Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 28 September.

Top stories

Some of the ABC board members appointed by the communications minister, Mitch Fifield, were chosen despite being rejected by merit-based panel, according to documents obtained by Guardian Australia. All five of the appointments since 2015 were direct recommendations by Fifield. In a week that has seen the national broadcaster sack its managing director, Michelle Guthrie, and lose its chairman, Justin Milne, in the fallout, scrutiny is now shifting to the ABC board and the calibre of its eight directors. Of these, two did not go through the nomination panel; two were considered but not recommended by the panel and were still appointed by the minister; and one was deemed by the panel to be “very suitable” but withdrew before the final recommendations, only to be then urged directly by the minister to accept a place.

Milne was interviewed on 7.30 last night, where he said did not pressure Guthrie to fire journalists the government had expressed displeasure in, pointing out that both Andrew Probyn and Emma Alberici still had their jobs, while he and Guthrie did not. He said his decision to leave the ABC’s board was an altruistic move designed to end the “firestorm” of distraction.

Christine Blasey Ford has concluded her testimony at a historic US Senate hearing. Ford, a research psychologist from northern California, recounted in detail her alleged sexual assault at the hands of US supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. She told the court she was forced into a room in the early 1980s by Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge, when they were teenagers. Asked what her most vivid memory of the alleged assault was, she described their “uproarious laughter”. Meanwhile, Kavanaugh has launched into his testimony, vowing, “You’ll never get me to quit.”

NDIS underspending could reach up to $5bn by the end of the financial year, according to an economist who was one of the scheme’s key architects. The projection follows the release by Treasury officials on Tuesday of the final outcome of the 2017-18 budget, which shows an underlying cash well short of what was expected. But NDIS payments were down $2.5bn, which contributed to the deficit being lower. Bruce Bonyhady says the unspent money could have been put to essential use elsewhere.

Coalition finance bill changes would override state political donations bans. Experts say the amendments undermine states’ ability to protect against “the dangers of political money”. The amendments to the electoral funding and disclosure bill – released by the Coalition for consultation and now before the joint standing committee on electoral matters – caught Labor by surprise because they were not recommended in a bipartisan report agreed in April. The amendments reverse the current position that federal donations laws do not override state laws.

Tony Abbott has been criticised by Indigenous parliamentarians, parents, educators and elders while receiving a cool reception from the Northern Territory community of Borroloola this week. Abbott has been on his first tour of the NT since being appointed special envoy on Indigenous affairs, and has said his priority is improving school attendance and education. At Borroloola on Wednesday, the community was surprised when Abbott “just rocked up”, Garrwa and Yanyuwa parent and school council member Gadrian Hoosan told Guardian Australia, adding: “He was really arrogant. He didn’t want to sit down and listen to us.”

Sport

The NRL grand final features four modern greats. They just might rival the astonishing feats achieved by the St George teams of the 1950s and 60s, which peaked with 11 consecutive premierships.

Thomas Bjørn has chosen Justin Rose and Jon Rahm as his opening pair for the Ryder Cup, at what could be the toughest venue in history. USA need 14 points to retain the cup, Europe 14.5 to snatch it back.

Thinking time

Meet the Magpies and Eagles fans who’ve travelled from far and wide to get to Melbourne. Luke Henriques-Gomes writes: “Trailing the bus at 10,000 feet on Friday will be a red eye flight from Perth packed with Eagles supporters. Tom Brennan, 28, will stick out like a sore thumb with his Collingwood beanie. On Friday Brennan, who works in the mines as a fly-in-fly-out worker, will fly from Newman to Perth and then jet across the Nullabor to Melbourne. He paid $2,800 on flights to watch the grand final with his mother. “It was a tough sell to the boss,” he says.

Yvonne Sillett was forced out of the defence force for being gay. In 1988, when she was 28 and had been serving in the military for almost a decade, she was called into an interview and questioned by two commanders. At the time, Sillett was the first female corporal in the Australian defence force responsible for training recruits at the Kapooka army centre in Victoria. “It wasn’t an interview, it was an interrogation,” she said. “They said, ‘We know that you’re a homosexual, we’ve been following you.’”

John Howard’s deliberate ordinariness – remember the signature tracksuit – has become the political leader’s playbook, writes Brigid Delaney. “Look at contortions leaders will make to prove that they are average: Rudd with his selfies and ‘fair shake of the sauce bottle’ and Gillard with her office decked in Western Bulldogs and Melbourne Storm scarves and a Sherrin football but not much in the way of books. And now, continuing this tradition of the ordinary, we see Morrison, the daggy dad, the mortgage man, the average bloke.” How did we get to a place where the worst thing you could be as a leader is exceptional, or extraordinary, in some way?”

What’s he done now?

This one is brought to you by Donald Trump Jr, who tweeted of the Christine Blasey Ford interrogation, in which Ford testified that she has a fear of flying: “I’m no psychology professor but it does seem weird to me that someone could have a selective fear of flying. Can’t do it to testify but for vacation, well it’s not a problem at all.”

Media roundup

The Age, the Canberra Times and the Australian are leading with increased pressure on the entire ABC board after this week’s revelations, with the Sydney Morning Herald revealing the further details from the email sent by Milne about Alberici. The Australian Financial Review reports that the banking royal commission has led to Australia outperforming legal markets across the globe. And the Department of Home Affairs is considering rolling out facial recognition cameras and software at Australian airports, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Coming up

The interim report from the banking royal commission is due to be released today.

Police services around Australia will mark National Police Memorial Day with marches and memorial services to commemorate the sacrifice of members who have lost their lives in the line of duty or through injury or illness.

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