Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 20 November.

Top stories

Labor’s lead over the Morrison government has narrowed, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll figures, with a large number of voters saying they would consider voting for an independent at the next federal election. The latest figures have Labor ahead of the Coalition on the two-party-preferred measure 52% to 48%, compared with 54% to 46% a fortnight ago. The Coalition’s primary vote is on 37% and Labor is on 35%, which is a four-point drop from the last survey. Answers to a number of questions in the latest survey of 1,027 respondents suggest Australian voters are ending 2018 frustrated with federal politics, and deeply disaffected on a range of fronts. The latest survey also suggests there is burgeoning interest in voting for independents, with 42% of the sample flirting with the idea.

Meanwhile, Scott Morrison has flagged cutting migration but says the reduction has to be managed carefully. The prime minister used a speech for the Project Sydney Bradfield Oration – a News Corp event – on Monday night to signal a reduction in the current cap, which he suggested would be the inevitable consequence of the states playing a more proactive role in determining future capacity.

Members of the multibillionaire Sackler family are facing mass litigation and likely criminal investigation over the US opioid crisis. Some of the Sacklers wholly own Purdue Pharma, the company that created and sells the legal narcotic OxyContin, a drug at the centre of the opioid epidemic that now kills almost 200 people a day across the US. Suffolk county in Long Island, New York, recently sued several family members personally over the overdose deaths and painkiller addiction blighting local communities. Now lawyers warn that action will be a catalyst for hundreds of other US cities, counties and states to follow suit.

Replacing domestic Australian gas supplies with imports could push emissions up by 20%, says AGL. The plan to import gas into Australia to replace the shortfall that occurs when domestic gas is exported to Asia has long been controversial. Now AGL has admitted, in an email to conservation group Environment Victoria seen by Guardian Australia, that it could lead to a 20% increase in emissions compared with the same amount of gas extracted and used in Australia owing to additional production, processing and transport of the LNG.

The NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong is suing police over a series of racist and sexist Facebook posts. More than two years after officers from Sydney made or “liked” a series of derogatory posts about Leong, she has begun proceedings because the force has still not told her what disciplinary action the officers faced. The member for Newtown says her case demonstrates why “police should not be investigating police”. The posts included comments mocking Leong’s ethnic background, including posts such as “Nawww tank u hunny...2 dolla sucky sucky lub u long time” and labelling a relative a “swamp monkey”.

The Vicar of Dibley actor John Bluthal has died aged 89. Bluthal forged a long and successful acting career in Britain that began in the golden age of television in the 1960s, when he provided a foil to the comedy legends Michael Bentine, Eric Sykes, Peter Cook and, over several decades, Spike Milligan. Bluthal also starred in Australia’s Home Sweet Home (1980-82), returning to his home for more than 20 years before settling in Britain to play Enzo Pacelli, an Italian immigrant taxi driver. John was born Isaac Bluthal in the southern Polish town of Jezierzany, in Galicia (now Ozeryany, in Ukraine). In 1938, a year before Hitler’s invasion, the nine-year-old Isaac, his sister Nita and their Jewish parents left behind antisemitism in Poland and fled to Australia, where he became known as John.

Sport

The reform of the Football Federation Australia continued apace on Monday with the election of a new board and a new chair at a momentous annual general meeting. The AGM was the first opportunity for Australian football’s new congress to show its hand after the long and bitter struggle for governance reform. And, as expected, it behaved with less certainty than its predecessor.

Tim Cahill will be given one last chance to bid farewell to the Australian public tonight when the Socceroos meet Lebanon in Sydney. The striker will be given just five minutes at ANZ Stadium at the end of the pre-Asian Cup outing, but he has said that is all he needs to find the net for a final time. Follow the build-up and the game itself with our live blog from 7pm AEDT.

Thinking time

Nick Cave’s latest installation in Sydney is his most ambitious yet. At first it is reminiscent of a giant Christmas tree that has grown and spread like magical weeds across the cavernous floor, bauble-like discs spinning slowly. Yet get closer and you notice that guns are imprinted on to some of the 16,000 wind spinners. There are also bullets. And on the walls the images of lawn jockeys, the racially charged statues that Americans once put in their yards as hitching posts, are grinning grotesquely.

The latest state account figures reveal that Victoria is the strongest performing overall. Generally all states grew well in the last financial year. But the ongoing problem of flat income growth remains, with most states showing either falling or barely any growth in real household income for the past six years, writes Greg Jericho. “Fortunately the annual state accounts figures also give us the household disposable income figures, which allow us to cut start to the crux of the matter.”

Taylor Swift is leaving her record label, Big Machine Label Group, to sign with Republic Records and Universal Music Group. While the financial terms of the deal have not been made public, the contract includes a condition enhancing UMG’s existing commitment to distribute money to artists from the sale of Spotify shares. Swift, 28, said that the label had agreed to this “at what they believe will be much better terms than paid out previously by other major labels”.

What’s he done now?

His administration has warned that the CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s restored press pass are set to be suspended again when the 14-day order restoring the credentials expires. Meanwhile, Finland is baffled, and making memes, after Donald Trump’s claim that the country rakes its forests, and Trump has mistakenly called Paradise, California “Pleasure” after touring one of the areas ravaged by wildfires. “Pleasure, what a name,” he said.

Media roundup

The Sydney Morning Herald reveals that China’s ministry of state security has directed a wave of cyber attacks, known as Operation Cloud Hopper, on Australian companies over the past year. The Australian is leading with a story about the launch of a centre-right organisation aiming to rival GetUp. It’s called (ahem) Advance Australia. The front page also bears the headline “African crime hits Labor seats”. NRL star Jarryd Hayne has been released on bail after being charged with aggravated sexual assault, the Daily Telegraph reports. He will appear at Burwood local court on 10 December.

Coming up

A state funeral will be held for the Bourke Street stabbing victim Sisto Malaspina, with mourners to hear from the governor, Linda Dessau.

The Commonwealth Bank’s chief executive, Matt Comyn, continues to give evidence at the banking royal commission hearing on policy, before its chairman, Catherine Livingstone, appears.

Supporting the Guardian

With Fairfax gone, the need for diversity in Australia’s media is greater than ever, writes Guardian Australia editor Lenore Taylor. Australia’s concentration of media ownership is already among the highest in the world. If you think a plurality of news voices is important in a society and a democracy, if you can do something about it: Make a contribution or become a supporter today.