Morning everyone. New scrutiny on the big four global consultancies and their relationship with government – triggered by the PwC tax advice scandal – has led to calls for a ban on political donations from them. Anthony Albanese is being urged to rethink plans to travel to China in the wake of Hong Kong’s demand for the arrest of exiled activists, and Linda Burney has planned an emotional plea for a yes vote as she sets out what she hopes will be its priorities when it starts up. Plus: how a pathologist found “floating gold” in a washed up whale.
Australia
Yes plea | Voting yes in the voice referendum is an “act of patriotism”, the Indigenous minister Linda Burney will say today. Burney reveals the advisory body will be asked to focus on “new perspectives to old challenges” in health, education, jobs and housing.
‘Undue influence’ | The Centre for Public Integrity says donations from the big four consultancy firms – PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG – should be banned after analysis showed they gifted $4.3m to Labor and the Coalition over the past decade. In that time, the value of their government contracts increased by 400%.
China call | The Coalition has urged Anthony Albanese to reconsider plans to travel to China after Hong Kong authorities vowed to pursue exiled democracy advocates “for life” and Beijing accused Australia of harbouring “fugitives”.
Concert-goers ‘unsafe’ | Sexual violence and harassment experienced by Melbourne concert-goers and live-music industry employees is rife, leaving the majority of them feeling unsafe, according to a report by Monash University.
‘Beautiful boy’ | Former world tennis No 1 Ash Barty and her husband, golf professional Garry Kissick, have announced the birth of her first child, Hayden,
World
Tel Aviv attack | At least seven people have been injured, three of them seriously, in a car ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv that took place a day after Israel launched a large-scale military operation into the West Bank city of Jenin, which continued overnight.
Battery breakthrough | Toyota says it has made a technological breakthrough that will allow it to halve the weight, size and cost of batteries, in what could herald a major advance for electric vehicles.
White House, white powder | Cocaine has been found in the White House library, law enforcement authorities said, and the Secret Service is investigating.
‘Floating gold’ | A lump of ambergris, often known as floating gold and the holy grail of perfumers for centuries, has been found in a dead sperm whale washed up on a beach on the Canary Islands in Spain.
Don’t mention the war | Classic British sitcoms from the 60s, 70s and 80s – such as Fawlty Towers, Dad’s Army and ‘Allo ‘Allo! – give an insight into the identity and political culture that contributed to Brexit, a British historian claims.
Full Story
A week of grief and fury in France
A week on from the killing of a teenage boy by police in France sparked riots, Angelique Chrisafis tells Nosheen Iqbal about the deep anger it has unleashed and what could be done to tackle it.
In-depth
The Reserve Bank may have paused its rate hikes for only the second time this year, but it’s come too late for some people who are being forced to sell their homes because they can’t keep up with soaring mortgage repayments. Our reporter Mostafa Rachwani talks to Andre Lattouf, pictured, who is selling up in Blacktown, western Sydney, where a real estate agent now estimates that 90% of his sales are due to mortgage stress and the need to avert financial disaster. And despite the pause, our economics expert thinks rates could still go up again next month.
Not the news
Warwick Thornton’s project to make a film about an Aboriginal boy who is taken to a Christian orphanage and placed under the care of a flinty, sometimes deranged nun sat untouched for years. But then the director had a chance meeting with Cate Blanchett, and, as they put it, “we kicked things around” and the result is The New Boy. Michael Sun talks to them about the film’s message of optimism in a time of uncertainty and doubt.
The world of sport
Women’s World Cup | The Matildas will go into the Women’s World Cup in just over a fortnight with the strongest squad ever, said forward Caitlin Foord after the team announcement on Monday.
Wimbledon | British tennis fans are happy as Andy Murray made it to the second round (watched from the royal box by The Princess of Wales and Roger Federer), but rain dampened the excitement at Wimbledon on outer courts.
Tour de France | Caleb Ewan was pipped into second place at the line as Belgian rider Jasper Philipsen won the fourth stage of the Tour de France, a 182km ride from Dax.
Men’s Ashes | England’s Ollie Pope has been ruled out for the rest of the Ashes with a dislocated right shoulder, while the two opposing views of Sunday’s controversial stumping rumble on.
Media roundup
A homeowner whose mortgage payments have increased by $1,500 since the RBA starting hiking rates tells the Sydney Morning Herald that he is struggling to keep up with payments despite yesterday’s pause in the increases. The Australian says businesses are in the dark about China’s new espionage laws, raising the risk that staff in the country could be detained. A Melbourne council is being challenged in court over its decision to close meetings to the public after anti-government conspiracy theorists tried to disrupt proceedings, the Age reports. The buildup to the Fadden byelection on 15 July is intensifying, the Gold Coast Bulletin says, with candidates clashing over who is to blame for traffic snarl-ups in the electorate.
What’s happening today
Canberra | The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, will address the National Press Club.
Cooma | A police officer who tasered a 95-year-old dementia patient will face court.
Sport | Basketball coach Shane Heal is suing the Sydney Flames.
Sign up
If you would like to receive this Morning Mail update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here. And finish your day with a three-minute snapshot of the day’s main news. Sign up for our Afternoon Update newsletter here.
Prefer notifications? If you’re reading this in our app, just click here and tap “Get notifications” on the next screen for an instant alert when we publish every morning.
Brain teaser
And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.
