Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 23 Ferbruary.

Top stories

The Australian government was repeatedly warned over the last four years that mould growing throughout Nauru’s regional processing centres was making people sick, but refugee families, including young children, are still being forced to live under rotting canvas in Nauru. At least 330 refugees and asylum seekers, including 36 children, live in mould-prone tents on Nauru. Some tents and work buildings have previously been found to be “highly toxic”, with the level of mould measured at up to 76 times the safe level. At least a dozen former staff who have worked in the regional processing centre are understood to have developed conditions from exposure to mould. The conditions include toxic mould syndrome, cognitive and neurological symptoms, chronic pain and chest infections.

A class action against the commonwealth government, for failing in its duty of care to those housed in its immigration centres, and those contracted to work there, is being considered by Australian law firms. Thousands of refugees and staff may have been exposed to toxic mould. The health impacts could last years and any damages payout could run to millions of dollars, a source close to government told the Guardian. The Department of Home Affairs rejects the allegations, telling the Guardian there had been “no cases of anyone developing health issues following exposure to mould at the Nauru RPC”.

The deputy executive director of Unicef Justin Forsyth has quit in the wake of accusations of inappropriate behaviour towards female staff while chief executive of Save the Children. It emerged this week that Forsyth was accused of sending inappropriate texts and making comments to female staff about their appearance while heading the charity in 2011 and 2015. Forsyth said: “I want to make clear I am not resigning from Unicef because of the mistakes I made at Save the Children. They were dealt with through a proper process many years ago. I apologised unreservedly at the time and face to face. I apologise again.”

Tesla’s big battery in South Australia is consistently working to serve the peak energy demand each day, taking the “straw off the camel’s back,” according to the Australia Institute’s latest national energy emissions audit. Energy expert Hugh Saddler examined its consumption and output of electricity. He found a consistent pattern of the battery charging overnight when wind generation was abundant and cheap, and discharging into the grid during the late afternoon when demand and spot market prices reached peak levels. Only 30% of the battery’s 100MW capacity was devoted to this sort of trading, the rest stabilises the energy system by maintaining the frequency of the grid at the required 50Hz and 240 volts. Saddler said it demonstrated the valuable role energy storage could play in the system.

The head of the US National Rifle Association (NRA) has broken his silence, with a bitter attack on gun control advocates, accusing them of exploiting the tragedy to push their agenda. Wayne LaPierre, whose lobby group faces an unprecedented challenge from the activism of students, slammed his opponents as “elites” and “socialists” hellbent on undermining Americans’ constitutional rights. “The elites don’t care not one whit about America’s school system and schoolchildren,” he said. “If they truly cared, what they would do is they would protect them. For them, it’s not a safety issue, it’s a political issue.”

Labor has pledged a major review of tertiary education if elected and “wants prospective students to see Tafe and uni as equally attractive study options”. Tanya Plibersek, Labor’s education spokeswoman, says it would be the first time a national inquiry has put Tafe and universities on an equal footing. Plibersek said there was much more that could be done to capitalise on the strengths of universities and Tafes.

Sport

A pivotal year lies ahead as Super Rugby seeks to emerge from troubled waters after a disastrous 2017. The new 15-team format is no panacea for the competition’s ills, but at least it is keeping the patient alive until a remedy is found, argues Bret Harris.

Tonight, Carlton and the Western Bulldogs meet at Whitten Oval for the AFLW’s first pride game. “Lots of LGBTI people love footy, but footy hasn’t always loved us,” Bulldogs fan Wil Stracke tells Guardian Australia ahead of the match, which is helping break down multiple barriers of discrimination.

Thinking time

Dmitri Shostakovich’s 1928 opera, The Nose, has been brought back to life at the Sydney Opera House by Australian director Barrie Kosky. The opera follows a social climbing civil servant who one morning wakes up sans nose. Sliced off accidentally by a drunken barber it grows in size to human proportions. Soon it is independent and strutting around St Petersburg. To add insult to (literal) injury, “nosey”, seems to command more respect, and have more status, than himself. But just as Shostakovich divided opinion during his lifetime – he was twice denounced by the Soviet authorities and his works banned – The Nose continues to provoke strong reactions with audiences.

With a rapidly changing media environment, Margaret Simons asks why has no government taken investigations into the future of journalism seriously. Traditional funding models are dead. Power is shifting from media barons to internet behemoths, and Canberra fiddles while journalism burns. Neither side of politics has given any thought to what a modern, fit-for-purpose system of media regulation might look like, let alone what enlightened industry policy is needed to ensure that the bedrock of democracy – an informed citizenry – survives into the future.

Spread over two night’s, SBS’s Muslims Like Us grouped a bunch of Australian Muslims together to live in a house for eight days. The housemates spanned political viewpoints and sexual identities, with their own interpretations of Islam – but, dominated by Sunni voices, the show failed to capture the full complexities of modern Islam. “Oh well,” writes Ruby Hamad, “there is always next season.”

What’s he done now?

Donald Trump has again talked about arming US teachers with guns so they can shoot back if a student starts firing. He has also congratulated the National Rifle Association for being “great people. “History shows that a school shooting lasts, on average, 3 minutes. It takes police & first responders approximately 5 to 8 minutes to get to site of crime. Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive. GREAT DETERRENT!” Trump tweeted.

Media roundup

The Herald Sun splashes with the headline Wild Turkeys, revealing details of a dining room stoush that has plunged the state’s Labor party into crisis. The paper reports that sports minister John Eren ­accused fellow MP Adem Somyurek of threatening him with a butter knife during a heated exchange in their native Turkish in a private dining room on Wednesday night. The former Australian ambassador to the US Kim Beazley has said Trump’s plan to arm teachers is “nuts”, reports the ABC. And at the Conversation Michelle Grattan accuses the Nationals of being “paralysed” over the the unpredictable Barnaby Joyce.

Coming up

Malcolm Turnbull will meet Donald Trump on Friday in the US and the two will hold a joint press conference in the east room of the White House.

The drawing of nominations in the Batman byelection will take place with final candidates due to be confirmed. Labor faces a strong challenge from the Greens to retain the inner-city Melbourne seat at the 17 March poll.

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