Yahoo News Morning mail: climate advice 'ignored', Pope backs same-sex unions, Borat strikes again
Good morning, this is Imogen Dewey bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 22 October.
Top stories
The government has been accused of ignoring advice from one of its agencies that it should use the Covid-19 economic response to address the climate crisis. The Climate Change Authority’s July report said the stimulus package offered a “once-in-a-lifetime” chance to jump-start a recovery. But at a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday night, the authority’s chair said the emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, had not officially responded to the report – and that she did not know if he had even read it. The government has emphasised the need for a gas-led recovery from recession. Labor’s climate spokesman, Mark Butler, accused it of refusing to engage with the authority’s report, having “completely gutted” the agency after trying and failing to abolish it.
A former NSW MP closely involved in the multibillion-dollar Western Sydney airport development began lobbying for wealthy landholders linked to the project within months of leaving office. Chris Patterson, a former state Liberal MP who represented the seat of Camden in Sydney’s south-west from 2011 until his retirement last year, is now a registered lobbyist for some of the most significant landowners in the area surrounding the massive new development. Guardian Australia can reveal Patterson’s lobbying firm IPPA Trust, which he runs with the former NSW Labor premier Morris Iemma, represents at least three companies with a major financial stake in the area. But according to Patterson: “There has been no conflict of interest.”
Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is facing further reputational damage with the release of highly embarrassing footage in the new Borat movie. In the film, released on Friday, the former New York mayor and current personal attorney to Donald Trump is seen reaching into his trousers and apparently touching his genitals while reclining on a bed in the presence of the actor playing Borat’s daughter, who is posing as a TV journalist. Although unfortunate, the circumstances of the setup appear consensual, with Giuliani led to believe he was being courted. Giuliani has become a key figure in the late stages of the US presidential election after obtaining a laptop hard drive purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden and left at a repair shop in Delaware.
Parents of 545 children have still not been found three years after being separated under Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy on undocumented migrants, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. In a court filing, the ACLU said that about two-thirds of the parents had been deported back to their country of origin in Central America, leaving their separated children behind. In the rush to carry out Trump’s orders, the locations of the parents were not recorded and they still cannot be found. In total, 1,030 children were removed from their parents by the US government under that pilot scheme.
Australia
As many as 12,000 patients of Australia’s only nuclear medical facility could have cancer screenings and other crucial procedures cancelled by the end of the week. Another fault at the Lucas Heights site has led to shortages of an isotope crucial in a variety of diagnoses.
The Queensland election campaign is beginning to tilt in Labor’s favour thanks to the appeal of the state border closure among pensioners, along with new demographics in traditional LNP strongholds. “This is the changing dynamic of Queensland politics,” one expert says.
Gladys Berejiklian’s interview with the FM radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands could have gone horribly wrong. But PR experts say the NSW premier’s publicity blitz will pay off.
Australia should establish a “Pacific access” visa category that could be used by Pacific islanders forced from their homes by climate change and natural disasters, a new policy paper has argued, warning of growing displacement in the region.
The world
Pope Francis has given his most explicit support to same-sex civil unions in a move that is likely to further enrage his conservative opponents in the Catholic church.
Spain has become the first western European country to record a million coronavirus cases – just six weeks after becoming the first western European country to record 500,000 coronavirus cases.
Two people have died after a suspected gas explosion in a shop underneath some flats in west London caused a building to collapse, firefighters have said.
The sister of a jailed Saudi activist has criticised a G20-linked women’s summit hosted by Riyadh this week as a disturbing attempt to whitewash the country’s dismal record on women’s rights.
Recommended reads
“Media organisations shouldn’t publish allegations unless they believe them to be true, after making appropriate checks. This is a normally uncontroversial principle,” writes Margaret Simons. But a murky story published by Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post about Joe and Hunter Biden has become a battleground for News Corp and the tech giants. Twitter and Facebook, newly sensitive to the risk of fake news, took steps to stop it circulating. Acres of outraged News Corp commentary in response this “censorship” have so far broadly failed to acknowledge that the original story may have been false.
“The minutes of the latest Reserve Bank meeting suggest the bank and the government do not agree on when a recovery will be complete,” writes Greg Jericho. “It suggests that the RBA realises it will be expected to keep assisting the economy long after the government has decided the more important matter is the size of the budget deficit. It all depends on full employment. But what is full employment?”
“She is many things, the great W Dot. Let me draw you a warm bath of my favourites.” Australian comedian Michelle Brasier has given us a list of the 10 funniest things she has seen on the internet. From a surprise for Laura Dern to a woman afraid of owls, a lot of them seem to involve some form of singing.
Listen
Could Jacinda Ardern’s “politics of kindness” work in other countries? New Zealand’s prime minister has led the Labour party to its best result in 50 years. Her campaign was run on polite politics and a rejection of misinformation. In this episode of Full Story, Eleanor Ainge Roy asks what other countries should be learning here.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Normally Melbourne would be heaving in the buildup to the AFL grand final, writes Jonathan Horn. But September was silent. The city was tired, depressed and divided. This year we won’t watch the premiership decider at the MCG but prowling our living rooms. Such are the times.
Liverpool have only played one competitive fixture against Ajax in Amsterdam before. And here they are, meeting again at long last. Follow along with Scott Murray in our live blog of the Champions League.
Media roundup
The LNP has been warned that its youth curfew plan could breach international law, reports the Brisbane Times. Russia is suspected of a “Cold War-style microwave attack” on CIA agents in Australia, according to the ABC. And Australian Border Force is now the subject of a corruption investigation, reports the Age.
Coming up
The Reserve Bank deputy governor, Guy Debelle, will address a foreign exchange conference against the backdrop of heightened speculation of an interest rate cut.
Various Senate estimates hearings are taking place in Canberra, including one with Australia Post.
And if you’ve read this far …
Show us your jacarandas. Though the vivid purple variety common in parks and gardens across temperate areas of the continent, Jacaranda mimosifolia, isn’t actually native, its annual flowering is a time-honoured national love affair. In a year when so many normal parts of our lives have been disrupted, that burst of lilac might be a comforting reminder of nature’s ebb and flow, of the gentle rhythms that do persist.
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