Gina: What does she want? – episode 7
At 13 years old, a young Gina Rinehart read a book that would help shape her worldview – Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, which is having a moment around the world. The novel's capitalist underpinnings promote the idea that people should strive to be their best industrial selves.
In this episode, we explore how these values are playing out in Rinehart's life today, including her proposal to build a coalmine in Canada's Rocky Mountains. And we hear how author and environmental campaigner Tim Winton views her efforts to prevent an overhaul of Australia's environmental laws
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Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Canada, Europeans and Brazil, not US, issue statement backing LGBT rights
WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - The foreign ministries of Canada, Australia, Brazil and a host of European countries issued a statement on Saturday celebrating LGBT rights to coincide with Pride Day. The United States, which has moved rapidly to dismantle civil rights protections since the election of President Donald Trump, was not among its signatories. The statement, whose backers also include Spain, Belgium, Colombia, Ireland and other nations, said the countries "are speaking and acting as one to champion the rights of LGBTQI people," using the abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people. "At a time when hate speech and hate crimes are on the rise, and in view of efforts to strip LGBTQI people of their rights, we reject all forms of violence, criminalization, stigmatization or discrimination, which constitute human rights violations," the statement said. It was not immediately clear why the United States was absent. Canadian, Australian, Brazilian, Irish and U.S. officials did not immediately return messages seeking comment on the Pride Day statement and Washington's absence from it. The U.S., once a champion of gay rights abroad, has reversed course under Trump, whose administration has rapidly dismantled longstanding civil rights protections for LGBT people and expelled transgender servicemembers from the military. Defenders of gay rights are concerned that the backsliding will embolden anti-gay movements, opens new tab elsewhere, especially in Africa, where it could worsen an already difficult situation for LGBT people. Trump's right-wing allies have tapped in to anti-LGBT sentiment to shore up their political support. In Hungary on Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters flouted a law passed in March by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government that allows for the ban of Pride marches. The demonstrators swarmed Budapest with rainbow-colored flags in one of the biggest shows of opposition to the Hungarian leader.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Coalition happy to have quotas for Nationals on frontbench but not for female Liberal MPs, Tanya Plibersek says
The Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek has rubbished Liberal party objections to quotas to boost female representation in frontline politics, while dismissing claims longstanding Labor rules subvert democracy. As a series of reviews into the Coalition's emphatic 3 May election loss get under way, the shadow defence minister, Angus Taylor, has opposed a push for changes to preselection rules to promote Liberal women into winnable seats. Taylor, a leader in the conservative wing of the party's New South Wales branch, said gender quotas 'subvert democratic processes' and that mentoring, recruitment and support of women were better strategies to achieve increased female representation. Plibersek told ABC TV the justification was wrong, noting Labor had passed gender parity using quotas, while the female MPs made up less than a third of Liberal parliamentary ranks. 'They've got a quota of National party MPs that have to be on the frontbench,' she said. 'So they're happy to have quotas for National party MPs. It's just quotas for women that they're not prepared to use. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'Does Angus Taylor really want people to believe that the 28 most talented Liberals in the whole country are the people who've made it into the federal parliament?' Plibersek noted that the Liberals had ignored a non-binding 50% target for female representation put in place after the 2022 election. Labor introduced binding gender quotas in 1994 and has used the intervening decades to toughen its rules. The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, last week used a speech to the National Press Club to pledge to recruit more women to the Liberal party, saying she would be a 'zealot' for that objective. But Ley, the first woman to lead the Liberals, said she was personally agnostic about whether quotas were needed, insisting management of preselection processes was the responsibility of state divisions. 'Our party must preselect more women in winnable seats so that we see more Liberal women in federal parliament,' she said. 'Current approaches have clearly not worked, so I am open to any approach that will.' On Sunday Taylor said he and Ley agreed the Liberal party needed more female MPs and female members. 'The key thing that we all absolutely agree on here is we have to mobilise a grassroots movement across our side of politics for the things we believe in,' he told Sky News. