Good morning, this is Tamara Howie bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 9 December.
Top stories
The Greens have issued a please explain to the Reserve Bank of Australia after it entered a $10.9m contract with politically connected energy baron Trevor St Baker’s power company to provide electricity services for RBA properties. The RBA has declined to comment on the decision to engage Sunset Power International Pty Ltd, trading as Delta Electricity, telling Guardian Australia the contract and tender process are both commercial in confidence. The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, declared the bank had “some explaining to do”. “Given the RBA’s understanding of climate risk, surely they could do better than give their electricity contracts to a corporation fighting to keep coal in the system,” he said.
The expenses watchdog is investigating allegations that the Nationals deliberately scheduled a party room meeting to coincide with the Melbourne Cup so its MPs could attend the race Flemington while billing taxpayers for their travel. Documents from the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (Ipea) show it has launched a preliminary investigation of Nationals MPs’ “attendance and travel to Nagambie” after suggestions the “event in Nagambie [was] arranged to allow parliamentarians to attend Melbourne Cup Carnival”. The documents show the travel of 13 Nationals MPs is being examined as part of Ipea’s preliminary assessment.
A 90-year-old woman has become the first patient in the world to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine as the UK begins a mass coronavirus immunisation program. Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, said it was a privilege to receive the vaccine. “I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19, it’s the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year after being on my own for most of the year.” The vaccines will be administered at 50 hospital hubs around the country, with the US expected to follow soon after a report from the FDA says the Pfizer vaccine fits within its guidance on emergency use authorisation. The number of cases in the US continue to rise, and tensions are rising in the White House after campaign official Jenna Ellis tested positive just days after attending a staff Christmas party and the Trump administration scrambled to justify a decision not to buy millions of backup doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Australia
Auctioneers are confident that Sir Don Bradman’s first Australian cricket cap will fetch more than $1m when bidding opens this week. They predict the amount paid for the dog-eared hat that debuted in the 1928-29 series against England will rival the proceeds from the sale of Shane Warne’s cap, which raised $1,007,500 in January this year.
Top Australian defence official Greg Moriarty says it’s “very legitimate for the Australian people and the security community” to worry about China’s assertiveness in the region. Moriarty said he was “particularly concerned about the militarisation of features in the South China Sea.
Human Rights Watch has written to the prime minister to remind him that Australia is obliged to compensate war crimes victims, saying it is “troubled” by recent comments suggesting the government is not currently considering reparations for Afghan families.
Nine Entertainment has quietly dropped an arrangement with China Daily to carry an eight-page Communist party newspaper each month in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age and the Australian Financial Review. Nine’s move to drop the propaganda sheet China Watch follows similar decisions by media organisations across the world.
The world
Mount Everest is marginally higher than previously thought. China and Nepal have agreed on a height of 8,848.86m, which settles a long-running conflict over the height of the world’s tallest peak.
Diplomats have backed accusations that Eritrean soldiers are fighting alongside Ethiopian troops to help Abiy Ahmed’s government in the war on the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, complicating an already dangerous conflict.
Eight former Rugby players are proposing to bring legal proceedings against World Rugby over what they claim is their failure to protect them from the risks caused by concussions after being diagnosed with dementia with probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Farmers in India have shut down swathes of the country’s transport, shops and markets in an effort to pressure the government into repealing new agriculture laws they say will leave them poverty stricken and at the mercy of corporations.
Recommended reads
Debut director Roderick MacKay’s compelling meat pie western The Furnace poses questions about Australian identity but never feels polemical or even political, writes Luke Buckmaster. “The dangerous cretins walking that land allow MacKay to confront dark aspects of the Australian psyche, spotlighting various kinds of racism and posing interesting questions about national identity. Who are Australians? What values do we stand for? How do we treat minority communities?”
Dr Ranjana Srivastava grew up thinking she wasn’t “meant” for maths and felt trepidation when she had to revisit it for a university course this year: “After a 30-year monastic break from maths, I approached it with the mindset that there was nothing to prove, but in my heart of hearts, I needed to know that I wasn’t a failure at maths. Finally, as the mother of an impressionable daughter, I wanted to disprove the common narrative that being bad at maths was in the genes.”
There’s a clip from the wildly popular TV show Schitt’s Creek that’s on high rotation at the Australian Taxation Office right now. In it, central character David Rose is explaining to his father how a series of increasingly ludicrous objects – bedding, facial cream, a pretentious lamp – littering his room are actually tax write-offs for a business he’s working at. Finally, the father’s eyebrows rise to the top of his skull and he explodes: “That’s not a write-off!” Every year, many business owners also find themselves up Schitt’s Creek with the ATO due to tax returns littered with inappropriate claims. This year, there could be more trouble brewing.
Listen
On Sunday, the culture secretary said he planned to write to Netflix and ask that a “health warning” be played before The Crown – a historical drama depicting life inside the palace – so viewers would be aware the show was a work of fiction. In this episode of Full Story, royal correspondent Jennie Bond discusses whether The Crown is an accurate depiction of palace life.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Australia withstood a Virat Kohli batting masterclass to record a 12-run victory over India in their Twenty20 series finale at the SCG, where a boisterous crowd went home thoroughly entertained.
Promising young all-rounder Cameron Green hit an unbeaten 125 for Australia A to state his case for inclusion in the Test side this summer. The three-day fixture at Drummoyne Oval was exactly what a tour match should be: two impressive sides containing genuine contenders for the upcoming Test in instructive conditions.
Media roundup
The Age has revealed another international traveller breached Sydney quarantine and flew to Melbourne, where he was identified by airline staff and put into hotel quarantine. The breach, which took place in July, raises further questions over safeguards at Sydney airport. The Transport Workers’ Union has launched a federal court case against Qantas over the airline’s decision to outsource 2,000 jobs, reports the ABC. And the Brisbane Times says Australia’s leading supermarkets, retail stores and mining companies have uncovered hundreds of cases of modern slavery throughout supply chains.
Coming up
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern will attend a service in Whakatane on the first anniversary of the deadly Whakaari (White Island) eruption that killed 22 people, including 14 Australians.
A federal inquiry is due to release its report on the Juukan Gorge destruction.
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