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Sky News AU
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
'De facto Australian President': Governor-General Samantha Mostyn makes 'political' media blitz to woo progressive outlets ahead of parliament's opening
If you haven't already noticed, something odd is going on. The Governor-General of Australia, Samantha Mostyn, appears to have embarked upon a public relations campaign. Since speaking with SBS on 17 October last year, which the broadcaster itself described as 'a rare, wide-ranging interview,' Mostyn has appeared across or provided comment to several media platforms. In the last couple of months alone, she has spoken with Nine's newspaper arms, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, as well as A Current Affair. She has also featured as a podcast participant for Missing Perspectives and, just recently, The Daily Aus. This is highly irregular behaviour for a governor-general, even if it might otherwise reflect Mostyn's career in corporate affairs. Historically – that is, beyond the last twenty years – Australian governor-generals have not sought to occupy the limelight; rather, they have quietly discharged their constitutional duties, as well as supported the organisations they patronise. Moreover, the actual substance of Mostyn's most critical contributions to the media are grave. 'The King doesn't direct me,' she says, as printed by Nine's newspapers, 'and I don't seek his advice; it's the prime minister and the ministry I take my counsel from, and that I work with.' '[Australia has] a historical connection to the monarch, but that has no bearing on the way in which I conduct myself in the role,' she reaffirmed to The Daily Aus. Mostyn's words totally misrepresent the constitutional nature of her office; she is the King's vice-regal representative in Australia, bound by the authority of the Crown. The Australian Constitution is perfectly clear in Section 2, where it states that the governor-general 'shall have and may exercise in the Commonwealth during the Queen's pleasure, but subject to this Constitution, such powers and functions of the Queen as Her Majesty may be pleased to assign.' This, obviously, has a bearing, at least to some extent, on the way the governor-general conducts their duties, with those duties emanating from an office that without the Crown has no reason to exist. Mostyn's claim concerning the granting of royal assent to bills passed by the Australian Parliament – that she 'can't read the bill and [ask] questions' about it – is also not within the spirit of the Constitution. Section 58 provides our Governor-General, 'according to his discretion, but subject to this Constitution, [to declare] that he assents in the Queen's name, or that he withholds assent' to 'a proposed law passed by both Houses of the Parliament.' The Governor-General, Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during the swearing-in ceremony at Government House, Canberra. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman Assent is not a rubber stamp just because convention requires it be granted in all but extraordinary circumstances, any more than weapons of mass destruction are superfluous if a suitable occasion to deploy them never arises. The writings of Sir Paul Hasluck affirm this, holding that Section 58 exists not so that elected representatives can be 'overruled' by governors-general but so that governors-general can 'check elected representatives in any extreme attempt by them to disregard the rule of law.' Sir David Smith concurs, arguing that, more broadly, a governor-general's 'presence in our system' is not about how much power that position itself has but, rather, how much 'absolute power' it denies to those 'who are in' government. It is concerning, then, that Mostyn, who describes herself as 'a constitutional law nerd,' told Nine Newspapers: 'As the governor-general, you should always be conscious of maintaining the kind of relationship with the prime minister and the government where, if you see trouble ahead, you work with them to avoid the trouble.' One wonders what Smith, who served as Sir John Kerr's official secretary during the Dismissal, might think about that. Beyond interpreting her constitutional duties before the public eye, Mostyn has seen fit to detail the changes – seemingly small, yet so very consequential – she is making to her office, ever with increasing confidence. For instance, she has moved Nathaniel Dance's famous 1776 portrait of James Cook, formerly centred in Admiralty House's entrance hall, to a poorly-lit crevasse behind the stairs. Cook's painting has been replaced with a work by an Aboriginal Australian artist. Mostyn's team has moved Nathaniel Dance's famous 1776 portrait of James Cook, formerly centred in Admiralty House's entrance hall, to a poorly-lit crevasse behind the stairs. Picture: Nine/A Current Affair Cook's painting has been replaced with a work by an Aboriginal Australian artist. Picture: Nine/A Current Affair Furthermore, in her podcast with Missing Perspectives, Mostyn goes as far to outline her ambitions for certain legislative agendas, including wage reform and subsidised childcare, only to eventually add: 'Now, I can't speak to… policy in this role.' It is a disclaimer that should never need be expressed in the first place; unequivocally, governors-general cannot be involved with any part of the policymaking process. So, why is Mostyn doing all that she is, and why now? Well, responding to whether she is a republican or not, Mostyn told A Current Affair, 'I have no views on the republic issue.' Notably, she didn't say, 'I am not a republican.' We also know Mostyn considered herself a republican as little time ago as 2020, when she revealed to the Australian Institute of Company Directors that Paul Keating's republican vision was something she 'really cared about.' It's hard to know what her previous beliefs were, considering her digital footprint was totally expunged, without explanation, when her appointment was first announced in 2022. I am becoming increasingly disillusioned by what seems to be Mostyn's unconditional altruism; that is, her focus on care, kindness, social cohesion, modern Australia and – on the face of it, now amplified following the federal election – civics education. My strong suspicion is that Mostyn has a mandate from Anthony Albanese, her appointee, to progress republicanism in Australia by converting her privileged post, insofar as she can, into a de facto presidential office. To recall Edmund Burke's wisdom: 'You may have subverted monarchy, but not recovered freedom.' Parliament opened this month, at which time Mostyn discharged various constitutional duties, and her words and actions in relation to those duties carry weight. No doubt, the purpose of her recent liaison with the media shall shortly reveal itself. Alexander Voltz is a composer. As well as contributing to he is the founding Music Editor of Quadrant, and writes also for The Spectator Australia. He directed The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Concert, Australia's largest musical tribute during the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II. His music has been performed across the country and abroad.
