Advertisement

Morning mail: Obama mocks Trump 'jealousy', carbon giant awakes, can you be uncancelled?

<span>Photograph: Eve Edelheit/Reuters</span>
Photograph: Eve Edelheit/Reuters

Good morning, this is Tamara Howie bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 28 October.

Top stories

The former US president Barack Obama has mocked Donald Trump for being “jealous of Covid’s media coverage” and says Trump “turned the White House into a hot zone” by hosting superspreader events. Obama took to the stage for a drive-in rally in Orlando, Florida, where he urged voters to get to the polls: “We’ve got one week – si se puede [yes we can] – one week until the most important election of our lifetimes.” Trump was not happy about Fox News broadcasting the speech, tweeting: “Now @FoxNews is playing Obama’s no crowd, fake speech for Biden.” But Trump may take some solace from the final confirmation and swearing-in of Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court, delivering the president a huge but partisan victory just eight days before the election and locking in rightwing domination of the nation’s highest court for years to come.

Scientists have found evidence that frozen methane deposits in the Arctic Ocean – known as the “sleeping giants of the carbon cycle” – have started to be released over a large area of the continental slope off the East Siberian coast. High levels of the potent greenhouse gas have been detected down to a depth of 350 metres in the Laptev Sea near Russia, prompting concern among researchers the world has reached a new tipping point that could increase the speed of global heating. Swedish scientist Örjan Gustafsson said “At this moment, there is unlikely to be any major impact on global warming, but the point is that this process has now been triggered. This East Siberian slope methane hydrate system has been perturbed and the process will be ongoing.”

Industrial emissions in Australia are set to rise for another decade despite the Coalition’s pledge to cut carbon pollution. Australia’s skyrocketing industrial greenhouse gas emissions are projected to increase by 77% between 2005 and 2030, with the liquified natural gas (LNG) industry to blame for the expected increase. Energy and climate analysis firm RepuTex’s executive director, Hugh Grossman, said emissions from electricity generation were falling as more renewable energy came into the system, but Australia would miss its 2030 climate target submitted under the Paris agreement unless it dealt with other parts of the economy.

Australia

Clive Palmer has been bombarding Queensland votes with ads
Queensland voters are being subjected to a barrage of anti-Labor ads from Palmer’s United Australia party and text messages from his mining company Mineralogy. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

Clive Palmer’s mining company has tipped more than $4.5m into his spoiler political party and bombarded Queensland voters with ads dominated by unsubstantiated claims of a Labor “death tax”.

The Council of the Ageing has joined unions in arguing youth wage subsidies do nothing to encourage the hiring of older workers and could even cause them to be sacked. In submissions to a snap Senate inquiry Cota said it was “deeply disappointed that the other equally vulnerable population group, older workers, are not included in the scheme”.

Investors have revolted against a plan by the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, to make online-only shareholder meetings permanent, saying the move would allow company directors to avoid answering difficult decisions.

Border Force has been accused of breaching health and safety after staff were incentivised to forgo sick leave for bonuses. Border Force has been warned that bonus allowances of up to 63% of base rate for seagoing staff are deterring workers from taking sick leave, leading them to risk their physical and mental health.

Police arrested 50 people at the site of a sacred grandfather tree that was cut down by the Victorian government on Monday to make way for a highway, despite protests that it was culturally significant to Australia’s Indigenous Djab Wurrung women.

The world

A French patrol boat in the Channel. Four people died and 14 were pulled from the water alive while trying to cross to the UK.
A French patrol boat in the Channel. Four people died and 14 were pulled from the water alive while trying to cross to the UK by boat. Photograph: National Navy Archives/PA

Four people, including two children, have died attempting to reach Britain after the group’s small fishing boat capsized in the Channel, French authorities have confirmed.

The UK and Italy have reported their highest Covid death toll since May, as European nations ramp up measures to get the second wave under control.

Protests have broken out in Philadelphia after the fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace, a 27-year-old black man, who officers said had a knife.

The British high court has heard MI5 colluded in the questioning under torture of the convicted British terrorist Rangzieb Ahmed in Pakistan, where three of his fingernails were ripped out.

Recommended reads

We’re living in a moment in which everyone’s 15 minutes of fame is just as likely to become 15 minutes of being cancelled. Now reality TV, the space in which reputations are so often made and then ruined, has decided to come to the rescue. Hosted by The Checkout’s Kirsten Drysdale and Zoe Norton Lodge, ABC’s Reputation Rehab promises to find Australians with bad reputations and restore their good names. From Nick Krygios to the Bachelor’s Abbie Chatfield, the new show aims to give makeovers to those maligned by the public, but is uncancellation possible?

The Covid pandemic has hit workers in the fashion industry hard, and an assessment of 428 Australian and international fashion brands has found that while most took some positive actions to protect workers, none could ensure all workers were covered. The Covid Fashion Report – which this year takes the place of Baptist World Aid Australia’s annual Ethical Fashion Report – found 35% of the companies assessed did not show evidence that they had made regular payments to their suppliers, and late stage cancellations of orders resulted in $5.79bn in lost wages for 50 million garment workers between March and May. “In the face of this crisis, workers’ rights, wellbeing, and dignity should not be put on hold for the sake of profit,” the report states.

Listen

In just under a week, the United States heads the to the polls in what some have called the most important election in American history. Josephine Tovey explains everything Australians need to know.

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

Sport

The world’s first LGBTQ+ boxing tournament is set to be staged in Sydney after the nation’s governing body threw its support behind the proposal. The inaugural event will be held in 2023 to build inclusivity and combat homophobia and transphobia in the sport.

Wellington Phoenix will allow players to bring their families and partners with them when they relocate to NSW for the start of the A-League season in a bid to make their Australian base a home away from home. The Phoenix will move their operations from Wellington to NSW for the second time in as many seasons due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, with Wollongong shaping as a likely base.

Media roundup

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the former NSW auditor-general Tony Harris has warned the shredding of documents and deleting of files related to $250m in council grants was likely to be unlawful and should end Gladys Berejiklian’s leadership. The Liberal party has a problem with the number of women in its workforce and will fail to reach its target of equal representation by 2025, according to the Australian, citing the party’s own research. Climate change is worrying more Australians than ever before, reports the ABC, with 80% of people now believing we are experiencing problems caused by climate change.

Coming up

Scott Morrison and David Hurley will join an online memorial service to honour firefighters and others who have died in the line of duty, including during the recent summer bushfires.

The royal commission into national natural disaster arrangements is due to deliver its final report to the governor general.

Sign up

If you would like to receive the Guardian Australia morning mail to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here.