Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 22 July.
Top stories
Peter Dutton has set up a showdown over temporary exclusion orders, which would enable him to prevent Australian foreign fighters from returning home for up to two years. Labor and Centre Alliance fear the laws go too far. The parliament’s joint security committee has recommended changes to Dutton’s temporary exclusion bill, including judicial oversight. Labor will hold its shadow cabinet meeting later on Monday to consider its position on Dutton’s foreign fighter bills, as well as the future drought fund bill the government plans on reintroducing to the parliament this week. Labor knocked back the legislation in the last parliament, concerned it would act as a “slush fund” for National party MPs, as well as take money from necessary infrastructure projects. In a speech late last week, Anthony Albanese said his party would back “any number” the government saw fit to attach to drought funding – as long as it could guarantee the money would not be taken from other funding pools.
The furore over Donald Trump’s racist slurs against four Democratic congresswomen has intensified, as the president stepped up his attacks, and posted far-right material online. Trump claimed in a tweet that he did not believe representatives Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib were “capable of loving our country”. The allegation, made without evidence, was the latest in a series of grave attacks Trump has directed at the four ethnic-minority congresswomen, who hail from the left of the Democratic party and have been sharply critical of his presidency. Trump supporters at a rally in North Carolina responded to his criticisms of Omar, who fled war in Somalia, by chanting “send her back”. Following widespread condemnation, Trump falsely claimed he had tried to halt the chants.
Ange McReynolds was 32 when she first asked one of her friends to “call up to ask for an escort”. McReynolds, who has severe cerebral palsy, represented Australia at the 2000 Paralympics in the sport of boccia, which is similar to bocce. Still, in her words, she relies on others to do everything for her. The same goes for sex. “I would like to see the NDIS fund it, because some of us can’t afford to see a sex worker,” she says. The minister responsible for the national disability insurance scheme, Stuart Robert, last week declared that the idea the scheme might fund sexual services did not meet “community expectations”. Robert was forced to wade into the issue after a woman in her 40s with multiple sclerosis won the right to have sexual therapy funding in her NDIS plan. Soon after the news broke, Robert said the agency would appeal to the federal court, a rare move that increases the likelihood of a precedent-setting decision.
World
Police and demonstrators have clashed after hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday, in the city’s largest demonstration in recent weeks.
American eyes will be trained on Capitol Hill this week with Robert Mueller scheduled to testify on Russian election interference. His 448-page report is said to contain “very substantial evidence that the president is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanours” – the benchmark for impeachment.
The UK defence minister, Tobias Ellwood, has rejected the charge that a British-flagged tanker seized by Iran in the Gulf could have been better protected, and said the priority for the UK must be to de-escalate tensions.
Imran Khan is heading to Washington to meet Donald Trump on his first visit as Pakistan’s prime minister. Khan is burdened by the task of trying to mend relations mired in mutual distrust and restore financial support cut off by the US president, who suspended military aid worth $300m (£240m), after accusing Pakistan of not doing enough to fight extremism.
Boris Johnson’s hoped-for triumphant march into Downing Street this week is set to be dampened by a carefully timed series of resignations by senior ministers, who will retreat to the backbenches with a vow to thwart any moves towards a no-deal Brexit.
Opinion and analysis
“A few weeks ago in western Sydney, I fanged around the Eastern Creek racetrack looking to kick the wheels of the electric car revolution,” writes Naaman Zhou. “A lot has been written on the viability of the electric car: the price, the availability, the range, the chargers. But this was solely about the driving experience, from the perspective of someone who has only ever driven petrol cars.” Zhou tests six cars – from pure electric, to hydrogen fuel-cell, to petrol-hybrids. From the Tesla X SUV, to the fully electric SEA truck, to the one-person, three-wheel Toyota iRoad. “As a driver, the first thing you notice is that there is no gearbox. Electric cars simply don’t have them. You shift from park to drive to reverse by pressing a button. And when driving, most models use a fixed-ratio gear. There is no clutch, no gearstick, no transmission.”
Iran is upping the ante in the Gulf but the UK must not take the bait, writes Sanam Vakil, a senior research fellow in the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House. The seizure of a British tanker is inextricably linked to US pressure on Tehran. Negotiation, not sanctions, is the answer. “Under siege from US sanctions and receiving limited tangible benefits from Europe, Tehran has chosen to up the ante and make the international community feel some of its pain,” writes Vakil. “But if Iran continues to escalate it could provoke a greater European-US alignment than would be useful for itself … While Jeremy Hunt has warned Iran of “serious consequences”, it is important for the British response to be calibrated. Above all, the UK should avoid the temptation to align completely with Washington on Iran.”
Sport
Australia have retained the Women’s Ashes after a drawn Test with England on day four, however England can still draw the series with T20s still to play. Australia’s Ellyse Perry is the main divide between the two sides, described as “world class with bat and ball and blessed with an absolute patience” by the Guardian’s Geoff Lemon.
New Zealand have beaten Australia 52-51 to win Netball World Cup, as the Silver Ferns withstood a late fightback by Australia’s Diamonds to win their first world title for 16 years. The Silver Ferns’ success completed a recent revival after they had failed to medal for the first time at last year’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
Thibaut Pinot has exploded the status quo in the Tour de France, blowing both Geraint Thomas and Julian Alaphilippe off his back wheel in the Pyrenean mist, as Simon Yates took his second-stage win at the summit finish to stage 15 at Foix Prat d’Albis.
Thinking time: Foxtel’s ‘deliriously compelling’ new gothic series chills and intrigues
“If you ever find yourself trapped in a decrepit convent on a far-flung island, run by creepy nuns who look like Macbeth’s witches and shriek proclamations such as ‘today is dying day!’ and ‘my flesh is real food!’ consider the following a word of advice,” writes Guardian Australia film reviewer Luke Buckmaster. “Do not accept from them a cup of tea they call ‘Stay at Home’ and do not, under any circumstances, no matter how frustrating the experience, criticise these zealots for telling different and thoroughly warped versions of popular fairytales.”
These are a couple of the take-home lessons gleaned from Foxtel’s intensely gothic and deliriously compelling four-part series Lambs of God, from the creator/writer Sarah Lambert (adapting Marele Day’s bestselling novel) and, marking his best work yet, director Jeffrey Walker (Ali’s Wedding, Dance Academy: The Movie, Riot). “It plays out like a religious-themed Misery, with a hapless male protagonist rather, shall we say, overcome by hosts of a place that wouldn’t get a great rating on AirBnB,” Buckmaster writes in his four star review.
Media roundup
The ABC reports on Timor-Leste’s greatest hope for prosperity – its oil and gas resources – and its aim to export its resources around the globe, rather than to Australia. But could expansive dreams be the country’s undoing? An audit has revealed thousands of Western Australian children aged 5 and under may not be fully vaccinated, the West Australian reports, as new laws banning unvaccinated children from childcare centres and kindergartens come into affect this week. “Warning low rates won’t lift wages,” warns the Sydney Morning Herald as exclusive analysis from Ernst and Young finds the RBA’s plan to lift wages may fail without a major change in government policy.
Coming up
All eyes will be on Canberra as parliament returns today.
The first witnesses at a trial into the collapse of Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel refinery are expected to give evidence about a worthless $235m deal.
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