Good morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 11 September.
Top stories
Australia’s offshore processing immigration regime is “an affront to the protection of human rights”, the new UN new human rights chief has said in an excoriating maiden speech reflecting on the state of rights globally. In her first address to the human rights council, Michelle Bachelet, the former president of Chile, said the council had a responsibility to speak out against human rights violations without fear or favour.
Australia is one of 47 countries that sits on the powerful UN human rights council, based in Geneva. It won a seat after a years-long, multimillion-dollar diplomatic- and aid-backed campaign for election. In her speech, Bachelet also named several other countries now serving on the council. She cited widespread violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the repression of women’s rights campaigners in Saudi Arabia. She also condemned legislation in Hungary that allows authorities to arrest any lawyer, volunteer or adviser helping a person make an asylum claim. Bachelet has previously been a forced migrant to Australia; she fled Chile after being abducted and tortured by the regime of Augusto Pinochet.
Labor maintains an election-winning lead over the Coalition, with voter disapproval at the Liberal leadership change rising seven points in a fortnight, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll. Labor leads the Coalition 54% to 46% on a two-party-preferred measure, but Scott Morrison remains ahead of Bill Shorten on the better prime minister index, 39% to 27%. The poll also suggests that the government is vulnerable on climate change, with 69% of respondents – including 62% of Coalition voters – believing that it’s important the government agree to a policy for reducing carbon emissions.
Sweden could be without a government until next year, analysts warn, after inconclusive election results set the scene for extensive political negotiations. The continued rise of the far right has seen the incumbent prime minister, Stefan Löfven, herald “the end of bloc politics in Sweden”, with neither the centre-left nor centre-right bloc able to form a majority. As the counting of overseas votes continues the ruling red-green bloc is set to win 144 seats, as opposed to the centre-right’s 143, with the far-right Sweden Democrats billing themselves as “kingmakers” with 62. Löfven has vehemently rejected the idea of forming government with a party “with Nazi roots”.
Three-quarters of people in New South Wales are unaware that abortion remains a criminal offence in the state, a survey published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health has found. Roughly the same proportion responded that abortion should be decriminalised and regulated as a healthcare service, with four in five respondents supportive of protester exclusion zones around clinics. One of the study authors, Kirsten Black, concluded it was “unclear why the NSW parliament is so out of step with community opinion”.
Academics at Sydney University are concerned that a controversial degree in “western civilisation” could become a “fait accompli”, with the vice-chancellor, Michael Spence, confirming that a draft memorandum with the Ramsay Centre has been drawn up. The degree, supported by former prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott, was rejected by ANU this year amid concerns the privately funded centre might attempt to “micromanage” the establishment of the course. No formal decisions have been made at this stage, a university spokeswoman confirmed.
Sport
Alastair Cook has bowed out of Test cricket with a farewell ton, to put England well in control in the fifth Test against India. On a day of landmarks the England opener surpassed both Kumar Sangakkara’s career run total and Steve Waugh’s number of Test centuries, to the delight of the Oval crowd.
With more than 19,000 articles published since 2007, the Footy Almanac website is a mecca for sports fanatics. And thanks to the passion of Yvette Wroby, following the culmination with the second season of AFLW, the Women’s Footy Almanac 2018 has now been released – a record of every women’s game played, written by the fans, for the fans, writes Kasey Symons.
Thinking time
Despite over-regulation, gentrification and the controversial introduction of ID scanners, Brisbane’s music scene is thriving. That’s the verdict from last week’s Bigsound music industry conference, writes Nathan Jolly, as nearly 150 new Australian bands played across 18 venues for thousands of industry folk. Guardian Australia’s #SongsofBNE series has celebrated the legacy of the Australian music city, as we ask readers to vote for the best Brisbane song. And to soundtrack the read, we’ve made you a Spotify playlist of best new Brisbane tracks.
The government’s income tax policy was always pitched as benefiting “middle Australia” but the Parliamentary Budget Office has made clear that this is not true, writes Greg Jericho. “Consider that even under the new income tax plan, going from $45,000 to $55,000 involves your average tax rate going from 13.3% to 16.8%, an increase of 3.5% pts, even though they remain in the same marginal tax bracket. By contrast someone going from $125,000 to $135,000 sees their average tax rate go from 25.6% to 26.1% – an increase of just 0.5% pts – ie barely noticeable. So any policy to combat bracket creep must therefore be overwhelmingly targeted towards lower to middle incomes, and yet the government’s plan does not.”
It was one of Hollywood’s most widely read scripts in the late 80s, but how did Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure finally get made? Phil Hoad chats to director Stephen Herek and the lead actor Alex Winter on the making of a cult classic. “I remember saying this is either going to be a huge hit or a huge flop,” Herek says. “For Bill and Ted, I had an Abbott and Costello dynamic in my head – I think we saw every young guy in LA. Keanu Reeves had this likability about him. He wasn’t even trying to be funny.”
What’s he done now?
Donald Trump has continued to blast Bob Woodward’s insider account of his administration, promising to “write the real book”. The veteran journalist has in turn refuted the claim that his sources are “anonymous”, saying the interviews were conducted under the journalistic rule of “deep background” and documented by date, time and participants.
Media roundup
The political storm surrounding Peter Dutton is expanding, reports the Sydney Morning Herald, with accusations that the home affairs minister sought to secure jobs for two Queensland police officers in the new Border Force agency. The Morrison government could lose its parliamentary majority unless it runs a female candidate in Wentworth, writes the Australian, with polling suggesting a woman could boost the Liberal vote by 4%. And the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will head to Queensland next month, to inspect an environmental project commissioned by Prince Charles during the Commonwealth Games, reports the Courier-Mail.
Coming up
The banking royal commission’s insurance hearing continues with a focus on direct sales of life insurance to consumers.
Bob Brown will lead a protest outside the Japanese embassy to oppose its government’s desire to overturn a long-held commercial whaling ban.
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