Elon Musk is under fire Downunder after refusing to comply with orders from Australia’s eSafety Commissioner. The posting of footage from the horrific Sydney stabbings is at the centre of the controversy, sparking calls for tougher online safety rules. There is no doubt this important topic is about to heat-up and likely become a key political issue over the next 12 months, especially in the lead-up to the federal election.
US politics is always fascinating and this week our global section is dominated by news out of the US. We breakdown the US Government’s new $95 billion foreign aid package, plus take a look at an Australian man’s link to the Trump case.
Sticking with the US, in sport/pop culture we look at the controversial TikTok ban and what it actually means.
However, before we get into the hot topics this week, let’s look at what made headlines:
- ASIO and AFP bosses give rare joint address at the National Press Club declaring they will focus on tech giants this year.
- Anthony Albanese and PNG Prime Minister James Marape walk Kokoda Track ahead of ANZAC Day.
- Comedian Arj Barker under fire for ejecting a mother and her baby from his Melbourne show.
- The New York Court of Appeals overturn Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction after they ruled witness testimony should not have been allowed during the trial.
- Treasurer Jim Chalmers signals a global downturn will impact Australia’s economic forecast in the 14 May federal budget.
- After 20 years in the top job, Australian billionaire Scott Farquhar announces he will step down from co-CEO of Atlassian.
Elon Musk sparks concerns around online safety
In the wake of the tragic Sydney attacks and the subsequent coverage of the horrific events on social media platforms, there are renewed calls for the government to enhance Australia’s online safety laws.
Earlier this week, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner issued notices to Meta (Facebook owner) and X (formerly Twitter) to remove content and footage relating to the Sydney stabbings. Meta complied, however X refused to completely remove the content globally and challenged whether eSafety’s order was lawful – arguing it was an impact on freedom of speech.
Subsequently, on Monday, the eSafety Commissioner won an interim injunction that required X to hide material from all users on its platform worldwide until the Federal Court heard the matter on Wednesday. The Federal Court upheld the injunction, and another hearing has been set.
X is arguing the content within the posts does not encourage or provoke violence and that it fits within the Australian legislation’s category that permits content that can be reasonably considered as part of public discussion or debate. They believe no government should have the authority to globally remove content.
Both the government and the opposition have backed the action taken by the eSafety Commissioner, with the Opposition and the Greens also calling on the government to strengthen online safety laws.
This isn’t the first time Elon Musk has defied an order from the eSafety Commissioner. Last year, the eSafety Commissioner issued a ‘transparency notice’ to X that required X to provide information about how it was meeting the Basic Online Safety Expectations in relation to child sexual exploitation and abuse material and activity on its platform. The eSafety Commissioner alleges that X did not comply with the notice and issued them an infringement notice for $610,500. However, X did not pay the infringement notice and the matter is now the subject of civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court.
We’ll spend more on Defence: Coalition
A week after the release of the Albanese Government’s defence strategy, Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson announced the Coalition would spend billions more on defence if re-elected. It lays the groundwork for an election fight over national security, with the Opposition ramping up its attacks on the government over its management of the country’s Defence Forces.
Senator Paterson, in an address to the Robert Menzies Institute marking Anzac Day, also said the ADF must offer greater flexibility and working conditions if they are to avoid a worsening workforce crisis. He said the Coalition’s defence election policy would include a focus on making ‘military service compatible with modern life’.
A future Coalition government would also place greater emphasis on public-private partnerships to enable efficiencies and innovations that government alone cannot deliver.
Defence Minister Richard Marles was criticised by the Coalition last week for not boosting defence spending immediately to bring forward key projects and programs slated for delivery in the next decade.
No rate cut insight
Hopes of an interest rate cut were crushed this week with the release of higher-than-expected inflation figures for the March quarter. In fact, many economists are now saying that Australians will likely have to wait until 2025 for a rate cut.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation, went up by 1 percent this quarter, however annual inflation is actually down to 3.6 percent from 4.1 percent. Economists had predicted a slightly smaller figure of 0.8 percent for the quarter, so this unexpected increase has changed expectations around rate cuts. While a rate cut is now extremely unlikely, it is also unlikely the RBA will increase interest rates when the board meets on 7 May.
It feels like the cost of everything is going up, so it comes as no surprise that in this quarter the most significant contributors to the increase were education, health, housing and food.
Australia’s inflationary figures will be further impacted when the changes to the stage 3 tax cuts are realised with many economists declaring there is no doubt the tax cuts will have an inflationary impact on the Australian economy.
Queensland
The Miles Government spent this week making a variety of announcements around policing and crime. These announcements included Steve Gollschewski being named as the new Police Commissioner, the government’s aim to hire 900 new police recruits and new police helicopters for the Wide Bay/Sunshine Coast and Cairns/Far North Qld regions. However, these announcements were overshadowed today by new polling data.
We all know polls are not always accurate. Remember the 2019 Federal Election when the polls had Scott Morrison suffering such a massive defeat that Sportsbet paid out bets before polling booths even closed, however ScoMo ended up being re-elected as Prime Minister later that night.
However, the latest YouGov polling out today would have Queensland Premier Steven Miles very nervous. Data collected from 1092 voters surveyed between April 9 and April 17 shows a landslide win for the LNP with the opposition leading Labor 56 to 44 percent on a two-party preferred basis.
If this polling is reflected on election day, Labor would lose 21 seats to the LNP and a further two seats in inner-city Brisbane would be at risk of falling to the Greens.
Miles even acknowledged the results and conceded that it is “likely, very likely” he will be defeated at the October election. The same poll also showed his net-approval rating is currently the worst for a leader in the state since YouGov started doing polls for The Courier Mail. No wonder he is worried.
