Crikey will not be cowed

LACHLAN MURDOCH’S LAWSUIT

The news Crikey is being sued for defamation by Fox chief executive and News Corp co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch has gone around the world, folks. The lawsuit was filed late on Tuesday in Federal Court, CNN reports, one day after Crikey challenged Murdoch in an open letter plainly stating the outlet’s willingness to “test this important issue of freedom of public interest journalism in a courtroom”, Al Jazeera reports. As Crikey’s Bernard Keane reported yesterday, it’s essential to scrutinise Fox and the Murdochs in relation in the January 6 2021 Capitol riot: “The insurrection was repeatedly described as ‘peaceful’; its ‘energy’ and ‘positivity’ were lauded by Fox personalities. Yet according to Lachlan Murdoch, the role of his family in one of the key disruptive forces in US politics, Fox News, is somehow off limits, beyond public discussion in Australia.” As The Conversation writes, there is truly no better example than Murdoch’s case to show how Australia’s rigid defamation laws “enable the rich and powerful to intimidate their critics”.

Murdoch has recruited top silk Sue Chrysanthou SC — you may remember she was disqualified from representing former attorney-general Christian Porter over a historic rape allegation he vehemently denied, because Chrysanthou had spoken to the alleged victim’s friend Jo Dyer previously, as Guardian Australia reports. Anyway, Crikey editor-in-chief Peter Fray and chairman Eric Beecher said on Wednesday that the site “stands by its story” in defending the important pillar of public interest journalism, as the BBC reports. And it’s not the only one. Yesterday former PM Malcolm Turnbull told the ABC Murdoch’s case was “hypocritical”, saying the Murdochs were “always bleating about freedom of speech, and how the defamation laws are too harsh”. The SMH’s Chip Le Grand came across a little more jaded, calling the case a matter of “towering egos and cold commercial interests”. Indeed the SMH’s print issue went with the headline “I didn’t start this” alongside a smiling photo of Murdoch on its front page. No word yet on why Nine newspapers refused to run our open letter as an ad, as The New Daily reports, unlike The Canberra Times and The New York Times. As Crikey’s Charlie Lewis points out, Nine had no qualms countlessly running Clive Palmer’s blaring yellow ads on its front pages, as Worm readers would be used to seeing in Hold the Front Page.

ALL THAT GLITTERS…

Tiwi Island leaders in the Top End are suing the gas regulator over the $4.7 billion Santos Barossa Gas fields, saying they are “drilling the spirits of every Tiwi”, the NT News reports. Tiwi senior lawman Dennis Tipakalippa sued the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority over what he alleged was a shoddy consultation about the site, which is 150km off the coast of the islands. Tipakalippa alleged a few unanswered calls and missed phone calls were the entirety of it, but Santos countered that it had engaged on the project since 2016, and besides, it was approved by the regulator. Munupi woman Antonia Burke said this level of consultation for a “massive gas plant” would never fly in a metropolitan setting. In a historic move, the Federal Court held its first day of the resources challenge on Country, at Pitjamirra on Melville Island in the Timor Sea.

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From gas to mining now and the SMH has a cracking story this morning about a bitter feud between an Australian exploration mine run by Cassius Mining Limited and a Chinese state-linked mine run by the Shaanxi Mining Company in Ghana. Both are right next door to each other and both are there to find gold — the paper reports that the Chinese had created secret tunnels into the Australian concession and had taken a “significant” amount of gold from our side. As we continue to dig into our planet, what of the consequences? Guardian Australia reports this morning that a recovery plan for a critically endangered parrot species was nearly stripped of notes that logging was its biggest threat. The draft version, which reporters saw via FOI, seemed more focused on protecting the forestry industry than the species. The Tasmanian Department of Primary Industry, Parks, Water and the Environment said it could withdraw its support unless the report was more balanced, including cutting a reference that said logging and silviculture was “the greatest threat to survival of the swift parrot population”.

