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Stan Grant says neither Trump or Harris are answer to ‘existential crisis of America’
Mostafa Rachwani
Journalist and academic Stan Grant has taken shots at “political elites” in the United States, as well as coverage of the US election, in a speech made at a social cohesion conference in western Sydney.
The former host of ABC’s Q+A told attendees that neither Donald Trump or Kamala Harris were the answer to the “existential crisis of America” and then made reference to Robin Hood:
The American political elites have turned their backs on poor Americans. They are bought and paid for by lobbyists. They pass laws that put more money into rich people’s hands. Healthcare is a scandal. Machines are making people redundant. Big pharma has people hooked on drugs.
If we think that Harris or Trump are going to be the answer to the existential crisis of America, then we need to know that the Sheriff of Nottingham has taken up residence in Washington DC, and the good cops have left town. Robin Hood is nowhere to be seen.
He said coverage of the election had been “abominable” in that “every lie” and “every hatred” has been “amplified.” He said the media has only been interested in the outrage and star power of the campaigns, and less so the people “holding that broken country together”.
I barely watched much of the news coverage because it has been abominable.
Every lie is amplified, every hatred is broadcast. And I’m just not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about the entire picture. If we reduce the American election to just an idea of who may be more decent or who has bad manners, but better manners, we’re missing the point.
The point is that we are talking about a nation where human beings are expendable and the media doesn’t tell us that story because they’re too interested in the latest entertainment, the latest pop star, the latest movie star, the latest business person, the latest Trump outrage, the latest inane comment from Kamala Harris, and never speak to the people who were doing the back-breaking, dirty, gut-busting work of holding that broken country together while politicians have absolutely exploited them.
Key events
Rafqa Touma
Thanks for tuning into the blog today. Handing over now to Cait Kelly, who will roll your live news updates this afternoon.
Sarah Basford Canales
The independent ACT senator, David Pocock, has urged the Albanese government to place targeted sanctions on officials within the Israeli government and its armed forces after it banned the UN’s Palestinian aid body from entering Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.
Overnight, Israel’s parliament voted to ban the UN relief and works agency (UNRWA) from its territory within 90 days.
The aid body provides food, water and medicine for the more than 1.9 million displaced Palestinians, who face severe shortages in the Gaza strip.
Pocock said he held concerns about the potential “humanitarian apocalypse” in Gaza and called for targeted sanctions against Israeli government and defence force officials “responsible for war crimes against the people of Gaza and the West Bank”.
“This is one of the only levers available to us,” Pocock said.
In July, Australia imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on seven Israelis and a youth group for their involvement in violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
The move came after the UN’s international court of justice ordered Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories “as rapidly as possible” and make full reparations for its “internationally wrongful acts” in an advisory opinion that declares the occupation violates international law.
In a press conference earlier, Pocock said the federal government’s failure to do more amounted to a “real failure of moral courage”.
At some point, countries like Australia, [must] say ‘that’s not good enough’, and we can actually make a small stand as a middle power.
Read more about the Knesset’s decision here:
Mark Butler says trust difficult to restore after Covid pandemic
The health minister, Mark Butler, says it “is going to be a long hard road to get trust to the level it was before the pandemic”.
He points to mis- and disinformation in health as something that is “not going to be easy to battle”:
It’s easily lost, it’s hard to build it back up, I think is the insight. The establishment of an independent authoritative body that is seen as distant from government, that is able to provide fearless advice to the community and to governments, which I think will have a reporting function to parliament, that will be transparent, I think is a critical central ingredient in rebuilding that trust.
But I – I think – as all of you know, you know, the pandemic did fuel a lot of misinformation and disinformation which – which particularly was fertile in health, and that is not going to be easy to battle, frankly. So we need to build the structures, we need to give the community confidence that, in the future, decisions will be taken at an appropriate time on the basis of real data, Australian data, not overseas data, which the report makes clear we had to use because we had no data of our own, even though UK and US data was telling a very different picture to a population like Australia’s that had different vaccination status. We use our own data and we use evidence-based approaches that … balance risks and benefits, takes the proportionate approach and thinks about non-health impacts as well as the direct health impacts.
