Good morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 31 January.
Top stories
The World Health Organization has declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency but has stressed its confidence in China’s handling of the crisis. Thursday saw the single biggest increase in the death toll – up 29% to 170 – with more than 7,700 reported cases. Ninety-five per cent of the deaths have occurred in the Hubei province in central China, but health officials in Chicago have confirmed a first case of person-to-person transmission inside the US. In Italy 6,000 holidaymakers remain in lockdown on board a cruise ship after concerns passengers could be carrying the virus, while a 17-year-old boy with cerebral palsy from Hubei has died after his carers were quarantined and unable to assist him.
The watchdog for Australia’s disability services is receiving up to 100 allegations of neglect or abuse weekly, with figures from just three months showing more than 6,000 instances of people being physically restrained without their consent. There were 1,236 reports of abuse or neglect filed during the quarter, with Jeff Smith, the chief executive of People with Disability Australia, saying it was “horrifying that people with disability are being subjected to this level of violence”.
At least 12 sport grant applications seeking funding for female change rooms were ignored, despite the federal government defending the program on the basis of its focus on female participation in community sports. One of the rejected applications, Cherry Gardens Ironbank Recreation Ground, came highly recommended by Sport Australia with a score of 94 out of 100, but was overlooked by the then sport minister, Brigid McKenzie. A rugby club in the Coalition-held seat of Sturt did receive $500,000 for women’s change rooms, despite fielding no women’s teams after allegations of sexism. It was rated by Sport Australia at 60.5 out of 100.
Australia
Scientists are calling on Australians to document how the nation’s habitats and wildlife are recovering from the unprecedented bushfire crisis. With 11m hectares badly burnt, a new citizen data project could deliver essential information to aid recovery efforts.
The Australian Conservation Foundation has called for a cap on the fuel rebate system, with the $4.5bn annual saving to be redirected to rural and regional renewal. Under the proposal, small landholders would not be adversely disadvantaged courtesy of an annual cap of $20,000, with the bulk of savings coming from the mining sector.
The world
High winds have blown over sections of Donald Trump’s US-Mexico border wall, with construction crews rushed in to fix nine-metre steel panels that had begun to lean at sharp angles.
Islamic State has started to reassert itself in its Middle East heartlands, the UN has warned, with a UN security council report warning that the group is conducting increasingly brazen insurgent attacks inside Syria and Iraq.
Nearly 10m trees planted in Turkey as part of National Forestation Day have reportedly died, just months after Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, declared the initiative. A lack of water is understood to have been the cause.
The Screen Actors Guild has released new guidelines to oversee the filming of sex scenes, in an effort to eradicate sexual misconduct in the film and television industry. Described as a “landmark document”, the protocols outline responsibilities for on-set intimacy coordinators.
Recommended reads
It’s a buzzword that’s been adopted by the industrial wellness complex, but can we do better than “self-care” in the 2020s? “While looking after yourself is great, self-care is still an idea rooted in a neoliberal tradition of looking out for ourselves, rather than seeing ourselves, our health and our fates as inextricably linked to our fellow human beings,” writes Brigid Delaney. So could a more socially minded concept of “communal care” come to replace it?
The myriad issues facing Indigenous Australians are hard to tackle in isolation because they’re systemic and intersecting. In Guardian Australia’s series 2020 Vision, the Atsic social justice commissioner, June Oscar, offers one potential starting point: dismantling a system of denial, and moving towards one anchored in truth. “Between denial and truth is immense fear about what we will unearth. A fear that what we will see will be so uncomfortable that we can no longer continue business as usual, and that transformation will be the only way forward.”
Until The Secret Life of Us, there were no accurate reflections on Australian TV screens of messy, complicated twentysomething living. Shows like Melrose Place or Friends appeared “too glossy, the apartments too nice”. The first in a triptych of generational-capturing dramas, leading Love My Way and Tangle, it reflected a contemporary Australia, Brigid Delaney writes.
(What’s your most unforgettable Australian TV moment? Vote in our poll until Wednesday 5 February)
Listen
Last year the small Pacific island of Bougainville voted overwhelming for independence. But with the historic referendum non-binding, will Papua New Guinea obstruct the move to freedom? On this episode of Full Story, Leanne Jorari looks at the long and often violent journey to this historic moment for Bougainville.
Sport
A groin injury may have made Roger Federer’s Australian Open exit to Novak Djokovic a likely outcome but the Swiss remains hopeful of adding to his men’s record 20 grand slams, writes Simon Cambers, despite going down 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 to the Serbian. After all, just six months ago he was at match point in a Wimbledon final.
A downcast Ash Barty has put her semi-final exit to American Sofia Kenin in perspective, brightening her post-match press conference with a surprise appearance by her three-month-year-old niece, Olivia. “I mean, perspective is a beautiful thing. Life is a beautiful thing. She brought a smile to my face as soon as I came off the court.”
And it’s Friday, which means David Squires on … the most unlikely potential saviour of Australian football.
Media roundup
South Australia’s Liberal premier, Steven Marshall, has vowed to put his “foot to the floor” in accelerating the state’s move towards a zero-emissions economy, writes the Australian, with the premier saying climate change had “without a doubt” exacerbated bushfires. An “increasingly erratic” Tony Mokbel has threatened the life of a senior Victorian police officer who worked on the taskforce that eventually arrested the underworld boss, the Age reports. And, Tasmanian farmers might become big winners out of Brexit, claims the Mercury, which suggests that Australia could sign a trade deal with the UK by year’s end that would dramatically boast the state’s food exports.
Coming up
The Productivity Commission is releasing an annual report on primary and community health, ambulance services, public hospitals and mental health management.
The CSIRO will hold a media conference on its work on the coronavirus at 10am.
Sign up
If you would like to receive the Guardian Australia morning mail to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here.
