Good morning. An investigation is underway after footage circulating on social media showed the violent arrest of an Aboriginal man with a disability in New South Wales. A video shows the 18-year-old being walked along a driveway by an officer in Taree before stumbling and falling to the ground, where he begins having a seizure. A second clip shows the teenager – handcuffed – being violently thrown to the ground by the officer.
Meanwhile, Labor is seeking to ward off widespread dissent over the Aukus nuclear submarine deal at its national party conference in Brisbane.
Plus: the service of First Nations soldiers has long been hidden from official histories. But as the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam war is commemorated, researchers are shining a light on Indigenous servicemen who fought there.
Australia
Labor conference | The Albanese government will stare down union and grassroots Labor dissent against the Aukus nuclear submarine acquisition, offering reassurances around non-proliferation and waste.
Exclusive | NSW police have launched an investigation after a young Aboriginal man with a disability was violently arrested while having a seizure and thrown to the ground while handcuffed in Taree.
Vietnam war | Australian War Memorial researchers have identified 285 Indigenous servicemen who fought in the Vietnam war – including seven involved in the battle of Long Tan.
Astroturfing | More than a quarter of submissions from e-cigarette users made to the government’s vaping reforms consultation featured text copied from a tobacco industry campaign.
Drug driving | Legal experts argue that a NSW district court judgment will make it almost impossible for people facing drug driving charges to defend themselves.
World
Cape Verde boat disaster | A Spanish NGO alerted authorities from four countries on 20 July about a boat carrying an estimated 130 asylum seekers – found drifting this week with just 38 survivors left on board.
Security concerns | Sweden has raised its terrorist threat level to the second-highest number possible, amid heightened security fears following a string of Qur’an burnings that have caused outrage.
Diplomatic thaw | Saudi Arabia and Iran are making progress on mending ties, Iran’s foreign minister said after meeting with his counterpart in Riyadh, after years of hostility between the rivals.
‘Ready to fight at any time’ | Chinese soldiers have been filmed in a propaganda video showing troops running past anti-landing barricades similar to those that dot Taiwan’s coast.
Trump indictment | A Republican state senator has moved to impeach Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney prosecuting Donald Trump over alleged 2020 election interference.
Full Story
Australia’s love affair with football – is this a new beginning?
Australia has fallen in love with the Matildas. Despite bowing out in the World Cup semi-finals to England, football fever has spread across the nation and sparked hope that this tournament is just the beginning of a bright future for women’s sport. Gabrielle Jackson speaks to Mike Ticher and Mike Hytner about how Australia must capitalise on the Matildas’ World Cup success.
In-depth
The Coalition appears to have landed on a neat solution to decarbonising Australia’s electricity grid – just swap out the coal plants for nuclear. The shadow climate change and energy minister, Ted O’Brien, says such a plan would reduce the need to spend billions on connecting solar and windfarms to the grid. But what O’Brien has failed to mention is the cost of a new plant to build – and that the pace at which you could deploy the small modular reactors he advocates means sitting on our hands until at least the end of the decade.
Not the news
The Sitter by Angela O’Keeffe is a compelling and playful novel narrated from beyond the grave by Marie-Hortense Fiquet Cézanne, wife and frequent subject of the French painter. It is, in many ways, a book about looking and being looked at, about depiction and all that it might mean. That its opening scene places the reader somewhere ambiguous and slippery, simultaneously within and external to what is being observed, is a skilful gambit – and one that resonates across the rest of the novel.
The world of sport
Women’s World Cup | Thank you Matildas, your World Cup campaign brought football to life in Australia; With Australia out, who should we support now? England, Spain – or neither?
Swimming | Swimming Australia is rushing to address complaints raised by World Aquatics which had threatened its expulsion.
Football | Chelsea captain Reece James could be out for months after injury in training; Michael Olise signs new four-year deal at Crystal Palace.
Athletics | Instead of chasing gold at the world champs, an Olympic silver medallist is 5,000 miles away taking pills to lower her testosterone level.
Media roundup
Amid a worsening housing crisis, NSW will need to build 75,000 homes each year for five years – twice as many as the state is forecast to deliver – to reach its share of the federal government’s ambitious new housing targets, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. There are warnings that Victoria may not be prepared for the hot and dry summer ahead after the state’s water bombing capabilities were slashed by almost a third, reports the Age. Plans to build a private hospital in Tasmania have been abandoned after projected costs doubled to more than $120m, reports the Mercury.
What’s happening today
ACT | Commemorations will mark the 50th anniversary of the end of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam war.
Queensland | The Labor party national conference continues in Brisbane.
New South Wales | Hearing scheduled in the case of a climate protester arrested in a police raid in the Colo Valley.
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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.
