Yahoo Finance Morning mail: Biden declares ‘climate day’, Google’s news experiment, The Dry ends box office drought
Good morning, here are the lead stories this Thursday – not that you can count on them showing up in a Google search. The federal government faces fresh conflict-of-interest questions, Anthony Albanese stares down factional ructions, and Joe Biden continues to dismantle the Trumpian legacy.
A major military technology supplier that was awarded $98m worth of Australian government contracts by former defence minister Christopher Pyne has formally engaged the lobbyist firm Pyne and Partners to represent its interests. Government ministers are prohibited from lobbying in relation to their portfolio for 18 months after they leave office. Pyne and Partners managing director, Pyne’s former parliamentary chief of staff, Adam Howard, informed Guardian Australia that the exclusion period finished 29 November last year, and that Pyne did not commence lobbying for the company, Elbit, until December. It’s the latest of a string of post-politics roles the former MP for Sturt has taken connected to his former portfolio area.
Google has admitted a “small per cent of users” from Australia will not be served local news stories, as it conducts ongoing “experiments” in blocking major mastheads such as the Sydney Morning Herald, the West Australian and Guardian Australia. A spokesperson strongly denied that the testing has prevented “the vast majority of users” from reaching news sources, but side-by-side tests conducted by Guardian Australia detail the changes. Meanwhile, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has warned the tech giant could be misusing its power as a dominant player in the $9.1bn online display advertising market. And Labor appears set to provide support to the legislation that accelerated the ongoing stoush between Google and the Australian government.
US president Joe Biden has issued a sweeping set of climate-related executive orders, including a hold on oil and gas drilling on federal land, a move to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, and the decision to convert the government’s car and truck fleet to electric vehicles. The US president has wasted little time rolling back the Trump-era changes, “letting science speak again”, as public health experts conducted his administration’s first formal Covid-19 briefing.
Australia
Prominent Labor leftwing powerbroker Mark Butler is set to lose the climate portfolio in a reshuffle of the shadow cabinet following the resignation of Joel Fitzgibbon.
Australia requires a greenhouse gas emissions reduction of between 50% and 74% by 2030 if it is to meet its Paris agreement targets, according to a new report by a panel chaired by former Liberal leader John Hewson.
Alleged child abuser Malka Leifer has touched down in Melbourne, where she’s set to stand trial on 74 counts of sexual abuse. The attorney general has said he hopes her long-awaited arrival brings “relief” to alleged victims.
The world
The planet is officially now warmer than at any time during human civilisation, with scientists’ analysis of ocean surface temperatures suggesting that human-led climate change is sending the world into “uncharted territory”. A separate study has also revealed that global shark and ray populations have crashed by more than 70% in the past 50 years.
The leader of the Proud Boys extremist group previously worked as an FBI informant, a former prosecutor has alleged. Enrique Tarrio has denied working as an undercover operative reporting on fellow network members.
Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov has called on the UK to introduce economic sanctions on London-based allies of Vladimir Putin, after the Kremlin’s raids on the house and offices of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Indonesia’s most active volcano, Mount Merapi, has erupted, with villagers within 5km of the 3,000m crater evacuated, after the most significant lava flows since authorities raised its danger level last year.
Recommended reads
It’s a long time since Australian films have dominated the local box office, but a film about enduring a long barren run has brought the drought to an end, as The Dry threatens to out-earn classic Australian films like The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Muriel’s Wedding. “Because of Covid, Hollywood is holding back a lot of films at the moment … so these great Australian movies are very welcome for us right now,” Hoyts CEO Damian Keogh tells Guardian Australia.
Twenty-year-old Jake Turner is too young to be getting grey hairs. The trained chef and aspiring musician who lives in Wollongong, has plenty on his plate: “I have a lot of friends in the hospitality industry with the same problems: minimal hours, and when working, feel like they work as if they’re a slave.” And hearing his dad’s generation talk about their carefree 20s isn’t helping. In this diary for Guardian Australia’s Dreams Interrupted series, Turner wrestles with how to beat feeling overwhelmed and flustered in 2021.
It’s been five years since the Australian economy has met the Reserve Bank’s own target inflation rate. And while nobody welcomes hyper-inflation, as Greg Jericho explains: “That low price growth reflects a lack of demand in the economy, a lack of wage growth and a decidedly limp state of economic affairs.” It’s a systemic weakness that has existed for years before Covid-19 turned business upside down, and on current figures, it’s set to continue.
Comedian Nath Valvo has almost finished the internet. It’s an impressive achievement, but one that thankfully you or I don’t have to emulate – because he’s collected his 10 funniest things on the internet. And it’s great news for anyone who wants to learn to draw Bart Simpson, or has ever wondered what the funniest-smelling thing is.
Listen
A vaccinated Australia. Amid concerns over coronavirus mutations globally, and questions over vaccine efficacy for older Australians, the mooted distribution of a nationwide vaccine plan in February is under a shadow. On this episode of Full Story, health reporter Melissa Davey details the road ahead.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Four years ago when AFLW was launched it became quickly clear that head office had underestimated the demand for the women’s game. Now on the eve of season five, does this premium product continue to be undervalued? Megan Maurice prosecutes the argument for higher ticket prices.
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has questioned Chelsea’s sacking of Frank Lampard, saying he “really feels” for the young manager, and that the club’s Russian owner Roman Abramovich lacked patience, given the “present” that incoming manager Thomas Tuchel is about to inherit.
Media roundup
A group of neo-Nazis’ weekend trip to the Grampians in Victoria has raised alarm about the rise of Australia’s far-right, writes the Age. Their presence prompted several locals to call the police. Australia has been assessed as a global top-10 performer in its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, reports the ABC, according to an analysis of 98 nations by the Lowy Institute. New Zealand was listed first and the United States 93rd. And Melbourne’s $6.7bn West Gate Tunnel project could be delayed even further after delays in the arrival of Chinese-made steel, the Herald Sun reports.
Coming up
Alleged child abuser Malka Leifer is expected to face court in Melbourne after being extradited from Israel.
And if you’ve read this far …
How far would you go to receive a Covid-19 vaccine? For one couple from Canada, that includes flying to a remote indigenous community and reportedly posing as local motel employees. It’s a move that has drawn swift condemnation from First Nations elders, with one accusing the casino executive and actor of stealing “doses of the vaccine from a vulnerable population”. British Columbia’s ministry of health has reported the couple will now have to wait until August or September to receive their second dose, when their age group becomes eligible.
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