Good morning. Sydney is officially experiencing its wettest year on record. Brittany Higgins says she felt her alleged rape became “not about me or my story” after she came forward to journalists. And the Albanese government faces increasing pressure to scrap the stage-three tax cuts.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged world leaders not to give in to Russia’s “nuclear blackmail”, appealing to Australia for help in a critical UN vote next week. Addressing the Sydney-based Lowy Institute by video link on Thursday evening, Zelenskiy revealed Australia was offering heavy arms to Ukraine in its next package of military support to defend against Russia’s invasion. The UN general assembly will consider a resolution condemning Russia’s purported annexation of four partly occupied Ukrainian regions, but Russian officials are lobbying for a secret vote so countries don’t have to make their positions public. Zelenskiy asked Australian officials to join in diplomatic efforts to ensure next week’s UN vote was “as unanimous as possible”.
