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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Paul Gallagher

Morning Mail: Aged care ‘signature’ fees trigger class action; McCartney’s gift to Taylor Swift; T20 glory for Australia

More than 50 Arcare aged care facilities are alleged to have charged residents for additional services they could not use or for services they were legally obliged to provide, according to a federal court claim.
More than 50 Arcare aged care facilities are alleged to have charged residents for additional services they could not use or for services they were legally obliged to provide, according to a federal court claim. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Good morning. A new class action against a leading aged care firm claims it charged some residents for services they could not use – for example, high teas for people on restricted diets, and Foxtel for unconscious patients.

In other news, Queenslanders may end up paying to clean up abandoned mines, and we look at Spectacle Island in Sydney Harbour, off-limits for decades and now for sale in the big Defence property selloff.

Plus: Australia have crushed England to win the Women’s T20 World Cup final.

Australia

  • Dirty legacy | Queenslanders are being warned they could be left to pay for the cleanup of abandoned mines if rehabilitation laws are weakened, after the government announced a plan to cut “red tape”.

  • Aged care fight | Residents at an aged care provider have launched a class action lawsuit alleging fees for services such as high teas and exercise classes were illegally charged to clients who can’t use them.

  • Analysis | In 2020 Australia’s biggest super fund dumped its shares in Whitehaven. Now it is the coalminer’s single biggest investor. What happened to AustralianSuper’s net zero pledge?

  • Fish deaths feared | A plan to improve river flows after catastrophic fish kills in the northern Murray-Darling Basin is in doubt after the federal government refused a $360m funding request.

  • Mystery debris | Suspected space debris found washed up on north Queensland beaches could be “space balls” left over from rocket launches.

World

World Cup

Full Story

Will the Mamdani effect make 2028 the year of the leftwing president?

Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, the popular new mayor of New York City, is now endorsing candidates that topple established Democrats. Will his new way of doing politics connect with US voters? Nour Haydar speaks with David Smith about whether the Democrats are still fit to take on Trump.

In-depth

From the water, Spectacle Island sits in Sydney Harbour like the setting of an Agatha Christie novel: abandoned buildings decay in the sun. But now the defence department wants to offload Spectacle Island along with other historic properties across the country.

Not the news

Technological interventions may be the only tool left to remediate the climate crisis. Humans have long sought to geoengineer the Earth’s environment, writes Tim Flannery, and some ideas from the 20th century were pretty wild.

Sport

Media roundup

The RBA has been printing billions of dollars’ worth of banknotes, year after year, for decades – so where are they all going? ABC News asks. One Nation is scooping up donations from people who have previously only donated to the Liberal party before the Victorian state election, the Age reports. New South Wales figures have revealed how AI is fuelling a steep rise in HSC cheating, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

What’s happening today

  • NSW | The royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion continues in Sydney.

  • Diplomacy | Anthony Albanese is making an official visit to Fiji.

  • Nationwide | Naidoc Week events will take place across the country.

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Brain teaser

And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.

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