DEBT TO SOCIETY

Today we’ll get the details of the robodebt royal commission — and the legality of it, who bore responsibility for it, and the harm caused to victims, the ABC reports. Robodebt was an automated debt recovery program used by the Coalition where $751 million was wrongly recovered from 381,000 people (including me!). The government was warned about its “shaky legal foundations” in 2017 when a senior member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal ruled five times that debts were unlawful, Guardian Australia reports, but it continued collecting until 2019. So who was responsible? Cast your mind back and you may remember former prime minister Scott Morrison was social services minister when robodebt was conceived — NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has called him the “architect”, as Independent Australia reports. Morrison has apologised for the “hurt and harm” it caused.

The Albanese government has quietly stripped Australians of their 40-year right to see submissions and minutes of national cabinet while the Morrison ministrygate has raged on, according to former senator Rex Patrick. The Commonwealth Freedom of Information (FOI) Act dates back to 1982 and allows us to get the inside scoop on what is discussed at government forums. Writing for Michael West Media, Patrick said the Albanese government operates national cabinet as a critical inter-governmental forum rather than a committee of federal government, so he FOI’d the minutes. He was refused. Patrick said it means we are not privy to the analysis on which national cabinet bases its decisions — whether it be “national security”, “natural disaster mitigation” or “the price of eggs”.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

What is it about winning one over on your sibling as a kid that just feels so damn good? The sheer triumph of that moment is matched only by the purest of achievements in adulthood, like climbing a mountain or getting that coveted job. Take Jessica Grose’s daughters, four and eight, whose argument about who would be first to receive a flu shot descended into an all-out “brawl”, as she writes for The New York Times. When a triumphant Little Miss Eight won — much to her little sister’s devastation — it dawned on her: she was about to get a needle. Sibling rivalry can near ruin a kid’s life or, oddly, show them they are capable of far more than they ever dreamed. This week, for instance, a Belgian-British teenager took the phrase “anything you can do, I can do better” to new heights — literally.

Mack Rutherford, 17, has become the youngest person to fly around the world alone in an ultra-light plane. He flew through 52 countries, and crossed the equator twice, smashing the record held by his sister, Zara, who arrived home in January after her 52,000km trip across 31 countries aged 19. But there was no bad blood — they stayed in constant communication, and Zara gave her little brother some advice on the way, she adds. There were some hairy moments for Mack — “sandstorms in Sudan, extreme heat in Dubai, airport closures in India, monsoon rains … [and] sleeping in a shed on an abandoned Pacific island”, as The Guardian tells it. Mack says he is stoked to be done and hopes his trip will inspire other people to do something special. Zara agrees, saying one’s dream, like hers, may seem “expensive, dangerous, complicated, a logistical nightmare”. But sometimes you’ve just gotta go for it.

Wishing you a little guts to take on your Thursday.

SAY WHAT?

I think Mr Albanese is being very outbalanced in his response. It’s banging on… nine days squeezing the lemon on a political error.

John Howard

Apparently nine days is the ceiling on dwelling on how our former PM secretly took control of no fewer than five extra ministries, according to Howard. Remind me, how many weeks did critics feast after Albanese blanked on the cash rate during the election campaign?

CRIKEY RECAP

‘This case will have global importance’: Malcolm Turnbull leads the charge against Murdoch’s decision to sue Crikey

“Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull told Crikey the ripple effects of this lawsuit could be huge. ‘This case will have global importance,’ he said. ‘Using all the interlocutory processes of discovery, this case could become, effectively, a public inquiry into the involvement of Fox News and the Murdochs in the whole catastrophe that was the latter days of the Trump presidency, and in particular, the propagation of the Big Lie that laid the foundation for the attempted coup on January 6.’

“ ‘It would be difficult to identify an issue of greater public interest because January 6 was an attempt to overthrow the constitution of the United States. That is of enormous consequence, not just in America, but right around the world. It has shaken to the very core people’s confidence in the stability of the United States — our most important ally and the sheet anchor of our security.’ “

A statement: ‘We stand by our reporting and we welcome Lachlan Murdoch’s writ.’

