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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Martin Farrer

Morning Mail: $30m ‘disadvantage’ funding for private schools, Uber fare squeeze, White House denial

Exclusive Brethren’s OneSchool Global network has campuses in Sydney and Melbourne.
The Exclusive Brethren’s OneSchool Global network has campuses in Sydney and Melbourne. Illustration: Victoria Hart/Guardian Design

Morning everyone. One of the country’s wealthiest schools has netted $30m in disadvantage payments from taxpayers, the latest part of our investigation into the Exclusive Brethren’s OneSchool Global network reveals. We’re also looking at whether sex work services are really available on the NDIS, the farmers trying to save Australia’s rarest bird, and the White House denies Joe Biden has any brain disorder.

Australia

  • Plains protection | Covenanting schemes to protect wildlife habitats on private land could be crucial in saving species such as the plains wanderer, Australia’s rarest bird which has a wild population of just 250.

  • Guardian investigation | The Exclusive Brethren’s OneSchool Global network of private schools has received almost $30m in commonwealth payments for educational “disadvantage” over five years despite many being among the country’s wealthiest schools, a Guardian Australia investigation has found.

  • Uber squeeze | Uber drivers say looming cuts to fares will squeeze their earnings and argue the ride-hailing giant is reducing their pay before legislation to close loopholes around the sector’s regulation.

  • ‘Duopoly’ targeted | The price of 30 essentials such as bread, milk and nappies would be capped, with increases tied to wages, under a policy to be announced by the Queensland Greens today, along with a plan to break up the Coles and Woolworths “duopoly”.

  • Sexual harassment | Just over one-fifth of people aged 18 to 45 have perpetrated a form of sexual violence since turning 18, and one in 14 have done so in the past year, a survey of more than 5,000 has found.

World

  • White House denial | The White House has denied that Joe Biden has any neurological disorder after a heated exchange between the president’s press secretary and journalists about visits by a Parkinson’s disease specialist to the White House. Meanwhile, the progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has given a full-throated endorsement of Biden’s candidacy.

  • Gaza attack | Northern and central Gaza were hit by a second day of heavy Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday, attacks Hamas said threatened to derail new international efforts to broker a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

  • Le Pen probe | French investigators have opened an inquiry into the campaign finances of the far-right leader Marine Le Pen as politicians on the left continue to discuss how a new government could be formed in France.

  • Mountain find | Police in Peru have found the well-preserved body of an American mountaineer who was buried by an avalanche in Peru 22 years ago.

  • Bloomberg bonus | The medical school at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University will soon be free to nearly all students after a $1bn donation from the alumnus, philanthropist and politician Michael Bloomberg.

Full Story

France’s leftwing alliance beat the far right, but what now?

A leftwing coalition snatched victory from the far right in the final round of the French parliamentary elections. But will the country now fall into political deadlock? Our Paris correspondent, Angelique Chrisafis, reports.

In-depth

The cost of the national disability insurance scheme is on course to blow out to $90bn a year by the end of the decade and Labor is trying to reform the scheme. But it hasn’t helped that current popular focus on the NDIS concerns the question of whether or not clients should be able to claim for sex work services. The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, says there were 228 requests for sexual activity support in the 12 months to April and, although none were granted, it has opened a debate about what’s reasonable and what isn’t. Cait Kelly explains.

Not the news

After finding an avocado in the office fridge cut in an unusual way, Ann Ding wondered whether she’d been doing it wrong all along. It turns out there is more than one way to peel mandarins, cut passion fruit and shake a grape. But do they really cut it?

The world of sport

Media roundup

The former chief vet at Greyhound Racing NSW has called the treatment of racing dogs barbaric and unsustainable in a letter to bosses, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Brittany Higgins has broken her silence on her legal dispute with Linda Reynolds after court documents were made public, the Courier Mail reports. The big news for the West Australian is the departure of Eagles coach Adam Simpson with “player texts” proving the last straw.

What’s happening today

  • Foreign policy | Defence minister Richard Marles is at the Nato summit in Washington.

  • Bendigo | Committal mention for paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.

  • Western Australia | Premier Roger Cook is expected to make a cost-of-living announcement.

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Brain teaser

And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.

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