Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 9 October.

Top stories

World leaders have been told they have a moral obligation to ramp up their action on the climate crisis in the wake of a new UN report that shows even half a degree of extra warming will affect hundreds of millions of people, decimate corals and intensify heat extremes. But the muted response by the UK, Australia and other governments highlights the immense political challenges facing the adoption of pathways to the relatively safe limit of 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures. Civil society groups say the groundbreaking report will help them put pressure on reluctant leaders. “Any administration, and it would appear especially the US and Australia, that pushes damaging domestic policies and picks apart science consensus is a dangerous outlier by ignoring the deadly impacts now due to climate chaos,” said Rachel Kennerley of Friends of the Earth.

With the report to be presented at a major climate summit in Poland in December, known as COP24, there is scant time for squabbles. It noted that emissions need to be cut by 45% by 2030 to keep warming within 1.5C. That means decisions have to be taken in the next two years to decommission coal power plants and replace them with renewables. Mary Robinson, a UN special envoy on climate, said Europe should set an example by adopting a target of zero-carbon emissions by 2050.

The rates of major crime, domestic violence and drug offences have all dropped in the far western NSW town of Bourke, five years on from a groundbreaking, community-led project to address the underlying causes of crime. Bourke is one of the most disadvantaged communities in Australia and has the highest rate of juvenile convictions in NSW. The Maranguka project is based on redirecting resources spent on policing and punishment to projects that help prevent offending behaviour. Between 2015 and 2017 rates fell by 18% for major offences, 39% for domestic violence-related assaults and 39% for drug offences.

The validity of the safe-access zone laws in Victoria and Tasmania that prevent anti-abortion protesters from harassing women will be challenged before the high court today. The Victorian case has been brought by the anti-abortion campaigner Kathleen Clubb, who was the first person to be convicted of breaking Victoria’s laws in 2016. The laws mean anti-abortion protesters cannot protest within 150 metres of health and fertility clinics. Before the hearing, Dr Susie Allanson, who worked as a clinical psychologist at an East Melbourne clinic for 26 years, said the laws had ended decades of intimidation directed at patients and staff.

Australian voters are evenly divided on whether asylum seeker and refugee families on Nauru should be brought to Australia, the latest Guardian Essential poll has found. But a majority of people oppose keeping Australia’s offshore detention scheme policy in place indefinitely. The poll found 40% of respondents supported transferring families and children from Nauru to Australia, while 39% opposed the idea. There was similar degree of division over closing the Nauru detention centre and transferring the remaining people to Australia, with 37% of people in support of the idea and 42% opposed.

Racing NSW has asked senior politicians to consider declaring the Everest Cup race day a public holiday in the state, similar to the Melbourne Cup holiday in Victoria. Guardian Australia has confirmed that Racing NSW floated the proposal for a state holiday with the state opposition leader, Luke Foley, as a way of further promoting the horse race as NSW’s signature event. Racing NSW suggested moving the race, which has $13m in prize money – the largest in the world – to a Wednesday afternoon in October and declaring a half-day public holiday. The proposal is certain to be controversial with employers and is set to inflame the already heated debate over the use of the Opera House sails to promote the barrier draw.

Sport

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika’s impassioned half-time spray may have captured the cameras’ attention, but a key tactical adjustment may have been the trigger of Australia’s remarkable second-half turnaround, writes Bret Harris.

England women’s football coach, Phil Neville, has described the Matildas as the “dark horses” to win France 2019, saying his sides’ friendly against the Australians this week will be a litmus test of their physical ability and stamina.

Thinking time



“Your papers please!” is a phrase associated with a police state, writes Rex Patrick. The Centre Alliance senator says Australians would be well-advised to carry photo ID if Peter Dutton’s latest piece of national security legislation goes through. Under the Coalition’s bill, Australian federal police officers would be able to ask for identification at airports. Patrick argues that deliberate or de facto ethnic profiling is an obvious risk under the legislation, which the government argues is necessary to disrupt security and criminal threats.

A rogue missile blows a civilian aircraft out of the sky in Myanmar near an Asia-Pacific leaders’ conference, attended by the US president and Australia’s prime minister. All 14 people aboard flight BM-24 are killed. This first shot in a wider attack by assailants unknown opens the six-part drama series Pine Gap, an ABC-Netflix co-production set in the joint US-Australian intelligence-gathering base near Alice Springs.

The policy speech given by Gough Whitlam for the 1972 Labor federal election campaign launch resonates down the decades. Whitlam’s stentorian delivery, his stirring promises of equality, and his breathtaking ambition for the future carved out a place in history. “Whitlam was always the driving force but on this occasion I was the midwife,” says the speechwriter Graham Freudenberg. The legendary Labor speechwriter was at the centre of power for more than 40 years and a new documentary film, The Scribe, sheds light on the man.

What’s he done now?

Donald Trump has come out swinging after the confirmation of Brett Kavanugh on the US supreme court, claiming the sexual assault allegations against him were a “hoax” and “all made up”, the BBC reports. Trump made the comments at an impromptu press conference while defending Kavanaugh against threats of impeachment by Democrats.

Media roundup

The West Australian reports that the ice epidemic is shifting from Perth to country towns and rural communities, who use more than their country counterparts anywhere else in Australia. Big cities such as Sydney and Melbourne may be off limits to migrants under new proposals by the Morrison government, the Australian reports. The proposed visa changes will require migrants to live in regional and rural areas for up to five years. And the Australian dollar has fallen to a 32-month low, the ABC reports, on the back of a strengthening US dollar and rising interest rates.

Coming up

An inquest into the deaths of four people on a Dreamworld ride will hear details of an earlier collision between empty rafts.

A protest will be held outside the Sydney Opera House over plans to promote the Everest horse race on the sails of the World Heritage-listed building.

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