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'That means having people who are representative of their communities, representative of the community here in Australia and we need to find every possible way to do that.' Taylor called for a sensible debate about recruiting women to parliament and to the Liberal party's membership more broadly. 'I've never been a believer in quotas to achieve that but its clear we have to take proactive action to achieve that.' A formal review into the Coalition's loss is being led by the Howard government minister Nick Minchin and the former NSW state minister Pru Goward. The Queensland Liberal National party senator James McGrath is expected to run a separate review into the party's structure. The opposition frontbencher Julian Leeser has called for consideration of preselection primary contests instead of quotas, while high-profile Liberals including the former minister Simon Birmingham and the NSW senator Maria Kovacic have called for mandated quota systems to prevent another drubbing by Labor. The NSW Liberal Women's Council will debate gender quotas at a meeting in Sydney this week. The party has designated places in its federal council for the chair of the federal women's council, as well as other groups including the Young Liberals.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Bizarre Acknowledgement of Country ritual at a work meeting is slammed - as survey reveals what Aussies really think about the ceremonies
A senior businessman has blasted his boss for making every single one of their workers perform an Acknowledgement of Country at a meeting. The worker, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Herald Sun it was 'comical' to watch and said he felt compelled to join his colleagues in the ritual. The comment comes as the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) conducted a survey in May and found 56 per cent of Australians believe Welcome to Country ceremonies have become divisive. That was compared with just 17 per cent who disagreed. A childhood educator said pressure to perform the acknowledgements in the private sector had been led by other progressive staff members, the government and relevant peak bodies. She said failure to give one would cause her to be 'crucified' by other staff. 'It's being pushed down our throats,' she said. The state government's First Peoples' relations wing advised traditional owners should be acknowledged at the commencement of functions, board meetings, and school assemblies, among other events. The IPA - a conservative, free market think tank - asked 1,005 Australians whether Welcome to Country ceremonies had 'become divisive'. Fifty-six per cent of respondents said they agreed they had, while 17 per cent disagreed. A larger proportion of Australians said the practice should continue before sporting events and ceremonies like ANZAC Dawn Services. Just under half – 49 per cent – said the Welcome to County ceremonies should no longer take place before sports games, while 30 per cent said they should continue. At Anzac Day, 34 per cent wanted to see the Welcomes continue, while 46 per cent said they should no longer occur. A Welcome to Country is a formal ceremony conducted by an Elder or Traditional Owner of the land, granting permission for others to be on their Country. An Acknowledgment of Country, however, can be delivered by anyone to show respect for the Traditional Owners. Last week, a Darebin City Council worker objected to have land acknowledgements before work meetings. The council dismissed Shaun Turner when he questioned the ceremony after it was held at the toolbox meeting for the first time. He told the meeting: 'If you need to be thanking anyone, it's the people who have worn the uniform and fought for our country to keep us free. 'It's getting out of hand and people are losing it, it is now being done at the opening of a postage stamp.' Council officers investigated Mr Turner's alleged 'serious misconduct', but he doubled down and won an unfair dismissal case. The ceremonies took a central place in the lead-up to the May 3 Federal election. Then-Coalition leader Peter Dutton said he wanted to unite the country under one flag and maintained the ceremonies were 'overdone', after Daily Mail Australia revealed both prime ministerial contenders would have to answer a question regarding the ceremonies following an incident at a dawn service. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said individual organisations should decide whether to open events with a Welcome, saying the ceremonies were a 'matter of respect'. It came after a group of protesters booed the Welcome to Country ceremony during the Anzac Day dawn service in Melbourne on Friday. Victorians gathered under pre-dawn darkness to commemorate those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, before Bunurong Elder Mark Brown began the Welcome to Country. But boos and heckles emanating from the front of the crowd began shortly after Mr Brown commenced his speech. 'It's our country!' one heckler yelled. 'We don't have to be welcomed!' another screamed. Jacob Hersant, a prominent neo-Nazi figure, was allegedly among those loudly booing. 'This is a day for the Anzacs, it's not for Aboriginals,' he told media after the service. Public opinion was divided following the incident.
