Paul Daley reminds us that 26 January has been an Indigenous day of mourning far longer than it has been Australia Day: “in the media/political to-and-fro over another date, the real Australian malaise is all but forgotten. And that is: until Australia deals with the unfinished business of Aboriginal sovereignty and historical truth telling there will be no appropriate date upon which to celebrate a supposedly unified nation. Until Australia reaches a black/white settlement over sovereignty, through commonwealth and state treaties and a formal process of historical reckoning, it’s pointless marking other dates on the calendar.”

The World Economic Forum, an invitation-only gathering of the mega-rich elite, this year “aim[s] to foster systems leadership and global stewardship while recognizing the actuality of a more complex, ‘multiconceptual’ world”. Anand Giridharadas explains what these gatherings are really about: “Conferences and ideas festivals sponsored by plutocrats and big business — such as the World Economic Forum, which is under way in Davos, Switzerland, this week — host panels on injustice and promote ‘thought leaders’ who are willing to confine their thinking to improving lives within the faulty system rather than tackling the faults. … The only thing better than being a fox is being a fox asked to watch over hens.”

“Workers are defaulted to being non-union in employment relationships across the world.” But why must that be the case? What if union membership was the default, with scabs required to opt out? Noting that “roughly half of all workers across richer Anglophone countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, want to be union members but a majority cannot exercise their preference because they belong to a non-union workplace”, a group of academics has proposed a union default system that might strengthen union density, lower membership costs, and allow union resources to be deployed more effectively to organise new workplaces.

Australia’s most prominent golliwog collector, former Liberal Premier Jeff Kennett, has lent his support to the campaign to move Australia Day — but only because he doesn’t like public holidays: “We aren’t that serious about it. If we were, we’d celebrate Australia Day on the day it falls and not have a holiday if it fell on the weekend as it does this year.” He wants it moved to 1 January, so it can share the New Year holiday. Still, the fact that a man who names his racist dolls after his Aboriginal employees can support #changethedate suggests we should be pushing for IndigenousX’s more ambitious #changethenation instead.

The best you can say for this is, it’s not technically bribery: “Australia’s corporate and consumer watchdogs are allowing commissioners and staff to accept gifts and hospitality from the industries they regulate but refuse to publicly disclose the largesse or potential conflicts of interest.”

Is Labor toughening its stance against “jobs for the boys”? Asked the Gaetjens controversy, Chris Bowen said this: “I don’t think it’s good practice for an incoming government to remove the treasury secretary if that treasury secretary has been a normal, non-partisan appointment. I don’t regard this as a normal, non-partisan appointment…” Earlier this week, when a Liberal Senator quit half-way through his term (so his replacement won’t need to face voters) and was appointed Consul-General within an hour, a Labor spokesman said: “We’re not guaranteeing any of these. We will be assessing appointments on their merits.” They will be kept busy assessing a rash of partisan appointments the Liberals have recently made.

Hospitality business Merivale, which runs 70 venues across Sydney, has been forced to terminate its “zombie” WorkChoices-era EBA because it undercuts the award. Over three-quarters of the company’s staff are casuals who have been stiffed on evening, weekend, and overtime rates; some have been paid 22% below the award. Unfortunately, the company is being given until March to meet the award minimums, because the ten years since WorkChoices was scrapped has apparently not been long enough. There is a lesson here for Labor, whose Fair Work Act allowed this to occur: any grandfathering of immoral laws must be for a limited transition period only.

The Andrews Labor government scrapped performance bonuses for senior executives after revelations that — just like in the private sector — they were not linked to any meaningful measure of performance. Over at public service news site The Mandarin, the decision prompted bigger questions about “the moral justification” of executives being “bribed to fulfil their duties satisfactorily”: “If a company’s performance is above average and justifies payment of a bonus, should not every employee receive a proportionate share?” Indeed.

Yesterday, The Age reported on an innocent Aboriginal teenager who was arrested and thrown into a fence. The victim was charged with assaulting police, until a court forced them to reveal notes admitting they thought he was the wrong guy, and “did not see it necessary in any way to use force.” Today, this: another cop “caught on CCTV repeatedly slapping a drunk disability pensioner before hurling him to the ground and knocking him out, leaving the man with ongoing injuries.” The sergeant was convicted of assault, but after a paid suspension — a bonus holiday — he returned to work. The Police Accountability Project is demanding an independent body to handle complaints against police.