Good morning. We’re halfway through the working week on Wednesday 17 March and today we have news about calls for Australia to tackle a resurgence in racism. The attorney general has delegated duties to avoid conflicts of interest, while Tanya Plibersek is urging Labor staffers to report sexual harassment.
Top stories
Australia has been urged to adopt a new national anti-racism framework to fight the ‘resurgence of racism’. Australia has not had a national anti-racism plan since 2018 and race discrimination commissioner Chin Tan says the rise in racism against Asian Australians, Muslims and others is a “significant economic, social and national security threat”. Tan will today launch a concept paper for the framework, which include measuring the incidence of racism and an effective legal framework to “protect people from racial discrimination”. His intervention on behalf of the Australian Human Rights Commission will add pressure on the government, which already faces calls from Labor and community groups for a new strategy in part due to a spike in anti-Chinese and anti-Asian racist incidents in Australia.
The attorney general, Christian Porter, will delegate duties relating to the federal court and the ABC when he returns to work to prevent any perception of a conflict of interest. He launched a defamation case against the ABC and journalist, Louise Milligan, on Monday to counter historical rape allegations, which he firmly denies and says “never happened”. As sexual assault and harassment continue to dominate the national conversation, shadow minister for women, Tanya Plibersek, has urged women inside Labor to come forward with any complaints, and has flagged efforts to ensure submissions into the review of parliament’s workplace culture will remain confidential. Women’s right have also been on the agenda internationally, with US vice-president Kamala Harris telling the UN “democracy depends on the empowerment of women.”
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is investigating more than 30 reported cases of unusual blood disorders out of 5 million recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but remains “firmly convinced” the benefits of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine outweigh the risks. There has been chaos and confusion in Germany and Italy after their decisions to suspend use of the vaccine, as vaccination centres closed their doors and appointments were abruptly cancelled.
Australia
GPs have been urged not to test gay men for one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted infections, Mycoplasma genitalium (MG), unless they have symptoms, over fears treating asymptomatic men is accelerating its resistance to antibiotics.
An internal investigation is under way into why the federal government paid at least $13m over the odds for an $80m water buyback from Eastern Australia Agriculture – a company previously linked to federal MP Angus Taylor – in 2017.
The controversial judge Salvatore Vasta has acknowledged he made errors and denied a man procedural fairness when jailing him for 12 months over a minor property dispute, but denied he was liable for false imprisonment.
Australia could wipe out 80% of its greenhouse gas emissions in two decades by doubling the pace of solar and wind power roll out.
The commonwealth ombudsman, Michael Manthorpe, has cautioned the National Disability Insurance Agency over a plan to roll out controversial new “independent assessments”, warning its scope and timeframe “may present a challenge for the [agency].”
The world
Two dozen Dead Sea scroll fragments, the world’s oldest basket, and a six-millennia-old skeleton of child have been unearthed by archeologists in a remote cave in the Judean Desert.
Pressure is mounting on the New Zealand government to condemn Australia as a “rogue nation” in breach of human rights following the deportation of a 15-year-old boy.
The FBI is facing new scrutiny over its 2018 background check of Brett Kavanaugh, the supreme court justice, after a lawmaker suggested that the investigation may have been “fake”.
Children as young as 11 are being beheaded in Mozambique as part of an Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands and forced many more from their homes.
Mass funerals are being held for those killed in Myanmar since the 1 February coup, as the death roll is revised up to 149.
Recommended reads
The fashion for foraging has made it to Australia, but ecologist Alison Pouliot says that while Indigenous Australians have the “oldest foraging culture in the world”, much of Australian society has traditionally been mycophobic – afraid of mushrooms. With good reason – the consequences can be deadly. In 2020, one man died and at least eight people were hospitalised after eating poisonous mushrooms. So Pouliot has released a book, Wild Mushrooming: A Guide for Foragers, to “offer a philosophy and a framework and protocol that minimises the risk of both human and environmental harm”.
Too often leaders are out of touch with what is going on in their workplaces, writes Tory Shepherd, who says defining a set of values is the key to progress. “[Parliament House], the place where they make laws, is itself a place of laws, rules and procedures. But, weirdly, many of those who work there are not covered by the sorts of rules that other workplaces have.” And parliament is far from alone: one in three people reported having experienced sexual harassment at work over a five-year period, according to the Australian Human Rights Commission’s report, which says the existing legal and regulatory system is “simply no longer fit for purpose.”
As Australia considers the right to repair, it’s worth thinking about how the items we use daily became so disposable, says Jeff Sparrow. “Consumers in America and throughout the world were encouraged to become dissatisfied with perfectly serviceable items, so that instead of making one-off purchases, they updated seasonally. That psychological campaign was reinforced by mechanisms that made the continued use of household items difficult. As one designer exulted the ‘planned existence spans of products’ was ‘the greatest economic boost to the American economy since the origination of time payments’.”
Listen
Kasey Edwards, author of Raising Girls who Like Themselves, and Madonna King, author of Ten-ager, know all too well the joys and challenges of raising girls. In this episode of Full Story, a recording of Guardian Australia’s Zoom book club, they share their personal struggles, research and wisdom with features editor Lucy Clark.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Don’t get your hopes up, but 2021 might just be the year the AFL gets its mojo back. New rules have the scope to reshape the “who” as well as the “how” of the game’s molecular structure, including the new season’s boldest inception, the man on the mark rule, which could be the gamechanger the AFL has long sought.
The Queensland Reds can be justifiably proud of their come-from-behind win against the Brumbies Saturday, but the stirring performance in Canberra does not automatically elevate them to the mantle of Australia’s best Super Rugby team.
Media roundup
Multiple investigations are under way after the sudden death of a newborn baby at Blacktownhospital’s maternity unit, the sixth newborn to die unexpectedly at the western Sydney hospital within roughly two years, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. The West Australian says the man suspected of killing Rebels bikie boss Nick Martin is yet to be charged ($), while WA Today has details about the suspect’s links to “the world’s most fearless charity”, which has supported rebel soldiers in Syria and Iraq. And the Australian says the Morrison government will send emergency coronavirus vaccines to Papua New Guinea ($) to protect frontline health workers as soaring infection rates pose a “clear and present danger’’ to Australia’s north.
Coming up
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is due to release its report on adoption in Australia during 2019/20.
Stop Adani rallies are to be held at UK consulates.
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