Comment

The tears of a prime minister are oddly revealing. Julia Gillard cried as she introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Scott Morrison cried in church after he lost. On Thursday, Anthony Albanese’s voice was brittle as he announced the question that would enshrine an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

The bottom line of the AUKUS deal is that it locks us into the US military strategy even further, to the point where if the US again does something stupid, such as to support Taiwan in a military confrontation with China, it would be likely that we would join with the US, thereby exposing Australia to the risk of some sort of revenge or no-regrets attack from China. Where’s our sovereignty in all that?

Paul Keating’s verbal torpedoes aimed at the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal have begun hitting their targets in the Labor Party. Keating – often and correctly described as a ‘Labor icon’ – has been joined by two of the party’s more influential figures in the area of foreign policy speaking out against the plan – long-serving Foreign minister Gareth Evans and former Gillard–Rudd era Foreign minister Bob Carr.

Australia’s political right is having another crisis. The Victorian Liberal Party is in the process of expelling one of its parliamentary members, Moira Deeming, over her involvement in an anti-transgender rally that attracted the support of neo-Nazis.

There is something perverse about the prime minister announcing he will spend $368 billion to make Australia less safe – and for the press to record this as an act of political genius. It’s like a child announcing he has fouled himself at the dinner table only for his parents to tell him how clever he is.

The senate review of our corporate watchdog’s handling of white-collar crime is yet to hit its straps, but already the incompetence and lack of professionalism of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is being laid bare.

Make no mistake: Anthony Albanese, in the bright Californian sun this week, was doing more than putting the nation on an economic and strategic war footing; he was rendering his political opponents back home defenceless.

The deal is done. On Monday morning in San Diego, the leaders of the United States, Australia and Britain jointly revealed the key details of Australia’s road to becoming a nuclear power – of sorts. President Joe Biden announced that the US will sell Australia three to five used Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines sometime in the 2030s.

Whistleblowers are vital actors in our democracy, upholding our right to know. Without them – and the public interest journalism they make possible – corruption and human rights abuses go unaddressed.

Tanya Plibersek is well placed to be one of Australia’s best ministers for the Environment, but she has to stand up to powerful rivals in cabinet who are so far pushing the agenda in favour of fossil fuels and environmental destruction.