Morning mail: vaccine rollout begins, Melbourne doctors under fire, what next for Facebook?

Good morning – Covid-19 vaccines have started in Australia, Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka won the Australian Open, and a group of Melbourne doctors are being investigated for promoting unproven Covid treatments. It’s Imogen Dewey with the news headlines on Monday 22 February.

Australia’s long-awaited vaccine rollout began at a suburban medical clinic in Sydney yesterday, with a second world war survivor first in the queue. About 1.4m doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be rolled out for phase 1a of the federal government’s program, which includes frontline healthcare and quarantine workers, and aged care and disability home residents and staff. (Phase 1b, with about 14m doses, is much wider and won’t begin until later this year.) As Queensland and South Australia start their programs today, the latter’s leader is urging the public to ignore anti-vaccination “propaganda”. Mention of the vaccine sparked boos from the crowd last night at the tennis; in one presenter’s words, “just embarrassing”. Even so, the government is pulling paid ads for their major campaign to increase vaccine confidence off Facebook as they prepare to debate the mandatory news media bargaining code this week – opting instead for “other platforms and traditional media” to combat public health misinformation.

Speaking of, Australia’s drug regulator says a group of practising Melbourne doctors are being investigated for promoting hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19, against all scientific evidence. Their company, the Covid Medical Network, has also promoted other baseless claims, including casting doubt on the reliability of Covid tests, as well as the need for and efficacy of the vaccines, and says wearing masks can be harmful to your health.

Nearly half a million people have died from the coronavirus in the US, where the nation’s top infectious diseases expert has predicted people may still be wearing masks in 2022. As the world grapples with its pandemic recovery, Australian economist Ross Garnaut warns that we need to put fairness at the heart of it.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese is calling for political leaders to discard rusted-on ideologies and embrace compassion in a speech reaching out to faith groups today (slated to include a veiled swipe at the Coalition). He’s not expected to outline any new position on the government’s stalled religious freedom bill. The speech coincides with the release of an open letter from Christian leaders to Morrison in which the writers vow to “stand in solidarity with the vulnerable” after the nation’s “awful year”.

Australia

After comments about a ‘culture of disrespect’, the prime minister responded that it was not ‘confined to the parliament’.
After comments about a ‘culture of disrespect’, Scott Morrison responded that it was not ‘confined to the parliament’. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Scott Morrison yesterday indicated that he had reprimanded his staff for not bringing a former government staffer’s rape allegations to his attention as soon as a reporter submitted questions earlier this month. Ahead of Brittany Higgins’ formal statement to police on Wednesday, a third woman has reportedly alleged that she was sexually assaulted by the same staffer.

The number of disabled young people living on poverty-level benefits has “exploded” by more than 300% over the past decade, new data reveals. With tightened rules on disability pensions blamed, the government has been urged to address “intractable problems”.

Greens leader Adam Bandt wants the next federal election to be a referendum on inequality as well as climate action. Over the weekend he said the pandemic has seen ordinary people suffer while “billionaires and big corporations are making out like bandits”.

The world

Protest against military coup in YangonFlowers are left at a makeshift memorial for the people killed during a protest against the military coup in Mandalay on the previous day, in Yangon, Myanmar, February 21, 2021.
Flowers are left at a makeshift memorial for the people killed during a protest against the military coup in Mandalay. Photograph: Reuters

Witnesses have described the killing of protesters as unrest continues in Myanmar. Worldwide condemnation of the military continues, as Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest.

Iran has brushed aside European calls to suspend its plan to cut back on UN inspections of its nuclear sites and will impose a new restrictive regime this week.

A H5N8 strain of bird flu has been detected in humans for the first time, among seven workers who were infected at a Russian poultry plant in December. There’s so far no evidence of the strain being transmitted between humans.

Donald Trump will address a conference this week on the future of the Republican party – as a growing number of Republican donors aim to prise the party from his influence.

Recommended reads

Albanese said the words about the frontier wars were unintentionally omitted from the speech he delivered at the war memorial.
Anthony Albanese said the words about the frontier wars were unintentionally omitted from the speech he delivered at the war memorial. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Anthony Albanese’s fine words in federal parliament marking 13 years since Kevin Rudd’s apology to the stolen generation were remarkable and laudatory, writes Paul Daley. They’d have been more so if spoken at the war memorial. The Labor leader’s assertion of the historical “holes in national memory” around frontier violence and resistance is vital, Daley agrees – but it was at an event two weeks earlier – “in the lion’s den of the nation’s preferred narrative” as Indigenous writer and activist Jack Latimore describes it – that Albanese could have spoken most effectively of those national memorial holes.

“If you’re looking for a salve or an escape in your bingeable TV, look further than Veep. Don’t even think about hitting play,” Shaad D’Souza advises. “Get as far as you can from this show, a seven-season odyssey of human cruelty, pettiness and political horror. You won’t find escapism in this tale of the United States’ first female vice-president – just the savage and brutally funny, the mean, the insane and the inane.”

Plus: inside the battle to restore Christchurch’s cathedral. While new buildings have sprung up around it, the ruin has long been a painful reminder of the 2011 earthquake. The 19th-century neo-gothic structure had been Christchurch’s namesake and defining symbol, down to the local government’s logo. Finally, a decade after the disaster, a path forward has emerged that may help the city and its people to heal.

Listen

On Thursday, Facebook blocked all news on its platform in Australia. This historic move came during escalating tensions over legislation that would force Facebook and Google to negotiate a fair payment with news organisations for using their content. Today on Full Story, reporter Joshua Taylor explains the key arguments for and against the media bargaining code, and explores what Facebook may be hoping to achieve by blocking news.

Full Story

Why Facebook blocked news in Australia, and what comes next?

Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.

Sport

As major tournaments come and go, prophecies of the end of an era become louder and more convincing, yet 10 of the last 11 times they have concluded with Djokovic or Rafael Nadal standing on top of the podium. ‘We’re talking about some cyborgs of tennis, in a good way,’ admitted Medvedev. ‘They are better than other tennis players.’
Novak Djokovic routs Daniil Medvedev to claim the ninth Australian Open title.
Photograph: William West/AFP/Getty Images

For more than a decade Novak Djokovic has made winning the Australian Open an almost annual habit. He did so for the ninth time last night, holding off early pressure from Daniil Medvedev before viciously dismantling his challenger – and showing, as Jonathan Howcroft writes, that the next generation still trail the old guard when it comes to the biggest stages. His next goal: overthrowing Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s record. On Saturday, Naomi Osaka clinched her final to improve her grand slam title haul to four in four tries, and the hype truly began.

As the tournament drew to a close, Australian Open boss Craig Tiley said the decision to push ahead had been vindicated and was a choice he’d make “100 times over”.

Generally, when any sporting season is approaching the halfway point, patterns have developed and unknowns become knowns. Neither is true in the AFLW, with four rounds gone and with five remaining.

Media roundup

A Sunshine Coast amateur rugby league player died after collapsing on the field, the ABC reports. Also on the ABC: the Northern Territory’s chief minister has said dishonesty from former team members stopped him “acting early and publicly” to address Labor’s growing political scandal. Two cleaners who “accidentally” breached an Adelaide quarantine hotel are now at the centre of a security probe – the Advertiser explains. And according to the Australian, the federal government is formally advising the governor general that a royal commission into media diversity should not proceed.

Coming up

A three-day NSW public inquiry into coercive control begins today.

Federal parliament resumes sitting this week.

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source: theguardian.com