Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 19 November.
Top stories
The Apec summit has, for the first time, been unable to produce a joint communique because of tensions between the US and China over trade and security issues which flared throughout the gathering of regional leaders. While Scott Morrison had struck an upbeat note as Apec drew to a close, the Port Moresby summit failed to reach consensus on a concluding statement because of differences between the major powers. Rolling controversy over the potential relocation of Australia’s embassy in Israel also intensified at the weekend, with government figures now openly at odds about whether the Morrison government should shift current policy or not, as Jakarta continues to withhold support for the free trade deal until Australia clarifies its position on moving the embassy in Israel.
The unfulfilling end to the Apec summit and the escalating Jerusalem controversy come as a new poll published by Fairfax Media has Labor maintaining an election-winning position, although the gap is narrower than in the latest Newspoll and the Guardian Essential poll. The new Ipsos poll has Labor ahead of the Coalition on the two-party-preferred measure 52% to 48%. The Guardian Essential poll a fortnight ago had Labor ahead of the Coalition 54% to 46%. A new survey is due on Tuesday.
A last-minute rescue bid is in play to save the Fairfax Media name just as shareholders are expected to approve a $4bn merger with Nine Entertainment. The former chief executive of the majority Fairfax-owned real estate site Domain Antony Catalano made an eleventh-hour bid to block the merger with an offer to acquire up to 19.9% of Fairfax, the Australian reports. In a letter to the Fairfax chairman, Nick Falloon, late on Sunday, Catalano, who holds a 1.2% stake in the company, said he no longer supported the deal. He asked for the shareholder meeting to vote on the merger, scheduled for Monday in Sydney, to be adjourned for two weeks to consider his proposal.
Labor is facing pressure on its environment policies after an embarrassing draft platform stuff-up. The platform suggested both policy commitments and a national environment commission would be adopted by the party’s national conference in December. Now, the shadow environment minister, Tony Burke, has written to the party’s national secretary, Noah Carroll, arguing that the initiatives were not signed off by the national policy forum, and the specific commitments were included in the draft platform in error. It is unclear why the mistakes were not picked up by Burke until last week, given that they have been in circulation since September and were reported by a number of media outlets. Burke wants the environmental commitments deleted from Labor’s draft policy platform before the December conference, saying they will now be debated on the conference floor.
Theresa May has said that as far as she knows there are not yet enough Conservative MPs moving against her to spark a leadership contest, and that replacing her would not help deliver Brexit. The prime minister is facing open calls from Brexiter MPs for her resignation after she released a much-criticised draft agreement for leaving the EU. After a week of turmoil, in which her government lost two cabinet ministers and several junior ministers, members of the pro-leave European Research Group have claimed Sir Graham Brady will by this week have received enough letters to launch a Tory party leadership contest. Speaking on Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Sky News, May said she had spoken to Brady at the end of last week and to her knowledge the 48-letter threshold to spark a no-confidence vote in her leadership had not yet been reached.
Donald Trump has refused to listen to audio tape of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, while saying the killing was “vicious”. In an interview with Fox News, the president told presenter Chris Wallace: “I don’t want to hear the tape, no reason for me to hear the tape.” The news follows the CIA’s conclusion that the murder of the Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist was ordered by the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, which further jeopardises the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia and is likely to damage the Saudi leadership and its standing in the world.
Sport
The 17-year-old Formula 3 driver Sophia Floersch sustained a spinal fracture in an accident at the Macau Grand Prix. A statement from Floersch’s team on Twitter confirmed the German was “conscious” and her vital signs were “stable”, while she later took to the social networking site to give an update on her condition.
Ante Jukic looks at what can be learned from Australia’s 1-1 draw with South Korea on Saturday. Far from being a meaningless friendly, this second game under Graham Arnold shows the Socceroos face a possession problem when it comes to unlocking defences, Jukic writes.
Thinking time
For more than two centuries the final resting place of the Indigenous warrior and a peacemaker Woollarawarre Bennelong lay unmarked. The grave at Putney in Sydney’s north-west – on land once the orchard of his friend, the equally enigmatic ex-convict and brewer James Squire – was largely forgotten. Now, as the NSW government announces it has purchased the land from a developer for $2.9m and will transform the site into a public memorial and museum, Paul Daley looks back at the life of a man who clung to his culture despite the ravages of colonialism.
As the banking royal commission resumes, a major piece of the puzzle is missing. Australia now has all the necessary laws in place to protect society from banks committing financial crimes. But that is only in theory. The reality is that there has been no proper prosecution of systemic deceit and frauds committed against retail customers of our financial institutions. It is time for the regulators who have let us down to be named and shamed, writes Lindsay David.
With Victorian state elections coming up this weekend, the government’s efforts to address homelessness are under fire as scores of people are turned away from services each day. Most social service providers say the state government has made a real effort to tackle homelessness and housing issues in Melbourne. But about 82,000 people are on the state’s public housing waiting list, 24,000 of them children. The Council for Homeless Persons says 99 people are turned away from homelessness services each day. And providers have seen a 20% increase in people asking for assistance over the last four years. Many blame Labor’s efforts to solve the state’s housing woes, including planning to sell public estates across the city to developers.
Media roundup
On the Sydney Morning Herald’s front page: opposition to an increase in Muslim immigration is stable at around 46% in the wake of the Bourke Street attack, with support for an increase in Muslim immigration dropping from 23% to 14% between October and November, a Fairfax-Ipsos poll shows. On the front page of the Australian, the Aussie Home Loans founder, John Symond, says “Labor’s negative gearing ‘hand grenade’ could tip Australia into recession”. In an interview on Fox News, Trump has said he would not overrule the acting attorney general, Matthew G Whitaker, if he decided to curtail the investigation being led by Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 election campaign, the Washington Post reports.
Coming up
The banking royal commission resumes, with the Commonwealth Bank chief executive, Matt Comyn, and chair, Catherine Livingstone, the first witnesses.
Fairfax shareholders are scheduled to vote on the Nine-Fairfax merger this morning.
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