News.com.au
15-05-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Australian politician slammed over Kanye praise
This is not a drill. This is not clickbait. This is a sitting senator in the Australian parliament proudly announcing to his followers that his 'song of the week' is Kanye West's 'Heil Hitler.' Yes, that song, the one featuring the voice of Adolf Hitler himself. Let me say that again, because I never imagined I'd have to: An elected federal politician in 2025 has praised a song that glorifies history's greatest mass murderer. Ralph Babet, who somehow believes this is just a matter of personal taste, has not only applauded a piece of Holocaust-themed propaganda, he's gone further. In the same rant, he declared he'd rather spend time with neo-Nazis than with what he called 'mentally ill' and 'baby-killing' left-wing Australians. Just when you think it can't get any worse, he adds that it was all 'tongue-in-cheek.' That he wouldn't really hang out with neo-Nazis because, well, they'd want to deport him for being brown. And sure, he also claims he was just sharing a 'good song' by a 'great artist' and that attempts to label him a Nazi were 'f**ing bulls**t'. Be that as it may, this isn't politics. This seems like moral vandalism with a Senate badge. And the most terrifying part? This wasn't buried in some dark corner of the internet. It was posted on Instagram for all to see. It was loud, proud, and unrepentant. This was a megaphone, not a mistake. Let us not lose sight of what this moment represents. Adolf Hitler is not a vibe. He is not a meme. His name does not belong on a Spotify playlist. It belongs to the ashes of Auschwitz and Treblinka. It belongs to gas chambers, to mass graves, to tattooed arms and shattered families. When you celebrate that name, when you call 'Heil Hitler' your favourite song, you are desecrating the memory of six million Jews and every Australian soldier who fought to defeat the regime that name represents. And when you say you'd rather hang out with members of a neo-Nazi group than with your fellow Australians, you are not making a joke. You are not being edgy. You are giving the ugliest people in this country a green light. With songs like this being shared by a senator, you wonder whether the National Socialist Network even needs to promote themselves anymore. There is a reason these words matter. Because when hate is amplified by power, it spreads faster. Louder. Deeper. The lines blur. The fringe moves to the centre. And before long, what once shocked becomes routine. I'm not interested in Senator Babet's denials of being a Nazi. That's irrelevant. The issue is not his intent. The issue is the impact. His words will be quoted in extremist forums. Clipped, reposted, celebrated. Kanye's video will become a calling card for white supremacists who now feel they have a friend in parliament. And what does it say to Jewish Australians? That in 2025, they still have to hear something featuring the name 'Hitler' praised in the public square? That the horrors their grandparents survived are now a punchline for social media engagement? Enough. This is not just offensive. This is dangerous. With these kind of acts, the National Socialist Network, which once had to operate on the fringes of society, doesn't need to market itself anymore. He claims it was all 'tongue-in-cheek.' He says the neo-Nazis wouldn't want him anyway, because of his background. As if that somehow makes it better. It doesn't. You don't joke about Holocaust glorification. You don't wink at songs containing the symbols of mass extermination. You don't casually name-drop Hitler as part of your weekly vibe check. If a schoolteacher praised this song, they'd be fired. If a corporate CEO did it, they'd be gone before lunch. But a senator? Still seated. Still empowered. And that tells us something terrifying: that the old lines—the moral boundaries that once held this country together—are being erased. That we've grown numb to the rising temperature. This is not political correctness gone mad. This is not a matter of free speech. That's why I'm calling on Clive Palmer to do what any decent leader would do: disendorse Ralph Babet and denounce this latest act, without spin, without delay. Because if we allow a song called 'Heil Hitler' to be proudly promoted by someone sitting in our Senate, then we are not just failing the victims of the past—we are failing the future of this nation. This is not a Jewish issue. This is not a left or right issue. This is an Australian issue. Dr Dvir Abramovich is Chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission and the author of eight books Senator Ralph Babet hits back In a statement to Senator Babet insisted he was not a 'Nazi sympathiser', urging critics to 'read the lyrics of the song before they accuse me of being something I most certainly am not'. 'Kanye West's song, as is obvious to all who have listened to it, is not glorifying Nazis or Adolf Hitler,' he said, claiming the 'entire point of the song.. is that Hitler is bad'. 'The song begins with Kanye West confessing that he is filled with rage and anger. Worse, he is hopelessly addicted to drugs. Then he admits … 'I'm the villain.' It's in THAT context he sings 'Heil Hitler' … not to acknowledge Hitler's desire to kill Jews but in the sense that Hitler, in our culture, has come to mean the devil,' he claimed. 