Good afternoon. Jo Tarnawsky, the chief of staff to deputy prime minister Richard Marles, is suing her boss and the government, alleging in the federal court that she was punished for raising a bullying complaint and naming a colleague as an alleged perpetrator.
Tarnawsky revealed on Monday she had begun proceedings for adverse action under the Fair Work Act, naming Marles, the commonwealth and Anthony Albanese’s chief of staff, Tim Gartrell, as respondents. Tarnawsky is not alleging Marles or Gartrell bullied her.
The legal action comes six weeks after Tarnawsky told Guardian Australia that she had allegedly been advised to find another job and effectively locked out of her office since raising a bullying complaint with Marles.
Top news
Man charged over anti-Israel graffiti | A 20-year-old man was arrested at 3.50am at Sydney airport and has been charged after cars and buildings were damaged or vandalised with anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney’s east last week.
Greens back housing bill after months of stalemate | In a blow to Max Chandler-Mather, the minor party will help the Albanese government pass its Help to Buy shared equity scheme for home ownership, despite failing to win any concessions from Labor in return for its support.
Scorching temperatures forecast for parts of NSW | Power supplies will become “tight” in New South Wales and Queensland later this week, with parts of western Sydney tipped to approach 40C as the season’s first major heatwave coincides with outages at big coal-fired power stations.
Parents of methanol victims raise money to repatriate bodies | The families of Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles have started a GoFundMe in their daughters’ memory to help cover the cost of bringing their bodies home from Laos and raise awareness about methanol poisoning.
University revives ancient technique to combat AI | As universities grapple with the rise of chatbots and cheating, the University of South Australia is reintroducing the viva voce model of oral assessments as a more accurate way to test knowledge than written exams.
Australia urged to ‘step up’ after Cop29 agreement criticised | The Australian government has been urged to do more to address the climate crisis, after the UN summit ended with a global agreement to pay developing countries US$300bn a year, despite acknowledging that they actually needed at least US$1.3tn a year.
Presidential elections in Uruguay and Romania | The far-right Nato critic Calin Georgescu will probably head into a run-off with leftist prime minister Marcel Ciolacu after taking a shock lead in Romania’s presidential election. Meanwhile in Uruguay, the centre-left history teacher Yamandu Orsi said “the horizon is brightening” after he secured victory to oust the conservative government.
Sports stars withdraw from competition | Emma McKeon, Australia’s most decorated Olympian, has announced her retirement from competitive swimming. Meanwhile, the Matildas forward Mary Fowler has pulled out of the national squad for this week’s friendlies against Brazil and Taiwan, citing mental and physical fatigue.
Australia v India test | Australia were 104-5 at lunch, with a Travis Head half century steadying the ship somewhat after Usman Khawaja was dismissed in the second over of day four. Will India be made to come back for a fifth day in Perth? Follow all the action on our live blog.
Today in Focus podcast
A mystery in Finnish Lapland, and what it means for the climate crisis
Two-thirds of Finland is covered in forests, which have for decades absorbed more carbon dioxide than they have put out. But recently, something has changed – Finland’s carbon sink is no longer working, with devastating consequences for the country’s climate goals.
Biodiversity and environment reporter Patrick Greenfield travels to Finnish Lapland to discover what is happening to its primeval forests and peatlands, one of the last true wildernesses on the continent.
What they said …
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“Peta Murphy provided the government with an overwhelming, comprehensive guide on how to help and protect people like me. Yet her party is doing everything they can to dismiss her legacy by continually kicking the can down the road.”
Mark Kempster, a recovering gambling addict who testified before a parliamentary inquiry into gambling harm, has criticised the government’s decision to delay advertising reforms. The sports minister, Anika Wells, has conceded that the financial viability of sporting codes was a factor in Labor concluding its proposed gambling ad caps were not “ready to go”.
In numbers
It’s not quite Barbenheimer – but Wicked and Gladiator II have breathed fresh life into a box office that has struggled lately, leading to one of the busiest movie-going weekends of the year. The big-budget musical starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo bested Ridley Scott’s swords-and-sandals sequel, debuting with $164.2m globally to the latter’s $105.5m.
Before bed read
The truth about salt: how to avoid one of the world’s biggest hidden killers
Most of us consume far too much, which can lead to high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. But there are some simple ways to retrain your palate and reduce your intake.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: YEA. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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