Good morning, this is Emilie Gramenz bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 11 September.
Top stories
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has given her deputy, John Barilaro, until Friday morning to reverse his threat to have the Nationals sit on the crossbenches or he and his fellow Nationals ministers will be stripped of their portfolios. The crisis in the Coalition has been prompted by National party demands about koala policy which passed through cabinet and became law this year but which the Nationals now want changed. The party’s decision to make koalas casualties of a political feud is as bizarre as it is misguided, writes Cristina Talacko.
More than a third of people receiving pandemic-boosted welfare payments say they will live on less than $14 a day when the coronavirus supplement is cut. The Australian Council of Social Service survey found 80% of respondents would skip meals and reduce their intake of fresh fruit and vegetables. Victoria’s disease detectives, who are dealing with huge case numbers and heavy criticism, say no system is perfect. Read about a day in the life of a Victorian contact tracer. An Australian scientist says the impact of the Covid-related slowdown on CO2 in the atmosphere is “not even a blip”. Overseas, the countries of central Europe that escaped the worst impact of the first wave are now facing soaring case numbers.
The journalist Bob Woodward has been forced to defend himself against criticism that he waited too long to reveal that Donald Trump had told him in early February that he knew coronavirus was “deadly stuff”. Trump, who has regularly played down the threat of a virus which has now killed almost 200,000 in the US, has justified his stance as not wanting to cause panic. Critics of Woodward saw self-interest in his sitting on the information but he said he needed to provide more complete context than he would a news story. Here are five key revelations from Woodward’s book, Rage, which is based on 18 interviews with Trump.
Australia
Scott Morrison has denied considering whether proposed sports grant projects were located in marginal or target seats at a meeting with Bridget McKenzie in November 2018 that resulted in a $70m expansion of the program.
South Australia has become the first state to introduce laws banning some single-use plastics including cutlery, straws and stirrers. The legislation lists other items that could be added to the banned list, including coffee cups and lids and plastic bowls, plates, food containers, balloon sticks, balloon ties, bags and plastic-stemmed cotton buds.
The chair of a parliamentary committee examining Rio Tinto’s destruction of 46,000-year-old rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara says the company appears to have misled the inquiry. The comments add to pressure from investors and activists for the Rio Tinto board.
The PM has doubled down on his attack against the Queensland government for refusing to allow a young woman to attend her father’s funeral. Sarah Caisip, a 26-year-old from Canberra, was denied permission to attend the Brisbane funeral of her father, Bernard, who died from cancer last week, but was escorted by authorities to a private viewing after the service.
The world
Wildfires tearing through the US west have killed at least seven people, levelled entire neighbourhoods and displaced tens of thousands, forcing stretched firefighting crews to make tough decisions about where to deploy.
Foreign ministers from the UK, France and Germany have agreed to hold out against US demands to snapback all UN sanctions on Iran, despite intensified pressure from the US to fall into line.
Greek authorities on Lesbos are racing to find refugees who had tested positive for Covid-19 before a series of devastating fires forced thousands of people to flee Europe’s biggest migrant camp. Health officials have rushed 19,000 test kits to the north-eastern Aegean island amid fears of a surge in cases.
Diana Rigg, known for her roles on stage and in film and television, has died at the age of 82. The actor rose to prominence in the 1960s through her starring role as Emma Peel in The Avengers, and starred in the James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and in Game of Thrones.
Recommended reads
“I always thought my breakup with alcohol would happen after I’d been arrested or said something terrible to someone important or fallen down a flight of stairs – but the reality is more prosaic,” writes Brigid Delaney. “I just can’t process alcohol in the way I used to. I wake up at strange hours. I feel sick. I have hangovers that last until Wednesday. It’s like my body, after years of enjoying drinking, has just ... stopped.”
Ripping up drains and releasing rats may not sound like popular moves. But through urban ecology projects, volunteers and locals are building a new harmony with nature. Read about how “rewilders” have reclaimed golf courses and waterways.
Ewa Ramsey depicts the experience of mental illness in a lively and often very funny novel – despite its title. The Morbids is the unofficial moniker of a therapy group that its protagonist, Caitlin, attends in a “nondescript community room in Surry Hills”, alongside a ragtag group of misfits united by their crippling fear of death.
Listen
What can we learn from Melbourne’s stage-four lockdown? The World Health Organization has called on governments to be clear about which Covid restrictions are most effective to avoid blanket lockdowns in future outbreaks. With numbers now dropping in Melbourne and a roadmap announced, which measures have good evidence behind them and which don’t?
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
In this most unconventional of Super Netball seasons, arguably the league’s most orthodox team – the do-the-basics-right Melbourne Vixens – have emerged as title favourites. And with just three regular rounds remaining in the condensed 2020 season only total calamity could see Simone McKinnis’s side lose top spot, the minor premiership and the treasured double-chance in finals.
Pablo Carreño Busta is the underdog against Alexander Zverev in the US Open semi-final after an eventful journey through the tournament. Probably not even the Spaniard’s closest friends would have predicted this scenario for one of the game’s quiet survivors, with a history of ups and downs.
Media roundup
Opinions remain divided about whether regional Victoria should open up faster than the state government’s flagged timeline, the Age reports. In the Australian, one of federal Labor’s rising stars warns that WA separatist sentiments will result in a political movement that could become as formidable as One Nation. Cathy Freeman has spoken to the ABC about a revealing new documentary.
Coming up
The federal economics committee will hear from Westpac and NAB on the response to the pandemic downturn.
Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry continues as the ABS is set to release overseas arrivals data.
And if you’ve read this far …
It’s what some owners may already have suspected of their bouncing, curly-coated pets, but now research has confirmed it: Australian labradoodles are light on the lab and heavy on the poodle.
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