Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 6 August.

Top stories

Donald Trump has blamed “the glorification of violence” as the cause of two mass shootings, identifying video games, the internet and mental illness – but not guns – as the cause of the attacks that left at least 31 people dead and 53 injured in less than 24 hours. The language in a manifesto believed to have been written by the El Paso suspect echoes Trump’s own vocabulary. It comes as Barack Obama issued a statement expressing condolences for the victims of the El Paso and Dayton shootings and demanding action on gun control. And although he did not mention his successor by name, he called on Americans to “soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalises racist sentiments”.

A push by the Coalition to tighten the character test for visa holders could see a fivefold increase in the number of people facing deportation, migration experts have warned. The government has reintroduced a bill to change the Migration Act to provide grounds for visa cancellation or refusal where a non-citizen has been convicted of a serious crime punishable by two years’ imprisonment. Migration experts have warned that New Zealanders and humanitarian refugees would be disproportionately affected. A submission to the Senate committee says: “This may be one of the most significant retrospective applications of new legislation in recent parliamentary history.”

Queensland’s abortion law change improved access but women trying to access termination services still face a “postcode lottery”, according to doctors and support services. Overall they say the effect is being seen as positive. As NSW politicians today debate a bill to decriminalise abortion, Queensland says access has improved in many places since the state passed a similar law seven months ago but demand for services has not increased. In some places, such as Cairns, where last year more than 10 women a month were flown interstate for procedures, doctors say the change has had a radical effect. In other parts of regional Queensland, women’s advocacy services still hear stories about doctors treating women with disrespect.



Energy retailers are pushing back against a proposal to let large commercial users enter the wholesale electricity market, prompting warnings that the sector wants to stifle competition. Engie and Simec Energy are set to protest against the proposed demand response mechanism, which has been hailed as a win for consumers. The Australia Institute, which backed the rule change, says the suggestion that incumbent energy companies should be allowed to control the sale of services that undermine their interests would be “unimaginable” in most industries.

World

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Boris Johnson has no intention of renegotiating a Brexit deal, EU diplomats have been told. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AFP/Getty Images

European diplomats have been told that Boris Johnson has no intention of renegotiating Britain’s withdrawal agreement and a no-deal Brexit is his “central scenario”, amid hardening evidence that his government is expecting to crash out of the EU.

Twenty people have been killed and 47 injured in Cairo after a car bomb collided with other vehicles, triggering an explosion outside a cancer hospital.

Britain is to join the US in a naval mission to protect oil tankers in the Gulf from seizure by Iran, as London shifted away from plans for a European-led mission that had been proposed by Jeremy Hunt.

India is preparing to withdraw the special status of Kashmir and split the disputed territory in two, in a move likely to face major resistance.

German emergency services called out to attend to nighttime disturbances are increasingly finding themselves confronted with copulating hedgehogs.

Opinion and analysis

The latest inflation and retail trade data confirm what households around Australia know – things are tough and there is little appetite for spending, writes Greg Jericho: “At this point the government is betting on the tax cuts fuelling an increase in spending. It should in the short term, but without wages growth no household is going to think about increasing their spending long term.”

“When I realised I was gay, I was about 19. It was honestly like this penny-drop moment, where all of a sudden everything made sense,” says Sally Rugg. The campaigner tells writer Benjamin Law her coming out story as part of the new anthology Growing Up Queer in Australia. If she could go back in time, she says, she would tell herself to find her community. “Had I found a queer community sooner, I would’ve known I had the belonging and unconditional love of the community as chosen family.”

Sport

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pat Cummings of Australia celebrates with Steve Smith and teammates after taking the final wicket to win the first Ashes Test. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images

Australia has sealed a crushing win in the first Ashes Test. “The end for England was swift, ugly and emphatic,” writes Vic Marks. “They were bundled out for 146 by 3.15pm. At the conclusion of a cacophonous Ashes Test all the noise came from the Australia fans in the Hollies Stand.”

Bjorg Lambrecht has died after crashing at the Tour of Poland. He was 22. His Lotto Soudal team announced on Monday that the Belgian cyclist had fallen during the race’s third stage.

Thinking time: ‘It does put a little bit of heat on people’

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Joban Yunupingu became the unofficial face of this year’s Garma festival. Photograph: Helen Davidson/The Guardian

Each August more than 2,600 people descend on Gulkula, a cultural gathering place for the Gumatj clan of north-east Arnhem Land, for the five-day Garma festival. Twelve months in the planning by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, Garma is a crash course introduction to Indigenous culture and issues, designed to foster greater cross-cultural understanding. This year, Helen Davidson attended the festival. “From the bush behind Garma festival’s outdoor auditorium, Gumatj men file out to the clearing from their men-only ceremony, led by the minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, in his kangaroo cloak. They take to the red sandy ground to perform in front of the storied crowd, the most feted of whom is the Gumatj leader, Galarrwuy Yunupingu. A tiny, chubby baby, painted up and dressed in Gumatj yellow, runs amok. As the Australian actor Jack Thompson solemnly reads out the Uluru statement of the heart, Joban Yunupingu spins in circles and does headstands, babbling to himself and laughing.

“Within hours this youngest member of the dance group will become the unofficial face of Garma, his photo splashed around the world. By Sunday’s bunggul, Galarrwuy will decide the whole world has seen his great-grandson, so he might as well formally introduce him. Joban soaks up the attention, applauding himself along with everyone else.”

Media roundup

Top of the Australian Financial Review online is the headline “Worst day of the year!” as a fall in the yuan triggers a 900-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Daily Telegraph’s splash is Green tax fury: power bill gouge to help fund $276 million NSW climate change (slush) fund. The Sydney Morning Herald reveals that members of the Liberal party’s hard-right faction “are attempting to erode the support of factional rivals in Sydney by organising religious freedom meetings that double as branch stacking events”.

Coming up

NSW politicians will debate the bill to decriminalise abortion. Pro-choice and anti-abortion groups will stage separate rallies outside.

A voluntary assisted dying bill will be introduced to the Western Australian parliament.

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