Morning mail: Victoria’s construction shutdown, Aukus fallout, fixing fashion

Good morning. Tensions are rising between Australia and the EU amid fallout from the Aukus submarine pact. Violent protests in Melbourne have led to a shut-down of the Victorian construction industry. And if the pandemic has made you look at your style differently, we have tips on how to fix your ill-fitting fashion.

Victoria’s construction industry will shut down for two weeks after a protest against mandatory vaccines for workers in the sector became violent. Hundreds of construction workers and their supporters stormed the CFMEU office building and police used pepper spray and rubber bullets to move the crowd. Meanwhile, NSW recorded the lowest daily Covid caseload in more than three weeks, with 935 new cases, but premier Gladys Berejiklian warned that despite the falling infection numbers, hospitalisations and deaths will probably be worse in October. Pfizer report its vaccine has produced strong antibody responses in children aged five to 11. Its use in children has not yet been approved and adults in Australians have been told not to wait for Pfizer jabs due uncertainty over when the 9m doses due in October will arrive.

France is seeking to enlist European Union support to delay a planned EU-Australia trade deal, as part of a plan to punish Australia for what it regards as serial deceit and subterfuge by Canberra before it scrapped the $90bn contract for 12 French submarines. The EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, weighed into the diplomatic row yesterday, saying France had been treated unacceptably by the US, Australia and the UK and that many questions remained unanswered. Australian trade minister, Dan Tehan, denied that the security row would spill into the planned free trade deal. “It’s just very much business as usual when it comes to our negotiations on that free trade agreement,” he said.

An Indigenous inmate is suing the Australian Capital Territory government over a “vile and racist” image that allegedly depicted him hanging from a noose. In May 2018, correctional officers drew what appeared to be a game of hangman on a staff whiteboard. The man depicted hanging from the noose was an Indigenous inmate who has mental health issues and has previously attempted suicide. The officers responsible were never punished for their actions, the case alleges, and the drawing constituted “a vile and racist caricature of the plaintiff as being another Indigenous person they wished to see die in custody”.

Australia

Labor and transparency experts have rubbished claims that MPs and senators may not be required to declare the source of gifts, a loophole that could make further action against Christian Porter more difficult. Rules do not appear to explicitly require donors of gifts to MPs be named, but critics say that is “not justifiable” and accepting unknown donations does not “satisfy the criterion of transparency”.

The number of Australians stranded overseas has surged to more than 45,000, up from 38,000 at the end of July, due to tighter arrival caps and the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

Labor candidate Daniel Repacholi has stoked anger among rank and file party members about his preselection over inappropriate social media posts. Repacholi wrote that people who didn’t support coal should “sit in the dark and freeze” in one post, and called India a “shit hole” in another.

The world

Leaders from around the Mediterranean have made a joint declaration to intensify their efforts to tackle the effects of extreme weather after a summer of devastating fires.

The US will lift its Covid travel ban and will allow fully vaccinated passengers from specified nations to travel into the country from early November.

At least 10 women and girls are murdered every day in Mexico, according to a new report, which says victims’ families often carry out their own homicide investigations amid widespread indifference by authorities.

Croatian police are seeking help identifying a woman who speaks “perfect English” but is unable to tell them who she is or how she came to be found on a jagged outcrop of rock.

Recommended reads

Just as fashions change, our need for certain types of clothes changes too. As we grow up or grow old, live through pandemics or enter an era of rising global temperatures, inevitably we outgrow what’s in our wardrobes. Now is as good a time as any to reconsider the clothes you own but don’t wear and what to do with them if they’re no longer a fit, in every sense of the word. Here are some tips on how to save the clothes that no longer suit your shape or lifestyle.

A mother and daughter attempt to shed their skins in Lucy Neave’s second novel, Believe In Me, which is rich with imagery, metaphor and ephemeral beauty, writes Jack Callil. “Believe In Me is a generational saga, articulating how understanding one’s past can be a salve for the present. In many ways, it is also a story concerned with love’s opaque hues … The joys of familial ties are present, but they are relegated to the background – Neave instead draws the eye to their psychical, and physical, impact. Bonds that persist no matter how close we might be able to get to each other’s unknowable depths.”

“How do you count joblessness when there are more employed people working zero hours than people looking for work?” asks Greg Jericho. “As has happened so often since the pandemic reached our shores, I run my eyes down the bureau of statistics spreadsheet and I laugh. Are we really supposed to pretend this is reality? I am someone who has spent rather a long time explaining to people, on both this page and social media, that you can trust the unemployment numbers.”

Listen

Australian industry minister Christian Porter has resigned from cabinet after he declared that anonymous donors helped pay his legal fees in his defamation case against the ABC. Questions still remain about the extent of Porter’s knowledge of these donations, and whether he has broken any rules. In today’s Full Story, Laura Murphy-Oates speaks to political reporter Paul Karp about how the donations scandal unfolded and what the future holds for Christian Porter.

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

Sport

“Growing up in the 80s in an Aussie Rules-loving house, I knew two things to be true: we followed the Melbourne Demons, and the only woman I remember seeing run across the ‘G’ was a streaker. This Saturday – almost 40 years later – many eyes will be glued to the AFL grand final. A premiership match between the two teams that pioneered women’s footy, and today both have women as presidents. I wonder what dad would make of this,” writes Emily Weekes.

Media roundup

The Daily Telegraph has good news for parents in NSW – children under 18 can today form friendship bubbles of three if they live within 5km of each other and the adults in the household are fully vaccinated. Moderate Liberals are urging the federal government to set more ambitious climate targets for 2030 to bring it in line with key allies, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Coming up

Dr Nick Coatsworth will give evidence at a parliamentary inquiry into the country’s Covid response.

Two Brisbane women will attempt to sing national anthems for six hours straight for UN’s International Day for Peace.

And if you’ve read this far …

An infamous “hall of shame” listing of China’s top 10 “ugliest” buildings has kicked off with 87 bizarre designs in the running.

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