Your morning Briefing
Welcome to your morning roundup of what’s making news and the must-reads for today.
Hello readers. Here is your two-minute digest of what’s making news today and a long read for later.
Indigenous ‘never bring up date’
Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion says no indigenous person has ever raised the issue of changing the date of Australia Day with him. Earlier this week Chris Sarra, one of Malcolm Turnbull’s key indigenous advisers, said he did not think that Australia Day and what it represents is a day that most people in the Aboriginal community want to celebrate. Senator Scullion acknowledged Professor Sarra’s view, saying he was a good friend he often spoke to.
“I’ve just spent the last week in indigenous communities around Australia. It never comes up as an issue.”
Nigel Scullion
-
Doyle undaunted
The political future of Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle would appear to be in tatters amid a second investigation into sexual harassment allegations, but the long-serving councillor has told supporters he is determined to resolve the matter and return to public life. Mr Doyle, who took leave from Melbourne City Council last month after a complaint was lodged alleging sexual harassment and indecent assault, is facing a fresh claim that in his capacity as Melbourne Health chairman he touched a woman inappropriately at a function in June 2016.
-
Silver bullet?
Scientists have created a blood test that can detect eight of the most common cancers long before they turn lethal, in a breakthrough that could save millions of people from premature death. The “liquid biopsy” identifies early-stage tumours from proteins and genetic mutations circulating in the blood. Trials have found that it can uncover fledgling cancers in about 70 per cent of cases, and up to 98 per cent for some types, long before they become detectable by other means. They include deadly conditions such as pancreatic cancer, which usually goes unnoticed until it has spread. The goal is to spot tumours before that happens, when survival rates are still high.
-
Heat is on
Roger Federer says the heat is part and parcel of the Australian Open and believes organisers are doing their best to put player welfare before profits. Six-time Open champion Novak Djokovic, who played in searing temperatures in Melbourne yesterday, said a big-business approach was pushing players to the limit at Melbourne Park. Djokovic said he had struggled to draw breath at times in his win over Gael Monfils, where 67C was recorded at ground level on Rod Laver Arena. And it’s not going to get any better for the players today, with a maximum temperature of 42 degrees forecast for Melbourne. It could lead to the tournament’s extreme heat policy — in which matches on outside courts are halted and roofs are closed on all three indoor-capable venues — being enforced for the first time since 2014. The policy is triggered when the ambient temperature surpasses 40C and a wet-bulb reading of more than 32.5C is recorded. Follow all the day’s action in our live blog.
-
The long read: Vagina verities
A new book — The Wonder Down Under: A user’s guide to the vagina — challenges old fallacies about female genitalia. Norwegian medics Nina Brochmann and Ellen Stokken Dahl have boldly gone where no man has gone before to plant their little flags on the uncharted territory of the female sexual organ.
-
Comment of the day
“That even Graham ‘whatever it takes’ Richardson couldn’t satisfy this mob is telling and we do well to heed his warnings.”
Karen, in response to ‘Miserable Greens would deny us all that we hold dear and cherish’. Catch up with the best of the week’s opinions in the Readers’ Comments column.
-
Kudelka’s view
China’s great wall of silence
China deliberately concealed information about the coronavirus, and now it is fighting an inquiry. So what is Beijing hiding?
Your noon Briefing
Your 2-minute digest of the day’s top stories.