‘Billions and billions of dollars were wasted’ during Covid crisis, Jim Chalmers says
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, also addressed press on the Covid inquiry report.
“Big decisions were taken and big mistakes were made,” he said. “Those mistakes were costly and they were inflationary.
“The consequences of the economic policies developed through the pandemic also continue to be felt right across our economy even today.”
Chalmers quotes the report in saying “there was excessive fiscal and monetary policy stimulus provided throughout 2021 and 2022, especially in the construction sector, combined with supply-side disruptions this contributed to inflationary pressures coming out of the pandemic”.
He continued:
The modelling cited in the report says that the extended policy support which didn’t always move in line with the health advice meant that peak inflation was at least two percentage points higher than it could have been.
On the design of the economic response, we saw some very good ideas badly implemented and poorly targeted. Labor called for and supported programs like jobkeeper but we were very, very clear at the time that the support should have been rolled out faster and that it should have been better targeted because, if it was better targeted, we could have provided more assistance to those who genuinely needed it by wasting less on the businesses in particular who didn’t need jobkeeper and we know subsequently that billions and billions of dollars were wasted.
On the home builders’ program, the report makes it clear that overheated the industry and contributed to inflation in the post-pandemic era with many Australians experiencing the consequences of this now through higher inflation and through lack of access to housing.
It’s also particularly critical of the early release of superannuation, which was not an appropriate policy response and shouldn’t be deployed again. They see the existing hardship provisions as sufficient for these kinds of events.
It also concludes that the slow vaccine rollout had economic consequences as well. It delayed the reopening of our economy by months at great cost to the economy.
Here’s more on the newly announced Centre for Disease Control.
The health minister, Mark Butler, told the media a short while ago:
The first priority of the CDC will be to establish a comprehensive joined-up data and surveillance system in partnership with states and territories, but to have a single comprehensive real-time data and surveillance system and for our surveillance capability to be world-leading including our use of wastewater surveillance, which we know has been so important. The CDC will be also responsible for providing independent evidence-based advice about particularly a pandemic response, but more generally our responses to communicable diseases. It will also be responsible for engagement with regional and international partners.
It will also obviously be responsible for leading pandemic planning and testing or stress-testing of our ability to respond to a pandemic in partnership with relevant departments, including my own, the Department of Health, and the National Emergency Management Authority.
Federal government announces $251m funding for Centre for Disease Control
Mark Butler has announced $251m to establish a Centre for Disease Control.
He told the media:
The government is investing $251m over the forward estimates as well as funding ongoing to establish an independent authoritative Centre for Disease Control to commence from 1 January 2026.
Legislation will be introduced into the parliament next year to set out its independence and functions, he said. It will be based out of Canberra, and its functions will “closely reflect” recommendations from the Covid inquiry report.
Butler talked through the report’s recommendations a short while ago:
There are 26 recommended actions for the national government, 19 of them are recommended to be prioritised over the next 12 to 18 months. Seven in the longer-term. Cabinet considered this report yesterday and appointed PM&C to lead a cross-government taskforce to work through those recommendations and come back to the cabinet. I think, without doubt, though, the most important recommendation from this report is the establishment of a centre for disease control – a CDC. As you know, Australia at the beginning of this pandemic was pretty much the only OECD nation without a central authoritative centre for disease control and it was an election promise from Anthony Albanese, made in one of his budget reply speeches to close that gap and to establish a CDC here in Australia.
Australia now ‘arguably worse-placed’ to deal with a pandemic than in 2020
The health minister, Mark Butler, says the Covid inquiry report concludes that, for a range of reasons, “we are arguably worse-placed as a country to deal with a pandemic than we were in early 2020”.
