Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 4 May.

Top stories

The Queensland parliament has finally passed new land-clearing laws, a move welcomed by environmental groups as a step towards curbing the state’s soaring deforestation rates. The laws went through late on Thursday night after an exhausting three-day debate and amid fierce protests from farmers, who say the restrictions will harm agriculture.

The state’s natural resources minister, Anthony Lynham, said passing the laws delivered on Labor’s election commitment. “This is balanced, measured and responsible legislation,” he said. But farmers have promised to give Annastacia Palaszczuk and government MPs a rough reception at Beef Australia, one of the world’s biggest pastoral forums, which begins in Rockhampton on Sunday.

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Roman Polanski and Bill Cosby have been expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The board said the disgraced stars would be removed “to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy’s values of respect for human dignity”. Last week Cosby was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand. His name has since been removed from the Television Academy website and he has lost an honorary degree from Yale. Polanski, who won an Oscar for best director in 2003, fled the US to France in 1978 while awaiting sentencing for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old.

Bill Shorten will face a strong internal push at the ALP national conference in July to commit a Labor government to increasing the Newstart allowance in its first term. Darcy Byrne, an ally of the frontbencher Anthony Albanese says Newstart must increase because the unemployment payment hasn’t kept up with national living standards for more than a quarter of a century. Shorten this week pledged to pursue a “root and branch” review of Australia’s welfare payments if Labor won the election but he did not commit to raising it.

The UK will use a series of international summits this year to call for a comprehensive global strategy to combat Russian disinformation, and urge a rethink over traditional dialogue with Moscow. “The foreign secretary regards Russia’s response to Douma and Salisbury as a turning point and thinks there is international support to do more,” a Whitehall official said. Former Foreign Office officials admit that an institutional reluctance to call out Russia once permeated British diplomatic thinking, but say that after the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal that attitude is evaporating.

Turks have reacted with glee to what many have described as an official – and certainly long overdue – confession from Stockholm that Sweden’s signature national dish is, in fact, Turkish. “Those famous Swedish meatballs you get in Ikea are actually Turkish, admits Swedish government,” tweeted TRT World, Turkey’s publicly funded international television news channel. According to academics, meatballs were introduced to Sweden by King Charles XII in the early 18th century.



Sport

Arsène Wenger’s tenure as Arsenal manager will not end in European glory, after his side were beaten 1-0 in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final against Atlético Madrid. A goal just before half-time from Diego Costa was enough to give the Spanish side a 2-1 aggregate victory and send them through to the final.

In ordinary circumstances Justin Langer would be the ideal candidate to coach the Australian men’s cricket team, writes Jonathan Howcroft. But these are extraordinary circumstances and ,while Langer may still prove the correct choice, by appointing a new man – especially one involved in the previous regime, Cricket Australia has opened itself to criticism.





Thinking time

It was broadly those on the left who supported Bill Henson during the controversy that erupted around his work in 2008 but the artist is no progressive. In an interview with Brigid Delaney he talks about his four decades of photography, his upcoming exhibition at St Kilda’s Tolarno Galleries and his scathing views on modern art: “Just think, if you wanted to be a really groovy sculptor, you could make a life-sized statue of John Howard out of needles, or a battleship out of sardines. That accounts for so much contemporary art – particularly sculpture.”

The Oscar-winning writer Diablo Cody’s new film Tully is about an exhausted mother slowly unravelling. She talks to Kate Hutchinson about the impact of motherhood, facing middle age – and what she would now change about Juno. “The expectations [on] women are out of control,” Cody says. “I can’t believe the disdain towards women who have ‘let themselves go’. Why can’t I? I’m taking care of three small children; why am I also supposed to be skinny and hot?”

International shipping accounts for more than 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions, roughly the same as aircraft. After a commitment last month to cut greenhouse gas emissions from shipping by at least 50% by 2050, the race is on to find new technologies that can green the 50,000-strong global shipping fleet. So what will ships look like in 30 years?

What’s he done now?

Donald Trump has changed his story over the Michael Cohen payment to Stormy Daniels, which the adult film star says was to prevent her from talking about a sexual relationship with the future president. In a string of tweets Trump acknowledged that he repaid Cohen but said the payments had “nothing to do with the campaign”. But watchdog groups have pointed out that the payment may have breached campaign finance laws precisely because the money came from outside the campaign.

Media roundup

Big business and unions have formed an unprecedented alliance to urge that current levels of permanent migration should be maintained, the Australian reports. Collingwood’s Dane Swan has begged police to intervene to stop a six-second video of him circulating on social media, the Herald Sun reports. Swan says he is the victim of revenge porn and his privacy has been grossly breached. The ABC has an in-depth explainer on why New Caledonia wants to gain independence from France.

Coming up

Voting starts for the election of the Labor party’s next federal president, with four candidates in the race: the frontbencher Mark Butler, the former treasurer Wayne Swan, the Queensland senator Claire Moore and the trade union official Mich-Elle Myers.

Federal, state and territory education ministers will meet for a briefing from David Gonski about his latest report on schools.



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