Morning mail: Sydney braces for more flooding, interest rates tipped to rise, six die in US parade shooting

Good morning. It was another long night for Sydney residents, with more than 32,000 people under flood evacuation orders across New South Wales and authorities grappling with deteriorating conditions. The Reserve Bank is predicted to lift the official interest rate. And a gunman is on the run following a Fourth of July parade shooting in Chicago.

Homeowners have been warned to brace for a double whammy of interest rate rises on Tuesday and again in August, with total monthly repayments expected to be driven at least $333 higher on the latest predictions. Markets and economists are tipping a 50 basis point increase when the Reserve Bank meets on Tuesday, lifting the official cash rate from 0.85% to 1.35%, with further rises expected throughout 2022. The higher interest rates may not slow inflation and the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to raise the cash rate may backfire and cause economic instability, writes Satyajit Das.

Frustration at the lack of action is growing among Australians whose livelihoods have been thrown into disarray whenever it rains. Isaak Salami is stuck on the wrong side of the Windsor bridge, with a fractured arm and a resignation the rising Hawkesbury River will likely prevent him from getting home. “Every time it rains, we wonder if the bridge will go under,” he says. “It’s frustrating, and while I know it’s related to climate change, and that we can do more on that, but who can we blame?”

Police chose not to pursue credible domestic violence allegations against a serving officer after dismissing his wife as having “mental health issues” and needing to be “calmed down”, according to a Queensland police whistleblower. The whistleblower, a former senior sergeant, has made an unpublished submission to a Queensland inquiry into police culture and the handling of domestic violence cases. Last May, the assistant police commissioner, Brian Codd, told Guardian Australia police were “grappling” with how to respond to the increase in officer-involved domestic violence. But the service appears to have balked at any substantial reform.

At least six people are dead and 24 wounded after a shooting at a Fourth of July parade in a Chicago suburb. Lake county major crime taskforce spokesman Christopher Covelli said the gunman apparently opened fire on paradegoers from a rooftop using a rifle that was recovered at the scene. The police said authorities are still searching for the suspect.

Australia

Disgruntled United Australia party candidate Jamal Daoud has vowed to sue the party, claiming its “mismanagement” forced him to spend thousands on campaign material which it now refuses to reimburse.

Key senators will support a government push to let territories make their own laws on voluntary assisted dying, with two Labor backbenchers set to introduce the bill in the first weeks of the new parliament.

The UN nuclear watchdog is confident in Australia’s commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, but technical legal details remain to be worked out before approval can be given, says the International Atomic Energy Agency head.

The world

Thunderstorms have hampered the search for more than a dozen hikers who remain unaccounted for a day after the collapse of a glacier in Italy.

Jair Bolsonaro’s demolition of Brazil’s Indigenous and environmental protection services and “surrender of the Amazon to crooks” played a direct role in the murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, the politician leading a congressional inquiry into the crime has claimed.

Thirty-one bodies have been found, some in advanced stages of decomposition, at a funeral home in Indiana. The police department is investigating the identities of the remains.

Recommended reads

The colonisation of Australia coincided with a boom in European interest in exotic animals – so kangaroos, dingoes, wombats and more were shipped off, regardless of practicalities. Here’s a collection of some of the strange stories of Aussie animals abroad, including Winston Churchill’s “magnificently idiotic” quest for six platypuses, and the fate of two black swans sent to England – one which died soon after it arrived, and the other “availed himself of the liberty they gave him … and was shot by a nobleman’s game-keeper as it was flying across the Thames”.

Ah yes: the police detective who returns to their home town only to be ensnared in an investigation with shockingly personal implications. We’ve been down this road many times before. In True Colours – a four-part drama co-created by Erica Glynn and Warren H Williams – Rarriwuy Hick plays detective Toni Alma, who is grudgingly sent to investigate a suspicious car accident in her home community. One of the most interesting aspects of the script are the ways in which Indigenous customs and laws rub up against white-oriented policing.

Luxe cashmere needs a bit of care, but it can stay soft and new for years – if you follow some expert advice on how to keep it in good condition. George McNeil, the managing director of Johnstons of Elgin retail division, says a “great tip to keep your cashmere fresh between washes is to carefully shake woven cashmere clothing and accessories to help remove dust particles.” Fresh air can also lift dirt and dust particles from cashmere fibres. He says, “Hang your garment somewhere the air naturally circulates.”

Listen

On Sunday Australia recorded its 10,000th Covid death since the virus emerged. In 2022 alone, there have been more than four times as many deaths as the previous two years combined. In today’s Full Story, Jane Lee speaks to medical editor Melissa Davey about how Australia got to this point and what the numbers tell us, and Liz Beardon, who lost both her parents to Covid.

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

Sport

As Nick Kyrgios continued his blazing run through the Wimbledon draw by reaching the quarter-finals in London after edging out Brandon Nakashima in a tight five-setter, winning 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-2. Fellow Australia Ajla Tomljanovic is through to the quarter finals for the second year in a row, beating Alize Cornet 4-6 6-4 6-3!

Media roundup

The ongoing closure of Australia’s embassy in Kyiv has been questioned by senior bureaucrats and national security experts who are concerned the nation’s diplomats are getting a reputation for being the first out and last back into countries, reports the Age. Thousands of Australians are missing out on lifesaving Covid 19 antivirals due to overly complicated rules, reports the Advertiser.

Coming up

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern to visit Australia. The Reserve Bank will release its latest interest rate decision. The Australian Bureau of Statistics to release its latest retail trade figures.

And if you’ve read this far …

A New Zealand law allowing people to poo in public – so long as they do not think they are being watched – must be tightened, says a freedom camping association.

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