He told the media:
There has been really significant scarring on our healthcare systems and the health workforce, a workforce that is exhausted by the demands of a once-in-a-century pandemic that’s gone on for years. The APS has lost – the Australian Public Service – has lost key personnel who learnt a lot through that pandemic but have moved on from their positions, often through exhaustion. As I’m sure the treasurer will talk about, governments are in much more significant debt than they were before the pandemic. But crucially, crucially, this report says that a number of the points I have already made about the lack of real-time evidence-based policy and the lack of transparency has driven a large decline in trust … which the panel members say, and these are their words – which many of the measures taken during Covid-19 are unlikely to be accepted by the population again.
Health minister says Covid report criticises pace of vaccine rollout as well as aged care and communication failures
Health minister Mark Butler told press the Covid-19 inquiry report identified the “slowness of our vaccine rollout,” “failures in aged care,” and “stark inequity” between different community groups “particularly different groups from culturally linguistically diverse backgrounds but also temporary visa holders”.
He also said the report “points to a lack of transparency around the rationale and the evidence behind decisions that were taken by governments that had such a profound impact on the lives of Australians and the freedom of Australians”.
Covid inquiry finds Australia’s pandemic plans ‘grossly inadequate’
The Covid-19 inquiry report found Australia’s pandemic plans were “grossly inadequate for the scale of the challenge that Covid-19 presented to us”, the health minister, Mark Butler, has told the media:
The first lesson from this report is that like most countries, frankly, our pandemic plans were grossly inadequate for the scale of the challenge that Covid-19 presented to us. The report makes clear, for example, that our plans, such as they were, included no plan that would deal with the closure of the international border, which was such a central part of our response. No plan to deal with quarantine, which was also incredibly important. No plan to deal with the workforce demands of a pandemic that went on for as long as it did. And, as a result, to use the words of the report, our response to the pandemic was not as effective as it could have been.
As a result of the lack of plans, leaders, particularly, were placed in the invidious position, to use the words of the report, of building the plane while it was flying. The disease surveillance systems were frankly simply not up to the task. The report talks about the use of paper systems, the use of facsimile machines.
Mark Butler says Covid took lives directly of 20,000 Australians and caused immense ‘separation, anxiety and grief’
The health minister, Mark Butler, is addressing a press conference after the release of the Covid-19 inquiry report:
It almost goes without saying that the Covid-19 pandemic for anyone born after the end of World War II was the biggest national and global emergency in our lifetimes. As we know it, it took the lives directly of more than 20,000 Australians, but its indirect impacts on the health system resulted in thousands more losing their lives as well. There was immense dislocation, separation, anxiety, grief and, as the treasurer will point out, enormous economic impacts from the pandemic and our response to it.
We have a responsibility, particularly as a government, we have a responsibility to examine our response to the pandemic, to learn what we did well and, in particular, to learn what we could have done better. Importantly, to build as this report describes it, “a high-level playbook for the next pandemic”, because we know there will be a next pandemic.
Josh Butler
In releasing the report of the Covid inquiry, the federal government is also announcing $251m to deliver an Australian Centre for Disease Control.
The idea was a Labor election commitment and an “interim” body has been operating inside the health department since the start of 2024. But the health minister, Mark Butler, is today pledging $251.7m to deliver the proposal as a standalone institution.
The Covid inquiry said a CDC would be a key trusted source of information in future, especially around health emergencies, helping to track statistics and communicate information as a central authority. The government said Australia is the only OECD country without an equivalent body.
The interim body is already operating, and working on biosecurity measures for avian flu. The standalone body is slated to be located in Canberra and launch in January 2026, pending passage of legislation.
“The establishment of the Australian CDV will ensure we are prepared next time,” Butler said.
Australians lost trust in governments during Covid pandemic, inquiry finds
Josh Butler
The long-awaited Covid inquiry into Australia’s response to the pandemic has been released. A panel of experts found Australians lost trust in governments as the pandemic went on, particularly due to poor communication of the reasons for lockdowns and other restrictions.
The report also warned Australians are unlikely to abide by such strict pandemic restrictions in future health emergencies, and stressed that governments needed to work hard to rebuild public trust in institutions – with concerns that secrecy led to misinformation growing rife on the health response.
