Good morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 4 November.
Top stories
Ash Barty has concluded a stellar 2019 by winning the WTA finals trophy and landing a $6.4m cheque after beating the defending champion Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-3. It was the sixth meeting between the two, with the Ukrainian having won all previous encounters. “It feels like it’s been a year that just hasn’t stopped. It’s been a year of incredible ups and downs – I think more ups than downs,” a relieved Barty said post-match. The 23-year-old started the year ranked 15th in the world, but won her first grand slam at the French Open, before becoming just the second Australian woman after Evonne Goolagong Cawley to be crowned World No 1.
Labor has set an 11 November deadline for Greg Hunt to commit to a “significant package” for aged care, after a scathing report by the royal commission into the sector highlighted “atrocious” behaviour towards older Australians. The report called for urgent funding for home care packages, action on chemical restraints used in nursing homes and the removal of disabled young people from aged care facilities. With a home care wait list of 120,000 it has been suggested that it might need a commitment of $2.5bn to address, a figure the health minister has not confirmed. He has promised “stronger action” on the issue of chemical restraints but suggested “ageism” in Australian society is bigger than just a governmental issue.
Boris Johnson has apologised to Tory party members for failing to exit the EU on 31 October, having repeatedly claimed he’d rather be “dead in a ditch” than request another extension. Britain’s PM said it was with “deep regret” that Brexit did not occur, but blamed parliament’s passing of what he called “the surrender act” for failing to keep his promise. He also said Donald Trump was “patently in error” for claiming the terms of Johnson’s proposed Brexit deal would prevent an US-UK trade agreement.
Australia
The NSW police watchdog only fully investigated 2% of complaints levelled against officers, citing cuts to its operational budget for its failure to complete more than 2,547 initial investigations. “Our budget position is challenging,” wrote the commissioner, Michael Adams.
One of Treasury’s senior executives is facing internal investigation and has been removed from updated organisational charts, Guardian Australia has ascertained. The department has not confirmed the nature of the investigation against the employee.
A 22-year-old man has appeared in court in Melbourne charged with the murder of his seven-week-old baby. The man from regional Victoria handed himself in and did not apply for bail.
The world
Photograph: Lucie Blackman Trust/PA
The man accused of the murder of British backpacker Grace Millane near Auckland one year ago will stand trial this week. The death prompted an emotional public statement from Jacinda Ardern and an outpouring of grief around NZ.
Greta Thunberg has been caught the wrong side of an ocean after Chile cancelled its hosting of the COP25 climate summit, with the teenager asking on social media for a lift via sustainable transport “half around the world” to the new location, in Spain.
Pollution almost 400 times the amount deemed healthy has prompted 30 plane diversions away from Delhi, with schools closed, construction work halted and the government planning to hand out 5 million face masks.
A Conservative candidate in a key marginal seat in the forthcoming UK general election is facing a strong backlash, after confirming online comments in which she suggested people seeking benefits should be “put down”.
Recommended reads
Animal rights activists want it stopped, the racing industry wants it to flourish, but ahead of the “race that stops the nation” are there changes to horse racing that might please both? Calla Wahlquist offers five immediate improvements. The six-time winning Melbourne Cup owner Lloyd Williams supports the banning of whips, while several states have banned jumps racing completely. No racing for under two-year olds, a national horse traceability register and a ban of tongue ties could also help the sport.
On the outskirts of south-western Brisbane a discovery sent twitchers into a frenzy: two regent honeyeaters, a critically endangered species, had been discovered feeding on ironbark blossoms. For keen onlookers like Andrew Stafford, it was a rare occurence for a bird described in the 1980s as “fairly common”. “They are an eye-popping treat, with their chainmail breastplate and wings intricately embroidered in black and sulphur-yellow.” But with land clearance threatening their ever-diminishing habitats the regent honeyeater could yet disappear from right in front of us.
For the Australian crime writer Gary Disher book signings are a mix of delight and trepidation. Berated by elderly psychiatrists, constantly asked “How can you write about such terrible things” or worst of all – ignored entirely while long queues snake out the door for Ian Rankin. “Should I have to account for myself? Do I have obligations beyond entertaining readers, giving them their money’s worth? … as far as I know, no one has committed a crime after reading one of my books. (Thrown it across the room, maybe.)”
Listen
A new dawn for Uluru. After decades of tourists climbing the rock, and months of hysteria over the closure of the climb, what does the future hold for Uluru? In this episode of Full Story Guardian Australia’s Indigenous affairs editor, Lorena Allam, describes the scenes on the ground as the climb closed, and we hear from the Anangu people about the future of this sacred place.
Sport
A-League visa signings are the players expected to elevate the competition and delight fans, but four rounds in, the imports of many clubs are proved mixed successes. The first Victory-Western United derby proved one such contrast.
The All Blacks may still be reeling from a shock Rugby World Cup third-place finish but a new coach is just one of many worries facing New Zealand rugby, writes Matt McILraith, with age group issues and declining Super Rugby attendances looming.
Media roundup
More than $6.3bn a year is received by pensioners in $1m-plus homes, reports the Australian, according to a landmark review by academics at ANU, with the federal government spending more than $50bn a year on the pension. Rich benefactors poured $1.1m into Zali Steggall’s war chest to topple Tony Abbott at the 2019 federal election, writes the Sydney Morning Herald. And India remains a major sticking point to the successful negotiation of the world’s largest free-trade agreement that would bind Australia, China and the 10 Asean nations, the Australian Financial Review has reported.
Coming up
The Daily Telegraph’s appeal against the record $2.9m in damages it was ordered to pay Geoffrey Rush over a series of defamatory articles begins today.
Scott Morrison will attend the East Asia Summit in Thailand.
And if you’ve read this far …
The case of the lost 310-year-old irreplaceable £250,000 violin that was left on a train in London has been happily resolved after the intervention of a retired Scotland Yard detective and an apologetic young man. “I knew from my experience that we weren’t dealing with a hardened criminal. We were dealing with somebody who had initially made a bit of a mistake [in picking up the violin] and had panicked.”
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