Good morning. Senior European Union officials are worried about a deepening alliance forming between Russia and China. Families in Victoria earning up to $132,000 will be able to rent homes from the state government. And flood-hit regions in New South Wales have been left reeling from the latest devastation as rains finally ease.
European Union leaders are being urged to tell China it will face sanctions if it offers military aid to Russia for the war in Ukraine, amid concerns about a deepening authoritarian alliance that threatens the rules-based international order. Senior EU and Chinese leaders are expected to hold discussions on Friday at a video summit that is likely to be dominated by the war. EU diplomats said the the bloc’s representatives needed to pass on a message that Beijing would pay a price for any intervention in support of Russia’s war. Current sanctions on Russian oligarchs and officials, however, do not appear to be stopping them from flying into and out of EU and UK airports despite flight bans and sanctions imposed, a Guardian data investigation has found.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has launched a fresh attempt to rescue civilians from Mariupol after warnings from the Red Cross that thousands of lives depend on the successful evacuation of people trapped in the besieged city by Russian forces. A total of 45 buses were en route to the nearby southern coastal town of Berdyansk, Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, as well as a team delivering humanitarian aid and assisting evacuations from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The convoy was expected to enter the city on Friday morning after Russian promises of a limited ceasefire along the route from Mariupol to the Ukraine-held city of Zaporizhzhia.
Families earning up to $132,000 will be able to rent homes from the Victorian government as part of a scheme it says will help ease housing affordability concerns in the state. On Friday, the housing minister, Richard Wynne, will announce the affordable housing rental scheme, which will make about 2,400 homes from the government’s $5.3bn “big housing build” available to rent. In metropolitan Melbourne, rents will be set at least 10% below the median market rent of the area – and capped at 30% of the median income in Melbourne. In regional Victoria, creating extra supply is the priority for the scheme. Rents will be set at the median market rental price for that area, as well as limited at 30% of the median income in regional Victoria.
Australia
Australia motorists may have to wait weeks for the Morrison government’s halving of the fuel excise to be passed on, with one motoring group warning that retailers could use falling global oil prices as a cover to fatten their profit margins.
Anglicare took three years to apologise for failing to report the sexual assault of young woman with a disability to police, a royal commission has heard.
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) scrutinised a disabled woman’s social media posts to challenge her eligibility, a tribunal decision revealed.
Recent rains have driven the Australian white ibis away from our bins and into Sydney’s sodden parklands.
Workers on the lowest pay would receive a real pay cut under a proposal to freeze the minimum wage pushed by the cafe and restaurant industry.
The world
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said he expects his country will continue to be able to pay for Russian gas in euros from Friday, after Vladimir Putin signed a decree threatening to enforce rouble payments from “unfriendly countries” and raising fears Moscow could be about to throttle gas supplies.
Israeli forces have raided a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, setting off a gun battle in which two Palestinians were killed and more than a dozen were wounded, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The British government has provided more than £5bn in the past three years to overseas energy and infrastructure projects linked to labour abuses and environmental damage, according to documents and interviews with workers.
Beijing has expelled its high profile former justice minister and deputy police chief from the ruling Communist party, denouncing him as being “extremely despicable” and accusing him of befriending “political frauds”.
Paris climate agreement goals will fail unless the rights of Indigenous people who protect rainforests are honoured, according to a new report.
Recommended reads
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson is a much-hyped crime novel that has been marketed as Knives Out meets The Thursday Murder Club – but it is excruciatingly self-referential, writes Beejay Silcox.
From bushfire knowledge to a Blak Parliament House, this year’s Indigenous art triennial celebrates Aboriginal knowledge and imagines a radically different Australia.
Aidan felt safe at choir, writes his mother, changed by the communal act of sharing his voice – then he was diagnosed with cancer.
Listen
With an election looming, the Coalition government delivered a budget with one thing in mind: re-election. With money and big infrastructure projects pushed into key battleground seats, how do we keep track of what is being spent, and where? In this episode of Full Story, Gabrielle Jackson speaks to Lenore Taylor and Mike Ticher about following the dollars during an election.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Our cartoonist David Squires looks at a calamitous few weeks in which the Socceroos’ World Cup qualification hopes have been seriously dented.
Latrell Mitchell chases inner peace while Nathan Cleary’s return signals the real start of Penrith’s pursuit of back-to-back titles.
Media roundup
Prime minister Scott Morrison’s reputation has been further questioned on Q+A, with some panellists backing claims this week from a Liberal senator that he is a “bully”, the ABC reports. The West Australian government does not know what it will use the Bullsbrook quarantine facility for after construction delays rendered it useless for the current Covid crisis, according to the WAToday.
Coming up
Terence Kelly, who has pleaded guilty to abducting Cleo Smith from her family’s West Australian campsite, is due to appear in court.
And if you’ve read this far …
Gaslit, Devs and Better Call Saul: what’s new to streaming in Australia this April.
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