Many Australians still feel “resentment about what they lost” during the pandemic Covid period and governments need to “rebuild the social fabric”, respondents told the inquiry.
The report said:
Focus group participants said that governments resisted releasing information that may have contradicted the policies they were pursuing. This opinion led to a view that government did not trust the public to understand or interpret information correctly.
A lack of transparency around vaccination prioritisation decisions reduced trust in government, particularly among people with disability. The panel heard that a lack of transparency also increased the perception that the government was hiding adverse information. This view fuelled the spread of misinformation and disinformation.
Stan Grant says neither Trump or Harris are answer to ‘existential crisis of America’
Mostafa Rachwani
Journalist and academic Stan Grant has taken shots at “political elites” in the United States, as well as coverage of the US election, in a speech made at a social cohesion conference in western Sydney.
The former host of ABC’s Q+A told attendees that neither Donald Trump or Kamala Harris were the answer to the “existential crisis of America” and then made reference to Robin Hood:
The American political elites have turned their backs on poor Americans. They are bought and paid for by lobbyists. They pass laws that put more money into rich people’s hands. Healthcare is a scandal. Machines are making people redundant. Big pharma has people hooked on drugs.
If we think that Harris or Trump are going to be the answer to the existential crisis of America, then we need to know that the Sheriff of Nottingham has taken up residence in Washington DC, and the good cops have left town. Robin Hood is nowhere to be seen.
He said coverage of the election had been “abominable” in that “every lie” and “every hatred” has been “amplified.” He said the media has only been interested in the outrage and star power of the campaigns, and less so the people “holding that broken country together”.
I barely watched much of the news coverage because it has been abominable.
Every lie is amplified, every hatred is broadcast. And I’m just not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about the entire picture. If we reduce the American election to just an idea of who may be more decent or who has bad manners, but better manners, we’re missing the point.
The point is that we are talking about a nation where human beings are expendable and the media doesn’t tell us that story because they’re too interested in the latest entertainment, the latest pop star, the latest movie star, the latest business person, the latest Trump outrage, the latest inane comment from Kamala Harris, and never speak to the people who were doing the back-breaking, dirty, gut-busting work of holding that broken country together while politicians have absolutely exploited them.
$4m funding boost to NSW tenants’ support services
Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services in New South Wales are set to receive $4m in funding over four years from NSW Fair Trading.
The service network – made up of 21 not-for-profits that support tenants in negotiations, dispute resolution and advocacy – will be boosted by $1m extra a year until 2028, as put in a statement from the minister for fair trading and better regulation, Anoulack Chanthivong. Funding has increased to $16.2m in 2024-25.
“The Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service provides local support through a network of highly skilled advocates who work to ensure quality advice and advocacy is available to all renters in NSW,” Chanthivong said.
“The funding boost will mean the services can reach even more renters and keep this critical information service free.”
The chief executive of the Tenants’ Union of NSW, Leo Patterson Ross, welcomes the additional funding, and says it “will make it easier for renters” to seek free advice and advocacy:
This funding increase will ensure services can continue to provide the same high-quality advice we have for the past 30 years.
Third person charged in alleged Bluey coin theft
A third person has been charged today with allegedly stealing tens of thousands of unreleased limited edition Bluey coins from a warehouse in Sydney’s west.
Police received a report that a large amount of currency had been stolen from a warehouse in Wetherill Park on Monday 12 July this year, according to a NSW Police statement.
63,000 unreleased limited edition $1 Bluey coins – produced by the Australian Mint – had been stolen, officers who arrived at the scene were told.
An investigation into the incident was commenced by State Crime Command’s Robbery and Serious Crime Squad under Strike Force Bandit. Two men have been charged and remain before the courts.
Around 6.55am today, a 27-year-old woman was arrested, after detectives executed a search warrant in Green Valley.
She taken to Liverpool Police Station where she was charged with “three counts of aggravated break & enter commit serious indictable offence, and dispose property-theft=serious indictable offence <=$5000”, as put in the NSW Police Statement.
