Morning everyone. New evidence uncovered as part of the Guardian’s Broken trust investigation – including more than 200 pages of text messages – sheds light on the critical final weeks of Hannah Clarke’s life.
Australia’s coal exporters face a reckoning after one their main customers, South Korea, announced it was phasing out coal-fired power by 2040, while the federal and Victorian Liberals continue to fight themselves rather than Labor. In the US, Democrats say Donald Trump is “panicking” about the Jeffrey Epstein saga.
Australia
Wicked time | The Australian man who grabbed Ariana Grande at a red-carpet premiere for Wicked: For Good in Singapore has been jailed for nine days.
Green shift | At the Cop30 summit, South Korea has agreed to close all its coal-fired power plants by 2040, prompting calls for the Albanese government to prepare for a shift away from thermal coal exports and accelerate green industries. Business and energy industry leaders have warned the Coalition that abandoning a net zero emissions target will not cut power bills, undermining the core promise of Sussan Ley’s signature new policy.
‘Absolutely’ guarantee | Sussan Ley promised voters last night that she could “absolutely” guarantee she would lead the Liberal party into the next election after a day of rumours about a leadership challenge by Andrew Hastie.
Battin spill | Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin faces a leadership spill at a party room meeting this morning with his shadow treasurer Jess Wilson expected to challenge after a group of MPs told him they no longer had confidence in his leadership.
Panthera claim | One of the country’s largest debt collection firms has claimed that scandal-plagued Panthera Finance was not technically banned from operating in Victoria after it was blacklisted by the state’s consumer watchdog.
World
Poland ‘sabotage’ | A “foreign state service” was behind an explosion along a section of railway line used for deliveries to Ukraine, the Polish government said, with the prime minister, Donald Tusk, calling it an “unprecedented act of sabotage”.
Trump ‘panicking’ | US Democrats say Donald Trump is “panicking” about their investigation into his links to Jeffrey Epstein after his call for Republicans to back the release of files relating to the late sex offender showed his inability to control parts of his Maga base. Follow it live here.
Death sentence | Bangladesh’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Dhaka for crimes against humanity over a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.
Family law | The UK government has failed to show the “necessary toughness” to enforce the removal of families whose asylum claims have been refused, the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has claimed. It comes amid backbench unease about her planned crackdown on immigration.
Filipino protests | Hundreds of thousands of people have flooded the streets of Manila to protest against alleged government corruption, many wearing T-shirts with the slogan “transparency for a better democracy”.
Full Story
Broken trust: why police are failing to learn from their own mistakes
Ben Smee reveals a former Queensland detective has accused police of covering up their own failures in cases in which vulnerable women died after seeking police protection, and alleges she was ordered to “protect the organisation’s reputation at all costs”.
In-depth
“It frightened me more than I let on,” wrote Hannah Clarke in a text message to a police officer in the weeks before she was murdered by her violent and controlling estranged husband Rowan Baxter. “I know given the opportunity he wouldn’t hesitate to kill me. I can see the look in his eyes.” The text is just one of more than 200 pages of messages Clarke shared with the officer, containing allegations of non-lethal strangulation, stalking, phone hacking, rape and suspected child abuse. The disclosures were not logged in police systems. Clarke and her three children were murdered by Baxter in 2020, and a coroner found in 2022 that it was “unlikely that any further actions taken by police officers, service providers, friends or family members” could have stopped him. New evidence uncovered as part of the Guardian’s Broken trust investigation casts doubt on that finding.
Not the news
After a string of successes including a slot at Coachella, tours of the US and Australia, and not to mention a five-star review in the Guardian, Ninajirachi has been nominated for eight Arias tomorrow, including best album for I Love My Computer. She talks to Jared Richards about her Australian influences and growing up on the internet.
Sport
Cricket | The inclusion of two Indigenous players in the same Australian team for the first time can inspire a new generation of cricketers from Aboriginal backgrounds, according to one of those players, Scott Boland, who lines up with Brendan Doggett against England in Perth on Friday. Boland has flagged Joe Root as the England batter to “take down” this Ashes series.
Football | Ireland’s World Cup heroics are what football “is all about” according to our columnist, while Nigerian fans blamed “voodoo” for their exit at the hands of DRC.
Boxing | Anthony Joshua has vowed to “break the internet over Jake Paul’s face” as the British heavyweight confirmed he will fight the YouTuber in Miami next month.
Media roundup
Victorian opposition treasurer Jess Wilson has “upped her game” on social media in recent weeks, the Herald Sun reports, and emerged as favourite to replace Brad Battin as leader. Dozens of green turtles have been washed up on Australian beaches but the cause remains a mystery, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Tasmanian farmers accuse supermarkets of squeezing farmgate prices so much that they will go out of business, the Mercury reports.
What’s happening today
Economy | Reserve Bank releases minutes of its rate-setting meeting.
Politics | Tourism minister Don Farrell will deliver the Sydney Institute’s annual dinner lecture at The Fullerton Hotel.
Canberra | FutureCoal chief executive Michelle Manook addresses the National Press Club.
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Brain teaser
And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
