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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Martin Farrer

Morning Mail: Java quake kills at least 162, Climate 200 looks at NSW teals, Iran footballers silent protest

Rescuers carry an injured victim of the earthquake at a hospital in Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia.
Rescuers carry an injured victim of the earthquake at a hospital in West Java, Indonesia. Photograph: Adi Weda/EPA

Good morning. It worked in the federal election, it might work in Victoria, and now Simon Holmes à Court’s fundraising group, Climate 200, is considering supporting up to 10 teal candidates in the New South Wales election. With such focused challengers on their case, Liberal incumbents might not have wanted to hear Peter Dutton indulging in what Anthony Albanese called “dog whistling” on climate issues in parliament yesterday.

In Qatar, Iran’s players lost heavily to England but scored points with anti-regime protesters back home by staying silent during their national anthem at the game in Doha.

And Indonesia is starting to count the cost of a deadly earthquake.

Australia

A composite image of Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese both speaking in parliament
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese accuses opposition leader Peter Dutton of ‘dog-whistling’ over a question about the Cop27 climate damage fund. Composite: Parlview | Lukas Coch for AAP
  • Election target | Simon Holmes à Court says his Climate 200 group has talked to “seven to 10 communities” where independent groups are active in NSW, signalling a challenge to sitting Liberals in the state election in March.

  • Police dogs | Western Australia’s Aboriginal Legal Service says police are using dogs too often in arrests involving First Nations people, with one case leaving a 13-year-old Noongar boy in hospital needing surgery.

  • Case failure | A rape case involving a Victorian police officer has collapsed, in a blow to a new dedicated taskforce set up to investigate serious family violence allegations within the force.

  • Climate politics | Albanese has accused Peter Dutton of “dog-whistling” and boosting the re-election chances of teal independents and Greens over Liberals after the opposition leader attacked Labor for supporting a fund to help the developing world recover from climate catastrophes.

  • Rapist identified | DNA tests on Keith Simms, a Sydney man who died earlier this year, have revealed he was the Bondi rapist who terrorised women in Sydney’s eastern suburbs for decades.

  • Sea worthy | Prof Trevor McDougall, an oceanographer at UNSW, has been awarded the top $250,000 honour at the prime minister’s prizes for science for his contributions to understanding the ocean’s role in regulating the climate.

World

Iranian football players line up side by side with their arms around each other’s shoulders during the national anthem. In front of them are children
Iran lost to England in their first game at the World Cup in Qatar, but players seemingly protested against the regime. Photograph: Marko Đurica/Reuters
  • Indonesia | A magnitude-5.6 earthquake has shaken Indonesia’s main island of Java, killing at least 162 people, triggering landslides and causing buildings to collapse.

  • Anthem protest | Iran’s footballers refused to sing their country’s national anthem at the start of their World Cup match with England in apparent support for the anti-government protests sweeping the country. Also at the World Cup, a US journalist says he was detained in Qatar for wearing a rainbow shirt.

  • Gay rights | US supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett should recuse herself from an upcoming case involving gay rights because of her continued affiliation with a secretive Christian group, the People of Praise, former members argue.

  • ‘It smelled so bad’ | Russian forces have been accused of burning the bodies of their dead comrades at a landfill site in the recently liberated Ukrainian city of Kherson.

  • Meta matter | A human rights campaigner is suing Facebook’s owner in the UK high court, claiming the company is disregarding her right to object against the collection of her personal data.

Full Story

A woman is sitting with a baby resting on her knees while she holds a mobile phone in one hand
Australians are becoming stuck in a debt spiral after turning to buy now-pay later schemes to afford essentials Photograph: Stuart Walmsley

Buy now, pay later and the revolving door of debt

Buy now, pay later services are landing vulnerable people in a spiral of debt and the Albanese government is considering new laws to protect consumers. Jordyn Beazley explains the true cost.

In-depth

Gum trees in a river, lit up in an orange glow by the sun
Birds are back, crops are growing – but is the Murray Darling Basin plan working? Photograph: Auscape/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

It is 10 years since the $13bn scheme was launched to restore the Murray-Darling Basin. After drought and floods, Anne Davies investigates whether the plan has worked, what it means for rural and Indigenous communities, and if the joint state-federal approach has worked.

Not the news

Krew Boylan and Gracie Otto on the set of Seriously Red
Krew Boylan and Gracie Otto on the set of Seriously Red. Photograph: Roadshow

Australian director Gracie Otto is on a roll. Her Netflix reboot of Heartbreak High has received eight Aacta nominations, including best director for Otto. And her new film, Seriously Red, starring Krew Boylan, about a Dolly Parton impersonator, is winning rave reviews – not least from the queen of country herself.

The world of sport

Bukayo Saka celebrates scoring a goal
Bukayo Saka scored in England’s defeat of Iran in the World Cup Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

Media roundup

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that News Corp is “still in the dark” about the reasons for the sudden departure last week of the Australian’s editor, Chris Dore. The Canberra Times leads on comments by independent senator David Pocock that Labor’s IR bill is too big an “impost” on business. The Courier Mail says Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has backed police chief Katarina Carroll to instigate “massive changes” after a report condemned its handling of domestic violence cases. The Australian has an exclusive claiming that unions are pushing for menstrual menopause leave. The Age asks why Albanese has only just hit the stump to support Daniel Andrews’ re-election bid.

What’s happening today

  • LGBTQI+ deaths inquiry | The second round of hearings of the special commission of inquiry into unsolved deaths of LGBTQ+ people in Sydney.

  • Russell inquest | The inquest into the fatal police shooting of Aboriginal man Stanley Russell in Sydney last year continues.

  • Cricket | The third and final one-day international between Australia and England starts in Melbourne at 2.20pm.

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Brain teaser

And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.

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