Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Good morning. Despite pledging to fight Pauline Hanson’s insurgent rightwing movement, the Coalition is now backing One Nation’s policy of barring overseas Australians with terror links from returning home.
Overseas, a Syrian court has sentenced its former president, Bashar al-Assad, to death in absentia for war crimes.
We interpret what the RBA is saying – and what it might really mean – about future rates hikes. And we look back at Malcolm Turnbull’s time in power to see what lessons it has for Labor in the face of rising populism.
Australia
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Analysis | Parents make threats to get their kids to behave – and hope they won’t have to follow through. There’s more than a whiff of this in the RBA’s messaging, Patrick Commins writes.
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‘We’ll work with them’ | The Coalition will back a plan by Pauline Hanson’s One Nation to prevent Australian citizens with links to overseas terror groups from returning home.
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‘Industry-wide safety net’ | Delivery drivers in Australia will be paid a minimum rate of $31.30 an hour and insured for injuries on the job under a landmark agreement approved by the industrial umpire.
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Icac hearings | A lobbyist under investigation by the NSW corruption watchdog has admitted to commissioning a “shit sheet” on a former Liberal MP with a view to using it to discredit them.
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Melon gaffe | Amid accusations of sexual innuendo, Anthony Albanese has rejected calls to apologise to Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, over a joke he made about her gift of melons.
World
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‘Every minute counts’ | Colombian rescue workers are racing to find survivors after the country’s deadliest earthquake this century killed at least 240 people and left at least 3,000 missing.
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Syria judgment | A Syrian court has sentenced former president Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher to death in absentia for crimes against humanity and war crimes during the country’s 14-year civil war.
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Elaborate ruse | Donald Trump reportedly hid in an airport catering container to board a secret flight in Turkey last month due to an Iranian threat, according to US media reports.
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Television | The Office actor Lucy Davis, 53, says she has incurable stage-four breast cancer, but says humour is helping her cope.
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AI artists | Music streaming platform Spotify will label “AI persona” artists and exclude them from algorithm recommendations as part of a crackdown on fake performers.
Full Story
‘Terrifying’, ‘abusive’: the women who worked for convicted rapist Ralph Carr speak out
Guardian Australia has revealed that dozens of women who worked for Ralph Carr Management accused him of verbally abusive and intimidating behaviour dating back to the 1990s. Some accuse him of sexual harassment. He denies the claims – and maintains his innocence regarding his rape conviction, revealed when court suppressions lifted last week. Reged Ahmad speaks with Steph Harmon about her exclusive report.
In-depth
In August 2016, “when the winds of chaos were sweeping the globe, the forces of division were finding their voice and a centrist leader was scrambling to hang on,” Peter Lewis writes. A decade on, what can Labor learn from Malcolm Turnbull’s doomed attempt to govern from the centre?
Not the news
The astonishing fervour of Australian singer-songwriter Grace Cummings’ music has drawn comparisons to that of Nico, John Cale, Marlon Williams and Nina Simone. After a few years of “incredible pain and change”, she is returning with a new album, Bloodhorse!, which deals in themes of identity, gaslighting, manipulation and betrayal.
Sport
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Cricket | Australia are taking “one week at a time” as their mammoth Test schedule begins in Darwin against Bangladesh, Jack Snape writes; meanwhile, Cricket Australia could explore expanding the Big Bash League to 10 teams.
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Football | Gianni Infantino’s opponents are “developing a new framework” for running world football; Football Australia has joined a growing chorus placing pressure on the Fifa president – but stopped short of calling for his resignation.
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Surfing | Kelly Slater, 54, rolled back the years with a near-perfect surf in Tahiti’s monster Teahupo’o swell.
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Boxing | Audley Harrison talks about fighting the system, winning Olympic gold in Sydney, and life after the ring.
Media roundup
Private health insurers could be seeking too much access to patients’ confidential medical data in “aggressive” audits, ABC News reports. The hallowed backlot of super-soap Neighbours will host one more big show – but not of the TV kind – before it is razed, the Age reports.
What’s happening today
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ACT | Federal parliament is sitting today in Canberra.
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NSW | A hearing is due to be held in Wollongong in the independent “public inquiry” into the Aukus security partnership.
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NSW | A hearing is scheduled in Sydney for the man who allegedly killed 15 people in a terror attack at Bondi beach.
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NSW | The trial of former broadcaster Alan Jones on historical charges of alleged indecent assaults continues in Sydney.
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Brain teaser
And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
