Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 28 May.
Top stories
Anthony Albanese will use his first day as opposition leader to travel to Queensland, pledging to reconnect with voters who turned away from the party and position Labor for victory in three years’ time. The first-order visit to Queensland comes as the party’s likely new deputy, Richard Marles, admitted he had been “tone deaf” to the concerns of coal workers in the state when he suggested the demise of the industry was positive for the country. Albanese, who was confirmed as leader uncontested on Monday, was coy when asked about his position on the divisive Adani coalmine, saying he planned to “listen, not just talk” when he met voters.
The UK Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has pledged to support a second referendum on any Brexit deal after the party leadership came under overwhelming pressure to halt the exodus of its remain voters who backed pro-EU parties in the European elections. As the continent continues to digest the implications of the vote, a poor showing from the governing parties in Germany, where the Greens gained more than 20% of the vote, has put Angela Merkel on a collision course with Paris over the choice of the new European commission president. But overall the promised populist surge around Europe turned out to be more of a ripple, writes Shaun Walker.
Mothers take 95% of the primary carers’ leave in Australia, and a lack of legislated shared parental leave, traditional gender roles and the gender pay gap are all working to prevent fathers from taking on the role, a report published on Tuesday says. An analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics data found that the birth of a child had little impact on the employment of fathers – just one in 20 fathers took primary parental leave, a low proportion by global standards. “The number of hours fathers spend in employment remains at the same level before and after having children,” the report found.
World
Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to call fresh Israeli elections if deadlocked negotiations do not succeed, playing a last-minute gambit to persuade politicians to help him form a government.
Austria’s chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, has been ousted in a no-confidence vote just a day after his centre-right party enjoyed a triumphant night in the European elections, after opposition politicians lost faith in his handling of a corruption scandal that has engulfed his former far-right coalition partner.
An Iraqi court has condemned a fourth French citizen to death for joining Islamic State, despite France reiterating its opposition to capital punishment.
Mexico’s environment minister has been forced to resign after causing a flight she was about to miss to be delayed by 38 minutes, in direct contravention of her president’s populist promises.
Hundreds of rivers around the world are awash with dangerously high levels of antibiotics, the largest global study on the subject has found.
Opinion and analysis
Nobody sounds like the the Dirty Three, writes Kate Hennessy. “This year, the original trio are celebrating 25 years since their self-titled debut record was released by playing it in full, at a show which premiered at Vivid Sydney on Sunday before it travels to Hobart in June. It’s impossible to find a flaw in the performance, though its x factor is something collectively felt. A kind of accruing, song by fiery song, of irrefutable proof as to how truly great this band is.”
The economy is slowing and things are grim, but fortunately there is a solution available to the government, writes Greg Jericho. “No, it is not waiting for the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates, but rather that it should take advantage of the record low interest rates it already is able to pay. Longtime readers of this column will know I am not a fan of concerns about government debt. One of the more annoying things for me of the past three to five years has been watching the ALP act like the growing level of government debt was a bad thing. Had the ALP actually won the election I would be telling them, as I say now to the current government – get into more debt!”
Sport
Ash Barty is through to the second round of the French Open after a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over the American Jessica Pegula. Serena Williams survived a scare, losing the first set before progressing 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 against Vitalia Diatchenko.
Over the next four months, Australia’s elite sportsmen and women take on the world in a period jam-packed with top-level competition. Starting with the men’s Cricket World Cup, which gets under way in the UK this week, the nation’s elite athletes will contest no fewer than five world cups – in football, netball, basketball and rugby as well as cricket – and two Ashes series by September. Here’s our guide to watching it on Australian TVs and devices.
Thinking time: The Duke of Burgundy’s miraculous comeback
“Insectageddon” has entered popular vocabulary, describing the terrifying loss of insect life on which, ultimately, the complex web of life on Earth depends. A survey on German nature reserves found that the abundance of flying insects declined by 76% over 27 years, leading to warnings of an “ecological Armageddon”. An analysis of global studies suggested this year that more than 40% of insect species are declining.
In recent years, however, one butterfly species, the Duke of Burgundy, has staged a miraculous comeback in the UK. Or rather, it has been revived by human action. Last summer, its numbers increased by 65%. This wasn’t a seasonal fluke: the butterfly has bounced back in Kent, revived in Sussex and is booming in North Yorkshire, where its long-term trend is up 71%. “This is a species that has come back from the brink,” says Dan Hoare of Butterfly Conservation. “We’ve halted the slide towards extinction and in some landscapes it is genuinely marching back across the landscape. That’s a real cause for celebration.”
Media roundup
Anthony Albanese’s stance on Adani “doesn’t add up”, according to the front page of the Australian. In NSW politics, the Sydney Morning Herald says One Nation’s Mark Latham will today move a motion “to overhaul law-making in the upper house”, by putting certain laws to community focus groups. The Australian Financial Review reports that next week’s predicted interest rate cut will stop falling house prices, according to economists.
Coming up
The re-elected Liberals will have their first party-room meeting since the election.
A court appeal by traditional owners over the validity of an Indigenous land use agreement with Adani continues in Brisbane.
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