Good morning. Australians abroad are still struggling to get home due to soaring flight costs and flight cancellations. Experts warn Joe Biden supplying nuclear submarines to Australia threatens US security. And Guardian Australia set to reveal the Bird of the Year winner.
Scott Morrison’s Covid roadmap has been branded “deceptive” by stranded Australians no closer to getting home. Although the federal government announced on 1 October that international travel would resume when 80% of the population was double vaccinated, soaring flight costs and continued booking cancellations are near-impossible barriers for Australians abroad wanting to returning home. Pre-pandemic, 2,000 international flights operated to and from Australia each week, but the number has progressively dropped to about 200 commercial international passenger flights weekly, with flights for the rest of 2021 costing upwards of $2,000. “We’re in a situation that people will be allowed to come home, but they won’t be able to get a flight,” says Catherine Bennett, the chair of epidemiology at Monash University.
Former Timor-Leste president Xanana Gusmão says the continuing prosecution of Bernard Collaery is an “insult” to his country and has urged Australia to drop the case after this week’s decision to overturn a secrecy order. Gusmão welcomed this week’s decision by the Australian Capital Territory court of appeal to lift secrecy orders hiding aspects of the case against Collaery, a lawyer who was charged over his alleged role in exposing Australia’s bugging of the Timor-Leste government during 2004 oil and gas negotiations. “Given the decision of the court of appeal to support Mr Collaery’s demand for open justice I call for the charges against him to be dropped in the interests of justice and the relationship of friendship between Timor-Leste and Australia,” Gusmão told Guardian Australia.
Experts have warned Joe Biden that supplying nuclear submarines to Australia would threaten US security. There are concerns the deal between Australia, the US and the UK could embolden hostile nations to seek out highly enriched uranium. At the same time, the former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says if Australia does buy the submarine reactors without a domestic nuclear industry – and therefore the nuclear expertise – it will be “more plug and pray” than “plug and play”.
Australia
An Indigenous Queensland man has died during a “violent struggle” with police that also left two officers with minor injuries. Two other men were on the run after fleeing the scene of the incident in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, after midday on Thursday.
The Queensland police service says it will conduct a “full review” into a fine issued to prominent Brisbane Greens councillor Jonathan Sri, after it emerged the police officer involved had regularly criticised Sri in social media posts. The officer used “emergency lights and sirens” to pursue Sri for allegedly riding his bicycle through a yellow light.
Hundreds of adolescent offenders are being held in detention in New South Wales before they have been sentenced simply because they are homeless, a report has revealed.
The federal government has been forced to “clarify” its domestic violence funding plan, after service providers complained they had not received any funding five months after the announcement.
Climate 200, an organisation supporting independent candidates focused on climate change to challenge Liberal incumbents, says it has raised $2m in six weeks.
Will it be the regent honeyeater or the gang-gang cockatoo? The laughing kookaburra or the Australian magpie? Voting for our Bird of the Year is closed. Ten birds are in contention. We’ll reveal the winner today.
The world
The US has been secretly maintaining a small contingent of military trainers in Taiwan for at least a year, according to a new report, the latest sign of the rising stakes in the US-China rivalry.
Texas’s near-total abortion ban has been temporarily blocked after a federal judge ruled on Wednesday that it violated the constitutional right to an abortion. Texas activists and Democrats are vowing to keep fighting, warning that its impact could be temporary.
An LGBT collective in south-east Spain is demanding an apology after a gay woman was diagnosed with “homosexuality”. The 19-year-old was visiting a gynaecologist over a menstrual condition.
Russia’s deputy prime minister is calling for rapid clearance of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline by German regulators to help cool gas prices in Europe, which recently reached an all-time high.
The trial of a 100-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard has begun. Josef S, alleged to have worked at Sachsenhausen in Germany, is charged with 3,518 counts of accessory to murder.
Recommended reads
The moon was volcanically active for longer than scientists previously thought, analysis of lunar rocks suggests. China’s Chang’e-5 spacecraft retrieved 1.7kg of lunar material when it landed on the moon in December 2020 – the first sample return mission in four decades. New analysis of the moon rocks suggests they are around 2bn years old – almost 1bn years younger than those previously found on the moon.
What will happen to anger if it’s left to fester? It will blow up, writes Brigid Delaney on collective rage about the pandemic. “It’s diffuse political anger, moving around various atmospheres – the internet, the roads, the talkback lines, the group chat, but the anger can also flare in our domestic lives,” writes Delaney. “It is a sudden escalation of temper in the middle of remote learning that sends a book flying through the air and doors slamming, or the rage directed at the partner over something small after you’ve been cooped up for months.”
Almost since it first emerged on the streets of the Bronx, audiences have expected hip-hop to express a revolutionary purpose. Hip-hop is entertainment, but more than other genres – more than country, or R&B, or even rock’n’roll – it has often been asked to provide something greater than mere entertainment. But perhaps this music shouldn’t have to take a political stand, Kelefa Sanneh writes.
Listen
An investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption led the now former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian to resign. While she denies any wrongdoing, her resignation has ignited a fresh debate about how to properly hold public officials to account.
Lenore Taylor and Mike Ticher speak to Gabrielle Jackson about the role of anti-corruption commissions in holding politicians accountable.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
The National Rugby League will go ahead with a 17th team in 2023 after a $50m surplus and future broadcast deal boosts reported to club chiefs in a crucial meeting on Thursday.
Newcastle confirm £300m Saudi-backed takeover to end Mike Ashley era, almost 18 months after it was first proposed.
Media roundup
Queensland hits 50 percent double-doses but the state still lags behind, the Brisbane Times reports. NSW will have greater freedoms sooner in an amended road mapout of Covid-19 lockdown, the Age writes, but top epidemiologists say Victoria should stay the course with its strategy. Australia’s coal exports will “halve by 2050” if climate goals are met, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Coming up
A virtual swearing-in ceremony will be held for new federal government ministers.
The RBA will release its twice-yearly financial stability review.
And if you’ve read this far …
Dive into the world of filmmaker Todd Haynes on his journey to make a documentary about the Velvet Underground, an experience that transported Haynes to a “distant planet” and more radical time. He talks about his envy of musicians, the spirit of Factory-era New York and “our lost spirit of revolt”.
Sign up
If you would like to receive the Guardian Australia morning mail to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com.
Sign up to Inside Saturday to get an exclusive behind the scenes look at the top features from our new magazine delivered to your inbox every weekend
