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Few elements of the identity crisis hobbling the federal Liberal Party amuse us quite like the antics of South Australian senator Alex Antic, predictable as he’s become.
The outspoken backbencher has previously downplayed concerns aired by his moderate colleagues, as this masthead has reported, that the demotion of a senior woman would trigger voter backlash by saying “the ‘gender card’ is nothing but a grievance narrative”.
Then there’s Antic’s previous opposition to vaccine mandates and gender reassignment surgery for teenagers. He’s also accused the ABC of grooming children for allowing a drag queen to appear on Play School.
So it was almost cute to hear on Tuesday that Antic, perhaps suffering a bout of Pauline Hanson-induced relevancy deprivation syndrome, was at it again.
In an email that triggered eye-rolls among his parliamentary colleagues, Antic announced he’d be rolling out the red carpet for a parliamentary briefing from Professor Ramesh Thakur and Dr David Bell of the International Health Reform Project at Parliament House on June 24.
The project is an initiative of a MAGA-aligned US think tank called the Brownstone Institute, which, according to The Telegraph of London, has previously produced work commissioned by UK Reform leader Nigel Farage. The hard right group was among those who came out in support of US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organisation and called for the body to be “massively reformed or replaced”.
What a hoot. Naturally curious, we asked Antic whether he thought Australia should also withdraw from the World Health Organisation and if he’s broadly supportive of the work undertaken by the International Health Reform Project. We didn’t learn much.
“I am entirely bored by the pointless exercise of responding to emails like this so I will keep this brief,” Antic told CBD in an email that read like he very much enjoys responding to these kinds of emails and was not all that brief.
“The IHRP’s stated focus is to ‘Re-define international public health anchored in ethics, individual agency, and national sovereignty’. Does The Sydney Morning Herald find that controversial?,” he continued.
There’s more: “Who does The Sydney Morning Herald believe should be setting the agenda for our national health system? A supranational organisation like the World Health Organisation perhaps?”
You got us, senator.
Andrew Hastie and the machines
It wasn’t that long ago Andrew Hastie uploaded a video of himself perched in front of an old Ford Falcon mourning Australia’s car manufacturing industry and suggesting Australia should make more stuff.
So in a sense it wasn’t much of a surprise to hear Hastie, now the opposition’s industry spokesman, stood up in front of the Liberal Party faithful at the Shangri-La hotel in Sydney on Monday evening to compare the global AI arms race to the Cold War-era nuclear arms race.
“We must build a sovereign AI capability,” Hastie said, “Or accept that Australia’s future will be shaped by other nations. A future with limited strategic options.”
He also suggested Australia nominate an “ambassador for AI” based in Silicon Valley, comparing it to the ambassadorship Australia has to the Holy See in Rome. Setting aside the fact that Australia would be entering the race a little late, we hear it was a fun night.
The annual Tom Hughes oration is hosted by Liberal MP Julian Leeser, who we hear praised Hornsby Mayor Warren Waddell as the best the council has ever had – we can only guess former Howard government minister Philip Ruddock, who also served as Waddell’s predecessor, wasn’t in the room. Also there, we hear, was Simon Berger, deputy federal director of the federal Liberal Party, along with Stephen Ferguson, chief executive of the Australian Hotels Association, and a gaggle of corporate affairs types and lobbyists.
News Corp money troubles
In the media business, journalists often joke about swearing an oath of poverty, such is the fragile state of modern publishing. But then there’s working at News Corp Australia, where it would seem you’re lucky to get paid at all.
Word is there were more than a few disgruntled staff of the Murdoch-controlled media giant on Monday when it emerged the company had run into a payroll bungle that hit some staff with “dishonour fees” from their banks thanks to a three-day payroll delay.
In an email sent out to staff on Monday evening, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, a union representing journalists, said it had written to News Corp management and received assurances that pay had “now been processed”. But not before taking the opportunity to point out the incident was only the latest in a “trend” and encouraging staff to – what else – join the union.
“This is the latest incident in a trend of News Corp failing to pay its workforce the correct amount on time. It is you, the staff, who are left to cop the consequences of their mismanagement,” the union wrote in the missive to staff, seen by CBD.
“Last year, the MEAA notified News Corp of a suspected breach of the Enterprise Agreement and inspected documents to confirm that dozens of staff are owed thousands of dollars in backpay for … shifts worked. Despite conducting an audit, News has still failed to pay you, the staff, what you’re owed.”
For the company’s part, a News Corp Australia spokesman said the company is contractually obliged to pay staff on the 15th of each month. But apparently when that date falls on a Monday, wages are usually paid on the preceding Friday. Which is to say News Corp Australia insists nobody was paid late, despite the technical error.
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John Buckley is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.From our partners
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