Good morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 8 September.
Top stories
Public faith in state and federal governments’ handling of Covid-19 has declined, with only one in two Victorians approving of the Andrews government’s management of the crisis. Scott Morrison is the preferred prime minister of just less than half of Australians for the first time since April, but he’s still ahead of Anthony Albanese on 26%. Australian workers laid off will receive the third lowest unemployment benefit within the OECD once the supplement is reduced, an ANU study has revealed. The federal government has not ruled out the option of organising rescue flights for Australians stuck overseas, Michael McCormack has said. And more than 40% of all of Victoria’s aged-care deaths due to the coronavirus have occurred at just 10 facilities, data obtained by Guardian Australia has revealed.
Shareholder groups have heavily criticised Rio Tinto for hiring lawyers to prepare for a potential injunction against the destruction of ancient rock shelters in Juukan Gorge three days before they were destroyed in a mining blast. Late on Friday Rio released dozens of documents, which showed executives were more concerned about potential damage to Aboriginal heritage sites which they did not have permission to damage than the impact on the rock shelters at Juukan Gorge. The Australian Centre for Corporate Responsibility said Rio Tinto’s behaviour “beggars belief”.
Lawyers for Julian Assange have failed to adjourn the extradition case against him after objecting to newly introduced US prosecution evidence accusing him of recruiting hackers to steal military secrets. On the opening day of a four-week hearing, the WikiLeaks founder appeared at London’s Old Bailey to resist an application to send him to the US to answer an 18-count indictment. Asked whether he was prepared to consent to be extradited to the US, Assange replied: “No.”
Covid-19 continues to spread at alarming rates as India recorded 90,000 new infections overnight, surpassing Brazil as the country with the second highest number of cases with 4.1m. But while both the US and Brazil’s rates of infections are tapering off, India’s are increasing nearly exponentially. Spain has become the first European nation to pass 500,000 recorded positive cases, and a leading epidemiologist in France has warned that the country could face a “critical situation” come winter.
Australia
Inaction over threatened species reforms has led to a Queensland government fishery having its licence revoked by the federal government. The changes threaten a niche but lucrative market for shark fins and other products popular in Chinese medicine.
A Queensland Liberal National MP has funded Facebook advertisements calling renewable energy a “fantasy” in a setback to the state party’s attempts to boost its clean energy credentials before the next state election.
A Sydney man who shot dead his two children was awarded a gun licence despite “a propensity for domestic violence”, stalking allegations and a gun club refusing him membership, an inquest has been told.
The world
The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is reportedly out of a coma and responsive, according to staff at a Berlin hospital. The German chancellor claimed last week that there was “unequivocal evidence” the anti-Putin dissident had been poisoned with novichok.
The leading Belarussian opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova has been snatched by masked men in broad daylight, witnesses have told media, with three other prominent dissidents also vanishing.
The Philippines president, Rodrigo Duterte, has been accused of a “despicable and shameless mockery of justice” after granting a pardon to a US marine who was jailed in 2014 for the killing of a transgender Filipino woman.
Five men facing death over their part in the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi have had their sentences overturned, with all men originally charged now facing prison terms of between seven and 20 years.
The Great Green Wall of Africa – the world’s most ambitious reforestation project – has met just 4% of its target, despite being halfway to its completion date. The 7,000km barrier designed to divide the Sahara and Sahel deserts will now require a US$4.3bn investment annually if it’s to reach its target by 2030.
Recommended reads
“I’ll never take music for granted again in my life, let me tell you that.” Troy Cassar-Daley has played plenty of packed-out venues but delighting two dozen people on a lazy Brisbane afternoon has never felt so good as after a five-month Covid-enforced layoff. And the genius of events like Brisbane festival’s Street Serenades is rediscovering that pure, simple passion on a socially distanced scale, writes Justine Landis-Hanley. And all with the help of a portable pink “Bandwagon”.
“This government is seeking to lock in an inequitable income tax system under the guise of recovery.” It’s a well-trodden path: tax relief as a ballot-box booster. But as income inequality expands across the first two decades of the 21st century, writes Greg Jericho, tax cuts during a pandemic are just a thinly veiled attack of future services spending.
There haven’t been too many silver linings to the pandemic but for small-scale food producers reconnecting with local customers has been one major positive. With many consumers wary of supermarket aisles, farmers’ markets have enjoyed increased sales of up to 30%.
Listen
Australia’s environmental protections could be about to get even weaker. Last week the federal government rushed national laws through the lower house that critics have called a “recipe for extinction”. On this episode of Full Story, Guardian Australia environment reporter Lisa Cox examines the consequences for flora and fauna if the new bill were to pass the Senate.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Off the back of New Zealand’s successful reintroduction of a North v South Island clash, could Australian Rugby rediscover a similar magic formula? The template is there, writes Bret Harris, and the calendar could accommodate an all-Wallabies Probables v Possibles blockbuster.
Sam Kerr may have scored in Chelsea’s opening round draw but it was the abundance of other Aussie talent on show in the Women’s Super League that caught Samantha Lewis’s eye – from Steph Catley’s Arsenal debut to Catlin Foord’s two assists.
Alex De Minaur is through to the quarter-final of the US Open, the first time the 21-year-old Australian has reached that stage of a grand slam, after a convincing 7-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Vasek Popisil.
Media roundup
One of Australia’s four remaining oil refineries could be set to close its doors, posing further challenges to local manufacturers unless a government bailout comes to the rescue, the Australian Financial Review reports. Australia has a “short-term window” to commit itself to major infrastructural works that could help it build its way out of the deepest recession since 2030, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. And the Adelaide Oval could be the venue for this year’s Boxing Day Test, reports the Adelaide Advertiser.
Coming up
The federal environment minister, Sussan Ley will, make a decision about whether to block the Brandy Hill Quarry expansion in Port Macquarie because of the impact it could have on the local koala population.
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