Good morning and happy budget day. Jim Chalmers’ first budget will reveal a $42bn improvement to the bottom line across forward estimates but that will deteriorate after two years. There has been plenty leaked in advance of a plan the treasurer has painted as “solid and sensible”. In the UK the Tories have chosen a new prime minister, while Russia says the Ukraine war is heading for an “uncontrolled escalation”.
Rishi Sunak will become the UK’s next prime minister without a vote being cast by Conservatives. He was the only candidate to muster the support of more than 100 of his fellow MPs as nominations closed, with Penny Mordaunt falling short after Boris Johnson’s withdrawal. Sunak warned his party it was time to “unite or die”, and ruled out an early general election. Sunak will meet King Charles on Tuesday morning before taking over as prime minister. He will become the first prime minister of colour and the first Hindu prime minister, but the last seven years in politics have not been gaffe-free for the former Goldman Sachs banker and ex-chancellor.
Soaring commodity prices and a strong labour market will deliver a $42bn boost to the budget bottom line over the next four years, with the deficit more than halving this financial year. However, the improvement – to be revealed in the treasurer Jim Chalmers’ first budget tonight – will be short lived, with worse-than-expected deficits by the end of the forward estimates as a result of growing spending pressures. Here’s what we know so far about cuts and spending to come.
A body believed to be that of a woman who went missing in flood waters in central-west New South Wales has been found, and the Murray River has peaked at Echuca, as flood emergencies unfold across eastern Australia. Rainfall records have continued to tumble amid widespread flooding across eastern Australia, with Sydney already recording its wettest ever October and Victoria on track for its wettest month ever. Australian farmers are running out of defences against extreme weather events. Grain and cattle farmer Pete Mailler says that while Australian farmers are “world leaders in managing weather volatility”, the current losses undermine their resilience.
Australia
The Medibank data breach began with a hacker stealing the credentials of someone at the company with high-level access to internal systems. Many customers’ private data was exposed after those credentials were sold on a Russian-language cybercrime forum, an internal investigation has revealed.
Almost half of Australians believe the country should send troops to help defend Taiwan against China if required, a survey suggests. The percentage is much higher than in the US or Japan, where about a third of the public in each country agreed with sending military forces to respond to such a crisis.
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has refused to reveal when federal Labor added the high bar for public hearings to its anti-corruption bill, saying to do so “would be detrimental to the public interest”.
US artist Spencer Tunick is seeking 2,500 people to strip naked on a Sydney beach for his next nude installation, commissioned by the charity Skin Check Champions to raise awareness about skin cancer.
The world
Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has told western counterparts that the war in Ukraine is heading for an “uncontrolled escalation” amid evidence that the Kremlin is weighing how to respond to yet another anticipated battlefield defeat around the city of Kherson.
Two Chinese intelligence agents have been charged with attempting to disrupt the prosecution of a Chinese telecommunications firm, US attorney general Merrick Garland has announced.
Myanmar’s military has killed 60 people in an airstrike that targeted a concert held by a rebel faction of the country’s minority Kachin ethnic group, according to organisers.
Sacheen Littlefeather, the activist who famously stood in for Marlon Brando to refuse the best actor Oscar in 1973, faked Native American ancestry, her family have said.
Recommended reads
For the past three months, Patrick Lenton has been lying to his partner routinely, systematically and often extremely creatively. “When my partner Eilish decided to watch Game of Thrones for the first time recently, I was shocked to find out she knew absolutely nothing about it. I immediately made a vow to try and keep her spoiler free. Every moment spent whispering poisoned words to the love of my life has simply confirmed a terrible lesson to me: sometimes lying is good.”
Does anyone who lives in a city really need rain gear made from synthetic fibres, which are considered bad for the environment? How do you go about finding a functional and sustainable raincoat?
Listen
In 1934, Pitjantjatjara man Yukun was killed in a police shooting at Uluru, with his remains then dug up and kept in museums for decades. After a journey of discovery involving a long-lost diary and a forensic search of hundreds of Aboriginal remains, Yukun has finally been laid to rest by his descendants – nearly 90 years after his death. In today’s Full Story, Indigenous affairs editor Lorena Allam speaks to Yukun’s family and historian Mark McKenna about what really happened to Yukun, and the journey to bring him home.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
St Kilda’s returning coach Ross Lyon says he has “unfinished business” after taking on a job loaded with emotional risk – both for him and the AFL club.
Key Netball Australia sponsors have denied reports they are considering walking away from the code after Hancock Prospecting pulled out of a $15m funding deal because of player concerns about its record on Indigenous affairs.
Lewis Hamilton says his chances of winning an F1 race this season have gone. The seven-time champion has admitted his Mercedes team just can’t match the pace of Red Bull.
Media roundup
Thousands of people are trapped on a cruise ship off the coast of WA after a Covid outbreak and they might be there for five days, reports news.com.au. And the Sydney Morning Herald has some budget news, of a joint public-private scheme to build a million new houses.
Coming up
The NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, will tour flood-hit regions in the state.
And if you’ve read this far …
Swedish maritime archaeologists have discovered the long-lost sister ship of the 17th-century warship Vasa, which sank on its maiden voyage, the Swedish Museum of Wrecks has said.
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