australia is experiencing.
Former rugby star and activist David Pocock beat out Liberal senator Zed Seselja. Pocock will be the first Independent senator to represent the ACT.
Silencing The Voice
The West Australian arm of the Liberal party will consider opposing any attempts to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament when its members meet for a state conference next month.
"The party, which is reeling from heavy defeats at the recent federal and state elections, will debate a motion from the party’s Fremantle division calling on the Dutton Liberal opposition 'to oppose an Indigenous voice to parliament in light of the fact that almost a dozen Indigenous Australians have already made it into federal parliament on merit negating the need for arbitrary affirmative action policies'," The Australian, the John Howard to our Andrew Peacock, reports.
Jenner jeer
Caitlyn Jenner has backed the world swimming association's decision to form an open category for trans athletes.
It worked! I took a lot of heat - but whatâs fair is fair! If you go through male puberty you should not be able to take medals away from females. Period. https://t.co/qqZq7gnt6g
— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) June 19, 2022
Jenner is an Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete and has rallied against trans women competing against women in sport for years now.
Read more of our reporting on this here.
Villanelle is a goodie
If you haven't been Googling reviews of Aussie playwright Suzie Miller's show Prima Facie. What on earth have you been doing with your life?
The one woman show stars the irrepressible and immaculate Jodie Comer in her West End debut about this play that'll make your blood boil in these post #MeToo, post #JusticeForJohnnyDepp times.
"Tessa is a young, brilliant barrister. She has worked her way up from working class origins to be at the top of her game; defending; cross examining and winning. An unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge," is the pitch which lured in a heap of praise for both Miller's writing and Comer's performance in London.
The good news is since it'll take us what seems like months to get a passport, Prima Facie is coming to us. Well to cinemas to be more precise. It'll premiere in a few theatres from Thursday.
De Gone?
Another day, another drama for Collingwood star Jordan De Goey.
The talented, party-prone, footballer has had a lucrative contract rescinded after a video of him partying in Bali on a mid season break surfaced online over the weekend.
He was set to sign a new deal with the AFL club, where he could potentially make the finals this year, for two years, with a trigger for a further two, worth about $800,000 A YEAR.
However, the withdrawal of the contract doesn't mean he's been dropped.
This latest incident follows him being arrested in New York last year for a drunken incident involving a couple. He plead not guilty to charges of “forcible touching and assault” after he spent a night in a Manhattan jail cell but accepted a lesser charge of "harassment in the second degree".