Good morning, this is Tamara Howie bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 6 October.
Top stories
The Coalition government hopes to drag Australia out of recession with tax cuts and big spending in the federal budget to be announced today. The pandemic has forced the government to rethink this year’s budget, which will be detailed by treasurer Josh Frydenberg in his budget speech this evening. It’s expected the budget will detail a combination of measures targeted at households and businesses to encourage them to spend and invest. However, there are fears that without government attention certain groups across Australia face far worse long-term consequences from Covid’s economic malaise, with some economists estimating unemployment could hit 8% next year. According to the latest Guardian Essential poll, Australian voters believe the government is more likely to use today’s budget to benefit high-income earners and big business than average working people or people on low incomes.
Donald Trump has announced he will leave the Walter Reed Medical Centre today after being hospitalised on Friday with Covid. The president took to Twitter to announce the move, saying “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!” The announcement comes as the Covid outbreak at the White House continues to spread with top spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany confirming she has the virus. In a statement, McEnany said she had tested positive, but is not experiencing any symptoms. There are also reports that Donald Trump Jr was worried by his dad’s car-ride-and-tweet-storm and wanted to stage an intervention.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said the coronavirus can spread through airborne transmission, in a long-anticipated update to the agency’s website. The new guidance comes after an incident last month when the agency removed a draft document posted online about airborne transmission that was still under review. “There is evidence that under certain conditions, people with Covid-19 seem to have infected others who were more than six feet away. These transmissions occurred within enclosed spaces that had inadequate ventilation. Sometimes the infected person was breathing heavily, for example while singing or exercising.” the CDC website says.
Australia
George Pell’s lawyer has called for an investigation into a claim that bribes were paid to influence the sexual assault case involving the senior Australian cleric. Italian newspapers have claimed that Cardinal Giovanni Becciu, a rival of Pell, was suspected of paying $1.1m to an Australian witness in the case.
At least 14m tonnes of microplastics are likely sitting at the bottom of the world’s oceans. Researchers looked at 51 samples and found that after excluding the weight of the water, each gram of sediment contained an average of 1.26 microplastic pieces.
Australia would have its own centre for disease control under a Labor government. Anthony Albanese will argue the coronavirus pandemic has made the case for why pandemic preparations need to improve, highlighting that Australia is the only country in the OECD not to have a CDC equivalent.
Labor will try to amend a government bill so that the federal resources minister has to nominate the site for a nuclear waste dump, despite concerns within the ALP caucus the change could pave the way for the decision to be challenged in court. Some opposition members believe the draft legislation unfairly denies traditional owners the right to challenge the decision in court.
The world
LGBTQ Twitter users have hit back at the far-right hate group the Proud Boys by hijacking the hashtag #ProudBoys and filling it with photos and messages of love and pride.
A UK court has overturned a ruling on $1.8bn of Venezuelan gold. The battle for the control of the gold, stored at the Bank of England, has swung in favour of the government of Nicolás Maduro after an appeals court in London overturned an earlier high court ruling on who the UK recognised as Venezuela’s president.
Water pollution in Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula that caused sea creatures to wash up dead on beaches has prompted fears that rocket fuel stored in the region’s military testing grounds may have leaked and officials are scrambling to find the cause.
Families have been left devastated after a Northern Irish man died and two others became critically ill after a trip to Turkey for dental treatments. There are still few answers about what happened.
Recommended reads
After being stalked and preyed upon by city-dwelling ibis, magpies and seagulls, Gary Nunn is fed up with defending his lunch from cheeky birds, and asks: are urban birds becoming increasingly aggressive? Experts say it is less likely to be a surge in aggression and more likely that birds are realising they can access food in cities with few predators.
Writer Sali Hughes has found herself the target of online trolls who have spread misinformation about her on “dragging sites”. She says many people struggle to stop unfounded allegations on unscrupulous forums, which can destroy reputations, and its time to hold those responsible to account. “Suppose a website published hundreds of false allegations about your work, relationship and personal life … You’d just get it taken down, yes? Good luck with that. This has been my life for the past two years, and unless I choose to spend thousands of pounds to prosecute a “dragging site” for each individual lie about me, it’ll probably be my life for the next 10.”
Listen
Australians have a love affair with magpies, even in swooping season. Despite the fact videos of magpie attacks abound on social media from August to October, magpies are generally not aggressive and have many qualities that endear them to their human friends. Cheyne Anderson tells Gabrielle Jackson why there’s more to love than fear from Australia’s most accomplished songbird.
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Sport
Meg Lanning has smashed her 14th ODI century to bring the Australian women’s cricket team to victory over New Zealand. The win brings the team to a total of 20-consecutive ODI wins in a row.
Novak Djokovic reached his 14th Roland Garros quarter-final at the French Open with a 6-4 6-3 6-3 win over Karen Khachanov. Petra Kvitova eased into her second quarter-final, beating Zhang Shuai of China 6-2 6-4.
Media roundup
The Daily Telegraph has good news for Sydneysiders, who can prepare to dine alfresco from next weekend as part of the state government’s plan to help businesses during the pandemic. The Sydney Morning Herald reports One Nation and the NSW Greens will form an unlikely alliance to support a gambling card for poker machines, as the Berejiklian government braces for a stoush with clubs and pubs over the plan. A poll has found one-in-four West Australians want to permanently break away from the rest of Australia, amid concern single-issue political parties will try to exploit secessionist sentiments at the state election, according to the West Australian.
Coming up
The Morrison government will hand down the federal budget.
The Reserve Bank will hold its monthly board meeting today against the backdrop of speculation of a possible cut in the cash rate.
The William Tyrrell inquest hearing resumes after Covid-related adjournment in March.
And if you’ve read this far …
You might think your pooch is happy to see your face, but it turns out the doggy brain is just as excited by the back of our heads as the front. Despite having evolved facial expressions that tug on the heartstrings of owners, researchers have found that unlike humans, dogs do not have brain regions that respond specifically to faces.
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