Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday, 22 January.
Top stories
Scott Morrison’s senior ministers discussed repositioning the government’s climate change policies in a cabinet meeting on Monday. After Morrison claimed there were no members of his frontbench wanting stronger action on climate change policy, sources have told Guardian Australia that ministers discussed the issue at length in the cabinet meeting that followed in Canberra that day. Some cabinet ministers are understood to have expressed the view that there is a need for the government to step up action in a way that is both “genuine and believable” in the year ahead. However, no one argued for any substantial policy change that strayed from the Coalition’s election commitments.
The Senate trial in Donald Trump’s impeachment kicked off today, with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer announcing he would introduce a series of amendments to majority leader Mitch McConnell’s impeachment trial resolution, in the hopes of collecting new evidence for Trump’s trial. The House impeachment managers criticised the proposed trial rules outlined in McConnell’s resolution as “a White House-driven and rigged process, with a truncated schedule designed to go late into the night and further conceal the president’s misconduct.” Follow the latest developments live. Meanwhile, Trump is at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he used a keynote speech to tell the world’s business leaders to stop listening to “prophets of doom” and to attack the teenage activist Greta Thunberg over her climate crisis warnings.
Greyhound has warned workers they could be caught “in the crossfire” over a contract with Adani. An email from the chief executive, Alex de Waal, seen by Guardian Australia, asked staff not to “undermine your colleagues or brand” by sharing internal updates or posting to social media. The email revealed the company, which has more than 600 staff, had won a three-month contract “with an opportunity for extension” with the construction firm BMD, which is building the mine’s railway from the Galilee Basin to Abbot Point.
Australia
NAB faces a class action lawsuit for delaying the move of $6.3bn belonging to more than 330,000 super customers to low-fee accounts – a decision that allowed the big four bank’s financial advisers to continue to reap lucrative fees.
Crown Resorts may have breached its casino licence over a proposed share deal with Melco, and raises questions about Crown’s suitability as a casino operator, the counsel assisting a New South Wales inquiry into the casino giant, Adam Bell SC, has said.
Police have been accused of acting in “secret” to obtain key documents in the case of a Sydney professor’s alleged fake harassment campaign. Prof Dianne Jolley, the dean of science at the University of Technology Sydney, was arrested in November for allegedly sending fake threats to herself after the university planned to cancel a Chinese medicine course.
The first case of China’s new deadly coronavirus may have reached Australia, with health authorities in Queensland confirming that a man is being monitored for the condition.
The world
Jess Phillips has pulled out of the Labour leadership contest to replace Jeremy Corbyn, saying she is not the person to unite the party. Her decision, two weeks into the campaign, came as she failed to secure any union or affiliate backing, although she secured 23 nominations from MPs to put her into the latest phase of the contest.
Brazilian federal prosecutors have indicted the American journalist Glenn Greenwald for cybercrimes, alleging he “helped, encouraged and guided” a group of hackers who obtained mobile phone messages between leading figures in Brazil’s mammoth Car Wash anti-corruption investigation.
Harvey Weinstein’s defence team is planning to allude to emails with accusers in a presentation to the jury. They contend the emails will prove consensual sexual relations.
The global chairman of PwC has warned that heads could roll at the professional services firm over its links to Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman, who is battling allegations that she obtained her wealth through corruption and nepotism.
Hillary Clinton has criticised Bernie Sanders, insisting “nobody likes” and “nobody wants to work with” him. Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, also refused to commit to endorsing Sanders should he win the primary this year.
Recommended reads
Dive into our new series looking at the wonderful ocean pools of the New South Wales coast. Scroll through an interactive map of 59 rockpools from Yamba to Eden and read about their wet, wild and wonderful past by historian Marie-Louise McDermott. Elsewhere, Ashley Hay writes about her earliest memory of Austinmer ocean pool. “Mr Luck was a local former surf lifesaving champion who used to teach people to swim. I had lessons with him before I was old enough to be at school. I remember very clearly the sensation of the bottom of my foot pushing off from the knobbly, rocky side of the pool and how different it felt compared with the tiles in the Olympic pool at nearby Thirroul. It was as though I could feel this place more because of its roughness.”
Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a soul-destroying, ego-clipping sport that’s sunk deep into my veins, writes Elena Gomez. “Three years ago – five months after moving cities and one week after quitting smoking cold turkey – I turned up at a mixed martial-arts gym in Melbourne for the free trial class I’d booked. I am not naturally athletic and was sluggish and tired from changing jobs and cities. So I decided to give it a crack for reasons I’m still unsure about.”
Will robots make doctors obsolete? Nothing could be further from the truth, writes Ranjana Srivastava: “Understandably, everyone wants a quick diagnosis and timely treatment but by far the most earnest gratitude is reserved for professionals who help patients navigate the many dimensions of illness with genuine care and compassion. We don’t remember machines, but no one forgets the experience of someone holding a hand, sitting through tears, explaining things and listening.”
Listen/Watch
On today’s episode of Full Story: images of burned koalas and native animals fleeing the bushfire front have been beamed around the world. There are estimates that 1 billion animals have been impacted and experts fear that some plants and animals have been pushed to extinction. So how bad is the damage? And will Australia’s wildlife bounce back?
Sport
Nick Kyrgios’ brilliance lit up the Australian Open despite a power cut. The stadium lights went out for a few confusing minutes, but Nick Kyrgios lit up Melbourne Arena in the Australian’s 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-1) win against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in the first round of the Australian Open, writes Russell Jackson.
Sir Mo Farah has said he is happy for Wada to retest his urine and blood samples in the Nike investigation. Wada launched a fresh investigation into the NOP in November after Farah’s former coach Alberto Salazar was given a four-year ban for doping offences.
Media roundup
The Sydney Morning Herald reveals that embattled Nationals deputy leader, Bridget McKenzie, who oversaw the sports grant program “did not declare she was a member of a shooting club that she presented a $36,000 grant to”. The Australian leads with former Victorian police commissioner Simon Overland’s “about-face” regarding diaries in the Lawyer X case. The ABC reports that Milton Orkopoulos, the former NSW Labor minister convicted of 30 drug and child sex offences, who was released in December after 11 years in prison, has allegedly breached his parole conditions.
Coming up
World tennis No.1 Ashleigh Barty plays Slovenia’s Polona Hercog, and Novak Djokovic will take on Roger Federer on day three of the Australian Open. Follow all the action in our live blog.
Stage 2 of the Tour Down Under will run a 135.8km course from Woodside to Stirling.
And if you’ve read this far …
The world’s funniest-looking has dog finally found a home. Jubilee the Siberian husky was bred in the US and abandoned by her breeder, who said no one wanted to buy her because of her idiosyncratic appearance.
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