Good morning. The minister for climate change is under pressure to improve proposed legislation while the PM agrees to hold national cabinet meeting to discuss latest Covid outbreak.
The minister for climate change, Chris Bowen, is under intensifying pressure to beef up the government’s proposed legislation enshrining emissions reduction targets, with the Greens and some independents declaring the current commitments inadequate. Bowen met on Thursday with climate-focused independent MPs and representatives from the Greens to share a draft of the bill he will introduce during the first sitting week of the new parliament. Moderate Liberal MP Bridget Archer has said she remains open to crossing the floor to support Labor’s 43% emissions reduction target, but that Anthony Albanese needs to tone down his “inflammatory” rhetoric if he wants to end the climate wars. And Labor is making substantial changes to a committee responsible for ensuring the integrity of the national carbon credit system after the departure of three members appointed by the Coalition, including the chair.
Anthony Albanese has agreed to hold a national cabinet meeting on Monday with state and territory leaders to discuss Australia’s Covid situation, after several premiers voiced concern over the trajectory of new cases and changes to federal supports. But the Labor government appears unlikely to reverse the decision to end the pandemic leave payment for people forced to isolate, despite calls from state leaders and some of its own backbenchers, with the social services minister saying the government had “no money to be able to extend that”.
Joe Biden has said the US is committed to Israel’s security on arriving in Tel Aviv for the first leg of a three-day visit to the Middle East, a trip focused on deepening the Jewish state’s ties with the majority of the Arab world in opposition to Iran. The US president has sidestepped a request to meet from the family of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, who was most likely killed as the result of Israeli sniper fire in May. The family – which accused Biden’s administration of siding with Israel after the state department said it would not push Israel to pursue a criminal investigation – has instead been invited for talks in Washington. Biden’s trip comes amid another searing inflation report yesterday that underscored the deep challenges facing Democrats ahead of this year’s critical midterm elections, with widespread pessimism about the state of the US economy and Joe Biden’s stewardship of it. More than 80% of Democrats surveyed think the government is not doing enough to tackle the climate crisis.
Australia
Victoria’s highest court has delivered a withering assessment of the state’s mandatory sentencing regime, saying it required “judges to be instruments of injustice” and showed a “profound misunderstanding” of the community’s best interests.
A domestic violence victim was “failed” by a Queensland police officer who minimised her assault, despite clear evidence of a “punch-sized” bruise on her ribcage and allegations her partner threatened to decapitate a dog, a commission of inquiry has heard.
A Melbourne woman says she feels “dehumanised” after being filmed without consent for a “random act of kindness” TikTok that went viral.
A man living in regional Victoria has been told to attend job agency appointments more than 60km away under the federal government’s new $1.5bn-a-year Workforce Australia program.
The federal government has stepped in to save jobs at a flood-ravaged ice-cream factory in Lismore a day before 170 workers were due to be stood down.
The organisers of Byron Bay’s 2022 Splendour in the Grass music festival were told all ticket holders under the age of 18 would have to be accompanied by an adult almost a month ago, despite telling the public they were only informed last week.
Regular cannabis use has become more accepted than smoking tobacco, the latest National Drug Strategy Household Survey has found. The 2019 data, compiled by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and released today, asked 20,000 people aged 14 and over about their attitudes towards drugs.
The world
Protests erupted in Sri Lanka on Wednesday after the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled to the Maldives on a military jet – but neither he nor the prime minster officially resigned, throwing the country into political chaos.
Uber is facing a lawsuit from at least 550 former passengers alleging a systematic failure to prevent violence against women on its platform. In the lawsuit, filed at San Francisco county superior court on Wednesday, the company is accused of failing to protect female passengers who “were kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed, or otherwise attacked by Uber drivers”.
BBC News has issued an on-air apology after mistakenly showing a picture of the footballer Raheem Sterling when reporting on a case about another Premier League player arrested over alleged sexual offences.
Boris Johnson is planning to stage parliamentary interventions on Ukraine, Brexit and levelling up, with allies of the outgoing prime minister hinting that those are the areas of his legacy he believes to be most under threat from his potential successor.
Days before the 2020 presidential election Donald Trump was planning to declare victory on election night, even if there was no evidence he was winning, according to a leaked Steve Bannon conversation recorded before the vote.
In a case that has become a flashpoint in the abortion debate after being highlighted by Joe Biden and baselessly disputed by some rightwing media and politicians, an Ohio man has been charged with raping a 10-year-old girl who later travelled to neighbouring Indiana for an abortion.
China’s most populous city, Shanghai, has issued its highest alert for extreme heat for the third time this summer as sweltering temperatures repeatedly tested records this week.
Recommended reads
In a just and fair city, according to Plato, it’s the philosophers who rule. These philosopher kings combine politics with philosophy – leading from a more rarefied plane than those beholden to factions, favours and personal enrichment. These idealised rulers were less concerned with raw power than with the application of wisdom, justice, temperance, courage and reason. There has persisted throughout the history of liberal democracies a link between good character and leadership, even if the link has often been maintained tenuously or fraudulently. But is the era of shameless leaders behind us at last?
We are all familiar with the limits of the Golden Age Hollywood happy ending: lovers united in marriage, criminals punished, women returned to home and hearth. This is because of a conservative censorship that held sway over the biggest mass entertainment medium of the 20th century. The code was far from neutral. It encapsulated a sexist, homophobic and racist ideology that dominated the industry for decades. But once upon a time, the dream factory used to have a much racier imagination.
Popular internet comic @filthyratbag takes pitch-black experiences and alchemises them into painful, pithy punchlines – with emphasis on the punch.
Listen
According to the health minister, Mark Butler, we have yet to reach the peak of a new Covid wave. But as case numbers and deaths steadily climb, Labor has begun to pull back pandemic support. In this episode of Full Story, Gabrielle Jackson talks to Lenore Taylor and Mike Ticher about Labor’s public health response to the new Covid wave.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Eddie Jones has recalled Danny Care for England’s series decider against Australia in Sydney on Saturday. Care’s return is one of three changes made by Jones with Lewis Ludlam and Ollie Chessum replacing the injured Sam Underhill and Maro Itoje, respectively.
Media roundup
Scott Morrison has lashed out at China, accusing it of supporting Vladimir Putin’s war crimes by buying Russian wheat instead of Australian grain, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. A pair of software engineers have been able to pinpoint locations of Perth houses containing a gun based on a controversial and so-called deidentified map that was released by West Australian police, according to the WAToday.
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