24 — Blaming families

We chat about the News Corp beat up of Lydia Thorpe, the re-up of the lockdown in parts of Victoria and ginned up cyber attacks in the news. Feel good news? Victora has criminalised wage theft! Time to send George Calombaris to perma-jail. Aboriginal activist Lidia Thorpe has been elected by the Greens to Federal Senate. News Corp immediately tried to concoct a smear campaign. Crikey has a detailed run down of News Corp’s beat-up. Not on the beers Victoria has cranked the lockdown up a bit. Victorian opposition leader has tried to score political points, saying that Dan Andrews has “reached a new low” in calling out families. The Victorian Government is providing $1500 to people who test positive or their close contacts so they can self-isolate. Crank hack attack Australia was the “victim” of a “state-based” “cyber” “attack”. David Speers clarified that this wasn’t an announcement of an attack, just some ongoing security concerns. This news dropped at the same time as the Government moved to bypass parliament and effectively ban vaping. Contemptuous Dutton Peter Dutton has been threatened with contempt of court for refusing to release an illegally held asylum seeker. We’ve covered this before all the way back in episode 13. Taking from the Public Trust In pun news, the Guardian has been running a deep dive series on the political expense system. Stuart Robert, Dan Tehan and Simon Birmingham charged the taxpayers for flights to a $10,000-a-head fundraiser. Michael McCormack took a free trip to the Melbourne Cup to announce a cancelled grant. NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell resigned over a $3000 gift of a bottle of wine from Australian Water Holdings. Tony Abbot’s daughter was given a $60,000 scholarship. The Australian government is moving to make it twice as expensive to study arts and law at university. University education was free from 1974-1989. Former Treasurer Joe Hockey was once involved in a violent protest against a $250 annual university fee. Actions Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi has a thread of MPs who received a free education. Call them! Check out the Guardian’s Full Story podcast. Listen to 7AM’s interview with the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance on organising the Black Lives Matter protest.