“Crikey stands by its story and we look forward to defending our independent public interest journalism in court against the considerable resources of Lachlan Murdoch. We are determined to fight for the integrity and importance of diverse independent media in Australian democracy.

“We welcome Lachlan Murdoch’s writ. Crikey’s Lachlan Murdoch letters series this week reveals how media power works in this country. We believe that coverage of the events of January 6 at the US Capitol, and the role of Fox News in those events, is absolutely legitimate. We welcome the chance to test what an honest, open and public debate actually means for free speech in Australia. We stand by our reporting.”

The events of January 6, and the role of Fox and the Murdochs, must be scrutinised

“On the day itself, the insurrection was repeatedly described as ‘peaceful’; its ‘energy’ and ‘positivity’ were lauded by Fox personalities. As Trump supporters breached the building, one Fox host said, ‘This is a huge victory for these protesters. They have disrupted the system in an enormous way!’

“As the ‘peaceful protest’ line became increasingly difficult to maintain, Fox News personalities began comparing the insurrection to Black Lives Matter protests. That night, Tucker Carlson blamed a nebulous ‘them’, not protesters. ‘Millions of Americans sincerely believe the last election was fake,’ he said. ‘You can dismiss them as crazy, call them conspiracy theorists, kick them off Twitter, that won’t change their minds.’ Others claimed left-wing protesters had infiltrated the insurrection and turned it violent.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Russia arrests ex-mayor for ‘discrediting’ army amid Ukraine war (Al Jazeera)

Biden to cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 (The New York Times)

FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago heads to court (The Wall Street Journal) ($)

Under-fire Finnish PM Sanna Marin says even politicians need fun (The Guardian)

Go-karting for French prisoners a mistake, admits Fresnes governor (BBC)

Twitter CEO tells staff whistleblower claims are ‘inaccurate’ – internal meeting (Reuters)

California to ban the sale of new gasoline cars (The New York Times)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Net zero will be a huge task — but it is also an achievable one — Robin Batterham and Richard Bolt (The AFR): “For example, reaching net zero domestic emissions will require the installation by 2030 of about three times the production capacity of today’s national electricity market (NEM). To fully decarbonise domestic and export emissions will take far more NEMs. Our analysis also suggests that we can substantially lower emissions from agriculture and forestry, but not enough to supply offsets to energy, transport and industry. To export clean energy at the same rate as we now do with fossil fuels may require several Tasmania-sized solar hubs across the north of the country, to produce hydrogen using desalinated seawater.

“A workforce of nearly one million would be needed in those regions, which would result in a population increase that is several times greater. Perhaps 200,000 more jobs would be needed to decarbonise our supply and use of domestic energy. Those workers would build and operate wind and solar farms clustered around our capital cities, transmission powerlines and pipelines, and hydrogen-fired gas turbines and batteries to ‘firm’ the grid. They would improve the energy efficiency of our buildings, install clean appliances such as heat pumps, and maintain electric and hydrogen vehicles.”

Is this a show that stops the world, or one that drags on? — Osman Faruqi (The SMH): “After the pandemic, the water cooler doesn’t exist. Our collective experiences are much less likely to be physical. That doesn’t mean people aren’t furiously discussing the show (who doesn’t love a group chat), but we’re all a bit more atomised, which diminishes one of the things that made a show as popular as Game of Thrones so fun to watch. That no show seems likely to recapture the collective consciousness as Game of Thrones did has more to do with the way we consume TV, the way we talk about screen culture, and the way we live our lives.

“The way the TV industry works now is fundamentally different to when Game of Thrones premiered. Back then TV landscape was dominated by traditional, ad-supported network shows. Think Parks and Recreation, Community and New Girl. Over the next eight years network TV became less and less popular and audiences became fragmented across a multitude of streaming platforms. The only constant was the ever-growing popularity of violence and sex taking place in Westeros. Somehow, Game of Thrones managed to buck the trend the away from appointment television, growing its ratings every season and nurturing a truly global shared viewing experience that saw more than 45 million people tune in for the finale in the US alone.”

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