Good morning. Scientists at Cop26 have sent a clear warning to policymakers: “We are not on course.” Surging fertiliser prices in Australia could disrupt the global food supply chain. And Australians looking forward to summer road trips face rental car prices up to double pre-pandemic rates.
Scientists have told Cop26: get a move on, because every moment of delay, every extra fraction of a degree of global heating, will have dire consequences. New Cop26 pledges announced on methane, coal, transport and deforestation could nudge the world 9% closer to a pathway that keeps heating to 1.5C, according to a study by the world’s most respected climate analysis coalition, Climate Action Tracker. But this is dependant on governments keeping their climate promises, which almost none have done until now.
Surging energy prices and export restrictions from traditional overseas suppliers are leading to record high fertiliser prices in Australia, with analysts predicting farmers could effectively be forced to ration its use, potentially disrupting global food supply. Modelling from Thomas Elder Markets shows the price of fertiliser in Australia is at a record $1,320 a tonne for purchase, freight and discharge. An agricultural market analyst, Andrew Whitelaw, says prices had been rising since the start of the year but have skyrocketed in the last three months.
Sixteen people have died while in Australia on the government’s troubled seasonal workers program since the beginning of the pandemic. The figures have come to light as the scheme faces widespread accusations of exploitation and “inhumane conditions”, as well as a potential class action. The spike in fatalities has also raised concerns that the Pacific Islanders coming to Australia under the program are not being given adequate safety training.
Indigenous Australians would be most disadvantaged by proposed voter ID laws due to the “social and economic barriers” they face obtaining official documentation, advocates warn.
Critics of Victoria’s proposed new pandemic powers say the legislation is the “most extreme of its kind” and will give the premier and health minister too much control. The bill is due to be debated and potentially passed in the legislative council next week.
The issue of whether the contraceptive pill – the first choice of birth control among Australian women using contraception – should be made available over the counter has divided the medical community. The Australian drug regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, made an interim decision in October not to approve over-the-counter access to the pill. A final decision will come before Christmas.
A national effort to save the Murray-Darling by returning 2,750 gigalitres of water to the system is under way but climate change could see roughly the same amount evaporate. The extra water is needed to save ecosystems in the southern basin.
The brakes have been put on summer road trips with Australians who decide to holiday at home facing rental car prices up to double pre-pandemic rates. The worldwide car shortage that has hit new and used car retailers has also jacked up rental prices by hundreds of dollars a week.
The world
Xi Jinping’s grip on power has received a big boost after the ruling Communist party passed a rare “historical resolution” praising the president’s “decisive significance” in the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It is only the third resolution of its kind in the party’s 100-year history.
Canada could face compensation payments to Indigenous communities worth billions after a court found it had wilfully deprived First Nations of the immense wealth extracted from their lands. The crown has made payments to 23 First Nations of the Robinson-Huron treaty territory since 1850, in exchange for a territory roughly the size of France.
South Africa’s last white president, FW de Klerk, who with Nelson Mandela oversaw the end of apartheid, has died in Cape Town aged 85, with his office issuing a prerecorded posthumous video apology for the country’s discriminatory system of white minority rule.
Chinese officials are operating in foreign countries to have Uyghurs deported back to China by creating visa problems and coercing them into becoming informants, evidence to the international criminal court alleges. The submission by Uyghur representatives is the third attempt to have the ICC investigate Chinese authorities for alleged crimes against humanity and genocide.
Recommended reads
“Borders are open! Lockdowns are over! We can reunite with our families!” Brigid Delaney thought. Then she got a concussion and spent the following weeks sleeping all day and night. But she learned something about the value of rest. “Rest is the antidote to burnout – yet we resist it,” Delaney writes. “To rest for 18 hours a day is to be unproductive. Even if you can financially afford to rest – not to read, not to watch anything, not to consume, not to do – feels radical in these times.”
Bushfires are the subject of Inga Simpson’s page-turning thriller The Last Woman in the World, about a recluse woman named Rachel living in the aftermath of bushfires and pandemic. While finishing the first draft, Simpson had to flee twice, as fires engulfed settlements around her.
Dozens of West Papuans were tortured and thrown into the sea 23 years ago. Days later, Australia knew details of the attack, yet remained silent. Guardian Australia’s evening news editor, Julian Drape, introduces this story about survivors and campaigners still fighting for accountability.
Listen
With a new electric vehicles strategy and more money for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Scott Morrison would appear to be announcing policies to help the nation reach its net zero emissions goal by 2050. But do they represent a true change of heart for the Coalition,? Gabrielle Jackson talks to Lenore Taylor and Mike Ticher about climate policy and posturing.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Queensland coach Tahnee Norris has hailed the decision to offer the same payments to their men and women’s State of Origin players, saying it is a gamechanger. Under the arrangement announced by the Queensland Rugby League on Thursday, the Maroons will pay up to $15,000 to players who take part in next year’s women’s Origin clash.
Media roundup
Dominic Perrottet will argue against voluntary assisted dying when a long-touted bill is debated in NSW parliament on Friday, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. A man who allegedly injured two police officers after he threw a glass bottle at them during Melbourne’s anti-lockdown protests in September has been charged, the ABC reports.
Coming up
Beloved Australian entertainer Bert Newton will be farewelled at a state funeral in Melbourne.
Tasmanian and Victorian workers appealing vaccination mandates will appear in court.
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