Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 19 September.

Top stories

A Serco guard at an immigration detention centre near Perth has allegedly sexually assaulted a detainee, according to a complaint filed to Australian Border Force. The detainee said he had told by Serco management that his complaint was referred to the AFP, and Guardian Australia has verified this claim, but neither the AFP nor Western Australia police appear to have received it. The detainee said he was unable to make a report to the AFP himself – a fact confirmed by Guardian Australia – and accused Serco of considering itself above the law.

“Serco-run detention centres are a state within a state,” the detainee told Guardian Australia. The privately run Yongah Hill immigration detention centre came under the spotlight this month after the death of a 22-year-old Iraqi man, Sarwan Aljhedie.

China has hit the US with $60bn of new tariffs in response to $200bn of trade sanctions on Chinese goods announced by Donald Trump late on Monday. With Trump facing low approval ratings before the US midterm elections in November, further escalation is likely in what is being viewed as steps towards a full-scale trade war. The US president threatened further tariffs on an additional $276bn of goods if Beijing unveiled retaliatory measures – a step that would mean tariffs on all Chinese imports to the US and equate to 4% of world trade. China faces difficulty in responding on a scale equal to Trump’s new tariffs because its annual imports from the US total only about $130bn, while its exports to the US total more than $500bn.

Catherine Marriott has spoken out about Barnaby Joyce’s alleged sexual harassment. Speaking publicly for the first time, Marriott has detailed what happened after the alleged incident, her confidential complaints to the National party and the effect of her public identification. She told the ABC’s 7.30 program: “My name was leaked and that is one of the most frightening things that you will ever have to live through. You finally find the courage within yourself to stand up for what you believe in and then all control is taken away.”

The energy minister Angus Taylor’s electorate supports an emissions reduction target. A ReachTel poll of 690 residents across the federal seat of Hume found the sample was divided over a range of climate and energy questions, but more people supported stronger action on emissions reduction than opposed it. Asked whether the government’s Paris target of 26% to 28% should be increased “so Australia reduces emissions faster, decreased so Australia does less, or kept the same” – 42.3% said increased, 29.4% said kept the same, and 22.5% said reduced. Taylor confirmed in question time on Tuesday that the government would not replace the renewable energy target with an alternative policy after it wound down in 2020.

“‘I had sex with that,’ I’d say to myself. Eech.” The Guardian has obtained a copy of Stormy Daniels’ tell-all Trump memoir. In it, Daniels describes her mounting disbelief as Trump began to win primary contests in 2016 for the Republican presidential nomination. The more he won, the more sensitive the story Daniels had to tell about Trump seemed, and she began to think she might be in danger. Those moments of fear and doubt – and Daniels’ decision on the eve of the election to sign a $130,000 hush agreement – hang around a detailed description of Daniels’ alleged tryst with Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, California. In the book, Daniels writes in sometimes excruciating detail about the president’s genitals and describes her disgust with herself for letting the scene play out.

Sport

Police in the US have charged a man with the murder of the golfer Celia Barquín. The body of the 22-year-old Spanish champion was found on an Iowa golf course on Monday.

Barcelona have won four-nil against PSV Eindhoven, with Lionel Messi scoring the first three goals – making him the first player in Champions League history to register eight hat-tricks. In Milan, Inter have beaten Spurs 2-1. And Liverpool has defeated Paris Saint-Germain 3-2. Recap the match with Paul Doyle in our live blog.

Thinking time

Josh Niland shares his top tips for cooking fish at home, and he should know: Gourmet Traveller’s chef of the year serves only seafood at his Saint Peter restaurant in Sydney. Niland knows cooking – and buying – fish can be intimidating. “Don’t hesitate to ask those behind the counter what they would take home themselves that day,” he says. “All these guys selling you fish really love fish – otherwise why would you stand in a room filled with fish that’s cold and wet and horrible?”

Why do Australia’s regulations fail to protect the vulnerable from the greedy, asks Richard Denniss. “Neoliberalism’s best trick was convincing us that ‘empowering’ citizens to shop around would deliver better services at a lower cost,” he writes. “Royal commissions into aged care and (potentially) the electricity industry are good ideas. But it’s time we raised our sights and inquired into why it is that NGOs and journalists are better at uncovering scandals than the regulatory bodies which are given billions of dollars per year to perform exactly that task?”

Watch Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby’s appearance at the Emmys, which had people calling for her to host the entire show next year. “Nobody knows what jokes are these days, especially men. That’s why I’m presenting alone,” Gadsby joked when she presented the award for outstanding directing for a drama series at the 2018 Emmy awards. The Australian comedian, originally from Tasmania, shot to international attention this year after her standup show Nanette was picked up by Netflix.

Media roundup

The Sydney Morning Herald has spoken to Gareth Ward, the Kiama MP accused of bullying by his federal colleague Ann Sudmalis. Ward says he was bullied as a child and “went to hell and back, so to be called a bully as an adult is not only hurtful but absolutely not true”. The Mercury is reporting that Tasmania’s severely overcrowded Royal Hobart hospital planned to put patients in storerooms with a handheld bell if it could not cope with demand for beds. And the Australian reports that the Reserve Bank has warned that the trade war between the US and China is emerging as a threat to Australia’s economy.

Coming up

New Zealand celebrates the 125th anniversary of becoming the first country in the world to give women the vote with Jacinda Ardern guest editing the nation’s largest newspaper.

The banking royal commission will hear from two people who made insurance claims with Youi as part of its investigation into how insurers have handled claims after natural disasters.

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