Good morning. Victorian residents are counting the costs after bushfires over the weekend left one person dead and scores of homes and businesses reduced to smouldering ashes. Nor is the threat over yet as fires continue to burn.
Elsewhere, Iran is warning the US not to intervene in its crackdown against protests that have rocked the country as the reported death toll from the demonstrations soars into the hundreds.
And a leadership crisis has engulfed the Adelaide festival after three board members resigned following a decision to disinvite Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah.
Australia
Adelaide festival turmoil | Three board members have resigned after a controversial decision to dump the Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah from the 2026 writers’ week program – followed by the festival board’s chair, Tracey Whiting, the ABC confirmed overnight.
‘You can’t replace time’ | Harcourt’s wine and beer producers are mourning the loss of their industry’s heart in the Victoria bushfires, after the inferno took their liquid stock from them and, in many cases, their entire businesses and years of hard graft. In the farming town of Yarck, some people faced the inferno – but others lost everything.
Health services | GP bulk-billing rates have rebounded following Medicare incentive changes introduced by the government in November, analysis by the online health directory Cleanbill suggests.
Cyclone Koji | Residents have been “smashed” by heavy rain and fierce wind gusts after Tropical Cyclone Koji crossed the coast in north Queensland, with more rain on the way.
Culture | The arts are underfunded and undervalued – but our future artists are the key to building the social fibre that will sustain a healthy, resilient and successful Australia, Ben Quilty writes.
World
Iran protests | At least 538 people have been killed in the violence surrounding demonstrations in Iran, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRNA), including 490 protesters. Authorities have arrested key members of the protest movement that has rocked the country over the last two weeks, as Washington and Tehran threaten each other over the prospect of US intervention in the Islamic republic. There are hopes, meanwhile, among exiled Iranian activists that Ayatollah Khamenei’s theocracy is finally about to be toppled.
Greenland threats | The Danish PM, Mette Frederiksen, says Denmark is at a “fateful moment” amid Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland, accusing the US of potentially turning its back on Nato.
ICE raids | The family of a Costa Rican man who was deported from the United States in a vegetative state and died shortly after arriving back in his home country is still urgently seeking answers.
Epstein’s friend | Peter Mandelson – the sacked UK ambassador to the US – has declined to apologise to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims for remaining friends with the paedophile financier.
‘Cannot be transferred’ | The organisers of the Nobel peace prize have rejected an offer by Venezuela’s opposition leader, María Corina Machado, who said she wanted to share her award with Donald Trump.
Church crackdown | Leaders of an underground church have been detained in south-west China – part of what appears to be a sweeping crackdown on unregistered Christian groups in the country.
Full Story
Albanese bows to Bondi pressure
Over the summer break, calls for a royal commission into the Bondi beach massacre saturated headlines across parts of the media. And last week the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, bowed to the pressure, announcing a royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion. Nour Haydar speaks with Dan Jervis-Bardy about the political reverberations from the Bondi attack – and the tests that lie ahead for Labor in 2026.
In-depth
For decades, the housing debate in Victoria was dominated by nimby (not in my back yard) residents determined to block new developments in their suburbs. However, the rise of the yimby (yes in my back yard) movement is helping to drive a housing revolution. In just two years, Victoria has rolled out so many reforms that even those advocating for them are stunned. But, Benita Kolovos asks, will it all come at a cost?
Not the news
It turns out that even if you go as far as the other side of the world, you can’t run away from your grief. In the latest in our Kindness of strangers series, we hear from a reader overcome by emotion when seeing her dead father’s favourite band at the Glastonbury music festival. When they found themself sobbing in a massive crowd, a woman’s lasting embrace offered up a moment of peace.
Sport
Football | Finding the perfect Socceroos World Cup camp is no easy feat, Joey Lynch writes; Gabriel Martinelli hat-trick guides Arsenal past stubborn Portsmouth in the FA Cup; Brighton dump Manchester United out of FA Cup.
Cricket | England’s Ashes calamity has trashed Brendan McCullum’s credibility, Mark Ramprakash writes.
Athletics | Jess Hull has steered Australia to relay gold at world cross-country championships in US.
Winter Olympics | There are calls for an investigation after a guard at a Winter Olympic construction site died in freezing conditions.
Game On | The Swiss sports brand using hi-tech and chutzpah – and Roger Federer – to challenge Nike and Adidas.
Media roundup
Confidential estimates have revealed that the costs around the signature station in Sydney’s Metro West project have blown out by $900m, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. A rise in online prescriptions for a hair loss drug has sparked cautions from GPs over the risks of side effects, the Age reports. Australian scientists have extracted their first deep ice core from East Antarctica in a race to recover million-year-old ice that could solve one of climate science’s greatest mysteries, the Mercury reports. And remote fire detection technology is set to double across Tasmania after AI cameras spot hundreds of blazes, ABC News reports.
What’s happening today
Hollywood | The 2026 Golden Globes is on today – with Australian actors including Rose Byrne, Jacob Elordi and Sarah Snook in the running for awards.
New South Wales | Submissions are set to close for the state parliamentary inquiry into prohibiting slogans that incite hatred.
Sign up
If you would like to receive this Morning Mail update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or finish your day with our Afternoon Update newsletter. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland.
Brain teaser
And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
