Good morning, this is Tamara Howie bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 7 October.
Top stories
The government last night handed down a budget designed to pull Australia out of the most severe global economic crisis since the Great Depression thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. In his budget speech the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, declared the depression and two world wars “did not bring Australia to its knees, and neither will Covid-19”. There’s a lot to unpack, from taxes to superannuation and the environment. Here are the main measures intended to pull Australia out of economic crisis. The budget will give more than 11 million Australians tax cuts, and there are lavish business incentives intended to help young people especially back into the workforce. University research will get $1bn to forestall damage to the sector caused by the drop-off in international students due to Covid.
Labor will back the tax cuts and is “inclined to support” the business investment incentives, but obvious questions remain over the budget’s optimistic assumptions and the fairness of the tax measures. Political editor Katharine Murphy says the budget ignored or downplayed other viable alternatives for stimulating a recovery, such as a greater emphasis on aged care and childcare. Greg Jericho outlines the six charts that help explain the budget, and sets out who will benefit from the tax cuts, and by how much.
It’s been another rough day in Washington, with Donald Trump under fire from medical professionals and the former first lady as the White House Covid outbreak spreads. Michelle Obama has released a video saying Donald Trump is “not up to the job” as president. The video sharply criticises Trump over the coronavirus pandemic and his approach to racial injustice. Trump is also under attack from health workers in the US who have reacted angrily to his comments downplaying the dangers and undermining public health efforts after he told Americans not to be afraid of the virus. Several top US military chiefs have gone into quarantine as the virus spreads, and Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani has coughed his way through an interview on Fox News as he awaited his own test results.
Australia
James Packer has blamed the threats he made to an executive of an unnamed company in 2015 on serious illness, in behaviour he admits was “shameful” and “disgraceful”. The billionaire casino owner told the inquiry into whether Crown Resorts is suitable to hold a casino licence in NSW he was now “being treated for my bipolar”.
A woman has told the inquest into the disappearance of William Tyrrell she heard a boy’s scream coming from bushland shortly after the three-year-old went missing in 2014.
The Butcher Club-Chadstone Covid outbreak is growing across metropolitan and regional Victoria, with 28 cases linked to the butcher as the state eases out of its second wave of the pandemic.
A wild deer has been put down but a second one remained at large after the pair roamed through suburban Sydney streets on Tuesday. An RSPCA spokesman said the deer was humanely euthanised after it was assessed to be in poor health.
The world
California’s extraordinary year of wildfires has spawned another new milestone – the first “gigafire”. On Monday, the fire in northern California expanded beyond 1m acres, elevating it from a mere “megafire” to a new classification, “gigafire”, never used before in a contemporary setting in the state.
Jacinda Ardern has been acclaimed by most observers as the winner of the third New Zealand election debate against Judith Collins, after a boisterous, energetic and, at times, muddled encounter in the lead-up to the election on 17 October.
Air pollution particles in young brains have been linked to Alzheimer’s disease, which may have global implications if the discovery is confirmed by future research as 90% of people breathe dirty air.
It’s been revealed that the US supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett lived in the home of the co-founder of the secretive Christian group People of Praise, raising new questions about her involvement with the group, which has been criticised for dominating the lives of its members and subjugating women.
Recommended reads
Even by 2020 standards, Clare Bowditch has had a rough year. The award-winning musician, actor and radio host (among many other titles) shares her three most useful objects that helped her through months in lockdown and the death of her mother. “Most nights these days, you will find my hands filled with a pair of large circular knitting needles (needles with a piece of wire connecting them). I am not a good knitter. I went into the shop and asked for the easiest needles and patterns available. It turns out I wasn’t the only one with this idea – at one point Australia seemed to completely run out of wool!”
Our Stream Team series turns its attention to Utopia – not the well-loved, deadpan infrastructure sitcom by Working Dog, the cult hit by Dennis Kelly: a weird, dark and idiosyncratic conspiracy thriller. Adam Fleet writes: “At the time of that first watch, I duly expected it to feature on ‘best of TV’ lists for years to come, alongside the likes of The Wire, Breaking Bad or The Sopranos, of which Utopia is more than an equal. It was quite a surprise then to learn that Utopia existed only as a cult hit (albeit one with fervent fans), was dismissed from its home on the UK’s Channel 4 after only two seasons, and remains criminally underseen almost everywhere else, including in Australia.”
Looking for some new turns from the best of Australian musicians? There’s plenty out there, with new releases from Mallrat, Powderfinger, Flowerkid and Cry Club. Each month we add 20 new songs to our Spotify playlist. Read about 10 of our favourites – and subscribe on Spotify, which updates with the full list at the start of each month.
Listen
In a special episode of Full Story, we go into budget lockup with the Guardian Australia team to find out what the first recession budget in 30 years has to offer for jobs, aged care, workers, business and the environment. We also ask: what’s not in this budget?
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
The former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman destroyed a laptop with “a screwdriver or blunt instrument” before handing it to forensic experts conducting a doping investigation, a medical tribunal has been told.
A women’s doubles match at the French Open is under investigation for potential match-fixing, while in the singles the shocks continued with world No 131 Nadia Podoroska defeating the No 3 seed Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals on her debut.
Media roundup
Victoria is preparing for wild weather as a mass of tropical moisture is expected to bring wild winds and dump more than 100mm of rain in parts of the state, says the Age. NAB has confessed to breaking the law thousands of times and has exposed itself to a financial penalty of more than $100m, according to the Financial Review. And the Daily Telegraph reports on a proposal to rope off part of Bondi beach for the benefit of “high net worth” customers enjoying luxury cabanas.
Coming up
James Packer will continue to give evidence at the inquiry into Crown’s suitability to hold a casino licence in NSW.
The NSW government is expected to sign off on a final compromise on its contentious koala protection policy.
And if you’ve read this far …
There may be good news for Arsenal’s famous Gunnersaurus mascot, who was a victim of cost-cutting measures due to Covid. The team’s former star Mesut Özil, still on the payroll but frozen out by manager Mikel Arteta, has offered to pay the full salary of Jerry Quy, the man who has worn the Gunnersaurus suit for 27 years, after an outcry over his sacking.
