"Peter Dutton has called a press conference for 10am, so it is all official – nuclear is go.

The Coalition teleconference meeting has wrapped up, and the seven sites have been named and it is as we thought: Collie in Western Australia, Mt Piper and Liddell in New South Wales, Callide and Tarong in Queensland, Northern Energy in South Australia and Loy Yang in Victoria."

"There are already issues being identified with the sites – first, the sites would need to be purchased from private operators. There will need to be some pretty major changes to legislation, both state and federally. The Queensland LNP, as recently as yesterday, said it would not lift the nuclear ban for the state, which is a problem given two Queensland reactor sites have been identified by Dutton’s team.

Tarong in Queensland is a particular issue as it doesn’t have a secure water source. In 2006, then-premier Peter Beattie had to propose a waste water pipeline as a last ditch measure to save the plant during a drought."

Uhlmann said:

I have watched the network since its inception and have always admired its commitment to journalism through straight-shooting broadcasters like Kieran Gilbert and Laura Jayes.

In 2010 I helped establish ABC News 24 and had a brutal reality check on just how hard it is trying to keep pace with Sky.

Commitment to journalism my arse. And he's going to be on Credlin's program. Next step: regular panelist on Outsiders.

What an absolute buffoon.

Australia’s public schools will miss out on $13bn in the next five years if accounting tricks are maintained in upcoming funding agreements, a major report has found.

The National School Resourcing Board’s (NSRB) annual review, tabled in parliament last week, showed government schools lost more than $2bn in 2022 because of a Morrison-era loophole that allows states and territories to claim up to 4% of public school funding on non-school expenditures.

The federal education minister, Jason Clare, has indicated the 4% will not be reviewed until the next round of funding agreements – scheduled for 2030.

Modelling provided to Guardian Australia by the Save our Schools convener, Trevor Cobbold, suggests if Clare’s position remains, public schools will miss out on about $13bn in funding to the end of the decade.

"Billionaire businessman, Clive Palmer, has warned Labor against legislating electoral spending and donation caps, accusing it of attempting to “silence the diversity of ideas in this country”.

The Albanese government is preparing legislation to cap political donations and electoral spending, citing the influence of Palmer’s hundreds of millions of electoral spending, backed by donations from his company Mineralogy to the United Australia Party.

Although the reforms are backed by an inquiry into the 2022 election by the joint standing committee on electoral matters (Jscem), Palmer’s intervention into the debate spells trouble for the government, which could face a high court challenge on the basis caps infringe the implied freedom of political communication."

And related:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/29/joe-hockey-says-it-is-absurd-for-asio-not-to-name-former-politician-accused-of-treason

Infuriating. In this form, private education is an absolute cancer.

David Littleproud told the ABC he and Mr Joyce had a conversation about the "circumstances" that led to him lying down in the street.

The Nationals MP said Mr Joyce's behaviour wasn't "normal" and that he had embarrassed himself and his family.

Mr Littleproud said there were "greater circumstances" to the incident than the public was aware of, beyond the "mixture of medication and alcohol".

"There's some family circumstances that his family need to deal with, and I encouraged him to take some time to deal with that emotionally," Mr Littleproud said.

"To make sure that his family understood that he was there for them but that we were there for Barnaby. That we were going to create an environment for him to be able to address those issues.

Good thing he's not looking for sympathy, as I am fresh out.

Jesus Christ, what an absolute moron and embarrassment.

Concessions for superannuation cost the federal budget almost $50bn a year while rental deductions, much of them for negative gearing, have jumped by more than half in three years, the annual Treasury summary of tax expenditures shows.

The ranking of revenue foregone in 2023-24, released on Wednesday, was headed by many of the usual groups, finding for example that shielding taxpayers’ main residence from capital gains taxes, saved them a combined $47.5bn for the year, up about a third from 2018-19.

Topping the list was concessions for super contributions, which cost the budget $28.55bn, up almost 23% from the previous year. Exemptions for earnings from super was ranked fifth largest at $20.05bn, down about 7% on the previous year.

Benefits for both types of super exemptions were skewed to higher income earners. In 2020–21, 90% of the contributions benefit went to people with above median income, and 30% went to people in the top tenth of taxable income earners.

Victoria’s oldest independent bookshop has apologised after its owner called for more picture books with “just white kids on the cover” and claimed that the chain would stop stocking “woke agenda” content that divided people.

Susanne Horman, the owner of Robinsons Bookshop chain, posted a series of tweets in December where she called for an “substantial shift” in Australian publishing, arguing the focus should be in line with public opinion, requests for books and “for what is good”.

“What’s missing from our bookshelves in store?” Horman wrote in one tweet, before the account was deleted. “Positive male lead characters of any age, any traditional nuclear white family stories, kids picture books with just white kids on the cover, and no wheelchair, rainbow or indigenous art, non indig [sic] aus history.”

Another post read: “Books we don’t need: hate against white Australians, socialist agenda, equity over equality, diversity and inclusion (READ AS anti-white exclusion), left wing govt propaganda. Basically the woke agenda that divides people. Not stocking any of these in 2024.”

In a Facebook post on Sunday night, Robinsons Bookshop said the comments had been “taken out of context” and “misrepresented the views” of the company.