Good morning. Energy ministers will meet today to discuss gas supplies and power price rises impacting cost-of-living pressures. And the Socceroos keep their World Cup hopes alive.
The Albanese government has been urged to provide a $1,000 emergency energy debt relief payment for those on fixed incomes before power bills soar amid a “full-blown cost of living crisis”. The Australian Council of Social Service has written to the new federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, warning it is “deeply concerned about the financial pressures on people on very low fixed incomes”. Bowen will meet state and territory energy ministers today to hash out a response to a “perfect storm” of cost-of-living pressures. The ministers are also pressured to agree on “a speedier move” away from natural gas. Industry leaders have written an open letter calling politicians to improve supply and increase efficiency in energy markets.
First homebuyers are likely to be hit hardest by an onslaught of interest rate rises, analysts say. Analysts warn the economic consequences of RBA’s “blunt instrument” attempt to limit inflation, lifting its official cash rate by 50 basis points to 0.85% and signaling more increases to come, will fall disproportionately on those living in outer suburbs. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, acknowledged that the rate rise – the highest single increase in more than 20 years – would hurt homeowners already grappling with “skyrocketing” cost-of-living pressures. Westpac was the first of the big banks to pass on the rise.
Rebel Conservative MPs in the UK are drawing up plans for “vote strikes” to paralyze law-making and capitalize on the dramatic Boris Johnson no-confidence vote. Some 148 MPs who voted to oust the prime minister on Monday said they would try to stymie his legislative agenda, as happened at the end of the Theresa May era, by abstaining on fundamental laws. They plan to start with a showdown over a bill to override sections of the Northern Ireland protocol.
Australia defeated the United Arab Emirates 2-1 in the World Cup qualifier in Qatar and progressed to a final playoff for a spot in the 2022 World Cup. The Socceroos must prepare to face Peru in a final, sudden-death playoff next Monday in Doha (early Tuesday AEST).
Australia
Jack Dunn says Dfat should advertise the little-known US entry requirement that led to his deportation so others can avoid his experience.
An Australian traveler, Jack Dunn, was denied entry to the US, cavity searched, sent to prison, and deported due to a little-known entry requirement for the US. This rule requires those entering on a visa waiver to have booked either a return flight or onward travel to a country that does not border the US.
According to a report using data from the International Energy Agency, twice as much greenhouse gas could be leaking from coal mines than is being reported in official government accounts. Ember think tank’s report suggests coal contributes more to the climate crisis than all the cars on Australian roads.
Sydney is experiencing the coldest start to winter in 30 years, while parts of northern Australia swelter through near-record-high June temperatures.
Research suggests that suicide-related ambulance presentations in Australia increased by more than 50% in the first year of the Covid pandemic.
The embattled buy now, pay later sector will be regulated under the same laws as credit cards. The financial services minister, Stephen Jones, says the government will also move to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges like other financial markets.
The world
Israel’s prime minister Naftali Bennett and foreign minister Yair Lapid. Photograph: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images
Israel’s coalition government is teetering on the brink of collapse after a bill renewing civilian legal rights for Jewish settlers in the West Bank failed to pass on Monday night, in what Israeli media describe as “one of the most surreal votes in Israeli history” and “political suicide”.
Ukraine has accused the Russian army of abducting about 600 residents in the Kherson region in the country’s south and keeping them in “torture chambers”. Meanwhile, Moscow’s forces have control of 97% of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, according to Russia.
Culture sector workers, artists, professors, and environmentalists in Rome have urged Unesco to remind the city’s council of its duty to protect the world heritage site as they decried “mortifying” scenes of rubbish and other signs of decay.
Recommended reads
Ballet star Laura Fernandez fled Moscow: ‘It was becoming morally difficult for me to continue my life in Russia.’ Photograph: Levente Szabo
When many of her fellow Muscovites began describing the destruction of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol as a “liberation”, Laura Fernandez’s mind was made up. The star ballerina, half Ukrainian and half Spanish fled Moscow and her position as a first soloist with the Stanislavsky Theatre on 20 April. Before a performance in Sydney, she talks to us about her future.
Celebrity chef-slash-restaurateur Matt Moran is one prominent Australian lifting the lid on his family history when Who Do You Think You Are returns to SBS on 21 June. The experience was thrilling for Moran – especially as some “absolute doozies” about his ancestors were revealed in the process. His work means that Moran considers a certain kitchen tool his most useful object. The longtime chef tells us about the knives he couldn’t live without and the stories behind a couple of prized collections.
Miss Trunchbull haunts all 90s children – but revisiting Danny DeVito’s 1996 film Matilda is a zany and joyful experience, writes Shaad D’Souza. “Matilda is an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1988 book of the same name. Unlike most Dahl adaptations, though, the changes make it even better, keeping the spooky, witty spirit of the original text while building out the story into something that doesn’t feel thin when spread over 90-odd minutes.”
Sport
Cherbourg cannot wait for former local Selwyn Cobbo to make his State of Origin debut for Queensland tonight. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP
Tonight is no normal Wednesday night for the Cherbourg Sports Complex. More than 1,100km to the south, one of Cherbourg’s favorite sons will stride onto rugby league’s biggest stage for the first time; the sports complex he knows so well will open its doors to an Indigenous community riding a wave of emotion inspired by Selwyn Cobbo’s incredible rise from Brisbane Broncos rookie to State of Origin sensation.
Serious concerns were raised about Uefa’s safety and security department earlier this year when an English safety expert with decades of experience quit his role as a consultant for European football’s governing body.
Media roundup
A marathon City of Melbourne council meeting has backed a one-year halt in the rollout of additional bike lanes in the Hoddle Grid in the wake of a significant backlash from some city traders, residents, and motorists, report the Herald Sun. Police are investigating how two women in their 20s died after their bodies were found in a flat in Sydney’s southwest after lying there for several days, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Coming up
The Murugappan family will leave Perth to return to their hometown of Biloela in Queensland.
The NSW public sector will start a 24-hour strike.
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