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Making news: First Rebel Wilson now Kit Connor is forced out, while Albanese wins 'nerd grand final'

All the news that's fit to mint.

Jenna ClarkeEditorial Director
7 min read
5:45PMNovember 02, 2022.
Updated 2:13PMNovember 03, 2022
The Oz
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All the news that's fit to mint.

What's happening in (The) Oz:

🤓 The 'nerd grand final' took place in Melbourne

👵🏻 We have to 'disrupt' nursing homes 

✊🏾 More memorials for Cassius have been held

🔫 We've given the Solomon Islands $1 million worth of guns for Christmas

🎱 The new gambling messages are absolutely judging you

🏳️‍🌈 An inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes has kicked off

🦘 The former UK Health Minister quit politics to pursue a career in reality TV in Australia

💔 Kit Connor has been Rebel Wilson-ed

🐛 Heidi Klum jumps the shark as a worm

G'day, 

And a special hello to Fatman Scoop who is in town.

How do we know this?

He attempted to ambush Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a radio interview on Wednesday.

Again.

Mr Scoop would really like to be supported by the PM - the artist formerly known as DJ Albo - for his upcoming DJ set next Friday.

The rapper asked him only a few months ago during a similar "bit" staged by an FM breakfast radio show.

Albanese was in busy in Melbourne hanging with our colleagues at The Australian-Melbourne Institute Outlook conference. Which he pumped up when speaking with Fifi Box, a guy called Nick and former AFL football Brendan Fevola - who is probably better remembered for drunkenly harassing Chris Judd at the Brownlow and circulating intimate images of Lara Worthington -  without her permission.

"I'm speaking at the Economic and Social Policy Outlook Conference," Albanese said, explaining to the Fifi, Fev and Nick show on Fox FM why he was in Melbourne.

"That sounds fun... Yeah, real fun" Fevola replied with his sarcastic font on.

"It's hosted by Melbourne Uni every year. It's a big conference that they have every year. So it's the conference that stops the nation," the PM joked.

"Wow. Is this like the nerd grand final?" 

Ever the diplomat, the PM replied: "It's a bit like that" before telling Fatman Scoop to "slide into my DMs" for the proposed double act.

Later in the day, at the "nerd grand final", Treasurer Jim Chalmers, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten and Aged Care Minister Anika Wells outlined their priorities for the country and their portfolios.

The Treasurer said rising inflation will mean economic headwinds will get a "little harder" to endure before they get better, but has promised things will get easier for Australians.

Chalmers said rising inflation rates influenced the cost-of-living measures, supply and Budget relief. Which we'll hear more about in due course.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers speaking here at The Australian-Melbourne Institute's Outlook Conference.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers speaking here at The Australian-Melbourne Institute's Outlook Conference.

The PM is concerned, like his entire team are, about the rising cost of gas (and all of the things tbh) and said he wouldn't rule out taking action on doing things like regulating energy prices.

“The truth is that there are quite extraordinary profits being made. We are seeking a cooperative arrangement," Albanese said.

“I lead a government that consults. I lead a government that tries to bring people together.”

Aged care requires disruption and innovation but lacks "imagination" right now as the sector deals with the Covid recovery but also a lack of policy reform to ensure the care of both workers and clients. 

With the boomers the next generation set to enter the "aged care" era, we should be preparing now. These are the people - our parents and grandparents - who revolutionised every industry they've encountered and are not short of opinions (you've seen how they order their 'extra hot, half shot' coffees) or cash. 

Experts and Wells said with them coming into the sector - expect about 350,000 of them by 2040 - we gotta start planning now.

Anika Wells, Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Sport, actually worked in aged care before she entered politics
Anika Wells, Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Sport, actually worked in aged care before she entered politics

Those Karens will not be silenced not now. Not ever.

Peter Scutt, chief executive and founder of online platform Mable, which brings together those needing care and those providing it, said traditional models of providing care in the home did not put enough of the decision-making power in the hands of the older consumer.

“Often people default to the view of older Australians as vulnerable individuals who need to be dependent on providers in order to keep them safe,” Scutt said.

“However this is not how many older Australians see themselves. Older Australians have a lifetime of building capacity, having careers, owning homes and making decisions. They are after all, you and me,” he said.

Scutt told the conference there were growing numbers of small businesses and sole operators entering the market to provide bespoke in-home care services to older Australians, driven by demand as they look to stay in their home for as long as possible.

Bring on Uber for aged care.

Meanwhile, Indigenous leader Marcia Langton predicted the poorest Aboriginal Australians – people living in remote locations such as the Western desert – will become even poorer as Australia's Indigenous population becomes largely urbanised.

Professor Langton, who leads a team of health researchers at Melbourne University, told the Strategic Outlook conference that about a third of the population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will never close the gap in health and life expectancy within our lifetime.

About a third could close the gap with non-Indigenous Australians "if things go right", she said.

Professor Langton told the conference she counted herself among the final third of Indigenous Australians who had either already closed the gap or were very close to it.

