Good morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 4 September.
Top stories
The minister for women, Kelly O’Dwyer has spoken out about bullying during the Liberal leadership spill, with senator Lucy Gichuhi also saying she would use parliamentary privilege to name those responsible. The statements come following the resignation of Liberal MP Julia Banks last week, with Western Australia MP Linda Reynolds also stating she was “distressed and disturbed” by the backroom behaviour inside the party. Gichuhi told the ABC: “I had senators and ministers in tears. That’s how bad it was. One of my colleagues was in tears the whole day.”
Meanwhile, Labor and the Greens revealed that they would push for a no-confidence motion in Peter Dutton when parliament resumes next week over his handling of discretionary visa powers.
Donald Trump has mounted another extraordinary attack on his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, blaming him for charges against two congressmen. He said the legal action jeopardised Republican chances in the forthcoming midterm elections. Last month Duncan Hunter, a California representative, was charged with misuse of campaign funds while Chris Collins of New York was indicted for insider trading. Both are Trump supporters. The president tweeted the charges had placed “two easy wins now in doubt ... Good job Jeff”. Trump indicated last week that he would fire Sessions after the midterm elections.
A supreme court judge has rebuked the National Disability Insurance Agency for trying to recoup money from a woman with profound disabilities, actions for which it had “no proper basis”. Tegan Sharp’s family was told she had to use $100,000 in accident compensation to pay back prior NDIS funding, with justice Julia Lonergan also finding the agency close to being in contempt of court.
The charging of two Reuters journalists investigating massacre claims in Myanmar to seven years jail has been met with international condemnation, with new UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, calling for the two men’s unconditional release. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were found guilty on Monday of breaching the Official Secrets Act. “Imprisoning journalists who write about inconvenient truths is an unconscionable blow to press freedom – and indeed everyone’s freedom,” tweeted UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt.
Budget cuts and underfunding have been blamed for Brazil’s oldest and most important museum being devastated by fire, with the damage “incalculable” according to president Michel Temer. Up to 20 million items were lost, including the oldest skeletons in South America, and a collection of pre-colonial indigenous artefacts and writing. Archivists consider the loss akin to the burning of the Library of Alexandria in 48BC. Museum vice-director Luiz Duarte said “my feeling is of total dismay and immense anger.”
Songs of Brisbane
From the Go-Betweens and the Saints to Regurgitator and Powderfinger; from Kev Carmody and Katie Noonan, to Savage Garden and the Grates. When it comes to music, Brisbane clearly punches above its weight. So as the BigSound music festival and conference begins in Brisbane today, and to celebrate the city’s rich history of diverse musical acts, we’re asking you to vote for your favourite, in our Songs of Brisbane poll. All you have to do is click here and have your say. Plus, we asked the music writer Andrew Stafford – who grew up in Melbourne but moved to Brisbane decades ago – to explain the special attraction of what the Go-Betweens once called the city’s “striped sunlight sound”.
Sport
England’s former cricket captain and record Test run scorer, Alastair Cook, has announced his retirement, with the 5th Test against India on Friday his 161st and last. Vic Marks pays tribute to the man who has only missed one Test in 12 years.
One in seven Victorian women have returned to being physically active, thanks to a health initiative, This Girl Can, that targets barriers to sport and exercise for women, writes Kate O’Halloran.
Thinking time
The most prominent speaker on feminist issues at the Melbourne writers’ festival may have been a bloke, but as Gay Alcorn writes, there was still plenty of stimulating discussion with a focus on women of colour talking about their experiences of race and gender, including Indian journalist and author Deepanjana Pal discussing the “heartbreaking” rifts between older and younger Indian feminists sparked by the #MeToo furore, and Sista Zai Zanda on the need for “healing from underrepresentation and misrepresentation” for African women of colour.
Pope Francis is facing the worst crisis of his five-year papacy, writes Harriet Sherwood, as accusations of treachery and lies engulf the upper echelons of the Catholic church. It follows the release of an incendiary 11-page letter accusing the pontiff of covering for a former archbishop, written by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, which openly calling for Francis to resign. Supporters of the pope have accused conservatives within the institution of a power struggle, with bishop Robert McElroy claiming the letter was an attempt “to settle old personal scores”. A petition from a US-based Catholic organisation has gathered 29,000 signatories for the pope to directly address the “devastating” allegations.
There’s a lot to worry about when you’re a new treasurer, writes Greg Jericho. No one wants to make the mistake of John Kerin who, in describing the national accounts forgot what GOS stood for (gross operating surplus – a proxy for company profits). But Josh Frydenberg has a lot more to think about than niche economic jargon, with household spending and private investment both sluggish. “The retail trade and private capital expenditure figures show that the issues for the new treasurer of weak investment and household spending are quite entrenched and will be tough to address in the short time he has until the next election,” he says.
Media roundup
New prime minister Scott Morrison will offer Catholic schools an extra $4.4bn over the next decade, reports the Herald Sun, in a so-called “peace deal” that’s been leaked to press amid further concerns over cabinet internal unity.
South Australian treasurer Rob Lucas is set to reveal a deficit of almost $400m today, writes the Advertiser, with state Labor and Liberal governments pointing fingers at each other for the blowout, relative to previous forecasts.
The Australian Tax Office has defended a diversity and inclusion plan which encourages the rate of LGBTI self-identification among its staff that has been criticised by Tasmanian senator Eric Abetz, reports the Courier Mail.
Coming up
The Reserve Bank will reveal its monthly monetary policy settings this afternoon. Interest rates are unlikely to move from 1.5% but the bank may provide some indication about its thinking on any future hike – or even cut.
Coca-Cola Amatil managing director Alison Watkins will be in Melbourne to discuss consumer wellbeing, sugar reduction and sugar taxes at the Senate inquiry into Australia’s obesity epidemic.
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