Morning mail: future of Covid track and trace questioned, French row rumbles, gongs for godwits

Good morning. Covid-19 tracking and tracing efforts could be reduced as the vaccination rate increases, an expert has warned, the French submarine furore continues, and climate scientists urge a halt to Beetaloo basin fracking.

The professor who led the modelling that underpins Australia’s four-phase reopening plan has said it’s time to dial down the public health response “from 11”. Citing increasing rates of vaccination, Prof Jodie McVernon said measures such as forensic tracking and tracing of infections could be gradually wound back, even if positive rates continued to rise, as managing finite public health resources and better assessing the impact of various initiatives were more important priorities.

Joe Biden has vowed not to cut France out of key defence decisions as the furore over Australia’s abandonment of a $90bn French submarine contract continues. Emmanuel Macron and Biden issued a joint statement on the topic, ending a five-day standoff between the two, sparked by the US, the UK and Australia announcing they would work together producing nuclear-powered submarines. Labor has demanded assurances from the Morrison government that Australia will retain its freedom to make military commitments independent of the US, but Boris Johnson has reopened a war of words with the French, urging them to “donnez-moi un break” over the UK’s role in the three-sided Aukus defence and security deal.

More than 60 leading climate scientists have urged Northern Territory chief minister, Michael Gunner, not to persist with plans to frack the Beetaloo basin. The project has been subject to $50m in grants as a key part of the Morrison government’s gas-led recovery but scientists question whether the NT government can meet a promise to fully offset emissions from the site. Elsewhere, the former federal frontbencher Darren Chester has called on the Nationals party to adopt a “credible policy” on emissions reduction, including an aspirational target of net zero by 2050. Chester was dumped from the ministry after Barnaby Joyce’s return as Nationals leader.

Australia

Labor candidates could run as independents to defy a “captain’s pick” from the national executive after suggestions the Olympic shooter Daniel Repacholi could be parachuted into the NSW seat of Hunter.

Australia could face a Pfizer vaccine supply disruption next month, with states and territories in the dark as to how many doses they’ll receive beyond the second week of October.

Workers required to wear personal protective equipment could disproportionately experience heat stress, research has suggested. A report calls upon state and federal governments to overhaul health and safety frameworks in light of the findings.

Immigration experts have challenged whether the Australian government can deliver a low-skill foreign worker visa, promised to address acute farming labour shortages.

The world

Russia has suffered its worst forest fire season in decades, losing 18.16m hectares of woodland, according to Russian forestry data, analysed by Greenpeace. A spokesperson said such rates of burning had become “the new normal in the conditions of the new climate reality”.

Canada’s Conservative party has ordered a systematic review after a dismal federal election showing – marking a third consecutive loss to Justin Trudeau’s progressive Liberals party.

Civilians in Taiwan have started undergoing “resilience training” workshops as part of an ongoing response to Chinese belligerence. Participants learn first aid as well as how to assist armed forces in the event of invasion.

A woman found on a remote part of a Croatian island, with no memory of her name or how she got there, has been identified. The 57-year-old previously worked in the US as a jewellery designer for stars including Barbara Streisand, and was recognised by friends after police circulated her picture.

Recommended reads

“The snail is blind. It knows the rose only by its smell and soft petals.” To the ancient Egyptians, Helen Sullivan writes, the humble snail provided food in the afterlife for Ibis mummies, but in most modern settings its your garden that’s the food for snails. “You think you can hear the rasping of tiny teeth: scraping, scraping away at your roses. The snail is deaf: it does not hear your complaints.”

The Parliamentary Budget Office has offered a relatively reassuring look at the next four decades of spending and debt levels. Which would be comforting reading, explains Greg Jericho, if it weren’t for a significant climate change-sized elephant overshadowing the fine print. “The PBO report only mentions climate change once, to note that it is one of the known ‘trends and sources of risk that will affect Australia and the commonwealth budget over the decades’. And yet that known risk does not affect any predictions of growth, interest rates, debt or revenue and expenditure.”

The comedian Henry Stone is torn as to whether to hijack his own funniest things on the internet list. “Has anyone laboured the ideology behind a selection criteria for a funny videos listicle as much as this? Probably not”. So come for the tiny fuppets; stay for short films using French New Wave jump cuts.

Listen

The nucleus of protest started outside Melbourne’s CFMEU office but, as the violence and the number of arrests intensify, union leaders are claiming subsequent events have been highjacked by right-wing extremists. On this episode of Full Story, reporter Josh Taylor examines the claims.

Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.

Sport

Given their track record of success, the Southern Stars aren’t often subjected to criticism. But as veteran bowler Megan Schutt explains, a little heat on the team as they face a fast-improving India is more than welcome, as it shows the women’s game is maturing.

“Rugby league without Wayne Bennett seems as foreign as a footy game with no pies or a pub with no beer.” But Friday’s preliminary final could see the veteran wonder-coach contemplating no team to coach next season, for the first time in nearly five decades, writes Nick Tedeschi.

Media roundup

The Victorian government’s top construction industry adviser has quit, citing a lack of consultation before mandatory vaccination requirements for the sector, reports the Age. Business leaders have been advised that NSW could exit lockdown from 11 October, the Australian claims, but many fear confusion upon reopening, as vaccine validation technology is unlikely to be ready by then. And WA’s parliament has suffered two major cyber attacks in the past 12 months, writes the West Australian, but authorities have declined to confirm who they believe was behind them.

Coming up

Scott Morrison’s visit to the US for high-level defence and climate talks continues.

The NSW inquiry into management of the Covid-19 outbreak will hear about the roadmap out of lockdown.

And if you’ve read this far …

It’s one heck of a journey. But the confirmation that thousands of eastern bar-tail godwits, or kuaka in Māori, have successfully completed a non-stop 10,000km journey from the Arctic to the South Island of New Zealand, has been met with bells: cathedral bells, in fact. In Nelson, church staff read a prayer of thanks to welcome the weary travellers, but it was not great news for one unlucky godwit that was being tracked: a mid-route detour saw him fly 57 hours, only to land in Alaska, the place he’d set off from.

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