Good morning. The former Coalition government did not release a “damning” national environmental report. China has claimed a successful test of a land-based ballistic missile interception system. And Colombia has elected its first leftwing president.
Tanya Plibersek says a “damning” national environmental report card that the former Coalition government received last year but did not release tells an “alarming story” of environmental decline, native species extinction and cultural heritage loss. In one of her first interviews as the new federal environment and water minister, Plibersek said the state of the environment report – a five-yearly scientific assessment – would be released when she gave a National Press Club address on 19 July.
China has claimed a successful test of a land-based ballistic missile interception system amid heightened tensions in Asia, in a move its defence ministry described as “defensive and not aimed at any country”. Beijing has been ramping up research into all sorts of missiles, from those that can destroy satellites in space to advanced nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, as part of a modernisation overseen by the president, Xi Jinping.
The Victorian Greens will introduce a bill to parliament to impose a ban on all new gas connections to homes within three years, with the requirement that residences be connected to the network to be scrapped in the meantime. The party’s leader, Samantha Ratnam, will introduce the planning and environment amendment (transition from gas) bill 2022 in the upper house on Tuesday as part of the Greens platform for the November state election.
Australia
Australia must move on from a “crisis mentality” as it seeks to reset its relationship with Pacific island countries, including by rejoining a key UN climate fund, a thinktank says.
Philip Sutton, who has died suddenly aged 71, was a pioneer of the climate emergency movement and a powerful influence on environmental campaigners in Australia and internationally.
The election campaign focused a lot on low wages and inequality. It did not, however, focus on an underlying driver of these issues, writes Rods Sims. If Australia had fewer markets run by dominant oligopolies, and more benefiting from strong competition, we would have less inequality, and higher wages and productivity, he says.
Researchers estimate that carbon emissions from transporting food are about 6% of the global total, with fruit and vegetables the largest contributor.
The Palaszczuk government has been relatively tight-lipped about the Queensland budget being handed down on Tuesday but has flagged funding boosts in key areas such as social housing, health and rail projects. Here’s what we know so far.
When Fatima Payman takes her seat in the Senate in July, she will make history as the first Australian parliamentarian to wear a hijab. The 27-year-old, confirmed as Labor’s newest senator from Western Australia on Monday, says she will wear it with pride.
The world
He spent 12 years in the ranks of an urban guerrilla group. Later, he would serve as a progressive mayor of Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, and as a senator. He ran for president unsuccessfully twice, unable to overcome the conservative wall erected nearly two centuries ago around the country’s top job. But on Sunday, Gustavo Petro, 62, was elected president, making history as the first leftwing head of state of the South American country.
China’s crude oil imports from Russia soared by 55% from a year earlier to a record level in May, displacing Saudi Arabia as the top supplier as refiners cashed in on discounted supplies amid sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
Canada laid out its final regulations yesterday spelling out how it intends to apply a ban on plastic bags, straws, takeout containers and other single-use plastics.
There are 77 Israeli farms and shepherding outposts across the West Bank, part of an explosion in settlement growth.
Five British nationals held by the Taliban since last December, including the former BBC cameraman and Afghanistan expert Peter Jouvenal, were released yesterday after backroom diplomacy by the British Foreign Office.
Recommended reads
“I guess I was sick of reading novels that all felt a little bit the same. I wanted to try to see if I could create something different.” Melbourne-based writer Michael Winkler and Guardian critic Beejay Silcox are talking about Winkler’s cult hit Grimmish – a glorious form-buster of a book that has earned praise from the likes of JM Coetzee and Helen Garner. Firmly rejected by Australian publishing houses, Winkler’s “exploded nonfiction novel” has been longlisted for the Miles Franklin literary award – the first self-published entry to make the list in the prize’s 65-year history.
The makers of SBS’s family history show, Who Do You Think You Are?, don’t reveal the final cut of the show to participants, so Simon Baker is taking it on my word that his episode is an excellent and moving piece of television. The 52-year-old actor had been approached a couple of times to do the show but always said no, “despite my mum, sister and kids saying ‘you should do it’.” Eventually he capitulated: “I thought, I’ll just see what kind of adventure it is and where it will all take me.”
Frances Day’s husband died during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, so there was no funeral. “It was a horrid, horrid time,” she says. “I was on my own. It took a long time for me to get fairly steady.” Her 82nd birthday passed and, as the summer wore on, she thought: “I’ve got to do something. I don’t want my life to end now. I want to have a few adventures. Let’s start with veganism.”
Listen
Australia is facing a national teacher shortage, with federal government modelling predicting a shortfall of more than 4,000 teachers over the next four years. Victorian state reporter Adeshola Ore tells Jane Lee what’s causing this crisis and what can be done about it.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
The Australian Olympic champion Cate Campbell has supported Fina’s vote to restrict transgender women from taking part in elite female swimming competitions, saying she had “wrestled long and hard” with her views on the polarising issue before concluding that fairness is a “cornerstone” of professional sport. Fina’s historic decision has also elicited criticism; the policy shift has been slammed by transgender advocacy groups, and swimmer Maddie Groves described it as “discriminatory and unscientific”.
Media roundup
First homebuyers who opt into the centrepiece reform of today’s NSW state budget will pay an annual levy of $400 and a 0.3% tax on the value of their land in exchange for avoiding a crippling upfront stamp duty impost, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Labor MPs campaigning to bring Julian Assange home say there appears to have been a shift in approach from ministers to back the WikiLeaks founder, and they are heartened by work going on behind the scenes, according to the Age.
Sign up
If you would like to receive the Guardian Australia morning mail to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com.
Discover Australian Weekend
Every Saturday from 6am, enjoy early access to the best journalism planned for the weekend in one elegant app, plus a curated selection of the week’s news and analysis from Australia and the world.
