Good morning. Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese will face off again in a third and final leaders’ debate tonight, just 10 days out from the election. Here’s hoping the pair will provide more clarity about their party’s policies, after the calamity of Sunday’s second debate.
Material circulating on the Chinese language social media platform WeChat alleges Labor and the Greens will fund school programs to turn students gay, impose new taxes and destroy Chinese wealth. The well-produced posters designed for the digital platform carry no authorisation, but mostly support the Liberal party. With three million users across the country, including politicians and media, the network could play a pivotal role in determining who wins. Here’s what we know about how the campaign is playing out on the platform so far.
The Australian Electoral Commission is “actively” investigating unauthorised political signs claiming independent candidates are affiliated with the Greens, and whether they breach laws that ban misleading voters after confirming they break electoral laws requiring authorisation. Meanwhile, the AEC asked social networks to remove a video from Pauline Hanson’s campaign that includes allegations of voter fraud in past federal elections, but not before it got at least 200,000 views. Guardian Australia reporter Antoun Issa goes through Hanson’s claims one at a time and checks the facts.
Most prominent independent candidates say they would negotiate with either Labor or the Liberals in the event of a hung parliament, with many indicating they would support whichever party met their policy demands on climate and integrity. The two issues were repeatedly cited as the most commonly raised in the respective electorates of the dozen high-profile lower house independent candidates and sitting crossbench MPs questioned by Guardian Australia. Curious to know more? Read the full responses from independent candidates and crossbench MPs surveyed.
Vladimir Putin could potentially use a nuclear weapon if he views the prospect of defeat in Ukraine as an existential threat to his regime, the top US intelligence official has warned. The grim forecast came on a day of continued fighting in the east and south of Ukraine, and Russian missile attacks on the port of Odesa, with the UN conceding that the civilian death toll from the war will probably be far higher than the current official estimate of 3,381.
Australia
Coral bleaching affected more than 90% of reefs surveyed along the Great Barrier Reef this year according to a report, which revealed the extent of the sixth mass bleaching event.
Ride-share and taxi drivers say the rising cost of petrol is putting them under enormous strain. Drivers say their costs have surged but fares have stayed flat, forcing them to be picky about the trips they choose.
Domestic violence advocates and survivors have welcomed an inquiry into how Queensland police handle domestic violence, but are waiting for the detail to see if it will examine “widespread cultural issues” within the police service.
Employers have warned that “small business can’t afford” the 5.1% minimum wage rise backed by Anthony Albanese to keep up with inflation. Employers argue that excessive minimum pay increases will fuel inflation, but unions say a 5.5% increase is “incredibly reasonable” to meet cost-of-living pressures.
People in National party seats will be turned off by Bridget McKenzie’s characterisation of community independents as “Simon Holmes à Court’s groupies”, the former Indi independent Cathy McGowan has warned.
The world
The Spanish spy chief, Paz Esteban, has been sacked as the country tries to contain the fallout from a cyber-espionage scandal.
Survivors of the brutal regime of the late Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos have described his son’s apparent landslide presidential election victory as the product of trickery and disinformation.
Elon Musk has said he will reverse Twitter’s ban on Donald Trump if he completes a takeover of the social media platform.
China’s zero-Covid policy is not sustainable “considering the behaviour of the virus”, according to the WHO.
Recommended reads
Natalie Bassingthwaighte’s latest TV project is, by her own description, a “heartwarming experiment” in which seven strangers see if increased creativity can help their mental health. Despite her years on stage, Bassingthwaighte didn’t grow up in a musical household – or so she thought. It wasn’t until she unearthed an old keyboard from her parent’s home that she learned her dad had once played music. She tells us why she’d rush to save that “crusty” old instrument in a fire.
Australia relies on overseas-trained medical experts yet consigns them to professional purgatory, writes Ranjana Srivastava. “On my way to a conference, the taxi driver has taken an inordinate interest in my work until I am forced to reveal that I am an oncologist … it never crosses my mind that he might be a doctor himself. The disclosure [that he was a cancer surgeon before a taxi driver] makes me sink deeper into my seat to render myself invisible. He fled his country during war. When he turned his mind to medicine, the hurdles were onerous and the rules opaque.”
An intimate new documentary explores the difficult life of David McComb of the Triffids, one of Australia’s most brilliant songwriters, whose unexpected death stunned the industry. Jonathan Alley began working on his biopic Love in Bright Landscapes 13 years ago. He wanted to celebrate McComb’s incendiary talent for words and music, but didn’t want it to be a standard rock documentary. “I wanted to make a biographical piece on an artist and what was happening in that person’s life, and why those things were happening,” he says.
Listen
In Queensland, a big swing away from the Labor party in 2019 was a decisive factor in their defeat. However, the political landscape in some seats has shifted. In today’s Full Story, Guardian Australia’s Queensland correspondent Ben Smee talks to voters in metropolitan and regional areas about what will decide their vote, and speaks to Laura Murphy-Oates about how an unpredictable climate of change in the state could affect the election.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
The Socceroos will prepare for their sudden-death World Cup qualifying play-off with a friendly match against Jordan in Qatar. Australia will play Jordan on Tuesday 1 June, exactly a week before their single-leg play-off against the United Arab Emirates at Doha’s Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.
Media roundup
Labor is refusing to list the electorates set to get new urgent care clinics, despite the party’s frontbenchers and candidates spruiking them on social media, reports the ABC. In the West Australian, no mining giants have faced legal action almost five months after the sector watchdog demanded an explanation for “unequivocally unacceptable” failures to report workplace rapes.
Coming up
Barnaby Joyce will address the National Press Club. The ANU will release a report on clean transport, while some University of Sydney staff will take industrial action.
And if you’ve read this far …
A Canadian lawmaker has apologised after he was caught logging on to a closed parliamentary session from a toilet stall.
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