Good morning. Nurses in New South Wales are expected to strike today, calling for stricter nurse-to-patient ratios and a 2.5% pay increase, despite orders from the Industrial Relations Commission to call off the action. Budget estimates hearings will continue. And there are fears Russian-Ukraine tensions could spill over.
New Zealanders and Australians separated from loved ones for years are now counting down the days until they can reunite after the two countries announced they will relax the border rules for vaccinated travellers later this month. Vaccinated citizens and visa holders travelling to New Zealand from Australia will be able to fly there from 27 February and do 10 days of home quarantine, and those in other countries can return on 13 March, despite record Covid cases in NZ. We spoke to four people who have been affected by the countries’ strict border restrictions about how it will feel to be reunited with family and friends.
Vladimir Putin is adding more military forces near Ukraine’s border with each passing day, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said. “Should he want to use military force … it could happen any day,” he said. Here’s a visual guide of where forces are building. Russia’s ambassador to the EU has said Moscow would be within its rights to launch a “counterattack” if it felt it needed to protect Russian citizens living in eastern Ukraine. The comments in an interview with the Guardian will do little to calm fears of a major Russian assault on Ukraine, given one of the key scenarios suggested by western intelligence was Russia launching a “false-flag” operation to provide a pretext for invasion.
The immigration minister, Alex Hawke, has been urged to heed Australia’s “moral obligation” to Afghan nationals fleeing the Taliban by ensuring resettlement places are on top of the existing humanitarian intake. Hawke previously announced places for Afghan nationals within existing visa programs, which critics dubbed “mean and tricky”. Mariam Veiszadeh, a spokesperson for the Afghanistan-Australian Advocacy Network, said Afghanistan was in “a state of anarchy” and urged Hawke to act. “With the stroke of a pen, it’s that simple – he’s able to save people’s lives,” she said.
Australia
Sex worker social media platform, Switter, has closed down over legal concerns about online safely laws and the Australian government’s social media defamation legislation.
A public servant investigated by police over the Leppington Triangle sale has rejected a finding the $30m price tag was inflated, accusing the auditor general of “unreasonable conduct [that] may constitute negligence”, in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry.
The home affairs department paid $16,000 to a senior official to rent his house through Airbnb as part of a $522,000 program to accommodate staff who needed to quarantine after returning from overseas.
Three candidates have emerged as frontrunners to replace Leigh Sales as the host of 7.30 – David Speers, Bridget Brennan and Sarah Ferguson – as the ABC prepares its flagship current affairs program for a new era.
The world
Mauritius has formally challenged Britan’s ownership of the Chagos archipelago after the Mauritian ambassador to the UN, Jagdish Koonjul, raised his country’s flag above the atoll of Peros Banhos.
At least seven people, including two children, have died after an explosion sent fire raging through a building in southern France.
Antarctica’s two native flowering plants are spreading rapidly as temperatures warm, according to the first study to show changes in fragile polar ecosystems have accelerated in the past decade.
An opera written by a Holocaust victim has been brought to life in Germany nearly 80 years after its composer was murdered by the Nazis. Grete Minde was a side project for Eugen Engel, a textile tradesman by day, whose daughter escaped to the US and kept the musical score in a trunk.
Recommended reads
When Megadeth were too sick to headline a South Korean rock festival, Melbourne punk band Bodyjar stepped in – with blazing consequences. “[Headlining] was out of the blue and made me instantly shit myself with fear,” says Cam Baines. “When we finally got on stage in front of this huge crowd we realised they knew all the words to our songs and we had a great show. The only thing was, someone had neglected to tell us there would be pyrotechnics [probably Megadeth leftovers], so at precise moments in songs there were huge explosions that no one told us were happening. I lost some hair and bassist Grant Relf lost his eyebrows in flames.”
Despite growing up under the tyranny of “no hat, no play”, it wasn’t until Lucianne Tonti’s late 20s that she started wearing a hat every time she was in the sun. “These hats may be the only thing in my wardrobe that are treated appallingly. They are stained by chlorine, sunscreen and salt. They get left at the bottom of beach bags and backpacks, squished between water bottles, books and towels. Hats should be treated with more care than this.” Whether it’s a trendy bucket hat or a classic straw Stetson, here’s how to keep your head toppers in top condition, at home and when you travel.
“Australia’s parental leave rules entrench old social gender roles. Making them equal and gender-neutral could be our ticket out of a recession,” writes Jessica Mizrahi. “Paid paternity leave encourages mothers to go back to work earlier. What’s more, couples who share household tasks more evenly are willing to spend more time on paid work. It also incentivises people to become parents. At a time when population growth seems as elusive as economic growth, this is a pretty good deal.”
Listen
As Omicron continues to spread in aged care homes, mounting deaths and severe staff shortages have placed pressure on the federal government to act urgently – but are they doing too little, too late? In today’s Full Story, Guardian Australia medical editor Melissa Davey speaks to Laura Murphy-Oates on the stark realities being faced by frontline workers battling Covid-19.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
The Beijing Winter Games descended into acrimony and farce on Monday after the 15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva was cleared to compete again despite a positive doping test hanging over her head. The court of arbitration for sport said there were “exceptional circumstances” surrounding Valieva’s case, and that banning her while it was ongoing “would cause her irreparable harm”. But Cas’s verdict was immediately condemned by several former athletes and committees.
It is rare for athletes to get a fairytale ending. Caitlin Bassett’s retirement from netball last week is a prime example of an ending to a career that doesn’t quite sit comfortably. With 102 caps for the national team, she is not a player who many would have expected to finish her career by fading gently into obscurity.
Media roundup
The ABC reports that Labor senator Kimberley Kitching has used parliamentary privilege to suggest prominent Chinese-Australian political donor Chau Chak Wing is the mysterious “puppeteer” behind a thwarted foreign interference plot to back political candidates in the next election. Greens leader Adam Bandt has ruled out a “Liberal/National-style coalition with Labor”, according to the Australian.
Coming up
Plenty of news from Senate estimates hearings and the Bureau of Meteorology is due to make its annual climate statement for 2021.
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