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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Martin Farrer

Morning Mail: Latham eyes NSW kingmaker role, new secret ministries discovery, gas shortage fear

Mark Latham campaigns for One Nation in New South Wales
Mark Latham campaigns for One Nation in New South Wales. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Morning, everyone. After Labor ministers confirmed they were taking the nuclear-powered option for defence, the erstwhile party leader Mark Latham is planning to challenge the country’s longstanding nuclear power ban – if he and One Nation end up with the balance of power after next week’s New South Wales election. In Queensland the government wants to ban swastika tattoos, and there’s a powerful warning about the “price of easy money” in the financial system, as market watchers speculate on the risk of more collapses in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank. Plus, energy regulator modelling suggests we might not have enough gas for our power needs over the next four years.

Australia

Activists from the group Campaign Against Racism and Fascism march
Activists from the group Campaign Against Racism and Fascism march. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

World

A scratched-up Silicon Valley Bank logo
Bank shares have taken a battering after the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

Full Story

A politcal staffer gives evidence at the robodebt royal commission
A politcal staffer gives evidence at the robodebt royal commission. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

How did robodebt collect debts unlawfully for five years?

As the robodebt royal commission wraps up, Guardian Australia’s social affairs and inequality editor, Luke Henriques-Gomes, looks back at the key moments in the hearings and why the scheme was allowed to go on for so long, despite warnings about its legality.

In-depth

How much house prices have outpaced wages in Australia

House prices may be falling but that doesn’t mean millennials can expect to get on the housing ladder any time soon because, as Greg Jericho explains, they still have a long way to fall before they level off with wage growth of the past 20 years. The issue of weak earnings will also be explored by the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, today when he warns that Australians will have to work longer for less pay without major boosts to productivity.

Not the news

Three business people face the camera across a table
The worst mistake I’ve ever made? Coming to this interview. Photograph: Simon Potter/Getty Images/Image Source

How do you feel your life has worked out for you so far? That was the rather existential question asked of a graphic designer in a job interview in the US. It’s a tough one but there could be even worse ones, couldn’t there? How about, “If you were a piece of fruit, what would you be?” and, “Why have you never managed to stick at anything?”

The world of sport

Sportsbet signage at an AFL match
Sportsbet signage at an AFL match. Photograph: Julian Smith/AAP

Media roundup

Paul Keating’s outburst about the Aukus plan makes a lot of headlines and there is some sympathy in the AFR analysis which says China wants economic stability, not war. The Age says authorities are trying to trace the source of an outbreak of gastro at Yarra Valley grammar which is spreading like “wildfire”. The Cairns Post reports that a “rogue python” has struck for a third time after it “bitch-slapped” a hiker at a far north waterfall.

What’s happening today

  • Constitution | The voice referendum working group meets in Adelaide to finalise its advice to the government.

  • Economy | The latest jobs figures will be released in the ABS monthly labour force survey.

  • AFL | The season gets under way with the traditional opening game between Richmond and Carlton at the MCG.

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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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