Good morning. A “decade of government inaction and wilful ignorance” is blamed as Australia releases its latest, “shocking” environment scorecard. A majority of Aboriginal souvenirs sold are fakes with no connection to Indigenous people. And health workers paint a dire picture of the country’s hospital system as more than 8,500 isolate because of Covid.
The health of Australia’s environment is poor and has deteriorated over the past five years due to pressures of climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, pollution and mining, according to a government report. The state of the environment report – a review completed by scientists last year but held back by the Morrison government until after the federal election – found abrupt changes in some Australian ecosystems over the past five years. The environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, said it was a “shocking document” that told “a story of crisis and decline, and of a decade of government inaction and wilful ignorance”.
Two out of three “Aboriginal” souvenirs on the market are fake, with no connection to Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people, according to a new report by the Productivity Commission. The commission is calling for mandatory labelling of these inauthentic products to help warn consumers, and curb the significant cultural harm that “Indigenous‑style consumer products” do to artists and communities, in its latest report released on Tuesday.
Healthcare workers say they are struggling to care for patients with more than 8,500 medical staff across four states in Covid isolation as Omicron puts added pressure on the system. It comes as the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, rejects a call from the New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, to consider cutting the seven-day isolation requirement for positive Covid cases. Meanwhile, students across much of Australia are back at school amid warnings of high daily case numbers that have yet to peak in several states.
Australia
A refugee detained for more than a year in two Melbourne hotels has spoken out about the enduring trauma of his ordeal, saying the nightmare of his prolonged unlawful detention left him “dreaming of sunlight”. The federal court will on Tuesday begin hearing a case brought by Mostafa “Moz” Azimitabar against the Australian government.
China has accused Australia of provocation in the South China Sea and said Australia must “refrain from abusing China’s restraint”. Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin was responding to a question about recent military encounters in the South China Sea.
The inquest into the death of Gordon Copeland, a 22-year-old Gomeroi man who drowned in a Moree river after allegedly running from police, has heard harrowing evidence about his final moments.
South-east Australia is set to shiver through a winter cold snap this week, with some areas experiencing sub-zero temperatures and others up to 8C below average.
The Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has called for a windfall profits tax for Australia, arguing the idea is a “no-brainer” that has been taken off the table because of the influence of big companies.
Scott Morrison has said he and his fellow worshippers “don’t trust in governments” and “don’t trust in the United Nations” during a sermon at Margaret Court’s church, where the former prime minister also said God had a “plan” for him after his election defeat.
The world
The United Arab Emirates has sentenced Asim Ghafoor – the former lawyer of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was killed at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018 – to three years in prison on charges of money laundering and tax evasion.
Meteorologists have warned of a “heat apocalypse” in western France as thousands flee their homes to escape a large wildfire sparked by a searing southern European heatwave that has already caused hundreds of deaths. Nearly 25,000 people have been forced to abandon homes, holiday rentals and campsites for emergency shelters in the Gironde département west of Bordeaux.
Environmental campaigners have launched a last-ditch legal bid to prevent or delay the UK’s trade deal with Australia, owing to concerns over its impacts on the climate and the natural world. A group of seven UK environmental and farming organisations has filed a formal complaint alleging the UK government breached international law in signing the deal.
Inflation in New Zealand has hit a steeper-than-forecast 7.3%, its highest level in three decades, with households facing hefty jumps in food, petrol and housing costs.
Two cases of the deadly Marburg virus have been identified in Ghana, the first time the Ebola-like disease has been found in the west African nation.
Recommended reads
Video games are seldom treated in literature as a site of emotion, but in Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow they are the very landscape in which the full spectrum of relationships, grief, and love play out.
As Neighbours airs its last episode, a decades-old rivalry between Erinsborough and Summer Bay finally comes to an end. But insiders say the beginning of the end came a long time ago.
Listen
Almost 100 Australian aged care residents are dying every week in the winter wave of Covid, as public health measures remain limited around the country. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of carers are leaving the underpaid and over-stretched aged care workforce. Reporter Christopher Knaus explains to Jane Lee why aged care homes are still struggling in the third year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
For the mug amateur, professional golf is borderline witchcraft. It is a dark art to simply play in the Open Championship, the oldest and greatest major hosted by a royal and ancient society at the “home of golf”. To win on the Old Course at St Andrews? Well, this is not normal behaviour at all. It is among the reasons golf fans love Australia’s latest major champion, Cameron Smith. He reminds us of ourselves; he is an everyman who happens to be unbelievably good at golf.
Media roundup
Gas shortages in Victoria threaten to plunge the nation’s electricity market into a fresh crisis, reports the Australian. A group of Traditional Owners for the World Heritage-nominated Burrup Peninsula want recently approved site preparations for the Pilbara project blocked, according to the WAToday.
And if you’ve read this far …
How to air dry your clothes in all weather conditions.
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