Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 3 October.
Top stories
Philip Morris has been lobbying federal MPs on vaping, hidden from public view. The tobacco giant, which owns six of the world’s 15 biggest cigarette brands, is in the midst of a significant push to grow global sales of its vaping products, predicting they will bring in $17bn to $19bn by 2025, roughly 42% of its total revenue. But in Australia its plan has been hampered by the federal government’s effective ban on nicotine e-cigarettes. Guardian Australia understands Philip Morris has been seeking meetings with Coalition MPs as part of its attempt to overturn the vaping ban. Some within government have refused to meet with the company.
Philip Morris appears nowhere on Australia’s lobbyist register – the public’s only window into the world of lobbying – because of fundamental flaws with the system. Australia does not require companies such as Philip Morris to register if they use people from within their own company to lobby the government.
Labor state treasurers are calling for a safeguard against the GST floor as the federal government prepares to legislate policy, without state agreement, to ensure that no state receives less than 70% of their own GST revenue from 2022-23, rising to 75% from 2024-25. Labor governments in Victoria, Queensland and NSW are concerned that the eastern states will lose GST revenue and want a legislative safeguard to ensure that no state will be worse off. Victoria has produced modelling showing that in the worst-case scenario the state could lose $940m. The same modelling suggests NSW could lose between $722m and $1.1bn, while Queensland could lose between $182m and $651m. Victoria’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, said the commonwealth plan has “nothing to do with making the distribution of the GST fairer – it’s about fixing the political problem Scott Morrison has in Western Australia”.
Indonesia has labelled Vanuatu’s support of West Papuan self-determination “clueless”, after Vanuatu’s prime minister, Charlot Salwai, called for the Human Rights Council to investigate human rights abuses in the region – claims that Indonesia denies. West Papuan activists are routinely arrested and jailed, and there are frequent allegations against Indonesian forces of violence, extrajudicial killings, torture and mistreatment of protesters. Verified information is difficult to obtain as Indonesia does not allow the free movement of press in the region. Using the country’s second right of reply at the UN general assembly, Indonesia’s representative said Vanuatu’s action was “inexcusable” and challenged “friendly relations” between the two countries.
With all eyes on the Sydney electorate of Wentworth, refugee advocates are mobilising for more humane asylum policies, writes Katherine Murphy. A coalition of groups including the Refugee Council of Australia, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre as well as churches and charities, has invited Wentworth byelection candidates to answer questions from local voters at a town hall meeting on 14 October – the opening day of the final week of the closely watched contest. Kelly Nicholls from the Refugee Council told Guardian Australia: “I think with national attention on this byelection, it’s an opportunity for the people of Wentworth to get a more humane asylum policy.”
Say hello to “The Goblin”, an extremely distant dwarf planet that is redefining the outer reaches of the solar system. Astronomers discovered the planet while hunting for a hypothetical massive planet, known as Planet Nine, that is suspected to be in orbit far beyond Pluto in a mysterious region known as the Oort Cloud. Planet Nine has not yet been seen directly, but The Goblin appears to be under the gravitational influence of a giant unseen object, adding to astronomers’ certainty that it is out there.
Sport
In the Champion’s League, Manchester United is playing Valencia. Kickoff started late as the Man Utd team bus arrived late at Old Trafford. It’s unconfirmed if José Mourinho was charged with parking it. At half-time the score was 0-0. Get the latest in our live blog.
The spectator hit by Brooks Koepka’s ball in the Ryder Cup has lost sight in one of her eyes and is considering legal action.
Thinking time
Gay Alcorn heads to the marginal Victorian seat of Frankston, where being tough on crime is seen as the key to winning votes. The Liberal candidate, Michael Lamb, is perfect for a law and order campaign – he’s been a police officer for more than 30 years. On his promotional video – Lamb Gives a Damn – he says that as a serving officer: “I’ve felt the frustration of the revolving-door justice of this state.” The state’s Liberal leader, Matthew Guy, says there has been a “crime tsunami” under Daniel Andrews’ government. The shadow police minister, Ed O’Donohue, says the election will be a “referendum on who can fix violent crime in Victoria”. Labor, initially with caution, has also sniffed the breeze.
Etched in Bone chronicles Australia’s shameful trade in Indigenous remains. When the documentary screens next month, it will be almost seven decades to the day since an expedition of US and Australian scientists stole the remains of community elders from the small west Arnhem Land Aboriginal settlement of Gunbalanya and sent them to Washington. Paul Daley writes: “It’s impossible here to do justice to the power, both visual and cultural, of this film when it comes to highlighting the egregious actions of some of those on the 1948 expedition – and all of those who stole Indigenous human remains beforehand.”
Trump’s team used last week to sneak in disastrous policies on climate change and child refugee camps. The policies are linked, though in ways not immediately apparent, writes Bill McKibben. Migrants from Central America and Mexico might “be described as refugees fleeing gang violence (much of it rooted originally in the US) and a changing climate. The author Todd Miller, writing in the Nation, described meeting men trying to jump a train in Guatemala headed north towards the border. “When I asked why they were heading for the United States, one responded simply, “No hubo lluvia.” (“There was no rain.”)
Media roundup
Australia is set to become the first country in the world to eliminate cervical cancer, the Courier-Mail and the Advertiser report. Meanwhile, the country’s banks have been placed in the bottom half of global S&P ratings, penalised by economic risks posed by high levels of household debt and inflated property prices, according to the Australian Financial Review. And the Australian writes that after news that a Chinese navy destroyer launched an “unsafe” challenge to a US warship in the South China Sea, Christopher Pyne has warned Beijing that the use of “intimidation or aggressive tactics” is “destabilising and potentially dangerous”.
Coming up
The man charged with murdering and raping 22-year-old Eurydice Dixon, whose body was found on a sports field in Melbourne’s inner north, is to appear in Melbourne magistrates court.
The federal treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, is set to meet with his state and territory counterparts in Melbourne to discuss GST and other issues.
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