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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Chris York

Morning mail: Tasmania bulk billing ‘almost nonexistent’, Barilaro to face fresh questions

Doctors working in rural Tasmania say it is unsustainable for most GP clinics to rely entirely on bulk billing and councils have had to step in with funding.
Doctors working in rural Tasmania say it is unsustainable for most GP clinics to rely entirely on bulk billing and councils have had to step in with funding. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Good morning. Guardian Australia today reveals more about the crisis facing GP clinics, with one saying that bulk billing is “becoming nonexistent” in one of the poorest areas of the country. And the former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro will appear for a second time before an inquiry into his appointment to a trade role in New York.

People in one of the lowest income areas of Tasmania are paying extra in their council rates to prop up health services and subsidise local GP bulk-billing clinics. Glamorgan-Spring Bay council mayor Robert Young said it was impossible to get bulk-billing doctors or even doctors who charge private fees to work in the region without heavily subsidising them. “Bulk billing is becoming almost nonexistent,” said rural Tasmania GP Dr John Saul. Guardian Australia has compiled a guide of everything you need to know about the issue, and if you’ve been affected, we want to hear from you.

More than 1,200 people with a mental impairment are being indefinitely detained in Australia, some for decades, without having been convicted of a criminal offence, new analysis from Guardian Australia reveals. Every state and territory is detaining people using court orders that, in some instances, can leave someone detained or subject to strict conditions for life. “The scariest thing is imagining what we don’t know”, said one advocate.

Federal investigators searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach after an informant told them he might be storing classified records at his private club, it has been reported. The search on Monday reportedly came two months after federal law enforcement officials came to Mar-a-Lago to talk about boxes of government documents that were being stored there. The search and reports about an informant for the FBI in or around Trump’s inner circle has drawn condemnation from Trump loyalists, who have framed the search in partisan terms – and used it as a call-to-action for fundraising and voter mobilisation for November’s election.

Australia

A woman sits alone on a bed in a dark room.
Australian laws on coercive control must include rape, stalking and other forms of violence, says Prof Evan Stark. Photograph: Kittiphan Teerawattanakul/Getty Images/EyeEm

Australia’s first laws to make coercive control a crime must be expanded to include rape in relationships as well as stalking and other forms of violence, according to the international expert who coined the term.

A meeting between former deputy premier John Barilaro and former fair trading minister Eleni Petinos is likely to be the subject of scrutiny when the former appears, again, at the inquiry into his appointment to a trade role.

Urgent flood warnings have been issued for catchments in western New South Wales as parts of the east coast face another weekend of heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and snow.

Clive Palmer has been ordered to pay part of Mark McGowan’s legal costs while the Western Australian premier will pay none of the billionaire’s, despite the federal court finding they both defamed each other.

Two independent state MPs in rural Victoria are split over the Victorian Farmers Federation’s (VFF) announcement it would be campaigning on rural issues in a range of country electorates ahead of the November election.

The world

A satellite image shows destroyed Saky airbase in Crimea, August 10, 2022.
This satellite image provided by Planet Labs shows destroyed Russian aircraft at Saky airbase in Crimea after an explosion on Tuesday. Photograph: Planet Labs Pbc/Reuters

An estimated nine or more Russian warplanes appear to have been damaged or destroyed in the recent attack on Saky airbase in Crimea, according to newly released satellite images, in contrast to Russian claims that none were damaged.

A Louisiana five-year-old was allegedly forced out of her kindergarten class at a religious school because her parents are a same-sex couple.

Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has been rewriting websites its users visit, letting the company follow them across the web after they click links in its apps, according to new research from an ex-Google engineer.

An armed man has emerged as an unlikely hero in Lebanon after holding hostages in a central Beirut bank and demanding access to his own money – a move that generated broad public support.

England is expected to be declared officially in drought today, with water restrictions such as hosepipe bans likely.

Recommended reads

A model walks the runway during the Iseey Miyake Ready to Wear Spring/Summer 2023 fashion show as part of the Paris Men Fashion Week in June.
Models wearing Iseey Miyake as part of the Paris Men fashion week in June. Photograph: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

Japanese designer Issey Miyake died this week at the age of 84, and Lucianne Tonti examines how he helped influence Melbourne’s style. She writes: “I realised at least half the room was wearing the floating, sculptural silhouettes of Issey Miyake, easily distinguishable by the tiny, perfect pleats that somehow give form and also take it away.”

Our columnist Brigid Delaney went to Bali. Everyone was weirdly nice on the plane, she says, but some of the conversations she had with the locals made it hit home how much they suffered when tourists deserted the island during the pandemic.

Eleanor Gordon-Smith advises a reader who is sleeping with their housemate, knows it’s a very bad idea, but is very attracted to him. Throw in the fact he recently brought another woman back to their house, and it’s clear what needs to be done.

Listen

Serena Williams – one of the greatest athletes of all time – announced her retirement from tennis this week. Her choice between her career, and the physical labour of having a family, is not unfamiliar to many women around the world. Australia has one of the least generous parental leave programs in the developed world, forcing women to bear the brunt of caregiving responsibilities, and further entrenching an already stark gender pay gap. In today’s Full Story, Gabrielle Jackson talks to Lenore Taylor and Josephine Tovey about rethinking work, family, and what success looks like.

Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.

Sport

Paul Green poses for a photograph at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane in 2021.
Paul Green, the NRL premiership-winning coach and former player has died aged 49. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

The NRL is in shock over the death of premiership-winning coach Paul Green, aged 49. Green is reported to have died in his Brisbane home on Thursday morning, with a postmortem examination to be conducted.

Media roundup

New South Wales parliament MPs have been briefed on “devastating” levels of bullying and sexual harassment in their workplace, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. And the Australian Financial Review says the federal government and unions are working on a deal that will boost migration to fill urgent skill and labour shortfalls, ahead of the upcoming jobs summit.

Coming up

Education ministers will meet in Canberra to address the ongoing teacher shortage.

And if you’ve read this far …

Check out the wild portraits and magical landscapes in the Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2022 competition.

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