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Good morning, this is James Murray bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 24 June.
Top stories
Anthony Albanese is to pivot his party’s policies on carbon capture and storage technologies in an attempt to end political warfare over the climate and energy. The Labor leader will use a speech to the National Press Club today to say his party will back the controversial technology, as long as it is not funded by money intended for renewables, as he attempts to heal a rift within his own ranks and challenge Scott Morrison to display genuine bipartisanship. Right-leaning Labor politicians are concerned that the party’s previous stances on climate change has cost them elections in the past. The Coalition has successfully weaponised the issue against Labor in election years since 2013.
Australian courts are undertaking urgent reviews of the way they handle sexual harassment in the wake of the Dyson Heydon inquiry. The inquiry found that Heydon, a former high court justice, sexually harassed multiple staff members at Australia’s highest court. On Tuesday the chief justice of the New South Wales supreme court, Tom Bathurst, wrote to staff saying the state would introduce a new policy to deal with sexual harassment. Other supreme courts told the Guardian they were reviewing the adequacy of their policies and practices. Heydon has denied the inquiry’s findings. His lawyers issued a statement saying “any allegation of predatory behaviour or breaches of the law is categorically denied by our client”.
The World No 1 tennis player, Novak Djokovic, has tested positive for coronavirus. He joins three other leading players and two trainers infected by the disease towards the end of the Serb’s unsanctioned Adria Tour, which was aborted moments before the final in Croatia on Sunday. Djokovic organised the unofficial charity event – in Belgrade, Zadar and Montenegro (subsequently cancelled) – without safety protocols applicable in most other countries. He will go into isolation for 14 days along with his wife, Jelena, who also has the virus.
Australia
The demand for coins has evaporated in 2020, as Covid-19 hastens Australia’s shift from cash to digital. The Royal Mint says tens of millions of coins may never make it into circulation, with the shutting down of physical retail stores during lockdown meaning there were virtually no coin sales since the start of the year.
A poll by the Lowry Institute has found that only 23% of Australians trust China to act responsibly in global matters. Faith in Beijing has crashed by 30 percentage points over the past two years.
Cold weather will bring plunging temperatures across Australia this week, with Brisbane experiencing its coldest day of the year. On Tuesday the temperature dropped to 9.1C in Queensland’s capital.
Sydney’s water supply is at risk due to the failure to investigate or implement water conservation measures across the city. The NSW state auditor found Sydney Water was two years too late in increasing funding for water conservation in response to the drought.
The world
At least one person has been killed in Mexico after an earthquake hit Oaxaca state. The 7.5 magnitude tremor was felt more than 400 miles away in Mexico City.
Megan Fox has responded to reports of a sexualised audition for the director Michael Bay as a teenager, saying she was never “assaulted or preyed upon”. Fox made the statement after footage emerged of her telling Jimmy Kimmel that she had been filmed by Bay wearing a bikini and dancing under a waterfall.
A French delivery driver who died after being arrested in Paris pleaded “I’m suffocating” several times as police held him to the ground. The death of Cédric Chouviat echoes that of George Floyd, which sparked worldwide Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
Bill Cosby has been granted the right to appeal against his conviction for sexual assault. The stunning decision could test the legal framework of #MeToo cases.
Recommended reads
As an oncologist, Ranjana Srivastava weighs up the risk and benefit of chemotherapy every day. One patient is particularly worried about hair loss: “The invincibility and impatience of youth has been slowly but surely replaced by a deeper understanding of what patients mean when they say they don’t want to lose their hair, don’t want to go to hospital and will never undergo another surgery. Now, my response is no longer, ‘Why not?’ but, ‘Tell me more.’ This single phrase more than any other has opened up world views that I may not necessarily agree with, but which nonetheless illuminate my thinking.”
Starting a new life in a new country often involves adapting to a new food culture. Annie Hariharan shares her own culinary surprises and asks other overseas-born Australians to share theirs. The biggest lesson learned for Hariharan, was that everything tastes better with cheese in it. “As someone whose idea of cheese was Kraft singles eaten between two slices of white bread, I experienced my first paradox of choice in the supermarket cheese aisle. Which cheese goes on a cheese platter and which one goes in pasta?”
Listen
In Western Australia, a 46,000-year-old cave where thousands of artefacts belonging to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people were discovered, was blown up by Rio Tinto – one of the world’s biggest mining companies. Calla Wahlquist explores the archaic law that allowed this to happen, and the ensuing backlash that could change how the mining industry operates.
The destruction of a 46,000-year-old cave and the backlash for Australia’s mining industry
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
How much more Covid-19 disturbance can Australian sport take before enough is enough? With the drama at Essendon just the start of possible disruption, Scott Heinrich asks if there is a point stumps will be drawn on Australia’s winter codes, and is that point closer than we think?
Potentially winning the right later this week to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup could be a momentous occasion for many Australians and New Zealanders. With the joint bid in pole position to emerge victorious from Fifa’s council meeting after the withdrawal of Japan, football on both sides of the Tasman has never had a better chance to galvanise a fractured community.
Media roundup
The Age reports that plans to divert Australians returning from overseas away from Melbourne, due to concerns about the state’s handling of Covid-19 quarantines, were abandoned at the last minute after negotiations between the federal government and Victorian authorities. The ABC’s lifestyle platforms will be pared back, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, as the national broadcaster cuts costs due to a funding freeze by the Morrison government. And the Australian reports that the education minister, Dan Tehan, will stop universities from channelling students into humanities courses after courses in science, technology, engineering and maths had fees slashed to encourage enrolments.
Coming up
An inquest will deliver its findings into the death of Preethi Reddy, the Sydney dentist murdered by her ex-boyfriend.
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