What we learned today, Friday 10 March
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here’s a wrap of the main events today:
South Sydney will file a police report after a teenage NRL fan allegedly racially abused fullback Latrell Mitchell at half-time of the Rabbitohs’ loss to Penrith.
The NRL CEO, Andrew Abdo, hailed players’ response to alleged incident of racial abuse, while NSW premier Dominic Perrottet called for ‘life bans’ for racism at sporting games.
China’s foreign ministry has spoken out against the AUKUS deal, saying it “exacerbates [the] arms race” and “hurts peace and stability” in the region.
As part of his India trip, prime minister Anthony Albanese declared the country a ‘top tier security partner’, vowing to deepen military ties.
A Senate committee is recommending that parliament consider the case for a four-day working week.
Labor senator and assistant minister for Indigenous Australians and Indigenous health, Malarndirri McCarthy, created history by being the first Indigenous Australian woman to deliver Australia’s national statement to the United Nations commission on the status of women in New York.
Bulldogs premiership player Liam Picken has launched action in the supreme court against his former club and the AFL, claiming he was left in the dark about cognitive impairments he suffered as a result of concussions and was still sent out to play.
Australia’s largest online bookseller, Booktopia, will fork out $6m in penalties after it made false or misleading claims about consumer guarantee rights.
A Queensland mother whose son took his life after interactions with Centrelink has called for change at the robodebt royal commission.
Former PM Kevin Rudd has said US-China tensions are a worry, adding that recent brash rhetoric from the Chinese government could be partly attributed to China’s own domestic challenges.
Climate change threatening global coffee supplies
Australia’s love affair with coffee has the potential to hit flat white and latte sippers in the hip pocket as climate change threatens global supplies of the humble bean, AAP reports.
Extreme weather has steadily increased across the top 12 coffee-producing regions globally over the past 40 years, putting vulnerable crops at risk.
New research from the CSIRO and University of Southern Queensland suggests concurrent climate hazards could impact international supplies.
Study lead Doug Richardson said extreme weather conditions could result in a mass shortage.
We’re pretty confident climate change is playing a role in this because the main problem used to be conditions were too cool and now they’re often too warm and that aligns with what we know about the impacts of climate change.
Coffee crops can fail if the annual average temperature and rainfall is not within an optimal range.
About three in four Australians enjoy at least one cup of coffee per day, according to data from research company McCrindle.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows the nation is one of the world’s biggest coffee importers, spending nearly $700 million on coffee products in 2020.
Aussies have also been credited with inventing the famous flat white in the mid 1980s.
The multi-billion dollar coffee industry is mostly supplied by Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
You can read more on the issue at our story, linked below:
Updated
