Photograph: Horizon International Images/Alamy
Good morning. Labor says the Coalition changes allowing renewable energy agency to fund fossil fuel projects will be scrapped today. And Russia is about to temporarily “run out of steam” in Ukraine, according to MI6.
The Albanese government will scrap changes to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency introduced in the dying days of the Morrison government that would have allowed it to fund some fossil fuel developments. The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, will release a new set of regulations today that he said would ensure Arena was focused on funding renewable energy and technology that supported it. He said it would include a mandate for the agency to work with industry to accelerate electrification – moving from gas to running increasingly on renewable energy – and boost energy efficiency. Negotiations continue between Bowen and crossbench MPs over a separate climate change bill that includes Labor’s target of a 43% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared with 2005 levels.
Ukraine has said it wants to establish a one-off international tribunal to try Russia’s top regime members for the invasion, which could see it issuing an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin. Andriy Smyrnov, Ukraine’s deputy head of the presidential administration, said on Thursday that Ukraine believed trying Russia separately with international participation would speed up its quest to hold the Russian president and his inner circle accountable. Meanwhile, Russia’s military is likely to start an operational pause of some kind in the coming weeks, Britain’s spy chief has said. “I think they’re about to run out of steam,” said Richard Moore, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) known as MI6. He also told the same security conference half of all the Russian spies operating under diplomatic cover around Europe have been expelled since the start of the war.
Uber saw the victory of Labor’s Daniel Andrews in the 2014 Victorian state election as an opportunity to finally get its lucrative Melbourne operations legalised, documents obtained by Guardian Australia reveal. Uber set up shop in Australia in 2012 without the required permits then launched an aggressive campaign to change state laws to legalise its operations across the country. It is a tactic the company has used repeatedly in markets around the world: launch first, establish a loyal customer base, and then lobby for laws to be changed.
Australia
The federal government is under pressure to act to increase the uptake of electric vehicles after the Australian Capital Territory became the first state or territory to announce an end to the sale of petrol cars.
Just 20,000 of the 1m Paxlovid antiviral drugs ordered by the former government have been prescribed to Covid-19 patients, leaving Australia with hundreds of thousands of drugs due to expire within months.
Multiple complaints of baffling and unrealistic requirements, including one man working full time being told to attend job agency appointments during work hours, have been reported under the new Workforce Australia system.
A leading infectious disease expert has questioned why Queensland has stopped releasing the vaccination status of Covid fatalities, as the state struggles to convince residents to get booster shots, despite record hospitalisations from the virus. Queensland has the lowest rate of Covid booster shots in the country: less than half of the state has received a third dose.
Private contractors who have worked for the federal government could be targeted by Labor’s proposed national integrity commission, the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has revealed.
Domestic violence and legal experts say the New South Wales government’s attempt to push through new coercive control laws before the end of the year could result in flawed legislation that unwittingly discriminates against migrant and First Nations communities.
The world
Joe Biden has cautioned against the reported trip to Taiwan next month by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, saying the US military believed “it is not a good idea right now”. Russia’s experience in Ukraine is affecting China’s calculations on how and when it may decide to invade Taiwan, the head of the CIA said on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka is braced for more unrest after newly appointed president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, vowed to crack down on the protests that toppled his predecessor, condemning them as “against the law”.
The UK Foreign Office has failed to sanction key Iranians responsible for the arrest and intimidation of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe despite being passed their names in September, MPs have claimed.
Eddie Vedder, frontman of the rock band Pearl Jam, has suffered damage to his throat and attributed it to extreme weather conditions in France this week.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has raised interest rates for the first time since 2011 to tackle eurozone inflation that increased to 8.6% last month. In a surprise move, the ECB pushed its base rate up by 0.5 percentage points.
Airlines have been warned they could face fines if they do not tackle “harmful practices” fuelling chaos at UK airports, including selling more tickets than they can supply and not warning passengers about the risk of cancellations.
Recommended reads
Enclave, Claire G Coleman’s third novel in five years, continues the project she started with Terra Nullius and laid out explicitly in last year’s essay collection, Lies, Damned Lies: “I must do what I can to change how this country sees itself.” As the Wirlomin Noongar writer has pointed out, so much classic speculative fiction is “intentionally politically didactic” – activism deployed in the Trojan horses of breathless plot twists, set design and special effects. “It’s a way to say things that otherwise no one will let you say,” she told an interviewer. “And that’s how I’ve always used it.”
Alex the Astronaut’s songs have always skirted the line between charming and mawkish. They brim with references to pop culture and the minutiae of existence, painting – in painstaking or painful detail – diaristic vignettes of falling in and out of love, growing older (though not necessarily wiser), and zipping back and forth between continents.
As Zooey Deschanel’s duo She & Him releases a Beach Boys covers album, the actor-musician answers your questions on duetting with Prince, crying to Björk and raging at the US supreme court.
Listen
Covid-19 continues to spread and hospital numbers soar under the strain of yet another new variant. The climate crisis confronts us daily with crippling floods in Australia as well as heatwaves across the planet. As communities around the world come to grips with disaster, people have started to turn away from the news. In this episode of Full Story, Gabrielle Jackson talks to Lenore Taylor and Mike Ticher about why Australians are switching off the news – and what we can do about it.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
After South Sydney training, Latrell Mitchell stood calm and proud between his two families. With him were his father Matt and mum Patricia, down from Biripi country up Taree way. Clinging to his tree-trunk legs like koalas in pyjamas were his daughters Aleena and Inala. Close by was big brother teammate Shaquai. The Mitchells spoke together softly as Redfern locals walked by, nodding their respect as Latrell flashed them smiles or shot back a wink. All this to say, even when Mitchell doesn’t play, his impact is still profound. Brad Fittler and Queensland know it, and so do the Rabbitohs.
Media roundup
NSW public schools are confronting an almost $10m shortfall in funds after a drop in parent contributions during the pandemic, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Mining giant Rio Tinto’s settlement of a near-$1bn dispute with the tax office will be strong signal to other large corporations, but it’s not a big blow for the company, WAToday reports.
Coming up
A new US ambassador is due to arrive in Australia today. The NSW coroner is to deliver findings into death in custody of Aboriginal man Douglas “Mootijah” Shillingsworth. And a former head of the National Security Agency in the US, Admiral Michael Rogers, will address the National Press Club.
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