Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 21 February.

Top stories

The Paladin scandal has become a “hot issue” in Papua New Guinea’s parliament and damages Australia’s anti-corruption credentials, according to a former Australian bureaucrat who worked as a senior adviser to the PNG government. Paul Flanagan said the controversy surrounding the awarding of a $423m contract on Manus Island was painting Australia’s efforts to strengthen anti-corruption measures and improve procurement standards as hypocritical. Jonathan Pryke, the director of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific islands program, suggested there were double standards at play for overseas government funds. “What shocks me is that an aid program 1% the size of this [Paladin contract] would go under far more scrutiny – every cent would be accounted for,” he told Guardian Australia.

The number of Australian children deliberately poisoning themselves has doubled in a decade, a study published in the medical journal BMJ Open today shows. Common household medicines such as paracetamol, ibuprofen, antidepressants and antipsychotics were the substances most frequently used in self-harm episodes. Intentional poisonings increased 98% between 2006 and 2016, largely driven by a significant increase in poisonings in people born after 1997. Girls outnumbered boys three to one. “Our results indicate a generation that is increasingly engaging in self-harm,” the study concluded, warning that the findings pointed to future increases in suicide rates.

The Swedish teenager who sparked a global student strike for climate change has rebuked the NSW education minister, who warned students and teachers against going on strike on a school day. Greta Thunberg, 16, responded to a tweet from Sky News paraphrasing Rob Stokes’ warning to students, saying students heard his message but “we don’t care” and that his statement “belongs in a museum”. Thousands of Australian students attended rallies in November, demanding action on climate change. The next protest in March will take place a week before the NSW state election and just before the likely start of a federal election campaign.

World

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston have left the Tory party to join the new Independent Group Photograph: James Veysey/Rex/Shutterstock

Three UK Conservative MPs have quit their party to join the new Independent Group, declaring that hard Brexiters have taken over and that the party’s modernising wing has been “destroyed”.

Shamima Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizen and there is “no question” of her being allowed to settle there, the country’s ministry of foreign affairs has insisted, despite Britain’s move to strip the teenager who joined Isis in Syria of her UK citizenship.

Emma Thompson has quit her role in the animated film Luck after the former Pixar chief John Lasseter joined the production. In 2017 Lasseter admitted to sexual conduct “missteps” while at Pixar.

Vladimir Putin has said Russia will develop new weapons and aim them at western “centres of decision-making”, if the west deploys new short- and medium-range missiles in Europe.

The ideas of US far-right hate groups have entered the mainstream in the Trump era, a new report has found. The president had propelled their growth by “fuelling fears of a white minority country”, the authors said.

Opinion and analysis

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An activist shouts slogans against female genital mutilation during a protest in London. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

The clitoris is a gift, so why is there an ingrained fear of talking about it? If we want to make progress with female genital mutilation, we need to first tackle our outdated, misogynistic views about sex, and ask why female sexual enjoyment remains in the realm of the forbidden, writes Lucy McCormick. “The big difference here seems to be that while the vagina has an obvious functional utility, the clitoris exists entirely for female pleasure. It seems that the issue stems, not from the provocative nature of a word, but our continued societal taboo regarding women daring to enjoy sex.”

Greg Jericho looks at the latest data on wages growth and finds some cheer: wages are now growing faster than inflation. But it’s faint praise because the 2.3% growth for 2018 is nowhere near the long-term average of 3.2%. It’s yet more evidence that low wages growth is the new normal. “The horror run of flat real wages growth and record low wages growth appears to be over, but there is a long way to go before we experience anything like what was considered solid or even merely average wages growth.”

Sport

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Martina Navratilova on the court. Photograph: David Becker/Getty Images

The tennis star Martina Navratilova has been removed as an ambassador by Athlete Ally, an organisation that supports LGBT athletes, after her comments about transgender inclusion. In a heavily criticised newspaper column this week, Navratilova referred to trans women as men who “decide to be female”, and said allowing them to compete was “cheating and unfair”.

Is defending making a comeback in football after the gung-ho attacking years? Liverpool’s draw with Bayern followed a Champions League last-16 pattern, and the phenomenon runs deeper, writes Jonathan Wilson.

Thinking time: Morrison government ‘seeking to incite hysteria’

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The former race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Australia’s former race discrimination commissioner will warn voters to brace for a possible race-based election, declaring there is every indication that the Coalition government has already “flicked the switch to fear”. In the John Curtin lecture tonight, Tim Soutphommasane will say: “You get the impression that Armageddon awaits vulnerable Australians, and if this kind of scare campaigning weren’t bad enough, just ask yourself this – might the fear-mongering get worse between now and the election later this year? Could this be just a preview of a race politics put on steroids?”

Soutphommasane warns against using the politics of hate to score points, and calls on politicians and the media to safeguard democratic institutions. “The threat that the rise of hate poses to our society isn’t confined to minorities and those who are most vulnerable to intolerance and discrimination … the threat is posed to all of us – and to our democratic institutions. When hatred becomes acceptable, it diminishes all of us.”

Media roundup

Up to a third of Queensland’s $84bn LNG industry could close within a decade, the Courier-Mail reports, owing to a gas shortage that has already left three major Gladstone plants failing to reach full production. The Australian devotes its front page to Labor’s “Carbon cut apocalypse”, citing an independent report that says the party’s 45% emissions-­reduction target would push electricity prices up 50%, cost workers $9,000 a year in wages and wipe close to $500bn from the economy in a decade. Tropical cyclone Oma could make landfall on the Queensland coast within days, the ABC reports. Severe beach swells and strong winds are expected to pick up from tonight in the state’s south.



Coming up

A report will be tabled today from a WA parliamentary committee that investigated the granting of mining licences to Hawthorn Resources and allegations of intimidation, abuse and racial discrimination towards the Aboriginal owners of a neighbouring pastoral station.

Defence and foreign affairs are among the departments under scrutiny at Senate estimates today.

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