Mining magnate Gina Rinehart donates a lot of cash.
asserted
Rinehart → donate → cash
Australia’s richest person has forked out $1.2 million for Australian swimmers, $900,000 for the conservative group Advance Australia, and made many donations to Pauline Hanson (the latest this week: an $8 million office block for One Nation’s new headquarters).
asserted
person → fork → headquarters
An almighty good cause, but this one comes with some strings attached.
asserted
one → come → strings
The yet-to-be-officially-open Kookaburra Centre within Westmead Hospital will now be called the Rinehart Kookaburra Centre.
asserted
Centre → open → Hospital
The state government first promised $40 million to the centre in 2025.
asserted
government → promise → 2025
But Rinehart’s donation came earlier, during a 2023 fundraiser for the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation.
asserted
donation → come → Foundation
And Rinehart donated $5 million.
asserted
Rinehart → donate → million
The renaming has worried some doctors in Westmead, who have told CBD they were concerned Rinehart’s close association with Hanson’s One Nation would upset the western Sydney community, made up of the very people Hanson has spent years targeting.
asserted
Hanson → worry → years
“There has been consternation amongst the senior staff about Rinehart’s name,” one doctor told CBD.
asserted
doctor → tell → CBD
“To whitewash anti-immigrant sentiment espoused by One Nation is a bit rich in the middle of the most diverse community in the city.”
asserted
whitewash → whitewash → city
In a lengthy statement, a spokesperson for Rinehart said the facility was “desperately needed” because of a more than 50 per cent jump in the number of kids requiring care for chronic or complex medical conditions.
asserted
facility → say → conditions
They said the centre wouldn’t be possible without Rinehart’s gift.
asserted
centre → say → gift
“Children’s health should not be politicised,” her spokesperson said.
asserted
spokesperson → politicise → ?
“If any of these critics would like to match Mrs Rinehart’s $5 million, we’re sure the foundation would welcome it.
asserted
foundation → like → it
Health Minister Ryan Park said he was grateful for Rinehart’s generosity.
asserted
he → say → generosity
“The community can be assured that they have a health minister who makes decisions based on what delivers the best health outcomes for our children, not based on political alignment,” he said.
asserted
he → assure → alignment
Before Labor swept to power in 2023, then-opposition leader Chris Minns famously kept his staff’s offices bare, free of anything that might make them too comfortable to lose sight of the end goal: government.
uncertain
them → sweep → goal
The opposition might do well to remember the tactic.
uncertain
opposition → do → tactic
New parliamentary papers reveal the opposition asked at budget estimates why lactose-free milk wasn’t available at NSW Parliament House’s multiple cafes and dining rooms (it is now) and whether there was any chance of getting a reformer Pilates machine in the parliamentary gym.
asserted
it → reveal → gym
Sadly for opposition members and staffers keen to get a quick session in while attempting to save their party from destruction at the hands of One Nation, staff told them a machine would not pass health and safety controls at the unsupervised facility.
asserted
machine → get → facility
More pressing, to our mind, were questions submitted by Greens MLC Abigail Boyd about long-promised changes to parliament’s security passes for lobbyists.
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questions → press → lobbyists
Parliamentary staff said rules on who gets access to the building’s closed-off areas will soon be updated to include “clearer eligibility and sponsorship requirements”.
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who → say → eligibility
It was only in May this year that billionaire WiseTech co-founder Richard White fronted investors at the Macquarie Australia conference and flaunted the company’s ability to train AI agents to do the work of staff in just 15 minutes.
uncertain
White → front → minutes
Later that month, WiseTech management clashed with staff over the company’s handling of some 2000 job cuts as part of an “AI transformation” plan.
asserted
management → clash → plan
So it’s little surprise to hear staff get twitchy every time “AI” gets a mention in White’s memos.
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AI → ’ → memos
In his latest missive, White could barely contain his excitement over an “AI-enhanced” early education jingle created by one of his children for a high school project.
uncertain
White → contain → project
“This is [a] little digital early childhood learning gift from my family to yours – we could not get AI to build any of the standard nursery rhymes for [my child’s] school project as they block anything that has been commercialised
uncertain
that → get → anything
,” White generously wrote in a note to staff last week, seen by CBD.
asserted
White → write → CBD
“However, the family innovated their way around this and created an ABC song that is something many people thing [sic] is very fun and educational.
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people → innovate → song
“The song and video is so good and the song is so catchy that I think we share the love and give it to you all to see if your children love it as much as we do,” he wrote.
asserted
he → think → it
Who needs copyright law reform when you’ve got innovators like this?
asserted
you → need → this
White’s spokesperson declined to comment.
asserted
spokesperson → decline → ?
The Aporia