She was refused bail to appear before Liverpool Local Court today. Police will allege in court the woman was the driver in the alleged break and enter.
Class action against Homes Victoria won’t be decided until next year
Residents in public housing towers slated for demolition will not learn if they are successful in their fight against the Victorian government until next year, AAP has reported.
The class action claims Homes Victoria did not properly consider the residents’ human rights before deciding to demolish the towers in Carlton, Flemington and North Melbourne.
The trial began in the Victorian supreme court on Monday, where the Homes Victoria chief executive, Simon Newport, conceded Daniel Andrews made the announcement before residents were notified.
The trial was due to continue on Tuesday but the case was instead adjourned so the parties could fight over the production of secret documents.
Justice Melinda Richards said another judge would need to decide on the document question, with a hearing date yet to be fixed.
Julia Gillard library to be established at University of Adelaide
Former prime minister Julia Gillard and the University of Adelaide have agreed to establish the Julia Gillard Prime Ministerial Library on the University’s North Terrace campus.
The uni will work with National Archives of Australia to bring the trove of documents from Gillard’s career and prime ministership closer to the public.
Gillard said:
I am deeply honoured that plans are under way to establish the Julia Gillard Prime Ministerial Library on the grounds of the university where my tertiary education journey began.
I have many fond memories from my time at the University of Adelaide, where I studied law, economics and literature. I have continued my relationship with the University as an honorary professor and through the annual Julia Gillard lecture.
I am excited to see the library take shape in the coming years and become a dynamic, living space for students, staff and the general public.
Josh Butler
Circling back to Albanese’s press conference – Labor is trying to change the topic (or at least muddy the waters) around the prime minister’s Qantas upgrades by pointing out Peter Dutton’s own disclosures of accepting flights related to mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.
Albanese referenced Dutton taking flights “organised to private parties”. It seemed to be a reference to a story we broke in January, where the opposition leader was flown to a party – at Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting mine in the Pilbara – by another billionaire rich-lister.
Senior Labor minister Murray Watt referenced this story last night, tweeting a screenshot with the caption “speaking of flights”.
Watt yesterday also noted Dutton had accepted flights in 2022 from Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, including a Perth-to-Pilbara air fare and flights between Sydney, Rockhampton and Mackay to attend a Bali bombing memorial.
On Tuesday, Albanese defended his actions by saying all the upgrades were disclosed, but he didn’t directly answer several questions about whether he’d asked the then chief executive, Alan Joyce, for the upgrades himself.
“I didn’t have to declare any flights on private jets owned by billionaires like Gina Rinehart, because I haven’t engaged in it. As simple as that. And it’s up to Mr Dutton to explain how those flights were organised to private parties,” the PM said at a press conference.
Benita Kolovos
Stamp duty bill introduced to Victorian parliament
Earlier this morning, the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, held a news conference in Docklands, where she announced the approval of three new residential towers in the area.
She says two permits for 915 new homes to be built in three towers at Collins Wharf were approved by the planning minister, Sonya Kilkenny, on Monday.
The $521m Lendlease development includes two 28-storey buildings with 349 and 375 apartments, and a 16-storey building with 191 apartments.
She also announced the government will be introducing the Duties Amendment (More Homes) bill 2024 to parliament to allow for the 12-month off-the-plan stamp duty concessions she announced last week to come into effect.
Under the plan, anyone buying off-the-plan apartments, townhouses and units will receive a huge discount on their stamp duty.
The bill will be debated in the lower house this week before it goes to the upper house in the following sitting week, where Allan urged both the Liberals and Greens to support it.
Allan told reporters:
We need to take this action immediately and that’s why, too, I’m calling on the Liberal party, the Greens political party, to not stand in the way of this action that we are taking in the parliament this week. Industry, home builders and homebuyers deserve the certainty from all political parties in the parliament that they will support this legislation to move through the parliament as quickly and effectively as possible, and that’s why we are bringing it to the parliament this week. We don’t want to see any games. We want to see it introduced straight away. Homebuyers are relying on it. So too are home builders.