Morning everyone. The consequences of Scott Morrison’s power grab of multiple ministerial portfolios keep coming. The latest is a legal action in which an Afghan man claims the cancellation of his visa should be declared void because the then minister, Karen Andrews, wasn’t really the minister. Kafkaesque perhaps, or The Thick Of It, take your pick.
Elsewhere (at the G20 in India, to be precise), Penny Wong joined a group of countries trying to urge China not to arm Russia, while in the same country Australia’s cricketers have a rare win in their sights but a turning and crumbling pitch to contend with.
Australia
Into the buffers | The New South Wales government has abandoned its vision to build a high-speed rail line between Sydney and Newcastle despite four years and roughly $100m spent on feasibility studies. Macquarie Street hopes the commonwealth will eventually make it happen.
Visa challenge | An Afghan man has challenged Karen Andrews’s decision to cancel his visa in 2021, arguing that Scott Morrison’s multiple ministerial appointments displaced her as home affairs minister and rendered the decision void. It could leave all decisions made between April 2021 and the 2022 election open to challenge.
India rights | Activists are urging Anthony Albanese to raise human rights issues with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, when he visits the country next week amid concern about abuses of power.
Exclusive | Fifty refugees who allege they endured horrific treatment in now defunct South Australian detention centres are facing vast and unexplained delays to their cases against the government.
‘Little dragon’ | A new species of gecko has been discovered on an uninhabited Queensland island. The new lizard has a beaky face and spiny leaf-shaped tail, and “looks like a little dragon”.
World
Bakhmut on the brink | The besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut may be about to crack as Russian forces close in for the final assault. But Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, has said the country could run out of money by next year unless it secures investment from “friendly” countries as western sanctions bite.
G20 storm | Russia has accused the west of blackmail and threats at a stormy meeting of G20 foreign ministers in India, dominated by the war in Ukraine. Russia also claimed China was on its side as western countries urged Beijing not supply Moscow with weapons.
Pence peeved | Former US vice-president Mike Pence twice declined to say if he was supporting Donald Trump’s 2024 election bid, instead telling an interviewer that “I’m confident we’ll have better choices”.
Intelligence failure | MI5 missed a “realistic possibility” of acting on intelligence to prevent the Manchester Arena terror attack in which radicalised son of Libyan parents, Salman Abedi, killed 22 people in 2017.
‘A master’ | Wayne Shorter, one of America’s greatest jazz saxophonists whose career spanned bop, fusion and who played with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Joni Mitchell, has died in hospital, aged 89.
Full Story
Is it OK to break election promises?
As the government pursues super tax reform, Guardian Australia’s editor-in-chief, Lenore Taylor, and head of news, Mike Ticher, talk about broken promises and political point scoring.
In-depth
It was a dramatic day in the robodebt royal commission yesterday when former government services minister, Stuart Robert, admitted to making statements about the scheme that he believed were false, but said he did so anyway because he was a “dutiful” cabinet man. Our resident robodebt expert, Luke Henriques-Gomes, looks at Robert’s claims to “personal misgivings” over the scheme.
Not the news
The chef and author Petty Pandean-Elliott says her childhood in North Sulawesi, with verdant coconut plantations, volcanic mountains and pristine beaches, formed a longstanding feeling about what good food should be like. From a spicy fish stew to sweetcorn fritters, she shares some recipe ideas.
The world of sport
Cricket | Veteran spinner Nathan Lyon ripped through India’s batting with 8-64 on day two of the third Test in Indore to leave Australia needing just 76 to win with all 10 wickets in hand.
NRL | Melbourne Storm’s Cameron Munster played through a compound dislocation of his finger to help set up an epic 16-12 golden-point win over Parramatta to kick off the NRL season last night.
Football | Premier League clubs have reacted with anger to the description in a US court document of the Newcastle chairman, Yasir al-Rumayyan, as “a sitting minister of the Saudi government”.
Media roundup
The Financial Review reports that home affairs minister Clare O’Neil is restructuring the department in response to the growing domestic terrorism threat. The Age claims an exclusive with a report that the Morrison-era road-building fund earmarked 80% of projects for Liberal seats. The Daily Telegraph says that the fatal shooting of Taha Sabbagh outside a gym in south-west Sydney ends a six-month truce in the city’s gangland wars. The Adelaide Advertiser is outraged that Melbourne has been declared the friendliest city in the world – because surely it should be the City of Churches, right?
What’s happening today
Melbourne | Interlocutory hearing in the case brought by Ye, formerly Kanye West, against a burger restaurant.
Washington| Arthur Sinodinos, the outgoing ambassador to the US, speaks at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Brisbane | Joint committee hearing on the capability and culture of the National Disability Insurance Agency.
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Brain teaser
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