Good morning, this is Imogen Dewey bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 11 December.
Top stories
Offshore processing costs $1.2bn for fewer than 300 people – roughly $4m for each person – and this year’s budget reveals costs will increase, despite significantly declining numbers of refugees and asylum seekers. After the UK was reportedly considering an arrangement similar to the “Australian model”, the legal expert Madeleine Gleeson told the UK’s House of Commons last month: “It [is] not effective in achieving its policy goal, and on top of that the legal and humanitarian concerns with this policy should be cause for great pause – certainly for any state … that considers itself a democratic society based on respect for common decency.” Meanwhile doctors have asked a Brisbane hospital not to send a refugee back to “unsafe” immigration detention.
The ABC has criticised the Senate for releasing an internal report that found some panel programs “favoured” Labor. But while a review of 2019 federal election coverage found a few episodes of The Drum and Insiders favoured the ALP, the one-week analysis concluded the corporation’s news coverage was overwhelmingly positive and unbiased. A motion by the Coalition senator James McGrath passed in the Senate on Wednesday forced the publication of the internal report on Thursday evening, after the ABC chair, Ita Buttrose, had expressed serious reservations about the use of the powers of the upper house to do so. “Public discussion on its internal deliberations on program material will hinder the free exchange of ideas about program material,” she wrote to the Senate president, Scott Ryan, on Thursday, “and this is to the detriment of the public interest.”
Counter-terrorism experts have welcomed a federal inquiry that will look into the rise of extremism in Australia amid concerns the pandemic has exacerbated the mobilisation of extremist groups. The announcement of the inquiry came as Labor pushed for a motion in parliament to scrutinise anti-terror laws in light of the rising threat of far-right extremism. But while one expert welcomes the inquiry’s focus on the role of social media and the dark web in spreading such ideologies, she said it was still missing some key elements.
Australia
Homeless services are turning away 260 people daily due to a lack of accommodation. A new report has revealed that almost 300,000 people sought help from a homelessness agency in past year, with over 55s the fastest growing cohort.
As Greta Thunberg warns the world is “speeding in the wrong direction” on the climate crisis, the prime minister has said he is “not troubled” that Australia won’t get a speaking slot at a climate summit this weekend.
The head of Australia’s biggest fund has hit back at “politically motivated” attacks on industry super, with Ian Silk of AustralianSuper questioning if Coalition reforms are genuinely directed at improving retirement savings.
The Nationals are pushing to reclaim the trade portfolio from the Liberals in Scott Morrison’s looming cabinet reshuffle, arguing they’re closer to the farmers who’ve been hit hard by the increasing tensions with China.
An audit has found that the government did not consider the risk of a pandemic while amassing its medical stockpile in the years before Covid-19.
The world
Boris Johnson has said a proposed EU deal is unacceptable and warned of the “strong possibility” of a no-deal Brexit. Difficulties loom for trade and transport arrangements, as well as for UK business travellers and holiday makers from January.
The US daytime TV host Ellen DeGeneres has tested positive for Covid-19 but says she is “feeling fine”. Her show will now be paused until the new year.
Bangladesh garment workers facing destitution after the collapse of fashion retailers are protesting and, despite beatings and police crackdowns, vow to continue until they are paid.
Human rights organisations have raised the alarm after the emergence of videos of torture, beheadings and other abuses, much of it shared over social networks from the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pornhub, one of the largest adult content sites in the world, has announced it will be banning unverified video uploads after allegations that it has been hosting child abuse videos. In other online reforms, Google will soon allow YouTube users to opt out of alcohol and gambling ads.
Recommended reads
After a bitter, locked-down winter, reunions across Australia have been joyous, writes Brigid Delaney: “You could tell those that had been in lockdown longest. Those from the Melbourne postcodes that locked down first were dancing on tables, partying all night, singing U2 at the top of their lungs at 3am.”
“It’s almost like throwing darts at a dartboard blind”: do those wine bottle medals guarantee it’ll be any good? Not necessarily, one insider tells Aleksandra Bliszczyk. But if awards are your yardstick, there are a few things to look out for. And still more practically, there are some easy ways to just ask for a wine you’ll enjoy drinking.
Another post-election day, another round of Donald Trump’s “bar fight with reality”, according to Trevor Noah, although that may be coming to an end with a death knell dismissal from the supreme court of a Republican-backed lawsuit to overturn the election in Pennsylvania. See what the US late-night hosts had to say about the supreme court’s rebuke of a Hail Mary lawsuit to overturn the election in Pennsylvania, and their thoughts on Trump’s pardon-palooza.
Listen
Today’s episode of Full Story also looks at the treatment of refugees in this country. After the medevac bill was passed in 2019, almost 200 people were deemed by a panel of doctors to require medical attention that required they be taken to Australia. They are now mostly locked in hotels or detention centres and none have been sent back so far. So what is their future? This story is part of our Lives in limbo project, looking closely at the asylum seeker crisis the government created, and at the lives of all those who have been forced to live with its failures.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
“No rugby correspondent ever wants to write certain columns, and this is one,” notes Robert Kitson, who says the sport’s dementia plight exposes “a chilling sting” in the game’s tail. “The evidence is clear, the players’ stories are grim – we can only hope this is the wake-up call the game has needed.”
Amid allegations of “a toxic culture and bullying” within the women’s national program, an independent inquiry will interview current and former Hockeyroos players and staff dating back to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee won’t sanction athletes for raising their fists or kneeling on the podium at next year’s Tokyo Games and beyond, following calls after this year’s racial justice protests to update the controversial Rule 50.
Media roundup
The ABC is asking if aged care facilities should be able to restrict visitors as the rest of the country opens up. The West Australian reports that the state government is spending big to house residents of Perth’s “Tent City”, with the idea it will “hopefully disappear”. And at the Sydney Morning Herald Elizabeth Knight points out that, in an “ironic twist”, Rio Tinto’s reputational damage could actually enhance its profits.
Coming up
National cabinet meets today in person in Canberra for the first time – and for the last time this year – minus the WA premier, Mark McGowan. Scott Morrison will convene state and territory leaders for the Federation Reform Council.
And if you’ve read this far …
Banksy has confirmed he is behind an artwork showing an older woman sneezing out her false teeth which appeared on a house in Bristol. “It’s going to get interesting for whoever owns the house I suppose,” a nearby resident told the BBC.
Sign up
If you would like to receive the Guardian Australia morning mail to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here.
