Squat Morrison won't leave and Canadian coke is almost legal
All the news that's fit to mint
All the news that's fit to mint
Happening in (The) Oz today:
🥶Buy an oodie
🕯️And candles
🌬️We might run out of gas
🏡Kirribilli House may have a squatter
🏊♀️The trans athlete debate hits the pool
👻Kate Bush conquers Spotify, hates it
🇳🇿When Jacinda Met Joe
💊MDMA & coke decriminalised in
💖A pink Koran
I regret to advise you, it's time to grab your oodie, socks and maybe even that hoodie you wore throughout lock down which you haven't yet washed.
It's about to get cold. Not just outside. No, we could potentially be on the precipice of a Victorian winter. I don't mean a Melbourne chill, I mean there isn't enough base load power to keep the heaters on.
Bridgeton this is not. We're in for a Charles Dickens' level throwback Thursday.
Here's what you need to know and why layering may not be a fashion statement but a survival tactic as we get through this "polar blast" (and Gemini new moon).
Energy bosses have warned Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania "face potential gas shortages" while power supplies in NSW and Queensland "will be stretched" over the next 24-hours.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said we're also about to confront a “perfect storm’’ of energy price spikes.
The Australian Energy Market Operator, which is like the Big Brother of the power grid and gas markets, had an "emergency telephone hook up" (never a good sign) and warned more than 100 providers they might be forced to cut gas use on the east coast if there is a "shortfall".
The AEMO also invoked an emergency supply guarantee mechanism on gas producers for the first time since it was introduced in 2017.
The Treasurer has backed more onshore gas developments and is close to forcing those who export gas to divert more to us for domestic use.
Basically Putin is at the centre of the aforementioned "perfect storm". Since Europe has sanctioned importing gas from Russia, our exporters are sending more offshore to make up for the European Union-sized hole in the market.
Meanwhile Lake Macquarie's Eraring power station is running out of coal. The power station, owned by Origin, is due to close in 2025 but still keeps the lights on for thousands of homes and businesses. It's been hit by production issues at Centennial Coal's nearby Mandalong mine.
Permission granted to stay in bed today.
Squat Morrison
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison probably read the tea leaves on this looming energy hellscape which could explain why he's still living at Kirribilli House - the offical residence of the prime minister in Sydney.
It's been more than a week now, who's going to tell him?
Turns out Morrisons are still there as the renovations on their home in The Shire are not done and he's waiting on some painting to be finished.
As a comparison, when Tony Abbott lost his job (when he got knifed by Malcolm Turnbull in 2015), he was out of there in three-days.
Oh he's serious
While Morrison is just doing the relatable thing and prolonging packing boxes, UK PM Boris Johnson is under increasing pressure to quit.
Since the report into his involvement in #partygate that saw him fined for attending, and even hosting, gatherings at No. 10 during the UK's harsh Covid lockdowns (measures he installed), he's lost the backing of a number of his colleagues but says it would be "irresponsible" to resign now due to the war in Ukraine and cost of living issues impacting everyday Britons.
No one tell Katherine Deves...
But the trans athlete issue is back and it's going global.
It comes as trans swimmer Lia Thomas has revealed she plans to compete at the 2024 US Olympic swim trials, something that would see her pitted against superstar Katie Ledecky and, potentially, Australia's new gold fish Ariana Titmus.
Titmus is now urging world water sports leaders to be "fair" when developing rules on inclusion in the pool.
"I hope FINA comes up with rules that make it fair and enjoyable for everyone," the Olympic champion said.
Fellow Aussie swimming medal machines Emma McKeon and Mack Horton echoed her sentiments.
Thomas joined the University of Pennsylvania women's swim team in the US after competing for three years on the men's squad.
She is quickly becoming a decorated 400m freestyle swimmer - Titmus and Ledecky's pet event.
Last week, Titmus set a new world record in the 400m freestyle at the Australian championships in Adelaide where she beat Ledecky's old mark with a time of 3:56.40.
State of Oh-rigin
The voice of the NRL is done. Ray Warren - the legendary commentator of rugby league - has retired.
The 78-year-old announced last yesterday he was no longer calling matches for Nine. Immediately calling time on his 55 year career where he's called 99 State of Origin matches.
His news comes just days before Game One of the series kicks off next week at Accor Stadium.
Sorry ladies, Covid could kill your careers
That's the word from former prime minister Julia Gillard as she headed up a workplace gender equality panel at the ANU in Canberra last night.
