Shit We Missed This Week: 14th July
*We didn’t miss it, we just didn’t post about it, so we are now.
We’re bringing the weekly wrap back to The Introvert Archive, but with a new name, because “The Weekly Wrap” is pretty meh if you ask me. If you’re new or have forgotten the weekly wrap is the opportunity to talk about the news headlines that I didn’t get to chat about during the week. I usually aim to stick to five-ish stories per week but watch me go over every week.
Ben Roberts-Smith to appeal the loss of his defamation case against Nine Newspapers.
Last month the defamation case war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith brought on The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times was dismissed by Justice Anthony Besanko. The stories in question were published in 2018 and alleged that Roberts-Smith was responsible for four unlawful killings in Afghanistan and of bullying, however, it was found that there was enough truth to the allegations to throw the case out.
The original judgement from Justice Besanko was given over 730 pages and found that the former soldier was “not an honest and reliable witness”. The decision also ruled that he had multiple reasons to lie - financial motives in claiming damages and restoring his reputation.
On the day that the judgement was given, Roberts-Smith didn’t even attend court, instead, he was in Bali, perhaps he was expecting to win so decided to get the ill-thought-out party started early.
On Tuesday his legal team filed a notice of appeal in the Federal Court, to do this they had to ask for an extension on the time frame in which is allowed to lodge an appeal. No doubt we will be posting about this one as the case continues on in the future.
The family of Clare Nowland will sue the NSW government over her death.
In May, 95-year-old Clare Nowland was tasered by police in her aged care home, which ultimately led to her death. In case you’ve forgotten the story (doubt it), Clare was a frail 95-year-old woman with dementia who was found holding a steak knife in her aged care home. Carers called the police when they could not safely get the knife from her. Two police officers arrived and the female police officer told Senior Constable White, a 33-year-old man with 12 years of experience in policing that she could take the knife from Clare. His response was “No, bugger it.” Before he tasered her (again, 95 and using a walking frame) twice. The injuries that Clare sustained sent her to Cooma District Hospital where she received end-of-life care and passed away.
The case was initially lodged on May 19, which was five days before she died in hospital. A pre-trial conference date has now been scheduled to be held in court on August 24.
Lidia Thorpe will not seek re-election after her term ends in 2028.
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has told 60 Minutes on the Nine Network that she will not run for her seat once her term expires in 2028. Thorpe originally joined the Senate in 2020, at that time she became the first Aboriginal senator for Victoria, and when she replaced Richard Di Natale at his retirement, she became The Green’s first Federal Aboriginal representative. She later resigned as the deputy leader of The Greens in the senate when it was revealed she did not disclose a past relationship with a former bikie boss before she quit the party all together and moved to the crossbench as an Independent.
In more recent times Ms Thorpe has been very vocal about voting no in the Indigenous Voice referendum, she believes it will not effectively address the issues that impact Indigenous people. She was also the first to accuse David Van of sexual harassment before being forced to withdraw her comments due to parliamentary rules.
The separation of Andrew and Nicola Forrest.
I kid you not when I say that on Thursday morning I woke up to emails from multiple different media outlets about the separation of Andrew and Nicola Forrest.
On Wednesday night the billionaire couple announced their separation after more than three decades of marriage but insisted that it would have “no impact on the operations, control or direction” of their shared business ventures including Fortescue, Minderoo or Tattarang. Tattarang is their investment office that supports plenty of businesses including RM Williams, Harvest Road and Camilla.
The division of wealth between the Forrests would see Nicola Forrest become the second richest woman in Australia behind Gina Rinehart.
Zayn Malik gives his first interview in six years.
In some pop culture news, original member of One Direction, Zayn Malik has given his first interview in six years when he sat down with Alex Cooper from Spotify exclusive podcast Call Her Daddy. Malik revealed that there were “underlying issues” within the popular boyband and within their friendships that were his reasoning for leaving the group, and their ultimate decision to disband.
“We’d been together every day for five years and we got sick of each other,” he said. (As you would.)
He also admitted that he “selfishly” wanted to be the first member of the band to leave and start their own solo career. He went on to talk about the different experiences of performing with four other band members versus performing on his own, saying it was “a whole different workload.” I mean going from sharing lyrics with four other people to singing everything on your own is about four times more work, wouldn’t you say?
Malik also discussed his anxiety, and explained that since becoming a father his perspective has changed, he felt like he “had to step up.” He went on to say that his motivation for the interview was to set a good example for her. He also confirmed that he has his daughter 50% of the time, while her mother, Gigi Hadid has her the rest of the time, and that during his time he doesn’t work, opting to be 100% present with her.
Work-from-home limits scrapped for public sector workers.
On Thursday a deal was announced between The Community and Public Sector Union with the Australian Public Service Commission that allows for more flexible working arrangements for public sector workers.
The deal includes the removal of caps on the number of days staff can work from home, and allowing them to work from home permanently unless there are “clear business reasons” for a work-from-home request to be refused.
The deal has been described as “groundbreaking” and would encourage people to consider roles in the public sector. The CPSU currently has more than 120,000 members across Australia.
There are now talks of this deal having negative impacts on the “economic vibrancy” of central business districts and thousands of businesses. Others are talking about the impact that this decision will have on productivity.
And to finish… 5 Quick Tidbits from the Week That Was
The BBC presenter who allegedly paid a teenager thousands of pounds to pose for sexually explicit photos has been identified by his wife. Vicky Flind revealed that her husband, veteran BBC presenter Huw Edwards was at the centre of the allegations and that he has now been hospitalised with severe mental health issues.
From July 13 to July 26 you can save up to $400 or receive a complimentary gift with select purchases in the annual Dyson week. They have 23 items included in the sale including vacuums, fan heaters, straighteners and blow dryers. FYI the Airwrap Multi-Styler is on special for $759.20 with a complimentary gift, and the Supersonic Hair Dryer is on special for $649.00 plus a gift.
In 2020, 21,000 people sought homelessness assistance in Houston, Texas, now Beyonce and Kelly Rowland, both from the city have joined forces to do something about it. The two will build a housing complex with 31 permanent homes as well as provide support services (case managers, peer specialists, transportation and mental/behavioural health assistance.)
Dr Charlie Teo has been found guilty of “unsatisfactory professional conduct”. The Sydney neurosurgeon faced two conduct charges relating to surgeries in 2018 and 2019. Both patients had a terminal brain tumour and did not regain consciousness following the surgeries. He was also found to have charged an “inappropriate” fee amounting to $35,000 to one of the patients and misled the patients about the risks involved.
A new report by the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors has revealed that the top CEOs in Australia are currently making 55 times more than the average employee BUT the pay for CEOs at these companies is actually the lowest it has been in nine years. Mick Farrell of ResMed, a medical equipment company is the country's top-earning CEO with a cool $47.1 million.
That is all for this week, catch you on the flip side (next Friday!)
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