Morning mail: tears as Melbourne out of lockdown, Fauci warning on US cases, moon water discovery
Good morning, this is Tamara Howie bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 27 October.
Top stories
Melbourne’s stay-at-home order lifts at midnight after more than four months of Covid lockdown. Cafes, restaurants, bars and beauty services will reopen, subject to patron limits, after Daniel Andews declared “now is the time to open up” after no new coronavirus cases were recorded for the first time in close to 20 weeks. “Now is the time to congratulate every single Victorian for staying the course. Now is the time to thank every single Victorian family for being guided by the data, the science and the doctors, not letting our frustration get the better of us but, instead, proving equal to this wicked enemy,” Victoria’s premier said. The news brought tears and cheers to many people across the state, who can now leave their homes for any reason. All retail, beauticians and tattoo parlours will be allowed to reopen, in line with Covid-safe plans. Cafes, bars and restaurants will be allowed to reopen with indoor seating of up to 20 and outdoor of up to 50.
A $100m scheme to fund the manufacturing of products from recycled plastics and paper has not used any of its funding, nor supported any initiatives, since it was unveiled by the Morrison government before the 2019 election. Labor and the Greens accused the government of failing to deliver on its recycling and waste commitments after Senate estimates last week heard leaders in charge of the Recycling Investment Fund “haven’t entered into any transactions at this point”. Ian Learmonth, the chief executive of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, told estimates “there has been a very active pipeline of transactions and some active negotiations with proponents, but we’ve announced nothing at this point”.
The top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci says the country is still in the first wave of coronavirus infections. “I look at it more as an elongated – and an exacerbation of – the original first wave,” Fauci told Yahoo Finance today. His comments come as coronavirus cases are climbing around the world as many countries enter their second wave. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said her country is on the verge of losing control of its fight against the pandemic. Italians have been warned not to travel abroad and France’s science council adviser says the real number of infections in the country is probably twice the official figure and close to 100,000 a day. China has tested 2.84 million people after 137 new asymptomatic cases were confirmed – the first new local cases for 10 days in mainland China.
Australia
An investigation has cleared the Australian Public Service Commission of threatening and intimidating the volunteer-run transparency website Right to Know, which hosted freedom of information documents about the commission’s former boss.
The Morrison government has been urged by analysts to prepare for a shift in the global economy as major trading partners move to cut emissions. Japan, the largest market for Australia coal and gas exports, pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2015.
The One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts has accused the Morrison government of failing to fix the “cruel mess” of casual employees missing out on entitlements such as annual leave despite working regular, permanent hours.
The mother of David Dungay Jr, an Aboriginal man who died after being held face down by five Sydney prison guards, has told a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the state’s high Aboriginal incarceration rates that “the system is broken”. She said it was a “slap in the face” that the public prosecutor would not investigate whether criminal offences might have been committed by the officers involved in her son’s death.
Perpetrators of revenge porn in Victoria are almost never imprisoned unless sentenced after being found guilty of other crimes, according to a new government report.
The world
Scientists have confirmed there is water on the moon and it may be relatively accessible. It had been assumed that the moon’s surface was dry – until the 1990s, when orbiting spacecraft found indications of ice in large and inaccessible craters near the moon’s poles. Now Nasa scientists have detected a chemical signature that is unambiguously H2O, by measuring the wavelengths of sunlight reflecting off the moon’s surface. The data was gathered by the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, a modified Boeing 747 carrying a 2.7-metre reflecting telescope. The discovery has implications for future missions to the moon and deeper space exploration.
Footage of Donald Trump abruptly walking out of a CBS 60 Minutes interview has been released by the network. The president left after a question about whether his use of social media and name-calling was “turning people off”. He had already posted clips on his own social media in which he called the segment “fake” and “biased”.
There have been calls for a boycott of French goods after President Emmanuel Macron promised France would not “renounce the caricatures” of Muhammad at a national tribute to the high school teacher Samuel Paty, who was murdered after showing his class drawings of the prophet during a debate about free speech.
The mayor of Rome says she was targeted by the mafia, who planned to kill her and her family because she was taking them on in parts of the Italian capital where they hold sway.
Recommended reads
After years of drought the waters have returned to Lake Cowal, the largest natural inland lake in NSW. The return of the waters has seen thousands of native and migratory birds flock to enjoy the wetlands of the 21km-long lake. Above-average rainfall throughout the winter months have now filled the ephemeral lake to 40% of its surface area. Need more visuals? Check out the gallery of birds enjoying the waters, including magpie geese, sharp-tailed sandpipers and egrets.
When lockdowns began in March, Meals on Wheels lost half of its national workforce, as many of the 76,000 volunteers were aged over 70 themselves and fell into the government’s high-risk category for Covid. With 35,000 drivers isolating at home, young Australians stepped up, writes James Shackell, who became a volunteer delivery driver at 33. “It’s been, by far, the most satisfying thing I’ve done in years,” he says.
Listen
As the November election approaches millions of voters will be unable to cast their ballot in this year’s US presidential election and those affected will be disproportionately first-time voters and from minority groups. Reporter Sam Levine tells Anushka Asthana about the bureaucratic steps required to cast a legal vote in some states.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
No Australian has ever won the the Giro d’Italia but on Sunday Jai Hindley came agonisingly close to winning the famed Italian Grand Tour. Hindley was pipped to the maglia rosa by Tao Geoghegan Hart but his second place finish is a historic result, the best one yet for an Australian.
Was the night grand final really that bad? Covid-19 might have thrust change upon an organisation bolted to tradition but at least the AFL was open to what lessons might be learned from the new timeslot of the 2020 decider, if not the new location.
Media roundup
Australia Post footed a Grand Hyatt hotel bill of more than $34,000 for its chief executive, Christine Holgate, according to the Australian, as an independent investigation continues into “gifts, rewards, and expenses” of the company and its executives. Despite painfully long lockdown measures in Victoria, support for Daniel Andrews remains solid, with more than half the state supporting the government’s handling of the pandemic, according to a poll by the Age. Developers face millions of dollars in levies for large projects on land next to Sydney’s new airport at Badgerys Creek as councils try to recover the vast cost of roads and infrastructure, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
Coming up
Federal parliament and Senate estimates hearings continue with evidence to come from the tax office, the charities commission, the Reserve Bank and Defence.
Sign up
If you would like to receive the Guardian Australia morning mail to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here.
