Good afternoon everyone. You’ll notice a few different names on the newsletter in the coming month as Antoun (hopefully) relaxes on a beach somewhere.
The prime minister has hit back at the Coalition’s proposal that would see unemployed people earn $300 a fortnight before their payments are cut. The jobseeker payment will increase by $56 a fortnight in September when indexation and a $40-a-fortnight increase comes into effect.
After the Logies, Sonia Kruger revealed she was surprised to take home a win. There’s also drama with Twitter’s new (very bright) sign and an AFL great has said he is leaving the field for good.
Let’s get into it.
Top news
Hope ‘lost’ of finding crew | The defence minister, Richard Marles, has said a thorough investigation will be carried out after a Taipan MRH-90 helicopter crashed during a training exercise in Queensland. The chief of the ADF, Gen Angus Campbell, promised that they would seek to recover the bodies.
Sydney records hottest July | Sydney’s 23.5C was enough to have elevated July’s average maximum above the previous record of 19.89C set in 2018. And after July records were broken over the weekend in parts of NSW and Victoria, the heat is here to stay.
Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin announces retirement | After the AFL great was subbed out of the Swans’ victory over Essendon on the weekend, the game proved to be his last. Swans coach John Longmire led the tributes to the 354-game player, saying he has been a privilege to coach.
Heston Russell defamation case | The ABC journalist Mark Willacy was given permission to show a confidential military source’s face on television and online but not to reveal his name or location, the federal court has heard. The award-winning journalist was under cross-examination on day two of a defamation trial brought by former commando Heston Russell, who is suing the ABC over two online news articles, a television news item and a radio broadcast.
Australian businessman ‘in survival mode’ | Alexander Csergo, who has been charged with one count of reckless foreign interference, told police in an interview detailed in the police statement of facts tendered to a New South Wales court that he felt essentially trapped in China – most acutely during the height of Shanghai’s highly restrictive Covid lockdowns – and that he needed to placate his handlers or risk being detained in the country.
Swimmers avoid water in UK | Almost a quarter of the UK’s sea swimmers may not take a dip in the ocean this year because of sewage dumping by water companies, according to a poll. Sewage was dumped into waters near England’s most celebrated beaches for nearly 8,500 hours last year, analysis shows.
Talk of Trump pardon ‘inappropriate’ | The former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson has said it is “inappropriate” for some of his fellow Republican presidential hopefuls to publicly discuss potentially pardoning Donald Trump, who is their party’s frontrunner for its 2024 nomination despite his mounting criminal charges.
Flooding in China forces people to flee homes | Beijing has recorded its heaviest rainfall this year as the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri passed through China’s capital, forcing more than 31,000 people to evacuate their homes in the city, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
In Video
Independent senator David Pocock has criticised the current safety nets put in place to help people back into work and out of poverty, saying they are ‘“like a parachute with holes”. You can watch his speech here.
What they said …
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“I say to people it’s a secret ballot; they can’t follow you into the polling booth, you can vote any way you like … and they don’t have a clue that you did.”
The former Liberal MP Warren Mundine told a community forum in Albury-Wodonga that social division was likely no matter the result of the referendum on the voice.
In numbers
Swans coach John Longmire called Franklin “an absolute freak of nature and we have been lucky enough to have front row seats to one of the best ever to play”.
Before bed read
Famous men helped by their wives, whose names we never know? It’s a classic tale. In this compelling read Anna Funder, author of the bestseller Stasiland, writes about her recent book which looks into the woman behind George Orwell – his wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy. Funder explains how the search illuminated her own life and how women are often “cancelled by the patriarchy”.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: BOB. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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