Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 16 July.

Top stories

Police repeatedly questioned whistleblower David McBride about whether the journalists he leaked secret documents to knew they might be breaking the law. The revelation will fuel the belief that police attempted to build a case against journalists after the highly damaging leak that led to the ABC’s “Afghan files” story, despite the federal government’s assurances to the contrary. Police asked McBride if one of the journalists, Chris Masters, had said anything like, “Jeez, these are secret, have them back, don’t give them to me.” One detective asked: “Did he mention anything in relation to the fact that it may have been an offence for him to have them?” McBride said Masters had not said that.

Boris Johnson has been strongly criticised for arguing Islam has caused the Muslim world to be “literally centuries behind” the west, in an essay unearthed by the Guardian. In an appendix to a later edition of his 2006 book The Dream of Rome, Johnson said there was something about Islam that hindered development in parts of the globe and, as a result, “Muslim grievance” was a factor in virtually every conflict. The Muslim Council of Britain said many people would like to know if the favourite to become the next UK prime minister still believed “Islam inherently inhibits the path to progress and freedom”.

Australia’s defence department gave tens of thousands of dollars of work to a US firm blacklisted for corruption and bribery. Defence last year contracted the US firm Lock N Climb to provide it with $25,000 of specialist ladders used for aircraft maintenance. Guardian Australia can reveal that the company was – and still is – blacklisted by the US and barred from working with American government agencies. At the time the contract was awarded, the firm’s president was serving a court-imposed probation for a bribery offence. The revelations have prompted integrity campaigners to accuse Australia of undermining overseas efforts to deter corruption.

World

The four Democrats targeted by Trump: Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Composite: Rex, Reuters, EPA, AP

Donald Trump has returned to the offensive against four Democrats he targeted with racial invective on Sunday. Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, Trump said: “‘If you’re not happy here, then you can leave.”

More than 820 million people worldwide are still going hungry, according to a UN report that says reaching the target of zero hunger by 2030 is “an immense challenge”. The number of people with not enough to eat has risen for the third year in a row as the population increases.

Two Jeffrey Epstein accusers offered emotional entreaties in court on Monday, asking a judge not to release the financier before his trial on sex trafficking charges. One alleged victim, who identified herself as Courtney Wild, said: “I was sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein, starting at the age of 14.”

A Boeing 737 Max due to be delivered to the Irish airline Ryanair has had the name Max dropped from the livery, further fuelling speculation that the manufacturer and airlines will seek to rebrand the troubled plane once it is given the all clear to fly again.

Car rental companies in Japan have figured out why some customers are returning their vehicles with barely a mile on the clock. As many as one in eight “drivers” are using their rental cars to sleep or catch up on work.

Opinion and analysis

The Uluru statement from the heart. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian

What, if anything, will Australians be asked to vote on in a referendum on constitutional recognition? It has been more than two years since Indigenous leaders resolved to push for a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice to parliament. Ken Wyatt and the Coalition say they will put forward a model in this term of parliament. Calla Wahlquist looks at the options they are considering, the points of resistance and what’s happening around the country, including the move towards a treaty in Victoria.

As ever the politics of the past week has been dominated by retirees and the issue of “deeming rates”, writes Greg Jericho. “It says something about our political debate that we just had an election fought with lies and scare campaigns about the impact of the ALP’s policies for retirees and since then the biggest issue aside from tax has been on an issue that actually does affect retirement incomes. The big retirement scare for us as a country is not how those currently retired are coping, but what is in store for those hoping to do so in the next 10 to 20 years.”

Sport

Geraint Thomas seized the initiative as the Tour de France peloton was blown apart in the gusting crosswinds of the Tarn, with Thomas, his Ineos teammate Egan Bernal and the consistently surprising Julian Alaphilippe distancing many of their rivals.

Novak Djokovic, speaking after his five-set triumph over Roger Federer in the Wimbledon singles final, says he can thrive for years to come: “I am 32 now, though I don’t really look at age. It’s just a number – like Roger said. I think I have a few more years left in my legs.”

Thinking time: ‘Tonight, Australian TV loses its virginity’

Trans performer Carlotta in a 1973 episode of Number 96. Photograph: YouTube

America’s first gay kiss didn’t happen until 1991, on LA Law. Ellen then came out on her self-titled sitcom in 1997, and the following year Will and Grace became a huge hit. In the UK, they are proud of Anna Friel’s gay kiss on Brookside in 1994, which was replayed for the world during London’s Olympics opening ceremony. Other key moments include Coronation Street’s first trans character Hayley (played by the cis actor Julie Hesmondhalgh), and 2000s game-changing series Queer as Folk – also remade by the US.

But Australian TV had shown all those things first, more than two decades before the rest of the world. In 1972 the country, in the midst of its sexual revolution, got hooked on a new primetime serial called Number 96, which was launched with the infamous tagline: “Tonight, Australian TV loses its virginity.” Number 96 didn’t stop there with the world firsts: in 1973, Robyn Ross (Carolle Lea) revealed that she was “not really a girl”, thereby making her the first trans character on television. She was portrayed by a real transgender person, the legendary Sydney showgirl Carlotta, who had been asked to provide a fake name to keep her identity and the shock storyline a secret.

Media roundup

The ABC reports that UTS and Curtin University are reviewing their funding and research approval procedures over fears of their links to a tech company and associate professor, respectively, with ties to the surveillance technology used by the Chinese government. The splash in the Australian blames “stubborn employees who ­refuse to move into more productive companies” for the nation’s record-low wages growth, based on Treasury research. And the Mercury leads with the continuing search for a walker who went missing in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair national park, as police warned of “very dangerous” weather conditions.

Coming up

The Reserve Bank will release the minutes of last week’s board meeting, giving insight into its decision to cut the cash rate to a new record low of 1%.

The NSW court of appeal is due to hand down its judgment in the cricketer Chris Gayle’s defamation damages case against Fairfax Media, and the company’s cross-claim.