1. Woman charged over strawberry contamination scandal
On 11 November 2018, My Ut Trinh, a 50-year-old farm supervisor, was arrested in Brisbane and charged with seven counts of contaminating goods.
The way the crisis was handled has been the focus of much attention. Ultimately, the speed of the recovery of the strawberry industry and the survival of the growers and labels effected will indicate how successful it was.
There are aspects of how the crisis was managed that are worthy of discussion, however the end result has been unprecedented support from Australian Government including:
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced a $100,000 reward for information, and a $1 million assistance package for the QLD strawberry industry.
Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan promised a $100,000 reward
The Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged all Australians to ‘make a pav this weekend’ and top it with strawberries.
You can’t buy that kind of advertising
Perhaps the most under acknowledged victim was in fact the haberdashery industry that suffered when Woolworths, as a reaction to the crisis, removed sewing needles from sale.
2. 'Bloody tired' - Stressed players feeling the toll of game in crisis
While Australia can end the week on a high following the defeat of South Africa in Hobart, the legacy of the ball-tampering crisis continues.
Players are described as "drained" and "cooked" just two games into the home international season.
Additionally, due to the crisis the Cricket Australia board has not considered the submission to lift the bans handed to Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.
It appears that the leadership of Cricket Australia were caught unprepared for the crisis that came from the ball tampering incident.
The crisis brought to light a ‘win at all costs’ mentality with many asking how the board and executive leadership could have allowed cricket to be brought into such disrepute.
3. NSW ALP crisis over Luke Foley’s scandal
The NSW opposition leader sensationally quit as opposition leader last week when accused of drunkenly placing his hands inside the underwear of an ABC reporter after a Christmas party.
Federal Labour leader, Bill Shorten, distanced himself from Foley saying the alleged behaviour cannot be tolerated.
The rhetoric from Canberra implied that Foley had a choice to either pursue a defamation case or stay on in state politics, however the long term prospects of the later are unlikely following the allegations.
It appears that NSW Liberals and federal ALP leaders have controlled the narrative with state ALP caught ill-prepared for the reputational damaged caused by the acts of a drunken high profile member.
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