Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 2 July.

Top stories

The cost to taxpayers of the Australian government’s six-year legal battle with the tobacco giant Philip Morris over plain packaging laws can finally be revealed, despite the government’s efforts to keep the cost secret. The commonwealth government spent nearly $40m defending its world-first plain packaging laws, according to freedom of information documents. Former senator Nick Xenophon and his former staffer, now Centre Alliance senator, Rex Patrick, spent two years trying to obtain the documents. Philip Morris had taken its case to the permanent court of arbitration in 2012, using a clause in a 1993 Hong Kong-Australia trade deal to sue the Australian government.

Patrick said he was blown away by the “mammoth cost” to taxpayers of the legal fight. “This is exactly why Australia must stop signing up to free trade agreements with these insidious ISDS provisions in them,” he said. “I accept the government had to defend the matter, but if we hadn’t signed up to the Hong Kong agreement with ISDS provisions in it then there would not have been a tribunal hearing. Imagine what health outcomes could have been achieved with that $39m.”

Latin America’s second-largest economy appeared poised to elect a silver-haired, baseball-loving leftist as its next president, as 89 million Mexicans headed to the polls on Sunday. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the 64-year-old leader of the Morena party, has cast the vote as an epoch-making opportunity to radically transform Mexico by electing a leader who will rid the country of corruption and rule for the 53 million Mexicans still stuck in poverty. Amlo has tried – and failed – to become Mexico’s president twice before, in 2006 and 2012, but his decision to make the fight against corruption the bedrock of his third presidential campaign appears to have paid off, with re-ballot polls suggesting the former Mexico City mayor would trounce rivals.

Western Australia’s Aboriginal affairs minister, Ben Wyatt, has accused his federal counterpart of making a racially-charged jibe. According to Wyatt,

Nigel Scullion is “unsuitable” to resolve a dispute over funding for housing in remote Indigenous communities, after he used a racially charged jibe in a press release, which was headlined “Little Wyatt lies”. “I’ve spent a lot of my life having to deal with the slings and arrows of being an Aboriginal person,” Wyatt said. “Nigel Scullion is just the latest in that ... he’s clearly unsuitable to try to resolve this issue and I am surprised and disappointed that he would resort to such rhetoric.” WA has been at odds with the federal government since December over its decision not to renew the 10-year $5.4bn National Partnership Agreement on Remote Housing (NPARH).

Australia’s high wholesale electricity prices are the “new normal” and politicians need to be honest with voters about it, a report by the Grattan Institute thinktank says. The report says federal and state governments must tell voters that government intervention to keep ageing legacy assets – such as old coal-fired power stations – working is a poor long-term soluti

TV entertainer Bert Newton has come under fire for onstage comments at last night’s Logie awards, praising TV stars for “mentoring” young talent “behind closed doors”. Speaking about his long-time collaborator, Graham Kennedy, Newton said: “Graham Kennedy was always the sort of man who nurtured young talent...You knew if you went to his dressing room it was locked, he will be inside doing some mentoring. Don Lane was a mentor too.” In other Logies news, Grant Denyer won the night’s top award, the Gold Logie.

Russia have eliminated Spain from the World Cup in their last-16 showdown and a penalty shootout, tying the game 1-1. It had been said that they were the worst team in Russia’s history but they are still here in their own tournament while their opponents – supposed to be the best team in Spain’s history – are no more. Croatia have just defeated Denmark 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. In other World Cup news, explore how four of the top teams no longer at the World Cup are coping (or not).

Sport

Most NRL sides have one player that’s irreplaceable, and while the Canberra Raiders’ Josh Hodgson isn’t of the same calibre as a Johnathan Thurston, Cameron Smith or Andrew Johns, without him the Raiders struggle. But even he can’t stop them playing dud rugby, including surrendering another big lead, writes Matt Cleary.

Collingwood’s sixth straight win is beginning to bring optimism to a fanbase that’s endured a pretty lean past four years. But it’s a tale told in reverse for the Demons, who started the year brightly only to unravel dramatically, writes Craig Little.

Thinking time



Conflict has always been critical to news, writes the Guardian Australia’s political editor, Katharine Murphy. “But media disruption has intensified the conflict cycle, ... and those constant interruptions have a material impact on political decision-making,” Murphy argues. “The ‘new, now’ news cycle, where minute developments are reported in real time, means internal processes of consideration and decision-making are disrupted much more frequently. The disruptions then often materially affect outcomes – governments change course, drop ambitious ideas, shape shift to try to avoid an unmanageable stakeholder backlash.”

For years the music industry has argued that YouTube exploits the lack of legal protection around music videos being viewed on its service, to pay minimal amounts to artists and labels, with Taylor Swift leading the charge to get a better share of revenues in the age of the digital music giants. The stoush is coming to a head this week in a crucial vote in Brussels, that could force YouTube to pay billions of dollars in fees to popular artists such as Swift, Ed Sheeran and Katy Perry.

When award-winning Australian children’s author Lorraine Marwood was diagnosed with cancer, it upended her world, but ultimately gave her a new perspective on life. During a year dominated by chemo and radiation treatments she wrote just one book, Leave Taking, aimed at children dealing with death and grief. “Why did I write about grief?” writes Marwood. “Because grief is a tangible part of life; because being a child or an adult does not give you immunity from its crippling effects.”

What’s he done now?

Donald Trump has again urged America to ditch the law when it comes to returning illegal immigants to their home country, his second tweet in a week to encourage anarchy. “When people come into our Country illegally, we must IMMEDIATELY escort them back out without going through years of legal maneuvering. Our laws are the dumbest anywhere in the world. Republicans want Strong Borders and no Crime. Dems want Open Borders and are weak on Crime!”

Media roundup

GPs are warning people who use pharmacy health checks that they are risking their health long-term. The walk-in tests are cheap and quick, but The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners is urging people to avoid them, saying the checks are motivated by profit – not welfare, the SMH reports.

Tasmania’s business boom is leading the nation, the Mercury reports, but the state’s ageing population could take the shine off the golden economic stats, economists warn.

The ABC visits cannabis-growing houses hiding in suburban homes across the country, in this multimedia feature. The majority of cannabis is grown in suburban homes, the police report, with 2.1 million Australians saying they used the drug in the last year.

Coming up

Zlatko Sikorsky, who is accused of murdering Larissa Beilby after her body was discovered in a barrel south of Brisbane, is due to face the Maroochydore magistrates court this morning.

The banking royal commission moves to Darwin, where it will look at a final farming case before turning its attention to financial issues affecting Indigenous Australians.

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