Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 9 November.
Top stories
Malcolm Turnbull has declared his removal from the prime ministership remains an act of unexplained madness, and has accused leading conservatives of blowing up the government in a “crazy”, “self-destructive” and “pointless” coup. As well as unloading on the architects of his political demise, declaring they needed to be accountable for their actions, Turnbull also confirmed he had complained to Rupert Murdoch about punishing coverage from his news outlets. He also recounted a conversation with another media mogul, Kerry Stokes, in which Stokes warned him that Murdoch was hostile. Turnbull said he had told Murdoch the only beneficiary of any leadership coup would be the Labor leader, Bill Shorten. He said Murdoch had said to Stokes that three years of Labor “wouldn’t be so bad” – a stance Turnbull said he struggled to comprehend.
Turnbull sheeted home the blame for the leadership implosion to Peter Dutton, Mathias Cormann and Tony Abbott, but he was also implicitly critical of Scott Morrison. He provided an analysis of the Wentworth byelection result that made it clear his successor’s stumbles in the closing stages of the campaign were to blame for the Liberal party being unable to hold the seat. Read Katharine Murphy’s comment piece about the former prime minister’s re-emergence here.
Twelve people have been killed in southern California after a gunman opened fire in a crowded student bar, with a police sergeant among the victims. Officials identified the gunman as former US marine Ian David Long, 28, who was later found dead by his own hand. Hundreds of people were at the Borderline Bar and Grill, in Thousand Oaks, near Los Angeles, on Wednesday when the shooter entered and opened fire. Witnesses reported using barstools to break windows in a desperate attempt to escape. “It’s a horrific scene in there,” Sheriff Geoff Dean said. “There’s blood everywhere.” Dean said a mental health crisis team had been called to Long’s home in April after he was found to be acting “irate” and “a little irrationally”. He had not been taken into custody at that time.
Michael Daley is expected to be elected as NSW Labor leader on Saturday as senior party figures say they are “appalled” at the allegations against Luke Foley and dismayed by his decision to sue for defamation. Labor sources say Foley’s future in the party is under active consideration, after allegations he placed his hands in the underwear of an ABC reporter, Ashleigh Raper, during a Christmas function in 2016. One option being discussed is suspending his membership, as is the possibility of him being disendorsed. Foley indicated that he intended to stay on as the member for Auburn in a short press conference on Thursday afternoon. Foley did not take questions at the conference, which went for less than two minutes, but announced he would sue for defamation over the allegations. One senior Labor source believed Foley had been “consumed by anger” on Thursday after the ABC published the allegations. Within hours of Raper’s statement, moves were under way to remove Foley as leader, and replace him with Daley, his deputy.
More than a fifth of Australians rarely or never feel they have someone to talk to or turn to for help, and more than a quarter feel lonely for at least three days every week, according to a study of loneliness and wellbeing. Swinburne University in Melbourne and the Australian Psychological Society are conducting the country’s first research project on the impact of loneliness on physical and mental health, and released their preliminary findings today. When directly asked how lonely they felt, 50.5% of Australians reported they felt lonely for at least a day in the previous week; 27.6% felt lonely for three or more days. Nearly 30% rarely or never felt they were part of a group of friends. Married Australians and those over 65 are the least lonely.
A 69-year-old Dutch “positivity guru” who says he does not feel his age has started a battle to make himself legally 20 years younger, on the grounds that he is being discriminated against on a dating app. Emile Ratelband told a court in the Netherlands he did not feel “comfortable” with his date of birth, and compared his wish to alter it to people who identified as transgender.
Sport
Australia, it’s time we had a frank conversation about the Matildas’ chances at the World Cup, writes Danielle Warby. We are all more than a little bit excited at the prospect of them storming to victory in France next year. We have the team to do it. But realistically, should we – the fans, the media – expect them to win it?
Australia, along with England, New Zealand and South Africa, will be the favourites to win the Women’s World T20 when the tournament starts in the West Indies on Friday. Adam Collins has the lowdown on each contender in the Caribbean with this team-by-team guide.
Thinking time
Photograph: Alamy
Brigid Delaney had a plan. She would go to Ubud, Bali, and start working on a novel – a form she hadn’t attempted for years. Both the structure of the book and the location were inspired by the English writer Geoff Dyer. “My idea was to go to a place so dull, so oozing in time, that there would be nothing else to do but write a book … but when I checked into the hotel, the ‘writing desk’ – the epicentre of my endeavour – was sawn in half.”
When high doses of opioid painkillers led to widespread addiction, it was called one of the biggest mistakes in modern medicine. But this was no accident, writes Chris McGreal in a long read exploring the opioid crisis devastating the US. Dr Roger Chou, a pain specialist, says pain is a natural part of life. “It’s better to have a little bit of pain and be functional than to have no pain and be completely unfunctional,” Chou said.
Could studying your dreams make you more creative? Increasing numbers of celebrities and wellness experts seem to think so. What is a dream study and can it actually work? Miranda Bryant attended a class to find out. “Although mentally challenging and emotionally exhausting – at one point it felt so intense that I was nauseous and, like others in the room, I was a couple of times moved to tears – I found the first half most immediately enlightening.”
Media roundup
The Hobart Mercury reports on calls for a law change which prevents sexual assault survivors from sharing their stories using their own name. Victoria police exchanged more than 20 text messages with the Bourke Street driver and spoke to him on the phone for half an hour, asking for him to stop before an incident in which six people died, the Australian reports. A woman who has accused Don Burke of Burke’s Backyard of sexual harassment is suing the former TV star for defamation, the ABC reports. Burke has denied the claim of harassment and says he will defend the defamation action.
Coming up
Victoria’s Reason party leader, Fiona Patten, is throwing a rave to highlight the dance community’s support for pill testing in the lead-up to the 24 November state election.
Doctors at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s hospital are preparing for a six-hour operation to separate conjoined twins Nima and Dawa. A team of up to 18 will take part in the surgery, which doctors say should be “straightforward”.
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