Good morning. Labor is under renewed pressure to rethink a $243bn tax cuts plan as new analysis reveals startling imbalances in who will benefit. A massive expansion of paid parental leave could add billions to the economy, a new report suggests. And scientists say a significant sea level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now inevitable.
The richest 1% of Australians will get as much benefit from the stage three tax cuts as the poorest 65% combined, new parliamentary budget office analysis has projected, putting more pressure on the Albanese government to rethink its commitment to the controversial $243bn plan. The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, again called for the tax cuts – which were legislated in 2019 with Labor support – to be discussed at this week’s jobs and skills summit. He warned they would “turbocharge” inequality.
Unions have called for a massive expansion of paid parental leave by extending it to 52 weeks, paying parents their actual wage and including superannuation, with unions saying the move could add billions to the economy. A report released by the Australian Council of Trade Unions says halving the gap in women’s pay and participation would boost the economy by $111bn. Unions also want Labor’s childcare subsidies brought forward by six months and an expansion in gender pay gap reporting.
Major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now inevitable, scientists have found, even if the fossil fuel burning that is driving the climate crisis were to end overnight. The research shows the global heating to date will cause an absolute minimum sea-level rise of 27cm (10.6in) from Greenland alone as 110tn tonnes of ice melt. With continued carbon emissions, the melting of other ice caps and thermal expansion of the ocean, a multi-metre sea-level rise appears likely.
Australia
The Allianz Stadium has been rebuilt at a cost of $800m but the harbour city still lacks the right grounds in the right suburbs for all codes, writes Emma Kemp.
Free university degrees for budding nurses in Victoria could exacerbate nationwide workforce shortages and pit states against each other, unions and peak bodies have warned.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says Australian aid in the Pacific comes with “no strings attached”, in a veiled reference to China’s expanding power in the region.
Centrelink seized $13,000 in compensation paid to a jobseeker injured on the federal government’s own work-for-the-dole program.
Three people died have died in a plane crash in bushland near Lake Wivenhoe, west of Brisbane.
The world
Nasa scrubbed the first launch attempt of Artemis 1, the US space agency’s first human-rated moon rocket in 50 years, on Monday because of an “engine bleed” that halted the countdown 40 minutes before lift-off.
There are growing fears for people living in communities in Pakistan cut off by devastating flooding caused by unusually strong monsoon rains, as damage to major roads hampers the military-led relief effort.
Chinese authorities said they had charged 28 people and were investigating 15 officials including police for corruption, more than two months after a shocking incident in which a group of men assaulted four women at a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan, north-east China.
Russia’s FSB security service has accused without evidence a second Ukrainian citizen of preparing the car bomb that killed the daughter of an ultranationalist Russian ideologue this month.
Recommended reads
In their final Australian tour, Kiss bring bombast and pyrotechnics to the masses with incredible costumes, fake blood and huge heels, writes Elmo Keep, in a five-star review of their “glorious, absurd triumph” of a show in Sydney.
In the first of a two-part series, Lucianne Tonti recruits numerous experts to help you keep delicate vintage and antique garments in a condition that means you can wear them without wearing them out.
We cannot squander this moment, writes Kristine Ziwica, arguing that Australia must tackle the structural issues behind women’s inequality. “The post-pandemic lessons of care feminism seem to have sunk in, but if we do not seize the moment now, we may waste a historic opportunity.”
Listen
As monkeypox cases rise around the country, Australia is rolling out a vaccine. However, supply is limited – with strict eligibility criteria applied to Australia’s 450,000 doses. In today’s Full Story, science reporter Donna Lu explains everything you need to know about monkeypox, the vaccine and how we’re tackling this outbreak.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Hope can be a dangerous thing for Wallabies fans, writes Angus Fontaine, but Saturday’s performance instilled it. Beat the world champions again this week and the Bledisloe Cup is looking good against an out-of-sorts All Blacks outfit.
Media roundup
Australian authorities have served Apple, Microsoft and Meta with legal orders to reveal what they are doing to combat online child sex abuse, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. And the Australian reports a claim by the manufacturer of a small “modular” nuclear power plant that it could be plugged into Australia’s grid by 2027.
Coming up
The verdict in the murder trial of Chris Dawson is due today, and the funeral of legendary rugby league coach and player Paul Green will take place at Wynnum’s BMD Kougari Oval.
And if you’ve read this far …
This “castle” has a cinema, an eight-door Aga, a leather ceiling, a gold-rimmed oculus, an outdoor fireplace and walls rendered in crushed TV screens. It’s also really annoyed the locals in Scotland.
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