I have no direct insight into the politics of Western Australia (my allegiances lay with the greatest nation on earth, Queensland) but I can tell you that contrary to some reporting, the Labor vote in WA has been holding up.

‘Surprisingly so’ according to some Liberal strategists who have also seen that Anthony Albanese’s personal popularity in the state is holding up.

WA will go to the polls next month, which both major parties are looking at. But at this point in the election cycle, the WA Liberals aren’t seeing the vote correction they thought they would.

(Continued from previous post)

Under a lengthy grilling, he remained steadfast this direction had been passed on to the casual radio host through former head of capital city networks Steve Ahern.

He denied that emails and meeting notes saying Lattouf had received “advice” or “suggestions” not to post on certain topics or to keep a low profile online were inconsistent with his view that a direction had been given.

“Were you confident because you felt (the order) had been carried out?” asked Justice Rangiah.

“With my dealings with Mr Ahern, I believed he listened to my words and my words were very clear,” Mr Latimer replied.

Lattouf’s direct supervisor Elizabeth Green earlier took the stand, saying she learned from Mr Ahern during a meeting on December 20 that the casual host would not be required for her final two shifts because of the Human Rights Watch post.

“You also expressed the view that you did not see anything wrong with Ms Lattouf’s post?” asked the journalist’s barrister Philip Boncardo.

“I did say that,” Ms Green replied.

After Lattouf was let go, Ms Green said she had a private conversation with the crying journalist in an ABC boardroom.

She told Lattouf she tried hard to stop her being dismissed but believed the call had been made from “higher up”.

“I said there was pressure for her to be removed from the Monday,” Ms Green told the court.

Ms Green said she heard from Mr Ahern that the decision had been made from Mr Anderson’s office.

One of the key issues in the case is who made the decision to dismiss Lattouf, with fingers pointed at both the managing director and Mr Oliver-Taylor.

Lattouf claims she was fired because of her political opinion and race after the ABC bowed to pressure from pro-Israeli lobbyists co-ordinating a campaign of complaints.

In its defence, the ABC says that Lattouf was taken off air because she breached the direction not to post anything in the Israel-Gaza conflict during her five-day employment.

The hearing continues.

Let’s check in on what’s been happening at the Federal Court.

As AAP reports:

Despite several senior ABC figures claiming a casual radio host breached impartiality guidelines in personal posts about the war in Gaza, a judge has heard no such rule existed at the broadcaster.

Antoinette Lattouf was recruited to host the Mornings show on ABC Radio Sydney for five days from Monday to Friday in December 2023

However, the 41-year-old was let go following three days on air after sharing an Instagram post by Human Rights Watch saying Israel used starvation as a “weapon of war” in Gaza.

As an unlawful dismissal case continued in the Federal Court on Wednesday, Lattouf’s barrister Oshie Fagir argued the ABC’s claims her Human Rights Watch post breached impartiality guidelines had no foundation in any policy, procedure or legislation.

“What we propose to submit is that the rule as it has been articulated is utterly incoherent,” he told Justice Darryl Rangiah.

It was “plain as day” there was no such obligation because ABC broadcasters often made public statements without being taken off air or being subject to other sanctions, Mr Fagir argued.

The submission came as he cross-examined ABC audio director Ben Latimer, who said Lattouf expressed a partisan view that was sympathetic to Palestinians in the Gaza conflict when she shared the post.

Former ABC chair Ita Buttrose, outgoing managing director David Anderson and then-content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor all previously raised concerns in court about Lattouf appearing impartial because of her prior statements about the conflict.

Mr Latimer said he had been given a direction by Mr Oliver-Taylor, his superior, to order Lattouf not to post anything on social media about the war.

(Continued in next post)

Independent Senator for the ACT David Pocock is addressing the Climate Integrity Summit – and he has given the summit an exclusive.

Tomorrow he will introduce a new bill aimed at ending fossil fuel exploration.

It will make for some uncomfortable debating for politicians tomorrow, given how clear the climate science is.

His address was also about the urgency of creating a fair and sustainable future for young Australians.

