Good morning, this is Tamara Howie bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 11 November.
Top stories
Australia’s incoming chief scientist wants the country to be a global renewable energy leader and “bold and ambitious” in rapidly cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Physicist Dr Cathy Foley, the chief scientist at CSIRO, will replace Dr Alan Finkel in January. “Of course I want Australia to be a low-emissions economy, but I want us to be a world leader in renewable energy, such as hydrogen, and what I’m hearing from government is that they want the same thing,” she said. The Morrison government has so far refused to set a target to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Foley said her role would be to make sure the voices of environmental science were heard, but also to “bring them to the other parts of the argument to see why an outcome has landed where it has”.
The US supreme court justices have indicated they are unlikely to strike down the entire Obamacare healthcare law after a legal challenge brought Republican-governed states and backed by Trump’s administration. The move to end the Affordable Care Act threatens the healthcare of millions of Americans. Chief Justice John Roberts and fellow conservative Brett Kavanaugh both asked questions that suggested they were skeptical of Republican arguments that all of Obamacare must fall if one key provision, known as the individual mandate, was found to be unconstitutional. “We ask ourselves whether Congress would want the rest of the law to survive if an unconstitutional provision were severed,” Roberts said.
Labor has warned Australia’s order of 10m doses of the promising Pfizer vaccine is not enough to cover vulnerable populations and critical workers. Each person needs two doses, meaning Australia’s initial order, slated for 2021, would only cover 5 million Australians.
Australia
A fresh inquiry has been launched by the New South Wales State Archive into the shredding of documents related to $252m of controversial council funding. The state government’s Stronger Communities Fund is the subject of a parliamentary inquiry after it issued millions of dollars in grants mostly to councils in Coalition-held electorates.
The infrastructure department has contradicted evidence to the auditor-general by pointing the finger at the NSW government over a decision to move the location of a road related to the Leppington Triangle land purchase, as Senate estimates investigates the $30m land purchase.
The government has called in private law firms to fight a third of National Disability Insurance Scheme cases it has been forced to defend at the administrative appeals tribunal (AAT). While few people with disabilities are legally represented in these cases, the National Disability Insurance Agency spent $13.4m on AAT legal costs last financial year.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young will move to establish a Senate inquiry into media diversity today following the popularity of Kevin Rudd’s petition for a royal commission into Murdoch media, which has been supported by more than 500,000 people.
The world
A sculpture of a naked figure to honour the life of pioneering philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft has been widely condemned. Critics are asking why the £143,000 creation did not directly depict Wollstonecraft and why the “mother of feminism” had been celebrated with a naked female form.
The UK’s trade department is scrambling to meet a Wednesday’s deadline for tabling £80bn of trade agreements to parliament to ensure the UK can continue trading with non-EU countries after the Brexit transition in January.
A Nagorno-Karabakh peace deal brokered by Moscow has prompted anger in Armenia but sparked celebrations in Azerbaijan. Russian will deploy 2,000 peacekeepers to the region to help end the six-week war which has left thousands dead and more than 100,000 people displaced.
Mexican police have opened fire on protesters who tried to force their way into Cancún city hall during a demonstration against the country’s femicide crisis. The demonstration was called after the dismembered body of 20-year-old Bianca “Alexis” Lorenzana was found days after she disappeared.
The UK Foreign Office has expelled two Belarusian diplomats in response to the removal of two UK envoys from the former Soviet bloc country. The British diplomats were expelled on Monday after Belarus objected to their observation of street protests in Minsk on Sunday.
Recommended reads
“There are plenty of monuments to war dead but few to doctors and nurses who died saving thousands during the Spanish flu,” writes Paul Daley. “This pandemic Remembrance Day offers a unique opportunity to more honestly parse Australia’s war experience and how its storification has eclipsed other national narratives of immense pain and struggle … The Anzacs who died on the battlefield were buried overseas. The small towns and suburbs remembered them with thousands of monuments. But they were equally traumatised by the droves dying from the pandemic who they were mourning and burying daily. There are few monuments to them, however.”
For live music fans in most Australian states, a long winter deprived of gigs broke a few months ago, as artists began taking strange and tentative steps back on to the stage. Writer Jonno Seidler says it’s been a welcome return for the industry and venues, and a strange experience for punters, but questions the sustainability of Covid-safe concerts. “It’s a new normal for these concerts, and yet another uncanny valley of the post-Covid world: a social experience where we can’t socialise; a show where dancing, hugging and head-banging are essentially illegal. Sweaty dancefloors and beer queues are out, replaced by parlour-style seating and severely reduced capacities, often resulting in artists performing multiple shows a night.”
Listen
‘Jesus, what an idiot I was!’ says Helen Garner, who spoke with Michael Williams for Guardian Australia’s monthly Zoom book club about revisiting her past to publish her diaries, and her fascination with systems of life and death.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Greg Clarke has stepped down as chairman of the Football Association after using the phrase “coloured footballers” to describe black Asian and minority ethnic people and suggested that “different career interests” led south-Asian people to choose IT over sport in front of a parliamentary committee.
Formula One has announced a 23-race calendar for the 2021 season which, if the schedule is completed, will be the longest in F1 history. The highly anticipated Vietnam grand prix will not feature and a replacement for its slot remains to be confirmed, but the controversial meeting in Saudi Arabia has been included.
Media roundup
Survivors of rape and sexual assault will be able to publicly identify themselves under legal reforms that passed Victorian parliament late on Tuesday night, reports the Age. Christian Porter has told the West Australian that he has failed to be a “good husband” after allegations of misconduct were exposed by Four Corners on Monday. The ABC reports navy veterans are concerned submarine fleet’s interim safety equipment has limited ability to save trapped submariners.
Coming up
NSW and Queensland meet in game two of this year’s State of Origin. The Blues must bounce back from their opening defeat to keep alive their hopes. Follow the big game with Guardian Australia’s live blog. Kick-off is 8.10pm AEDT.
If you’ve read this far …
The Mary Wollstonecraft sculpture is not the only one to make headlines – another Spanish statue bodge-up has emerged that rivals Borja’s unintentionally infamous Monkey Christ. This one, in the north-western city of Palencia, replaced the smiling face of a woman with a crude countenance that bears a passing resemblance to Donald Trump. Or one of the Sand People from Star Wars. Or something from a cheese-induced nightmare. Or, to be honest, pretty much anything you wish to project on to it.
