Good morning, it’s Monday 22 March, and this is Imogen Dewey with the main stories today: extreme rain and floods are still wreaking havoc in New South Wales, the pandemic is surging again in Europe, and Trump might be returning to social media.
Horses and livestock were seen floating along rivers and washing up on beaches yesterday, as the mid-north coast faced a once-in-a-lifetime deluge. Hundreds of houses were damaged and thousands of residents evacuated as several dams spilled over (now the subject of “bitter dispute”). The downpour is expected to head inland today, and premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned thousands more people could be displaced in coming days. The state’s emergency service has said it will be working beyond Easter on the post-flood clean-up effort and restoration of key services; the as-yet-untallied bill looms on the horizon. “It’s devastating,” said one local in Raymond Terrace, north of Newcastle. “I’ve never ever seen anything like this.” Communities along the Hawkesbury River in NSW are bracing for once-in-a-generation flooding that could displace residents and disrupt utilities for months.
As Australia’s miners urge Europe to define nuclear power and fossil fuels with carbon capture as “sustainable”, the Minerals Council of Australia has been accused of trying to export its “negative approach to climate policy”. The Royal Swedish Academy of Science has meanwhile warned that measures for a healthier, more resilient planet – including reducing fossil fuel emissions – are being jeopardised by fake news on social media about climate change and biodiversity loss. In Canada, the main Conservative party has voted not to recognise the climate crisis as real.
As the Therapeutic Goods Administration approves Australian manufacturing of the AstraZeneca vaccine, a senior health official has said Australia will consider shortening the length of hotel quarantine for international arrivals – or shifting towards home quarantine once more people are vaccinated. Britain’s vaccine program is facing a two-month delay in the event of an EU export ban, derailing plans to reopen as its infection rate stalls. Cases are rising again across Europe, with Germany and Belgium poised to tighten their lockdowns and leaders cancelling plans to meet in person.
Australia
Indigenous entrepreneurs are being urged to verify their businesses in order to weed out businesses engaging in “black-cladding” to secure contracts under government procurement policies.
Labor has questioned if Scott Morrison should allow Christian Porter to return “on a full-time salary but doing the part-time work”. Kristina Keneally has drawn the pointed comparison with the government’s advice victims of domestic violence should use their own super to escape dangerous relationships.
The British royal family (and ours, technically) are considering appointing a diversity tsar under new plans to modernise the monarchy. After reviewing policies and procedures, Buckingham Palace has acknowledged that “more needs to be done”.
The world
Donald Trump will soon use “his own platform” to return to social media, an adviser said on Sunday, months after the former president was banned from Twitter for inciting the US Capitol riot.
After the director of the FBI said the shootings in Atlanta – in which eight people were killed, including six women of Asian descent – did not appear to have been racially motivated, Georgia senator Raphael Warnock said on Sunday: “We all know hate when we see it.”
Joe Biden has joined European leaders in condemning Turkey’s withdrawal from a landmark international accord designed to protect women from violence. The country also faces a currency crisis, after president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sacked the country’s central bank chief.
Philippine troops have killed a leader of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group and rescued four Indonesian hostages held since last year, the military said yesterday.
Recommended reads
The eshays moral panic shows how lazy the Australian media can be, writes Alex McClintock. “My nerdy 12-year-old self would probably be surprised to learn that he would one day write an article defending his rat-tailed tormentors, but he also had no idea how vapid, unimaginative and spiteful the commercial media of 2021 would be. They drove me to it, dude.”
“It’s recycled but is it recyclable?” I asked my colleague. “No,” she said, “it’ll end up in landfill.” Demand for sustainable activewear is soaring but without technological improvement, marketing appeal will outstrip environmental benefit, writes Lucianne Tonti. “In the meantime, is polyester something we should be wearing at all?”
The Productivity Commission is currently inquiring on the right to repair in Australia, and how easy it is for consumers to get their phone fixed by anyone other than Apple, Samsung or any of the other device manufacturers. So, asks Josh Taylor: if your screen smashes or your phone won’t charge anymore, what options do you have?
Freaks and Geeks launched the careers of Judd Apatow, James Franco and and Busy Philipps. But this late-90s comedy, “criminally axed after just one season”, is so much more than just a springboard for big names, writes Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen. “Growing up is a lonely business. Films and television shows have unpacked the agony of adolescence for years, but few have captured it as beautifully or authentically.”
Listen
More than 300 Covid vaccine candidates are in development and more than 400m doses have been administered. But those people are overwhelmingly found in just a few of the world’s richest countries. As the Guardian’s international correspondent Michael Safi tells Anushka Asthana on Full Story, this huge economic global divide means some are facing a wait of up to three years, if they can get a jab at all.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Neither Adelaide nor Sydney, two clubs in varying stages of rebuild, will likely be contending for the 2021 AFL premiership, but their remarkable round-one triumphs “said as much about the teams they defeated as it did of their own states of being”, writes Scott Heinrich. “More to the point, they provided a blueprint going forward that any team worth their salt would be mad to ignore.”
El Salvador’s top surfer, who had been preparing for the sport’s Olympic debut this summer, has been struck and killed by lightning during a training session.
“A competition beset by overthinking has, for years, found itself unable simply to experience. This season is bucking that trend,” writes Jonathan Howcroft. “Liberated by a lack of expectation, sensation has quelled thought and the result is joyous. Approaching the halfway mark, season 2021 seems destined to be ranked among the most entertaining in A-League history.”
Media roundup
Dfat is assisting two Australians detained under house arrest after attempting to leave Myanmar on a relief flight, the ABC reports. The Greens have told the Sydney Morning Herald they’re betting voters will embrace a hung parliament, if it means getting rid of Scott Morrison. There are calls to change visa rules so undocumented workers in Australia don’t miss out on a Covid vaccine – which would also pose a risk to the efficacy of the rollout, reports the Age.
Coming up
Plans for this year’s Anzac Day services will be revealed today.
Tonight, Four Corners investigates the Brittany Higgins story – “who knew what, when”.
And if you’ve read this far …
Think of this as your sign not to give up. Six years after it was illegally bulldozed, a London pub has been rebuilt brick by brick, thanks to a dogged campaign by locals. “People said it was impossible,” said Polly Robertson, a leading member of Rebuild the Carlton Tavern. “Many people said, ‘Polly, it’s not worth it, nothing’s going to happen’. And I just thought, no – I’m not going to let it lie.”
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