'And Kanye fears that he himself, filled with insatiable rage and his mind screwed up by drugs, has become the devil. Or, if you will, Hitler. He's saying I'm angry, I'm completely messed up in the head. I'm basically Hitler. The reaction to my admission that I liked the song demonstrates how many people in this country flick their mouth to outrage before engaging their brain into first gear.' Mr Babet added that 'people should be free to listen to whatever they want'. 'I won't be apologising for liking Kanye's song because the song neither endorses Hitler nor promotes Nazis. Far from it. The song, as I have said, depicts Hitler and the Nazis as the personification of evil. That so many people ran to outraged over a song they have either not bothered to listen to or completely failed to understand says a great deal more about them than it says about me.'
Irish Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Albanese eyes up cabinet picks after Australian election victory
The trouble with winning an election landslide is the victorious party has many more people angling for cabinet ministries. Inevitably, some are going to be disappointed, feelings will be hurt and careers will be cut short. But if winning up to 93 of the Australian parliament's 150 lower house seats is a problem for Labor prime minister Anthony Albanese , it's not as bad as the headache facing the opposition: the Liberal-National coalition, a conservative alliance reduced to its worst result of about 44 seats (some are still too close to call). Making a bad situation worse, the Liberal side of the coalition is leaderless, with Peter Dutton having lost his Brisbane seat to Labor. Labor also won Greens leader Adam Bandt's seat. READ MORE Though Albanese has more power than any previous Labor prime minister, he is answerable to the left and right factions of the party, which in turn are tied to support from affiliated unions. The left, from which Albanese comes, gained more seats and is looking for an extra cabinet position. The right, led by deputy prime minister Richard Marles, has already shown how ruthless it can be by telling attorney-general Mark Dreyfus and industry minister Ed Husic that their time in cabinet is over. The major difficulty with that is Dreyfus, who is Jewish, is the most pro-Israel Labor MP, and Husic, whose parents migrated from Bosnia, is the only Muslim in cabinet. Dropping both at the same time risks looking like an oblique comment on the Middle East. Albanese could have made a 'captain's pick' to retain one or both, but chose not to. He has also not commented on whether environment minister Tanya Plibersek will retain her portfolio. Though they are both from the left of the party and represent neighbouring Sydney electorates, Albanese and Plibersek are not close and she is seen as a future Labor leader. But when the new cabinet is sworn in next week, Plibersek will still be included as Albanese will calculate that she is better kept close at hand than stewing on the backbenches. But she is unlikely to remain as environment minister, as Albanese has previously watered down some of her proposals. The Liberals will meet to pick a new leader on Tuesday. With Dublin-born Keith Wolohan , who was tipped as a future leader, having lost his Melbourne seat and other front runners having dropped out, this is a two-horse race between deputy party leader Sussan Ley and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor. In the expectation that Taylor would be a bigger threat, Labor treasurer Jim Chalmers criticised him while votes were being counted on election night last Saturday, questioning his grasp of economics. Even more damning for Taylor is that one of his own, Liberal senator Hollie Hughes, did the same thing. 'I have concerns about his capability. I feel we have zero economic policy to sell,' she told ABC radio. 'I don't know what he's been doing for three years. There was no tax policy, there was no economic narrative.' Labor will hope Ley is chosen as she would be an easier target, given her unorthodox beliefs and an expenses scandal. Ley, who changed her name from Susan to Sussan, explained in 2015: 'I read about this numerology theory that if you add the numbers that match the letters in your name you can change your personality. I worked out that if you added an s I would have an incredibly exciting, interesting life and nothing would ever be boring. It's that simple.' Her life got a touch too exciting when she had to resign as health minister in 2017 after using a taxpayer-funded trip to buy an apartment on Queensland's Gold Coast. While Labor questions Taylor's grasp of numbers, Ley's grasp of numerology and expenses will be easy to attack. Meanwhile, the opposition coalition's supporters in the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspapers and Sky News are reeling at the biggest conservative loss they've seen. Andrew Bolt, who is a Sky News presenter and News Corp columnist, published a piece last Saturday telling Australians they had made a mistake. 'No, the voters aren't always right. This time they were wrong,' he wrote. Bolt said the coalition lost because it 'refused to fight the 'culture wars''. This was a reference to issues such as identity politics, Aboriginal policy and immigration. His Sky colleague Peta Credlin, a former chief of staff to ex-Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott, later backed Bolt, saying 'I'd argue we didn't do enough of a culture war'.
