Good morning. Today marks the first full sitting day of the new parliament, when legislation will be introduced to enshrine Labor’s 2030 and 2050 emissions reduction targets, along with a bill to scrap the cashless debit card.
Almost half of all Australian adults had been infected with Covid-19 in June, according to serosurvey of antibodies detected in blood donations. Evidence of past infection was detected in 46% of samples, compared with 17% in February. Epidemiologists have called Victoria’s move to scale back its PCR Covid testing regime a “backwards step” amid soaring case numbers and hospitalisations.
Anthony Albanese says Labor will not support a moratorium on fossil fuel projects because doing so would have a “devastating impact on the Australian economy”. Albanese told ABC TV a moratorium was “the policy of the Greens” and a stop to the export of coal would lead to job losses and less tax revenue.
Lismore residents whose flood-damaged homes have been uninhabitable for months received bills for hundreds of dollars from energy providers based on estimated power usage. Ella Buckland only moved back to her Lismore home last week after flooding in February and still does not have a meter, but she has been sent two invoices for estimated electricity charges. She says the estimate would have included use for hot water – despite witnessing her hot water system float away.
The EU has been forced to water down its plan to ration gas this northern winter in an attempt to avoid an energy crisis generated by further Russian cuts to supply. Energy ministers from the 27 member states, except Hungary, backed a voluntary 15% reduction in gas usage over the winter, a target that could become mandatory were the Kremlin to order a complete shutdown of gas to Europe.
Australia
Participants in cashless debit card trial sites may be able to opt out of the program by October. The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, says support will be available to transition off the card that “often makes participants’ lives more difficult”.
A proposal to turn an unfinished, 1,000-bed quarantine facility in Queensland into crisis housing for women and children has been met with a mixed response, with some community groups questioning whether the public health facilities were “fit for purpose”.
The employment services industry lobbied to stop a proposed rule banning providers from referring jobseekers to their own training courses under the new $1.5bn-a-year Workforce Australia model.
The night sky will be illuminated by a trio of meteor showers – the Piscis Austrinids, the Southern Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids – that will peak this week. Here’s when and where to look.
The world
Joe Biden has said that Donald Trump “lacked the courage to act” during the the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Trump has begun his remarks at the America First Agenda summit by tearing into the Biden administration’s policies he says have “brought our country to its knees”.
Voting in Papua New Guinea’s elections has been overshadowed by outbreaks of violence, including the massacre of 18 people in the Highlands. But what has caused the violence, and what can be done to stop it?
Scientists have found more than 30 potentially new species living at the bottom of the sea using a remotely operated vehicle in the central Pacific.
Recommended reads
Dr Norman Swan became a trusted voice to many Australians during the pandemic, but, at home, Swan is also an expert in stain removal. That’s why he considers his “shpritz” – the small bottle of stain remover he wields like a weapon at the dinner table – his most useful object. “ Life would be hell without the freedom to succumb to my compulsiveness about stains,” he says. “I have a wide reputation as a stain whisperer.” Swan also shares stories about a few other important items.
Nyaparu “William” Gardiner was 70 when he started painting and, in the last four years of his life created more than 350 works capturing stylish stockmen and stunning landscapes. One of the most acclaimed painters to come out of the Pilbara in Western Australia, his paintings reflect the lead-up to and aftermath of a crucial moment in modern Indigenous Australian history: the 1946 Pilbara strike. See the gallery here.
“I will never regret the time I spent with my children but society is punishing me for it in my 60s,” writes Louise Ihlein. “Women who cared and enjoyed going to playgroup, helping out in preschool and the wet area in kindergarten. We are a lost demographic no one wants to acknowledge. Many of us are unemployed or homeless, eking out an existence on jobkeeper payments, putting up with the punitive mutual obligations after a life of what was once considered a valuable contribution to society.”
Listen
Thousands of fines for breaching Covid rules have been issued to children in NSW, with some placed in an unpaid work program to pay off their debt. Legal organisations say these fines should be scrapped, and a separate NSW supreme court case could lead to many more being ruled invalid. In today’s Full Story, reporter Christopher Knaus explores the controversial enforcement of Covid fines for vulnerable groups and the fight to have these fines erased.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
History favours the Australians at the Commonwealth Games, who lead the all-time Games medal count by more than 200 gold medals, with a total haul of 932 golds. Here are 10 athletes, teams and events to watch as the Australians go for gold when the 2022 Games begin in Birmingham tomorrow.
Media roundup
The ABC says the mystery of the Somerton man has been solved, with an Adelaide University researcher identifying the unknown man found lifeless at Adelaide’s Somerton beach in 1948 as Carl “Charles” Webb, a 43-year-old engineer and instrument maker. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that more childcare centres are operating without enough qualified early childhood teachers because of a worsening staff shortage that could undermine the federal government’s pledge to make childcare more affordable. The price of international airfares has jumped as much as 47% for some routes, which has been blamed on the surging price of aviation fuel, according to the Herald Sun.
Coming up
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the consumer price index data for the June quarter.
CSIRO chief Larry Marshall will address the National Press Club.
Sign up
If you would like to receive the Guardian Australia morning mail to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com.
Discover Australian Weekend
Every Saturday from 6am, enjoy early access to the best journalism planned for the weekend in one elegant app, plus a curated selection of the week’s news and analysis from Australia and the world.
