A Greens MP loves Johnny Depp but no one likes Boris Johnson
All the news that's fit to mint.
All the news that's fit to mint.
Happening in (The) Oz today:
🇦🇺 At least one Australian politician likes Johnny Depp
🚲 Albo and the Indonesian president remade BMX Bandits
🇬🇧 Boris Johnson almost got fired by his own party
🐀 The ATO will let us claim our RATs
🏌🏻♀️ A 'kid from Perth' is now the world's best women's golfer
🧙🏻♀️ Wednesday Addams is getting her own TV show
⚡️ EVs are set to be more affordable in the NT
🧬 A major DNA disaster in Queensland to be reviewed
But just when you think politics has calmed down and serotonin inducing stuff like this happens:
Another MP back home is always waiting in the wings to step into the void of bonkers parliamentarian behaviour.
Today that position has been filled by Tasmanian Greens leader Cassy O‘Connor who has kind of apologised for making controversial comments in support of Johnny Depp.
Yes, once again the Venn diagram of Australian politics and Depp is a circle. Just this time without Barnaby Joyce and puppies.
O'Connor issued a thread of tweets attempting to explain her position after she attracted criticism for liking derogatory tweets about Amber Heard, then sharing and defending her views about the defamation trial between Depp and his ex-wife.
🧵 of contrition ..
— Cassy O'Connor 🌻 (@CassyOConnorMP) June 5, 2022
I want to acknowledge, and genuinely apologise for, the hurt and confusion I have caused by allowing myself to be drawn into debate on the evidence in the Depp Heard trial.
The trial itself has been triggering for victim survivors everywhere, including me.
O’Connor accused Heard of being a “perpetrator” and not a “survivor” on social media but subsequently apologised for the comments after admitting she had watched “too much of the trial”.
She also achieved having Heard's name recorded on Tasmania's Hansard. O’Connor called her "a total fake" during a sitting of Tassie's House of Assembly as part of an insult towards a Labor MP.
"Mr Speaker, someone please give Ms O’Byrne an Oscar. What a performance. In fact, she is about as good at that lectern as Amber Heard is in the Johnny Depp trial, a total fake," O’Connor said.
O'Connor, despite being a busy MP, said she had watched a lot of the seven-week trial and liked a number of tweets including these:
Many people accepted her apology, with one supporter saying: "You're forgiven, Cassey. Don't worry about it. You do amazing things for the planet. Blame Mercury Retrograde."
BoJo has lost his mojo
The Mean Girls had their Burn Book, the British parliament has the 1922 Committee.
It's a group of Tory backbench MPs who (just like they used to here) weld a lot of power and influence within their party.
Before you think you're having a bad day, imagine being Boris Johnson and more than 54 letters had been written by your colleagues basically telling you to "Retire Bitch".
Late last night, a bloke called Graham Brady, who is the chairman of the 1922 committee, said the threshold of letters had been passed to trigger a "vote of no-confidence" in Johnson.
It was then held after a memo circulated among the party listed a bunch of reasons to remove him as PM, including tax increases, raids on business and the middle classes to prop up handouts and the cost of living crises. But the main sore point? His involvement in #partygate during the UK's harsh Covid lockdowns where he, despite legislating the rules, broke them and hosted a number of wine and cheese nights in his office for staff and friends.
Johnson survived. Just. But he knows it may be the beginning of the end, just like it was with his predecessor Theresa May. Who he replaced in a similar way. Back in 2018 she won the internal poll, yet within a handful of months she was out, paving the way for Johnson to take over.
The rules now state BoJo can't face another vote 0f no confidence for about a year. But every Tory leader who has faced something like this has failed to either win the next election in the case of former PM John Major, or succumbed to the internal party pressures like Margaret Thatcher and May.
Fits like a (golf) glove
The moment @minjeegolf became a #USWomensOpen champion! pic.twitter.com/0GeIDSWx2I
— U.S. Women's Open (USGA) (@uswomensopen) June 5, 2022
"We've known for a long time that she has the talent and she's got the work ethic, but I think belief and the ability to handle the situation where she's the drawcard has been a big project of hers," Smith said.
Lee was stone cold. Relentless. She never made two mistakes in a row during the entire competition.
EV in the NT
What's a good way to avoid a rogue croc? Drive a Telsa. Which is what more Territorians will be able to do when a new electric vehicle scheme is introduced by the NT government that is set to make purchasing and driving EVs cheaper, Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said on Monday.
The incentive will slash registration and stamp duty fees for "plug-in" EVs as well as subsidise the installation of chargers around the NT.
“We are progressively working towards a target of 50% renewables by 2030 and zero emissions by 2050,” Fyles said.
Registration fees will be waived for five years and stamp duty will drop by 3% of the vehicle purchase price from July 1.
Up to 80 grants of $2500 will also be made available for businesses, which will halve the cost of installing a charger.
RATs are a write off
Good news if you've had to fork out a small fortune on rapid antigen tests and PPE for work - the ATO have done us a solid and are making them tax-deductible from July 1.
Similar to how we could claim work-from-home essentials such as internet, phone bills and standing desks that are still collecting dusk during the pandemic, those forced to buy tests to determine whether they could attend or stay at work will be able to claim such products as a deduction.
If you've lost your receipt just highlight them on your bank statement. Be warned when you do that, have tissues ready as the cost will make you weep.
Finally a win for Shandee
If you haven't been listening to the Shandee's Story podcast, firstly, what's wrong with you?
Secondly, it's the latest installment of incredible investigative work by legendary journalist Hedley Thomas - of Teacher's Pet fame - that will make you feel like a cop. It'll also enrage you when you hear the tale about the young, bright woman in Queensland who was savagely butchered and died from a frenzied knife attack as she walked home from work one night in 2013.
Today, after Thomas' investigation, the Queensland government announced that a wide-ranging, royal commission type inquiry will be looking into hundreds of unsolved crimes, including rapes and murders, due to potentially botched DNA testing.
It will be led by one of Queensland’s most respected retired judges.
The Sunshine State has a high threshold for testing DNA has been put on hold for the six-month review that will see former Court of Appeal president Walter Sofronoff look into the “systems and processes” of the government-run forensic laboratory.
The Australian - the Tom Croydon to our Maggie Doyle - revealed police were reviewing hundreds of rape cases back to 2018 after finding DNA profiles could be generated in up to 66% of samples the lab initially claimed had “insufficient DNA for further processing”.
The genesis for all this review came about when problems with the lab were exposed in Shandee’s Story. Her murder has never been solved.
The best sibling has finally been recognised
The first look at Tim Burton's upcoming bonkers Addams Family series is here.
Family life is killing me. Time to lose the dead weight. pic.twitter.com/NlkAH8YVSO
— Wednesday Addams (@wednesdayaddams) June 6, 2022
The new series, that'll stream on Netflix, focuses on Wednesday.
Jenna Ortega will play the Ron Swanson of child characters.
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.