Thousands gather for Cassius Turvey

More people have gathered around the country to mourn the death of 15-year-old Cassius Turvey who was allegedly murdered as he walked home from school.

Cassius' mum, Mechelle Turvey, led thousands in a march through Perth's CBD calling for  "change in the name of Cassius".

A 21-year-old man has since been charged with murdering Cassius who died from extensive head and brain injuries 10 days after being attacked. 

A statement from Ms Turvey was read out loud at the Sydney Town Hall vigil thanking everyone who attended the vigils.

Ms Turvey also called for an end to violence - including that which may come from angered supporters. 

"I don't want any more violence," she said in the statement.

"I am the only person who can get justice for my son. Stand alongside me and I appreciate everyone."

READ MORE: Nation mourns Cassius Turvey's death on his 'most favourite day'

Guns and ammo for Christmas

Well, it's officially time.

All I Want For Christmas Is You season is here again and the song is already charting (again) on the Billboard charts.

Speaking of Christmas coming early, Australia took Australia Post's package delivery cut off dates so seriously, gifts have already arrived to our international friends.

Like the Solomon Islands' police who received an arsenal of 60 new semiautomatic rifles and 13 new vehicles from us.

The $1.3 million "gift" was presented to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force this week amid ongoing Australian government concerns over the country’s Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s security partnership with China.

The MK18 rifles would provide the Solomon Islands police “with enhanced capabilities to counter criminal threats and maintain peace and stability,” Australian Federal Police Acting Commander Clinton Smith said.

However there are are concerns from the country's opposition the weapons could be used, instead, to suppress political dissent.

Gambling PSAs are more opinionated than your most critical mate

The "gamble responsibly" tagline that appears on advertisements, and said quickly by ageing athletes now relegated to flogging odds on TV,  is to be ditched and replaced with seven new options.

Expect to see:

  • "Chances are you're about to lose"
  • "Imagine what you could be buying instead"
  • "You win some. You lose more"
  • "What's gambling really costing you?"
  • "Think. Is this a bet you really want to place?"

Who knew bureaucrats could channel "aggrieved Tinder user" so succinctly.

These new requirements will come in seven years after a three-month review was conducted back in 2015 by former New South Wales premier Barry O'Farrell.

The Prime Minister said the new gambling ad reforms are about targeting "problem gamblers" - not that gambling itself is a "problem". 

"The problem is a group of people who will become problem gamblers and that can be devastating for them."

He said the focus of the advertising reforms weren't to say "all gabling is bad'' but to highlight for problem gamblers it can cause "enormous harm".

"I think we are getting the balance right - not trying to impose a complete nanny state solution, but trying to warn people that it can be an issue and to give them pause for thought," he said.

Long, overdue investigation

A special commission of inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes has begun in Sydney.

The inquiry will review over 100 unsolved deaths that occurred in NSW between 1970 and 2010 and are suspected to be motivated by anti-LGBTIQ bias.

The cases were selected after every unsolved death within the 40 year period - over 700 cases - were reviewed. The inquiry will also look at 86 missing persons cases - selected from the over 500 cases documented during that time by NSW Police.

Speaking at the first public hearing of the inquiry on Wednesday, counsel assisting Peter Gray, SC urged any witnesses to the deaths to come forward.

"If you have had something weighing on your mind for years about these things, now is your chance to do something to make some amends," he said.

"Now is the time to break your silence.”

From politics to reality TV

Some would say the sectors are one in the same. However the UK's former Health Minister, who led the country's (not great) Covid response, has been suspended from the Conservative Party for joining the cast of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here that will commence filming in Australia soon.

Matt Hancock, who was forced to quit his job as Health Secretary after he was filmed kissing his colleague which put him in breach of COVID rules - the ones he established - will join pop singer Boy George and royal husband Mike Tindall, who is married to Princess Anne's daughter, Zara Tindall.

Celebrities undergo challenges, like eating insects and being trapped with snakes, and are voted out by the public. 

One of his branch members wished him well.

"I'm looking forward to him eating a kangaroo's penis. You can quote me on that," Andy Drummond, the deputy chairman of his local Tory association, told London's The Telegraph.

Heidi Klum has jumped the shark

The queen of Halloween continues her reign.

@enews

Heidi Klum once again takes the bait for ICONIC Halloween costumes. 🎣

♬ original sound - All Things Disney

Now this is heart stopping

Kit Connor - the break out star of Netflix's new series du jour Heartstopper - has been pressured into "outting" himself.

On Twitter.

He is only 18.

The actor has hit out at his critics while coming out as bisexual in a pointed tweet.

Connor, who portrays Nick Nelson in the show, returned to social media after a break from to share a message to those who have “forced” him to come out following accusations of “queerbaiting” and rampant speculation about his sexuality off-screen.

Revolting behaviour IRL. However the series is straight from heaven.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/the-oz/news/making-news-kit-connor-gets-rebel-wilsoned-while-the-pm-wins-the-nerd-grand-final/news-story/481083c29a6f5087cae2df179bf3b513