G’day Albo, goodbye ScoMo
Anthony Albanese will be sworn in as Australian prime minister today but the election result revealed a big shift in the way Australians vote.
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Monday, May 23, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: details of PM’s trip to US; what we know about monkeypox; more media sign on to Facebook/Google negotiations; but first, Australian Labor Party ends decade in the wilderness.
Anthony Albanese after winning the general election (Photo by Wendell Teodoro/AFP via Getty Images)
Albanese becomes fourth Labor prime minister since WW2
Outgoing Australian prime minister Scott Morrison conceded the election to Labor’s Anthony Albanese on Saturday night. As New Zealand correspondent for the Australian Associated Press, Ben McKay writes, while Labor won, they also went backwards. The teal wave crashed on the beach and the Greens look to have had their best result ever. Check out the “other” category in the third graph here. Morrison will step down as leader of the Liberal party. Peter Dutton is tipped to replace him if current deputy, Josh Frydenberg loses his seat. 1 News Australian correspondent Andrew Macfarlane writes that it’s hardly an inspiring choice.
Any lessons for New Zealand?
The most obvious outtakes? Climate change is a mainstream voter concern and, as outlined by the ABC’s chief election analyst Antony Green, Australians have a diminished appetite for the two major parties. We have already moved from a dominant two-party system in New Zealand (last election aside) and climate was the centrepiece of last week’s budget. Toby Manhire has written previously about what the teal wave could mean for the National party. Three seats in Queensland that were once Liberal party strongholds look like they will go to the Greens in what the ABC describe as a “shock result hiding in plain sight”. Each seat hugs the Brisbane River which flooded in February. Many of the same conversations they’ve been having about insurance and managed retreat sound very familiar.
Albanese hints at rule change on 501 deportations
Newsroom’s Sam Sachdeva took a look at what impact the Australian election results might have on New Zealand. He says the “geographical and cultural closeness “ is baked in. Thorny issues have cropped up over the last two years. There has been tension over the 501 deportees, the treatment of New Zealanders living in Australia, and China. Albanese has hinted that rules may change on deportations to acknowledge how long a person has been living in Australia. But University of Auckland's Dr Jennifer Curtin says Australia’s stance on deportations still isn’t likely to move in the short-term. Jacinda Ardern has a trip to Australia planned this year.
Togs, togs, undies rule pushed to limits
It seems unimaginable that you’d headline a New Zealand election result with Luxo and Ardo (Ardie?) but the Australians are not like us, no matter what congratulatory statements say about our ties. Men in budgie smugglers voted in Bondi - the togs, togs, undies rule extending far beyond what’s acceptable here. Primary schools offered not one but seven different sausage options, including an Albacheesy. Largess abounded in the televised coverage too. 9 News and 7 News both had eight people sitting at an extremely large newsdesk. In a graphics budget blow-out we can only watch with envy, 9 News had an animated, ukulele-playing robot serenading candidates as they lost their seats. Thus far, the computer has said “no” to 19 MPs.
The Spinoff wouldn’t exist today without the generous support of our members.
If you want to support what we do, please consider joining up. There is no minimum to donate and you’ll not only help make local journalism happen but gain a bunch of great member-only perks, including a world version of The Bulletin, written by Peter Bale, delivered direct to your inbox every Thursday, less advertising, an RSS feed, cool merch and more. Join today!
The PM leaves for the US this afternoon
Details of the prime minister's trip to the US have been announced. A trade delegation left ahead of her on Saturday. Ardern will visit New York, Washington DC, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle. She will appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and meet the UN Secretary-General in New York. It’s still not clear if she will be able to meet with US president Joe Biden in DC after her bout of Covid. She will give the commencement address at Harvard University on Thursday (EDT) and meet with tech executives in San Francisco.
Major monkeypox outbreak in New Zealand “unlikely”
People are understandably worried about monkeypox, a virus from the same family as smallpox, especially after a probable case was discovered in Australia. 1 News has a good explainer about the virus here. The Ministry of Health has published an advisory asking anyone who has recently travelled to a country with endemic monkeypox and has a rash-like illness to seek medical advice. University of Otago biochemistry professor Kurt Krause says it’s very unlikely New Zealand will see a big outbreak of moneypox and it’s “important that people calm down a little bit and wait till we get more data”.
A bit like an arranged marriage’: NZTE podcast explores the investor/investee relationship
Season 3 of NZTE’s Investment Fix podcast series has launched, and this time it brings together Kiwi start-ups and the investors who backed them. The result is a candid look at the importance of the investor/investee relationship. Over five episodes, Dylan Lawrence, NZTE’s GM of Investment, joins the founders or CEOs of Mint Innovation, Narrative Muse, Natural Pet Food Group and SafeStack, as well as their investors – from venture capital and private equity firms to angel and Māori investors. There’s also a special bonus episode featuring venture capital guru and Silicon Valley legend Randy Komisar. Listen on Apple or Spotify, or go to the NZTE website. (Sponsored)
Former Australian news executives picked to negotiate with Google and Facebook
The NPA (News Publishers' Association) was granted provisional authorisation by the Commerce Commission to enter into a collective bargaining initiative in April. It is seeking fair payment from Google and Facebook for the use of New Zealand journalism on their platforms with 28 publications joining the initiative. The NPA has announced that Australian news executives Chris Janz and David Eisman will lead the negotiations. Janz negotiated Nine's deals with Google and Facebook in Australia. Last year, Meta committed to investing at least $1bn in news between 2021 and 2024. Some publishers are concerned Meta (the artist previously known as Facebook) is about to pull away from funding journalism. Others think it could just be posturing ahead of more Australian-style legislation to get them to pay publishers for news content.
Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz
Chris Schulz argues there are far too many people named “Chris”; Ruth Oy Har Agnew considers the anti-Asian undertones of “Eurasian fluff”; and Alex Casey explains why we’re celebrating Shortland Street all this week on The Spinoff.
Editor’s note: I own a souvenir Chris and Rachel wedding tea towel and it is among my most prized possessions. Street Week on The Spinoff will be a blast. I used to lock in for three hours each Sunday to watch the Shortland Street omnibus and I will be locked into Street Week in much the same way.
Long read
Stuff’s Philip Matthews has written a feature about the problems at Arise Church, media coverage of a story first published and doggedly followed up by David Farrier, and the rise of pentecostal megachurches. In speaking to other faith leaders and those previously involved with similar churches, he uncovers insights into faith, its relationship to wealth and consumerism and the gap some of those churches are purporting to fill.