Business Wire
08-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Stonepeak Establishes Presence in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Stonepeak, the world's largest independent infrastructure firm and leading US infrastructure investor, today announced that it is establishing its presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and expanding its commitment to the Middle East with senior investment professionals, the Honorable Steven Ciobo and Fadi Kerbaj, leading Stonepeak's engagement on the ground in Riyadh. These appointments build on Stonepeak's ongoing strategic commitment to the Middle East, including the establishment of the firm's office in Riyadh and receipt of its Ministry of Investment license to operate non-securities business activities in Saudi Arabia. Stonepeak remains focused on deepening strategic partnerships and identifying compelling investment opportunities across the infrastructure landscape in the region. Mike Dorrell, Stonepeak CEO, Chairman, and Co-Founder, said: 'Saudi Arabia is one of the world's most exciting areas for infrastructure investment and innovation with a unique combination of strong, ambitious, well-resourced leadership and a young, educated, and fast growing population. Stonepeak is market leading in creating and building infrastructure businesses in fast growing economies, and we look forward to ramping up our service as a valuable partner for stakeholders in the Kingdom.' Hajir Naghdy, Senior Managing Director and Head of Asia and the Middle East at Stonepeak, added: 'We are excited to deepen our commitment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as we add senior representatives in Riyadh. This is a critical next step in our Middle East strategy, allowing us to support the realization of Vision 2030 on the ground. We look forward to creating and building infrastructure businesses in the Kingdom, combining Stonepeak's global infrastructure sector expertise with our regional insights and capabilities.' Steven Ciobo joined Stonepeak in 2020 after serving in the Australian Parliament for nearly two decades and holding numerous senior roles as a Cabinet Minister, including as Minister for Trade, Tourism, and Investment, and as Minister for Defence Industry. In these roles, Steven drove Australia's trade and investment agenda, securing deals on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and with Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom as well as engagement with the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council. With his extensive senior network and global stakeholder relationships, Steven will be well positioned to focus on the origination of infrastructure investment opportunities and relationship development in the region. Fadi Kerbaj is a senior leader on Stonepeak's investment team bringing 15 years of extensive infrastructure investment experience and a deep regional network to the firm having spent the majority of his career in infrastructure investment and advisory roles in the Middle East. Most recently, Fadi was the Head of Saudi Arabia for Tribe Infrastructure, where he led a broad range of strategic transactions across district cooling, water, waste, and social infrastructure, and prior to Tribe he invested in similar sectors across the region through his role at Macquarie. In addition to its presence in the Kingdom, Stonepeak employs more than 300 people in New York, Houston, London, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, and Abu Dhabi. The firm manages approximately $73 billion in assets from regulated centers on behalf of its partners. About Stonepeak Stonepeak is a leading alternative investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets with approximately $73 billion of assets under management. Through its investment in defensive, hard-asset businesses globally, Stonepeak aims to create value for its investors and portfolio companies, with a focus on downside protection and strong risk-adjusted returns. Stonepeak, as sponsor of private equity and credit investment vehicles, provides capital, operational support, and committed partnership to grow investments in its target sectors, which include digital infrastructure, energy and energy transition, transport and logistics, and real estate. Stonepeak is headquartered in New York with offices in Houston, Washington, D.C., London, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh. For more information, please visit
Bloomberg
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
RBA Unveils First Nations Theme for Redesigned A$5 Banknote
Australia's central bank has announced a new design for the A$5 note with a theme of First Nations peoples' connection to country, in a decision that came after more than 2,100 public nominations. The design selection panel, which included First Nations representatives and officials from the Reserve Bank and Note Printing Australia, chose the theme, according to a statement. The new design will replace the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, with the reverse side still showing the Australian Parliament.
