Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 9 May.
Top stories
House Democrats moved ahead on Wednesday with a vote to hold the US attorney general in contempt of Congress, citing his failure to hand over the full unredacted version of the Mueller report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The Democratic-led House judiciary committee voted along party lines to hear contempt proceedings against William Barr in a dramatic escalation of the conflict between Democrats on Capitol Hill and Donald Trump’s administration. Jerry Nadler, the panel’s chairman, said Barr’s refusal to comply with the requests of US lawmakers amounted to a “constitutional crisis”. The vote happened as, boosted by the New York Times report revealing that Trump lost more than $1bn in a decade, Democrats continue to demand that the president hand over his tax returns.
Scott Morrison’s office remains silent after the PM’s apparent reference to environment bill that doesn’t exist. On Monday the UN released a comprehensive, multi-year report that revealed human society was under threat from the unprecedented extinction of the Earth’s animals and plants. On Tuesday Morrison responded to the report, saying: “We already introduced and passed legislation through the Senate actually dealing with that very issue in the last week of the parliament. We’ve been taking action on that.” But no legislation regarding animal conservation or the environment passed in the last week of parliament. Meanwhile, a majority of Australians want the incoming Senate crossbench to pass key Labor policies if Bill Shorten wins the election on 18 May, including the commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 45% by 2030, according to a poll from the progressive thinktank the Australia Institute.
Labor’s $6.6bn housing affordability policy would save federal and state governments up to $10.8bn, according to a report by the McKell Institute. The progressive thinktank cites new modelling by PwC that shows moving a person from crisis accommodation will save $11,935 a year from reduced use of government services including health services, welfare, police and prisons. Beyond Coalition attacks on Labor’s negative gearing policy, there has been little discussion of housing affordability in the election campaign, despite the homelessness sector calling for half a million new, affordable homes.
World
Russian specialists planned to influence South Africa’s general election to strengthen the ruling African National Congress, documents seen by the Guardian and local media in South Africa suggest. The documents promise a campaign “to support the ruling ANC ahead of elections” and to counteract and “discredit” the pro-western Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party. It is unclear whether the plan was executed.
A British teenager has made a remarkable recovery after being the first patient in the world to be given a genetically engineered virus to treat a drug-resistant infection. The scientists behind the breakthrough say bacteria-killing viruses could be used as an alternative treatment to counter the growing crisis of resistance to antibiotics.
Only a third of the world’s great rivers remain free flowing, owing to the impact of dams that are drastically reducing the benefits healthy rivers provide people and nature, according to a global analysis.
Mike Pompeo has urged the UK to help rein in “lawless” Iran over nuclear deal, while Iran has given Europe and China a two-month ultimatum to stand up to the US on the world stage.
Uber and Lyft are offering riders and drivers discounts and incentives to use the app as drivers seeking better wages strike across the US.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have introduced their newborn son to the world and revealed he is to be called Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
Opinion and analysis
“Until recently, you could make the argument that Game of Thrones was a stealthily feminist show,” writes Abigail Chandler. “In its early years it might have lured in the typical male fantasy crowd with sex, violence and alpha-male characters like Ned and Robb Stark, Robert Baratheon and Jaime Lannister, but before you knew it a woman was on the Iron Throne, her main challenger was also a woman, and Westeros was stuffed full of female assassins, knights, wily politicos and Dame Diana Rigg. Which is why it’s so frustrating to see the show slip back into its old ways in this final season.”
During Monday’s National Press Club debate with Chris Bowen, Josh Frydenberg claimed that the fundamentals of the Australian economy were “sound”. Greg Jericho begs to differ: “Now sure, you can say we are in the ‘new normal’ of post-GFC low growth, but even if we only look at the past decade, the current annual growth of 1.1% is below the post-GFC average of 2.7% and is the lowest level of growth for eight years. If that is fundamentally sound, then the bar is so low that it almost underground.”
Sport
“Rafael Nadal has brought teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime back down to earth,” writes Kevin Mitchell. “Prodigies abound in tennis, but there was no denying proven class on Court Manolo Santana on Wednesday as the 32-year-old Rafael Nadal quelled the clamour growing around the Canadian teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime and moved into the third round of the Madrid Open, a tournament he has won five times.”
Lionel Messi broke down in tears after his dream of winning the Champions League for a fifth time with Barcelona collapsed in the match against Liverpool. The Argentina international was inconsolable in the Barcelona dressing room following the 4-0 defeat at Anfield.
Thinking time: ‘When we interview women they cry and cry and cry’
Amanda and her seven-year-old daughter, Carly, live in a two-bedroom townhouse in Melbourne’s inner city. Because it’s part of the national rental affordability scheme, the rent is just $720 a fortnight. Even so, with her parenting payment only amounting to $776.10 a fortnight, the former company director often has to rely on food banks – especially when child-support payments from her ex-partner, John, fall short.
Last year John’s tax return reported his income to be dramatically lower than it had been previously. Now recorded as $52,500, his child support payments subsequently dropped to $329 a month from $745. The timing was devastating for Amanda, as it coincided with Carly beginning primary school and the recommendation that she be assessed for having special needs – a costly process.
Suspecting that John, who owns his own company, had minimised his income, Amanda put in a reassessment application to the Department of Human Services Child Support – a risky scenario, given that she had previously taken an intervention order out on him for stalking. And then things became truly Kafkaesque.
Media roundup
The Sydney Morning Herald’s splash headline this morning is Labor braces for war with Murdoch. The Australian’s is Don’t ask: Shorten on climate. The Daily Telegraph’s website, meanwhile, carries the following headlines on its index page, as John Hanna points out on Twitter: “Strange that a positive profile can be called an attack”; “Shorten makes it wrong”; “Sob-story Bill sells mother short”; “Shorten should be proud of what his mother accomplished”; “What Shorten still hasn’t realised about voters” and “Migrants could flood suburbs under Labor’s visa plans”.
Coming up
Chris Dawson, who was extradited from Queensland and charged with murder of wife Lynette in 1982, faces a committal hearing.
The Climate Council is releasing a report that has found the value of Australian property is predicted to fall dramatically unless urgent steps are taken to address climate change.
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