Another one bites the dust
A key One Nation candidate for Melbourne, Matthew Collins, has resigned less than a month out from the Victorian election. It follows a Crikey investigation and subsequent reports in the Herald Sun about a social media account linked to Collins, which included posts saying “consent is cringe” and “I’ve never asked for consent to do anything”. Our investigation previously revealed links to a trove of far-right, fringe and conspiracy-laden social media posts.
The replacement candidate for Melbourne is reportedly Phillip Courtis, who stood at the last federal election for Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots party. He is listed as running an NDIS business, despite Palmer’s policy of abolishing the NDIS.
Nine papers’ cartoon crackdown
The Nine papers cracked down on cartoons after October 2023, former cartoonist Cathy Wilcox has told Ette Media.
Over the course of a 37-year career with the papers — which ended in August after taking a voluntary redundancy — Wilcox said she would “extremely rarely” have cartoons rejected. This significantly changed, however, over the past three years, Wilcox said, explaining that she had more cartoons rejected in that period than during the rest of her 34 years there combined.
“All of this contributed to my decision to opt for voluntary redundancy. My sense was that I didn’t feel the paper was being as courageous as it had been … as had been my experience.”
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Watching the watcher of the watchdog
Three current or former employees at the National Anti-Corruption Commission made complaints about the watchdog alleging “preferential treatment in recruitment, promotion or other workplace matters” in the last financial year. That’s according to the annual report tabled last Friday by the inspector of the NACC, Gail Furness. She concluded there was no evidence of corrupt conduct in any of those complaints.
The annual report also revealed that a small but very chatty group of 20 people was responsible for more than 80% of all enquiries to the NACC inspector.
“A large number of [the total of 4,917] enquiries, 4,120, were received from 20 individuals,” Furness wrote. “These contacts were not about the NACC or did not raise any NACC corruption issue or concern agency maladministration. Many were emails copying the inspector among multiple other recipients.”
While that’s a whole lot of emails, it’s way fewer than the 9,053 the inspector received the previous financial year from what she calls “persistent individuals”. – by Anton Nilsson
That’s one way to quit your job…
An extraordinary political row took place on X between Poland’s ambassador to China and the country’s deputy prime minister, as Poland grapples with a constitutional crisis after the suspension of the chief judge of the country’s top court. In response to a message posted by ambassador Jakub Kumoch, in which he announced his resignation, deputy PM Radoslaw Sikorski replied: “I acknowledge the unprofessional conclusion of your mission. You no longer represent the Republic.” Ouch.
“Break them”: ADF investigated alleged interrogation abuse
The Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force ordered an inquiry into allegations that the Afghanistan Inquiry used techniques designed to “cause psychological injury” to ADF members in “interrogations” that often did not involve lawyers present, documents released under freedom of information reveal.
In April, Inspector-General James Gaynor wrote to acting Northern Territory justice Alan Blow and former head of the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity Michael Griffin to request a report on allegations that:
- “Unlawful techniques intended to cause psychological injury to ADF members were employed with the intent to “break them” psychologically
- “People were interviewed up to four times and the longest interview lasting three days. Information on public record regarding the alleged abuse during these interviews have been described as interrogations, not interviews.”
- “Many witnesses appeared without a lawyer present, and if present, were not permitted to say or do anything without the permission of the Assistant (Inspector-General)”. Requests to do so were declined.
The report was due in May.
Edited by Cochon Truffier, Crikey’s tip hog. Contact him securely via our tip-off form, or via Signal and WhatsApp using the number +61 494 644 259. Email him at boss@crikey.com.au