If successful in October, David Crisafulli will be the second conservative leader of Queensland in 38 years. However, Crisafulli is downplaying the polling results and trying to keep the “underdog” title. It’s never helpful going into an election with everyone already thinking you’ve won. You risk people taking their vote for granted and people becoming complacent.
The LNP will stick to their small target campaign focusing on crime, housing, cost of living and “Labor waste”. They see this as their pathway to success and don’t want to get distracted talking about other issues.
With the state budget in June, Labor will be hoping they can turn things around and reset the political narrative here in Queensland.
Global
US Government approves major investment in foreign aid
On Tuesday night US time, the US Senate approved a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Ukraine will receive the largest share with $61 billion allocated to help them replenish their weapons, train Ukraine’s military, boost intelligence cooperation and provide some non-military assistance.
$26 billion will go to Israel to support their military efforts, specifically their rocket defence system, but also to provide humanitarian relief for people in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the aid and acknowledged the “strong bipartisan support for Israel”.
The remaining $8 billion will go to the Asia Pacific, mainly Taiwan, to help US allies in the Indo-Pacific region. The funding will help counter China’s influence in the region by providing US allies with weapons and infrastructure.
The legislation passed with bipartisan support and was signed by President Biden on Wednesday. In a statement, Biden said the legislation strengthens US “national security and sends a message to the world about the power of American leadership”.
Australian journalist named as ‘co-conspirator’ in Trump case
Donald Trump’s hush money trial is well and truly underway in New York, with day seven revealing an Australian journalist who worked as editor of the tabloid The National Enquirer was a ‘co-conspirator’ in the alleged hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Prosecutors allege Dylan Howard played a role in negotiating the payment between Daniels and Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen, after the publication had learned Daniels was attempting to sell her story for $120,000.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is set to rule on whether Trump is immune from criminal prosecution in a case which will determine if he is prosecuted over attempts to overturn the 2020 election result.
Arguments made by conservative Supreme Court justices this week suggested former Presidents should be afforded some level of protection, but that it was unlikely Trump’s claim of ‘absolute immunity’ will stand.
The justices acknowledged the ruling would ‘set boundaries for presidential power in the future’, as well as the obvious implications for Trump’s 2024 Presidential bid.
US Secretary of State visits China
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday landed in Shanghai for an important visit to the country, which may be a precursor to a visit by President Joe Biden later this year.
President Biden is yet to visit China during his term, and may become the first US President since Jimmy Carter to not make a trip to China if he is defeated by Donald Trump in November.
Coinciding with Blinken’s visit, China’s navy released footage of a ballistic missile fired from a submarine, showing off the nuclear capabilities of the nation. The rare video was released to mark the 75th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army navy, but the timing has raised eyebrows, with Blinken expected to raise ‘sensitive issues’ with his counterparts and China having made no secret of its disapproval of US military exercises in the South China Sea.
Sport/Pop Culture
US bans TikTok
President Biden has signed the Bill effectively banning TikTok, in its current form, in the US after the legislation passed the US Senate this week. Approximately 170 million Americans use TikTok, making it a significant social media platform in the US.
TikTok is currently owned by Chinese company ByteDance and many US lawmakers have harboured concerns that the Chinese government could force the company to hand over data on users from the US. However, ByteDance has long insisted that they have never and would never share US data.
Under the new laws, TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has nine months to sell the app to a US buyer. This timeframe will likely be extended as ByteDance is expected to challenge the legislation in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and if that is unsuccessful then through the US Supreme Court. Experts expect this would delay the ban until at least 2026.
Back home in Australia, the Coalition’s home affairs spokesman Senator James Paterson is calling for the Australian Government to follow our US allies and issue the same ban here.
Taylor Swift sets more records
Breaking records is nothing new for Taylor Swift so we shouldn’t be surprised with the success of her new album The Tortured Poets Department.
We know we highlighted the release in last week’s newsletter but with her record-breaking success (and our deep love), we just had to highlight her again.
Taylor broke her own record, previously set with the album Midnights, when TTPD became Spotify’s most streamed album in a single day – the album exceeding 300 million streams on the platform. There was a similar result on Apple Music and Amazon Music too, with 25 million listens on the first day,
Her collaboration with Post Malone on Fortnight also knocked-off Mariah Carey’s popular Christmas hit (you know exactly what song we are talking about) as the most streamed song in a single day.
The success continued throughout the week with Spotify announcing on Wednesday, only five days after the release, that TTPD had become the first album in Spotify history to receive a billion streams in a single week.
The global superstar now holds the entire top three biggest album debuts in Spotify history, with Midnights and 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
We could go on and on with more records, but we think you get the picture.
NRL Bulldogs in trouble
Former Bulldogs backrower Jackson Topine has launched legal action against the NRL club claiming he was subjected to “unlawful corporal punishment” over an incident in July 2023. He alleges that he was forced to wrestle every member of the team’s first-grade squad as punishment for being late to training.
The former Australian Schoolboys captain and Maori All Stars player is seeking $4 million in damages claiming he suffered “psychiatric injury” along with “physical and mental impairment” because of the punishment and that his contract was later terminated illegally.
The Bulldogs have vowed to “vigorously” defend claims made against the club and they’ve found a vocal supporter in NRL superstar and former Bulldog Braith Anasta.
When asked about the incident, Anasta said training punishments, known as “penalties” – like the wrestling Topine was forced to do – were commonplace at NRL clubs. He said, “My understanding is he’s gone to training, he’s rocked up late and therefore got penalties…The Canterbury Bulldogs were in a wrestling session so those penalties turned into wrestling…If you are late and you’ve let your team down, there is a punishment, we all know that. Every player knows that.”
The case has divided the NRL with the code’s administration bosses being called upon to pick a side. There are concerns the legal challenge could have a significant impact on the game and how clubs interact with their players.