Gillard said the rise of working from home as the pandemic enters the endemic stage, risks undermining gender equality in workplaces as our bosses may look more favourably on staff who spend more time in the office and reward them with promotions over those who keep minimal contact days.
She warned female employees talking on the bulk of the domestic labour and also working from home more could be left behind if employers recognised and rewarded "visible" staff in the office with opportunities.
Gillard, who chairs the ANU Global Institute for Women's Leadership, said working from home also poses risks for real workplace equality as companies allowed more remote working after adopting it at "a mass scale" during Covid.
Kia ora DC
A week since New Zealand joined the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity - a swanky way of saying "an economic bloc that excludes China" and prime minister Jacinda Ardern has met with US president Joe Biden at the White House.
The agreement was authored by the Biden administration and is designed to counter China's growing dominance in the region. New Zealand signed up asap. Ardern met with Biden at the White House yesterday for their first ever "face to face" talks that canvassed the efforts being made to deal with China, or more specifically, China in the Pacific.
The meeting took on greater importance as New Zealand in recent weeks, like Australia, has raised concerns about China's presence in the region following news that officials in Beijing had signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands.
As Ardern pressed the flesh in Washington, following her successful Harvard address, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong has headed off overseas again. This time to Samoa and Tonga to “renew and strengthen” the ties between Australia and the Pacific nations. It's her second official tour since being sworn in nine days ago.
On Wednesdays we carry pink
In a diverse cabinet that boasts more experience than any ministry since the 1940s, a record number of women, three Indigenous Australians and two Muslim MPs, Government House in Canberra was marinating in symbolism yesterday as the new government signed their new contracts.
When politicians are appointed as ministers they must take an oath. Many do this with a Bible or religious text of their choosing.
New Arts Minister Tony Burke almost needed a forklift for his family Bible.
There’s been some interest in the really large old bible I was sworn in on today as Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for the Arts.
— Tony Burke (@Tony_Burke) June 1, 2022
Dad’s grandfather came to Tumut from Ireland after the famine and bought it on 28 March 1880. pic.twitter.com/Pysj3J9xj5
While new Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus used a Hebrew Bible.
While a pink Koran was used by Muslim MPs, innovation and science minister Ed Husic and youth and early childhood education minister Dr Anne Aly.
Muslim Women Association chief executive officer Maha Abdo sourced the pink text and penned Husic, the first Muslim MP elected to federal parliament, a note that read: "I didn't imagine this happening in my lifetime."
"Every young girl had a pink Koran. Pink, what does it stand for? There’s so much in it. I didn’t realise it was to be gifted to this amazing person who was sworn into parliament," Abdo, who has been pivotal to the success of multiculturalism in Sydney's west, explained the popularity of blush covered scripture.
"For me, it is very much about femininity, purity ... it is also hope in the fact that it reminds me, as well, when the sun sets, the sky goes that pinky colour. The sun has set, and now it’s about to rise."
Everything old is new again
Kate Bush is on top of the Spotify streaming charts thanks to the new season of Stranger Things. Only problem is, she hates Spotify.
Max & Kate Bush: another perfect Stranger Things duo pic.twitter.com/QbiXU3pmfp
— Netflix (@netflix) May 30, 2022
Her song, Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God), which made it to No. 3 when it was released in 1985, is now also at the top of the UK and US iTunes charts.
It's also rocketed to no 4 in the the Spotify Top 200 chart – after a 153% increase in streams. It's now the artist’s most-streamed track, toppling the certified break up banger, Wuthering Heights.
Awkwardly, Bush is leading a campaign against Spotify to change the way that artists are paid.
"The latest detail suggests that artists are paid as little as 0.331 cents per stream or, in other words, $3.31 for every 1000 listens," Sky News business editor Ross Greenwood told us in the lift last night as it blared out of our AirPods.
Oh Canada
Canada's government has announced coke, MDMA and some opioids will be "decriminalised" in the British Columbia province.
It will be a three-year trial whereby small amounts of the gear will be allowed in the hope it will ease the fear of arrest by those who need help and to try and stop the stem deaths happening there due to overdoses.
Speaking overnight PM Justin Trudeau said "science and data" support the experiment and wouldn't rule out a national softening of hard drug laws.
Meghan Markle’s favourite face gym is opening in Australia, Greta Thunberg publishes Andrew Tate’s contact details
All the news that's fit to mint.
Emily Ratajkowski joins the competitive world of online dating, Nick Kyrgios quits at the last minute
All the news that's fit to mint.