Good morning. Sydney is officially experiencing its wettest year on record. Brittany Higgins says she felt her alleged rape became “not about me or my story” after she came forward to journalists. And the Albanese government faces increasing pressure to scrap the stage-three tax cuts.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged world leaders not to give in to Russia’s “nuclear blackmail”, appealing to Australia for help in a critical UN vote next week. Addressing the Sydney-based Lowy Institute by video link on Thursday evening, Zelenskiy revealed Australia was offering heavy arms to Ukraine in its next package of military support to defend against Russia’s invasion. The UN general assembly will consider a resolution condemning Russia’s purported annexation of four partly occupied Ukrainian regions, but Russian officials are lobbying for a secret vote so countries don’t have to make their positions public. Zelenskiy asked Australian officials to join in diplomatic efforts to ensure next week’s UN vote was “as unanimous as possible”.
Brittany Higgins says she felt her alleged rape became “not about me or my story” after she came forward to journalists, a court has heard. In the ACT supreme court on Thursday, Higgins also denied she deliberately set out to damage the Liberal party by going public about the alleged rape, and said she spoke to the media in an effort to force cultural reform. Steven Whybrow, the barrister representing Higgins’s accused rapist, Bruce Lehrmann, focused much of his cross-examination on Higgins’s dealings with journalists, including News Corp’s Samantha Maiden and Channel 10’s Lisa Wilkinson. Lehrmann has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual assault without consent.
Sydney is officially experiencing its wettest year on record as widespread drenching rain puts many parts of western New South Wales on flood alert. The mayor of the NSW town of Gunnedah, which has been hit by four severe floods in 12 months, has called on the state government to hold an inquiry into flood mitigation. Meanwhile, another NSW mayor is threatening to close roads if his council does not receive a funding boost to cover the “beating” they have taken from this year’s record rainfall. Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill said extreme weather, including heavy rain, flooding and landslides, had caused $400m worth of damage in the shire – the equivalent of 10 years’ worth of roadworks in 12 months.
Australia
The Australian Human Rights Commission has accepted Mehreen Faruqi’s complaint against Pauline Hanson over alleged racial discrimination and racial hatred over an incendiary tweet, with the commission to consider the issue in light of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.
The whistleblower Richard Boyle has told a court of his fears that the actions of the Australian Taxation Office would lead to “suicide and death in the community”. Taking the stand in a hearing seen as a critical first test of whistleblower laws, Boyle alleged ATO employees were put under pressure to bypass normal negotiations with taxpayers who owed money and move quickly towards more aggressive tactics.
A key government document outlining the impact of the $1.6bn plan to raise the Warragamba Dam wall was changed to make the project’s consequences for an area of world heritage-listed environment appear “less definite”.
Employment lawyers are split on whether former Essendon chief executive Andrew Thorburn has a case for unlawful dismissal after he was forced to choose between the job and his role as chair of a controversial church, sparking a national debate on religious freedoms.
The world
Thirty-seven people have been killed, most of them young children, in an unprecedented gun and knife attack at a preschool centre in north-east Thailand that has horrified the country.
The Nobel prize in literature has been awarded to French novelist Annie Ernaux “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory”.
Shehbaz Sharif, the Pakistani prime minister, has said the country should not be forced to go out with a “begging bowl” to rich polluting nations after the floods that have devastated the country, saying he would be seeking “climate justice” from the international community.
The bodies of 16 women and one man have been recovered from waters off the Greek island of Lesbos after a boat carrying people from countries in Africa sank in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Lockdowns and travel restrictions are continuing to cause chaos across China in the run-up to a crucial political meeting next week as the government holds fast to hardline zero-Covid policies.
Recommended reads
If you think back to the ebbing days of the pandemic’s first year you may remember the sudden appearance of the “millennial workplace exodus”, writes Jack Vening. “It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that this is an important topic once more, as I have resigned from my job to pursue my dreams. I am an exodusing millennial, and each day I become more annoying than you could possibly imagine.”
Like “big pharma” the global agricultural chemical companies run very sophisticated marketing and sponsorship networks that reach into almost every facet of rural life, writes Anne Davies. The agvet companies, as they are known, are major financial partners – whether it’s funding for the conferences of agricultural organisations such as Cotton Australia and the National Farmers’ Federation, or for university research and specialist advisory organisations such as WeedSmart.
The star-crossed lovers and feuding families return to the stage in a new production of John Cranko’s version of Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet. The ballet opens 7 October at the state theatre in Melbourne and then at the Sydney Opera House in December.
Listen
The Albanese government is facing increasing pressure to walk back their election promise to keep the Morrison government’s stage-three tax cuts, worth $243bn. The cuts would predominantly benefit the most wealthy Australians. In the middle of a looming economic crisis, Labor says they have not changed their tax policy, but will put “economics before politics”. Meanwhile, the Liberal party is eager to win any political points they can, accusing the government of “crab-walking away” from an election promise.
In this episode of Full Story, Gabrielle Jackson talks to Lenore Taylor and Mike Ticher about whether Labor should scrap the stage-three tax cuts.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
A throng of around 200 NBA scouts and decision-makers descended on Las Vegas for a glimpse of the future. The G League Ignite, an NBA developmental team based in Nevada, hosted the French club Metropolitans 92 in the first of two exhibition games. Sterling “Scoot” Henderson, an expected top pick in next year’s draft, shone at point guard for Ignite. But the NBA talent spotters’ attention was trained most keenly on the 7ft 4in teenager lining up for the Parisian side. Victor Wembanyama is not only the hottest prospect in the 2023 draft but perhaps the most promising young player since LeBron James entered the league almost two decades ago. And he didn’t disappoint in his first appearance in the United States, scoring 37 points – including seven three-pointers from 11 attempts – and swatting five blocks.
Media roundup
Australia’s media watchdog chair, Nerida O’Loughlin, will serve for another two years as the federal government progresses with its review of the way the commercial television and radio sector are regulated, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Double-digit annual growth in the cost of the NDIS and debt servicing will heap further pressure on the Albanese government’s budget, the Australian reports.
And if you’ve read this far …
Australia’s best new music for October.
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