Good morning! Female candidates are lacking in safe seats at the next federal election, and Australia could be producing 100m mRNA vaccines by 2024. We also take a look inside Sydney’s only Aboriginal run drug and alcohol counselling centre.
The company part-owned by the energy minister, Angus Taylor, illegally poisoned critically endangered grasslands and should restore native habitat, a ministerial review has concluded. The decision follows an 18-month examination of the original determination which ordered Jam Land to restore grasslands, and comes more than five years after the company poisoned the natural temperate grassland of the south-eastern highlands. Richard Taylor, one of Jam Land’s directors, said the company was considering whether it would appeal the decision in the federal court.
Female candidates are overrepresented for marginal seats at the next federal election, while safe seats for both major parties remain dominated by males, an analysis by Guardian Australia shows. About 60% of the candidates preselected so far for parliament’s 35 marginal seats across both major parties are female. The attempt by both major parties to increase the number of women in parliament comes after a review by sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins of the culture of Parliament House that found gender inequality was a key driver of bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault within commonwealth parliamentary workplaces.
Australia may be manufacturing mRNA vaccines by 2024 under a deal struck with pharmaceutical giant Moderna. The long-term “strategic partnership” between the federal government, Victorian government and Moderna will allow 100m mRNA vaccines to be produced in Australia each year in a pandemic, starting in 2024 “pending regulatory and planning approval”.
Australia
Fresh doubts have emerged over whether Australia can rely on boosting soil carbon to achieve its net zero emissions goals after a government report found soil carbon emissions may increase as the climate warms.
Religious Australians will be given greater freedom of speech than non-religious expressions of conscience under a Coalition bill, a leading academic has warned. Prof George Williams argued the religious discrimination bill was “inconsistent” with international human rights law which “does not separate out religious speech for protection”.
Australia’s eight planned nuclear submarines will cost $70bn at an “absolute minimum” and it’s “highly likely” to be more than that, with estimates the total could reach $171bn including inflation, defence analysts say.
A proposed federal veto power over certain types of native forest regeneration has met with mixed reaction from farmers and industry, citing concerns it will stifle their opportunity to diversify their income in a changing climate.
The world
At least 64 people were killed in Kentucky’s deadly tornadoes on Friday, and 105 residents were still unaccounted for with the final death toll not expected for weeks.
Afghanistan’s health system is on the brink of collapse because of western sanctions against the Taliban, international experts have warned. One expert said the Covid response had “almost ground to a halt” and the country was battling six different disease outbreaks.
South and North Korea, China and the US have agreed “in principle” to declare a formal end to the Korean war, almost 70 years after the conflict ended in a shaky truce.
Swedish coastguard officers are investigating alleged gross negligence and “drunkenness at sea” after one crew member of a capsized Danish barge died and another was feared drowned in Baltic sea collision.
Recommended reads
Established in 1996, Marrin Weejali is Sydney’s only Aboriginal-run drug and alcohol counselling centre. In Wiradjuri, the most widely spoken Aboriginal language in NSW, marrin means body and spirit, weejali means essence. The goal is to unite these two in the one person. The six Aboriginal counsellors at Marrin Weejali are from Mount Druitt and “all defeated the drug ice”. Co-founder Melinda Bonham says Aboriginal people make good counsellors. “With the sorrow and trauma you understand other people’s journey better. Non-Aboriginal people feel that walking in the door.”
As a survivor of domestic violence, Alex O’Sullivan saw a lot of herself in the series Maid, and hopes the humour threaded throughout the show will draw in more viewers. “I hope that others will let the comedy introduce them to the ‘fuckery’ that is domestic abuse and the flawed system that overcomplicates the lives of its survivors because this is something people need to stop turning away from.”
Having a big bag doesn’t mean you should carry everything. Experts share some very practical advice about how to give your bags a long life, including the simple things like spending an extra second to make sure bottles are firmly closed. Jenny Velakoulis, the owner of Evans Leather Repair, says she often sees bags that have been water damaged because “people put a water bottle back in their bag without sealing it properly”.
After a year of criticism over diversity, the Golden Globes have come up with a decent slate of nominees, with twisty western-Gothic psychodrama The Power of the Dog leading the pack with seven nominations, writes Peter Bradshaw. Check out the full list of nominees here.
Listen
Colombia’s most notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar’s legacy has had an unexpectedly disastrous impact on some of the country’s fragile ecosystems. A herd of more than 80 hippos roam free, the descendants of animals smuggled to Colombia from Africa in the 1980s and now flourishing in the wild. In today’s Full Story, Michael Safi speaks to reporter Joe Parkin Daniels and veterinarian Gina Paola Serna about Pablo Escobar’s “cocaine hippos”.
Full Story
How Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ became a biodiversity nightmare
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Ten days ago Newcastle lost their season opener 3-1 to Sydney FC, a Cortnee Vine-led contest which served as both a reminder of the Sky Blues’ talent and the Jets’ inconsistencies. Four days later the club signed Emily van Egmond, and two days after that did a 5-1 number on Wellington. “You can’t deny the influence she had just with her calmness on the ball and her ability to find things,” coach Ash Wilson said after Friday’s rout.
Survivors of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar have reached a $380m settlement after a five year legal battle with USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee.
Media roundup
Barnaby Joyce says Julian Assange should not be extradited to the US, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The deputy prime minister has called for the WikiLeaks co-founder to be put on trial in Britain or brought back to Australia. Moreland City Council in Melbourne will change it’s “racist” name – derived from a Jamaican plantation which used slave labour – at a cost of $500,000 between 2022-2024, reports the Age.
Coming up
More strikes are set to disrupt New South Wales trains.
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