Good morning. The Queensland town of Biloela prepares to welcome home the Nadesalingam family after campaigning for their return since 2018, while Anthony Albanese greets Jacinda Ardern, the first foreign leader to visit him on home soil.
Refugees living in limbo in Australia hope the much-publicised Nadesalingam family’s release will grant them a future as well. Such was the public backing for the Tamil refugee family that one of the first acts of the newly minted Labor government was to grant them bridging visas – but not permanent protection. Unlike the Nadesalingams, refugee Abbas Maghames’ story has largely flown under the radar. He lives with his sister, Hajar, and his elderly parents, Malakeh and Yaghob, in community detention in Loganlea, a 40-minute drive from Brisbane’s CBD, and has been in indefinite detention for a decade.
Legal advocates say it is “only a matter of time” before there’s a death inside Don Dale juvenile detention centre after the hospitalisation this week of a 16-year-old who attempted to take his own life. It’s just the latest case in at least 54 self-harm or suicide attempts since July last year. A Northern Territory government spokesperson confirmed that a 16-year-old boy had been transported to hospital on Sunday night after “sustaining an injury”, and was now back in Don Dale where he was “receiving support”. But the criminal barrister John Lawrence SC, who represents an 11-year-old boy who spent three months on remand in Don Dale, said “enough is enough”.
Two British men and a Moroccan national captured while fighting in the Ukrainian army in Mariupol have been sentenced to death by pro-Russia officials after a days-long process described as a “disgusting Soviet-era show trial”. A court in Russian-controlled east Ukraine convicted 28-year-old Aiden Aslin, from Newark, 48-year-old Shaun Pinner, from Watford, and Saaudun Brahim on charges of “terrorism”. The UK government says it is “deeply concerned” about the sentences. The Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has also compared Russia’s invasion to Covid and described weapons and sanctions as a vaccine, as Ukraine’s military position in Donbas worsens.
Australia
The east coast could be hit by a rare “triple La Niña” that brings flooding rains and cooler weather for the third summer in a row, a senior US government scientist says. Experts say the prospect of a triple La Niña is real but there is disagreement between different computer models.
The peak medical body is calling for Anthony Albanese to revive national cabinet’s focus on the Covid-19 pandemic, warning that this winter will be “the worst it has ever been” for the country’s overburdened health network.
Property prices in most cities are expected to fall by double-digit figures after the Reserve Bank of Australia hit the interest rate brakes harder and faster than earlier forecast, crimping the size of loans households can borrow, economists say. The Commonwealth Bank is forecasting price falls nationally of about 15% over the next 18 months, and more in Sydney and Melbourne.
Australia’s vast visa backlog is trapping engineering graduates out of the country for up to four years, compounding the skills shortages and causing heartache, frustration and depression among applicants. The engineering job vacancy rate has increased 97% in 12 months.
Families are being forced to give up hundreds of dogs, cats and other pets as the rental crisis bites. In states where landlords are free to always refuse pets, “people are turning up with broken hearts,” the RSPCA South Australia spokesperson, Carolyn Jones, said.
The world
Editors and journalists from some of the world’s biggest news organisations have written to the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, to ask that he “urgently step up and fully resource the effort” to find the missing British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira.
The US diplomatic mission to the Palestinians in Jerusalem has been redesignated and will report directly to Washington “on substantive matters”, indicating an upgrade in ties before a planned visit by President Joe Biden.
Nigerian security officials suspect extremists from Islamic State’s affiliate in west Africa were behind an attack on a Catholic church last weekend that killed dozens.
US federal regulators are deepening their investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot function after more than a dozen Tesla cars crashed into parked first-responder vehicles over a period of four years.
Recommended reads
Now is the winter of our discontent! After two years of plague, after a summer of torrential rain and flooding and more plague, after an autumn of mould and more rain and even more plague, comes the sickness. We’re all sick, or if we’re not sick we are recovering from being sick, or we are about to get sick. But this flu season feels more like a communal event, says Brigid Delaney.
From cold weather to Covid-19 to cost, there are many reasons to stay in at the moment. But letting your social life wither can have real consequences. Research by the thinktank Mainstreet Insights who spoke to 1,001 Australians aged over 18 suggests that while life has gone back to normal for many, some are experiencing social atrophy – similar to when our muscles are underused for long periods.
As Christine McVie releases a compilation of her solo work, the writer and singer of some of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hits answers your questions on excess, infighting and tells how Joe Cocker joined her wedding night.
Listen
It has been a busy first few weeks for the new government. After Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong took off for Tokyo to meet with the Quad shortly after being signed in, Wong then went on two further trips to the Pacific and, this week, they went to Indonesia. In this episode of Full Story, Gabrielle Jackson talks to Lenore Taylor and Mike Ticher about what message Labor is trying to send with its focus on foreign affairs.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
England are set to face an Australia side boosted by the reinforcements of Samu Kerevi, Marika Koroibete and Quade Cooper after the Wallabies head coach, Dave Rennie, revealed his three overseas picks for the series next month.
Our cartoonist on what a lies ahead for Graham Arnold’s Socceroos team after their win over the UAE.
Media roundup
The NSW government is to make its single biggest investment in renewable energy infrastructure, committing $1.2bn to fast-track critical transmission projects to deliver cheaper and more reliable power, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Australians looking to side-step lengthy passport office lines are offering individuals on marketplaces such as Airtasker up to $150 to queue in their place as the Labor government scrambles to add extra staff to clear processing backlogs, according to WAToday.
Coming up
Jacinda Ardern and Anthony Albanese will hold their first joint media conference this morning.
The US congressional committee investigating the Capitol Riot will hold the first of six public hearings.
And if you’ve read this far …
Meet the superworms that are literally foaming at the mouth as they make a meal out of polystyrene.
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• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
