Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 8 May.
Top stories
An inquest has heard heartrending details of the deaths of eight people, including two Australians, in the June 2017 London Bridge terrorist attack. All eight died in the first three minutes of the attack, the inquest heard. Two Australians were among the victims. Sara Zelenak, 21, from Queensland, was working in London as an au pair. Her mother, Julie Wallace, told the inquest: “On that fatal night, every sliding door slid for Sara to be in harm’s way.” Kirsty Boden, 28, from Loxton, South Australia, was working as a nurse. Her boyfriend, James Hodder, told the inquest the fact that Boden died after running to the scene to try to help others came as no surprise to anyone who knew her.
A Melbourne man died from bowel cancer while waiting for his disability support pension claim to be approved in what his advocate called “one of the worst cases” she has seen. The man, known as John to protect his privacy, was left to survive on Newstart as he battled stage three bowel cancer and had earlier attempted suicide after learning of a two-month wait on his pension claim, according to Katrina Newman, who took up his case in February. Newman, of DRC Advocacy, said John died in hospital on 3 April with his claim still pending, 54 days after he first lodged the application with Centrelink. She said she later received a letter confirming an additional $1,063.40 fortnightly payment, despite twice notifying Centrelink of John’s death, and had been informed by a Centrelink social worker a debt would be owed.
Most clearing of Australian habitat relied on by threatened species is concentrated in just 12 federal electorates, nine of which are held by the Coalition, an analysis has found. University of Queensland scientists found more than 90% of the threatened species habitat lost since the turn of the century has been in six electorates in Queensland, two each in NSW and Western Australia and one in Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Tuesday’s shocking report on the extent of global biodiversity loss held sobering lessons for Australia, including the impact of land-clearing.
World
Theresa May “deeply regrets” that Britain will have to take part in European elections on 23 May, but is still pinning her hopes on completing the Brexit process in time to avoid MEPs having to take their seats.
House Democrats are expected to file a lawsuit or a subpoena with the federal tax authorities for Donald Trump’s tax returns now that the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, has refused to hand them over. It’s the latest twist of an escalating war between Congress and the executive branch of the US government.
Members of Turkey’s main opposition party claim the decision to rerun the vote for Istanbul mayor is linked to a government bid to safeguard billions of dollars in grants to foundations that form a key part of its political apparatus. The ruling party lost the mayoral elections in March for the first time in a generation.
Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign has unveiled sweeping new guidelines to combat sexual misconduct among his campaign team. The move comes after months of talks with former staffers who felt mistreated during the senator’s 2016 White House bid.
Pamela Anderson has described Julian Assange as “the world’s most innocent man” and said a fight was on to “save his life”, after the actor and model visited the WikiLeaks founder at Belmarsh prison in London.
Opinion and analysis
Despite its reputation as an international city, Sydney was one of the last in the western world to embrace the modern outlook of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. The progressive aesthetics of the art deco style, however, did eventually permeate the colonial sensibilities of the harbour city. Now, photographer and art deco specialist Peter Sheridan has published a lavish book, Sydney Art Deco, with photographs and stories that serve as both a history and visual guide to buildings that make up Sydney’s contribution to art deco heritage. Here are just a few.
Bill Shorten recently announced a $4bn package to provide cheaper childcare for families and boost early childhood educators’ pay by 20%. What do those affected by the changes think of the proposal? Here’s Andrew Levins, father of two children: “Making childcare free for lower-income families will improve the lives of many more parents and children, while hopefully removing the stigma that some families feel when they send their children to childcare.” Carmen Ulrick, an educator, says she hopes “that soon my wage might reflect that I am a diploma-educated professional, pushing to make a positive impact on children at such an integral time in their lives”.
Sport
Liverpool have stunned Barcelona in an extraordinary Champions League comeback, overturning a 3-0 deficit to win their semi-final 4-3 on aggregate. Two goals each from Divock Origi and Georginio Wijnaldum gave Liverpool a 4-0 win, sending them through to the final, where they will meet Tottenham or Ajax.
Netball administrators have been left wondering whether to persist with a “what happens on court, stays on court” policy after a split lip to Magpies’ star Nat Medhurst at the weekend resurfaced longstanding questions over the lack of a match review process in Super Netball.
Thinking time: How beef changed America
The meatpacking mogul Jonathan Ogden Armour could not abide socialist agitators. It was 1906, and Upton Sinclair had just published The Jungle, an explosive novel revealing the grim underside of the American meatpacking industry. Sinclair’s book told the tale of an immigrant family’s toil in Chicago’s slaughterhouses, tracing the family’s physical, financial and emotional collapse. The Jungle was not Armour’s only concern. The year before, the journalist Charles Edward Russell’s book The Greatest Trust in the World had detailed the greed and exploitation of a packing industry that came to the American dining table “three times a day … and extorts its tribute”.
In response to these attacks, Armour, head of the enormous Chicago-based meatpacking firm Armour & Co, took to the Saturday Evening Post to defend himself and his industry. Where critics saw filth, corruption and exploitation, Armour saw cleanliness, fairness and efficiency. If it were not for “the professional agitators of the country”, he claimed, the nation would be free to enjoy an abundance of delicious and affordable meat. Armour and his critics could agree on this much: they lived in a world unimaginable 50 years before.
Media roundup
The Sydney Morning Herald and Age lead with Scott Morrison’s promise to choke union power and “stem the growth of environmental rules that he blames for costing Australian jobs”. The Daily Telegraph front page carries the headline Mother of Invention, referring to a story Bill Shorten told about his mother’s struggle to become a lawyer which the Tele writes, “omitted the fact that she went on to enjoy an illustrious career as a barrister after a midlife occupation change”. The Australian Financial Review and the Australian focus on yesterday’s Reserve Bank decision, with the AFR writing that it signalled interest rates could be cut if the unemployment rate does not decline below 5% and the Oz talking up the outlook, saying: “It’s still the economy, stupid”.
Coming up
The third leaders’ debate of the election campaign will take place at the National Press Club in Canberra tonight. Follow our live coverage of the debate from 7pm.
A high court judgment is expected in the case of Bianca Rinehart and John Hancock against their mother Gina Rinehart, Hancock Prospecting and others.