He is one of the few politicians in parliament who is consistently talking about the ethical responsibility of current leaders and policymakers to prioritise long-term decisions.  

He is not the only person at the summit to make the point that short-term thinking is undermining meaningful climate action.

“I lot of this comes down to moral courage and it is something I keep trying to remind my colleagues about,” he said.

Courage in politics. What a concept.

Again, not a lot.

The Coalition still seem rudderless in what it is it actually wants to hit the government with. Cost of living is the easy one, but that is made difficult when you opposed practically all the major cost of living relief measures put up by the government.

So it is hard to be WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT ENERGY when your party voted down the energy rebates which ended up shaving some points of CPI and inflation.

It is a common issue this Coalition have – unless it is the news and is something it can react to, there is no plan. But that shouldn’t be a surprise, because there is no policies either.

This is not an opposition that can say, as the last Labor opposition did, ‘will you support XY policy to make Australian lives better’ because it doesn’t have those policies.

If it isn’t something Dutton can react to, or stir up into an issue, then the Coalition just sort of float around question times, like shivers in search of a spine.

There is one last dixer given to Tony Burke so he can talk about how terrible Peter Dutton was as the minister overseeing Australia’s immigration system, and then question time, mercifully, ends.

Independent MP Kylea Tink asks Chris Bowen:

For too long Australians were at the bottom of the list in terms of priority access to low-emissions vehicles and without intervention, transport will be the largest source of emissions in Australia by 2030. The people of North Sydney who are surrounded by major freeways and roads are living with the consequences of that in terms of pair air quality. We fought for and welcomed new vehicle efficiency standards but with misinformation regarding the impacts rife, could you provide an update on them, including the expected impact on the uptake and price of vehicles?

Bowen is VERY happy to take this question:

I thank the member for North Sydney of her question and genuinely thank her for her leadership and engagement on this issue and other issues across this Parliament.

Now, as the member for North Sydney knows and the House will recall, Australia and Russia were the only two major economies without new vehicles efficiency standards. The key word is “were”. On 1 January, that changed with new standards coming into force to give Australians better choices of motor vehicles. It was in the too hard basked for too long.

We got it on the to do list and it was done. Opposed by the Liberal Party and National Party despite them trying to do it when they were in office and this builds on what we’ve already done. We’re seeing it having an impact even though it only came into force on 1 January. The range of choices of EVs in Australia has tripled since May of 2022. When we came to office, there were no electric vehicles available in Australia for under $45,000. There are now eight. Eight models are available under $45,000. There are now utes available, the BYD electric hybrid ute has sold well at a cost of $60,000 when it was introduced just before Christmas. These are the sorts of options and choices we want to give Australians and, of course, this leads to lower running costs for motorists.

To be fair and with respect to the member for North Sydney – and she did advocate it and I’m sure her constituents benefit from it – but actually the people who really benefit are people in the outer suburbs and regions who drive for longer distances. For example, an average motorist in the electorate of Mitchell would benefit compared to a motorist in the electtorate of North Sydney, $90 billion in overall benefit between now and 2050 in terms of petrol costs.

(he then goes through the electorates with the biggest take up – most of them outer-suburban)

Dr Emma Shortis has commented on the Australian government non-response to Trump and his horrific plans for Gaza:

Stealing from Mike Bowers social media to bring you what the chamber looks like right now (it’s fine, I’ll buy him a coffee)

Andrew Willcox, the LNP MP for Dawson has a new crisis to add to the Coalition’s list of crises – a CRIME CRISIS.

(Is the crime crisis with us now? Can you point to it in the room?)

The Albanese Labor Government has created a cost-of-living crisis. A gas crisis, a crime crisis, a rent cries, an energy crisis and a housing crisis. New motor trades association analysis confirms that Labor’s family car and ute tax will slug Australians thousands of dollars more for a family car and ute. When Australians are paying more for everything, why is this Government imposing thousands of dollars of additional costs on Australians and its Labor-created cost-of-living crisis.

Someone get the smelling salts! Seems Willcox needs a trip to the seaside and the calming waters STAT! Must be EXHAUSTING lurching from crisis to crisis like that. Goodness, it sounds like he can barely leave his house!