Good morning. Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has said the government is happy with Australia’s current 2030 emission targets and had a go at the Cop26 chair. And experts have called for more climate-sensitive housing developments across the country to mitigate increasing temperatures and other impacts of climate change.
Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said his party did not sign the final communiqué of the Cop26 climate summit and has mocked the summit’s chair, Alok Sharma, for his emotional reaction to the watering down of language on coal. “The Nationals did not sign it. I did not sign it,” Joyce told the ABC about the Cop26 pact signed by the Australian government on Sunday. “We are happy with our targets … we said that we wouldn’t be changing our 2030 targets.” Joyce ridiculed Sharma for becoming emotional as he told vulnerable nations he was “deeply sorry” for the way the process had unfolded.
The impacts of climate change need to underpin design decisions in Australia’s new housing developments, experts say. Houses built to the fence line with dark roofs and tiny backyards, like many in western Sydney, leave their owners at the mercy of the climate crisis, according to experts who warn it’s now time to insist on climate sensitive developments. “Australians deserve a better future and if we don’t design for the changing climate, dwellings will ultimately be uninhabitable and we know that is worse in areas of disadvantage,” says Davina Rooney, chief executive of the Green Building Council.
The explosion outside a hospital in Liverpool, England has been declared a terrorist incident and officials have raised the UK terror threat level to severe. A taxi burst into flames outside the Liverpool Women’s hospital just before 11am on Remembrance Sunday and left one man dead and another seriously injured. A male passenger was declared dead at the scene, while the cab driver managed to escape and has since been discharged from hospital. Early police findings indicate the improvised explosive device had been built by the deceased passenger.
Australia
An Australian independent debates commission could signal the end of “inane debates about debates”. Twenty principles have been proposed, including that one of three debates should be held in a regional location – and that there be no device to register audience approval and disapproval in real time.
Residents of the town Nundle have accused the NSW government of double standards, calling for it to impose the same rules of community consent for existing renewable development proposals as it has for the state’s new renewable energy zones. They argue a proposed windfarm goes against a mandate that “renewables are developed where regional communities want them”.
The Victorian government will water down its controversial pandemic legislation after 11th-hour negotiations. Crossbench MPs secured a number of amendments to the bill, including reducing proposed harsh fines and granting Victorians the right to appeal detention orders at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The NT recorded two new Covid cases on Monday, one of which was a fully vaccinated 43-year-old man in a remote community. This sparked a lockdown of the greater Katherine area and Robinson River.
The world
Steve Bannon has turned himself in to the FBI after being charged with contempt of Congress for defying a Capitol attack subpoena. Bannon faces two counts of criminal contempt: one for refusing to appear for a congressional deposition and the other for refusing to provide documents in response to the committee’s subpoena.
The EU has agreed on new sanctions against Belarus targeting “everyone involved” in the border crisis, where thousands are stuck in makeshift camps in freezing weather.
A nine-year-old boy has become the youngest person to die from injuries sustained during a crowd surge at the Astroworld music festival in Texas.
Recommended reads
Larissa Behrendt’s documentary Araatika: Rise Up! follows one man’s mission to create an Indigenous Australian equivalent of the haka to perform at NRL matches. Luke Buckmaster says it’s “a warming and compelling watch, populated by likeable people pursuing a valuable endeavour … Just when you feel you have the tone and trajectory of Araatika: Rise Up! pegged, it has a habit of unexpectedly throwing something lovely or arresting at you”.
The seasons have changed, we are out of lockdown and nearly at the end of spring. Hopefully, we can retire our heaviest coats for the summer, but before you do, we asked some experts for their advice on the best way to store your coats to ensure they’re in optimal condition for them next winter. “Wrapping your wool coat in a light cotton fabric ensures your wool retains its as-new appearance,” is one tip from Australian Wool Innovation chief executive John Roberts.
Australian literary great Gerald Murnane has released his final book – a collection of essays about his experience of reading all of his own books in order. “The essays in Last Letter to a Reader are neither literary criticism nor memoir,” writes Emmett Stinson. “They ruminate instead on unexpected connections between books, ideas and the specific life experiences that informed his writing.”
Listen
When farmer Will Picker broke his back on his NSW farm there was no mobile phone reception – forcing him to crawl for 1km to get help. Federal MPs are now under pressure to sign on to a private member’s bill to force Australia’s telcos to improve patchy mobile coverage and shoddy customer service. In today’s Full Story, Laura Murphy-Oates speaks to Will and his partner Hannah Sparks about the real – and sometimes dangerous – cost of Australia’s poor mobile performance.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Roger Federer will almost certainly miss the Australian Open for the second year in a row as he recovers from a third round of knee surgery in 18 months.
Media roundup
NSW police have sought an apprehended violence order against the foster parents of William Tyrrell on behalf of a child linked to the missing boy, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. One of the country’s largest landholders, Rallen Australia, has launched legal action in the Northern Territory against energy giant Santos over plans to frack the gas-rich Beetaloo Basin, according to the Australian.
And if you’ve read this far …
France changed the colour of its flag last July – but no one noticed. Emmanuel Macron’s office has darkened the blue in the French flags flying around the Élysée Palace to bring the tricolore in line with how it looked after the French revolution.
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