Matildas train ahead of trip to Melbourne for must-win Canada clash
Kieran Pender
With the weight of a nation on their shoulders, the Matildas will run through their paces one final time in Brisbane this morning, before flying to Melbourne this afternoon.
Tonight, coach Tony Gustavsson and midfielder Emily van Egmond will face the press before tomorrow night’s blockbuster Women’s World Cup clash with Canada. Australia must beat the Olympic champions to guarantee progression to the round of 16; a draw would leave their fate in the hands of Ireland, who would need to beat Nigeria (with goal difference breaking the Australians’ way).
The Matildas have had a run of training-ground injuries at the tournament. Sam Kerr injured her calf at the beginning of the World Cup and two players, Mary Fowler and Aivi Luik, suffered concussions during the week. Following brief absences, all three are expected to be fit to play against Canada. Gustavsson will be desperate for an incident-free training session before his team heads south for final pre-match preparations, ahead of perhaps the most important clash in Matildas’ history.
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For more on this story from the Guardian’s Kieran Pender:
Key events
PM speaks during search for downed helicopter
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed his thanks to other nations for their help in searching for Navy Officers lost after a helicopter crash during training exercises and paid tribute to the missing officers family.
This is a stark reminder that there are no safe or easy days for those who serve in our country’s name.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Albanese said Talisman Sabre brought together 13 nations and up to 30,000 personnel “dedicated to deepening international cooperation and building a more peaceful and secure world”.
On behalf of our nation our thoughts and prayers are with the families, the friends and colleagues of those who are missing.
Looks like the Matilda’s have bumped Four Corners.
Puppet in quest for Australian leadership
Perhaps what Australia has always needed is a puppet ruler. A purple one.
Having conquered the international comedy circuit, Randy Feltface is making a tilt at politics with his latest tour, Feltopia.
I’m a little bit sick and tired of how the world is being run and I figure I can give it a shot.
For those unfamiliar with Randy Feltface, he’s the puppet creation of Australian puppeteer Heath McIvor, who has been performing as the character since 2005.
The aspiring politician intends to work out his policy platform reality-television style, subjecting 500 contestants from regional Australia to a series of physical trials.
The last person standing will determine Randy’s political agenda, but it’s a process he expects will take five years.
Randy cautions that he’s not necessarily aiming for world domination, nor is he certain he’ll do a better job than those currently in power.
He also suspects his foray into politics may be short-lived.
Because I don’t feel like I’m very honest about my past, I think cancellation is inevitable for me.
I’m running on a platform of honesty and compassion … I might get eaten alive on the first day.
Feltopia has toured the UK, Europe, and the US, and Randy’s tour of Australia and New Zealand will run until September.
– AAP
Evangelical chaplains overwhelmingly represented in ADF program
The Australian defence force has a disproportionately high number of evangelical chaplains, with one Australian Christian Churches chaplain for every member who identifies with that denomination, new figures reveal.
Critics argue ADF members shouldn’t be forced to receive care from someone with views that may differ vastly from their own – particularly when 80% of new recruits say they aren’t religious.
Documents provided to the Senate show there are 13 Australian Christian Churches (ACC) chaplains in the ADF even though there are only 13 serving members who self-identify as ACC.
ACC was formerly the Assemblies of God (AOG) which is still listed as a religious grouping by the ADF. It has eight chaplains for 65 serving members.
For more on this story, read the full report by The Guardian Australia’s Tory Shepherd.
Matildas train ahead of trip to Melbourne for must-win Canada clash
Kieran Pender
With the weight of a nation on their shoulders, the Matildas will run through their paces one final time in Brisbane this morning, before flying to Melbourne this afternoon.
Tonight, coach Tony Gustavsson and midfielder Emily van Egmond will face the press before tomorrow night’s blockbuster Women’s World Cup clash with Canada. Australia must beat the Olympic champions to guarantee progression to the round of 16; a draw would leave their fate in the hands of Ireland, who would need to beat Nigeria (with goal difference breaking the Australians’ way).
The Matildas have had a run of training-ground injuries at the tournament. Sam Kerr injured her calf at the beginning of the World Cup and two players, Mary Fowler and Aivi Luik, suffered concussions during the week. Following brief absences, all three are expected to be fit to play against Canada. Gustavsson will be desperate for an incident-free training session before his team heads south for final pre-match preparations, ahead of perhaps the most important clash in Matildas’ history.
For more on this story from the Guardian’s Kieran Pender:
NSW government to pull down gambling signage
Gambling signage displayed in public will come down after the New South Wales Labor government moves on an election commitment to ban the outside advertising from venues across the state.
Since the changes were announced in May, Liquor and Gaming NSW inspectors have engaged with 530 venues across 20 metropolitan and 12 regional local government areas (LGAs), to provide education and support to industry to meet their new obligations by 1 September.
Nearly half – 215 of 530 – of venues are already complying with the new requirements ahead of the deadline.
The minister for gaming and racing, David Harris, commended venues that have already removed offending external signage and urged other pubs and clubs to get on board.
It’s great to see industry and government working together to prevent and reduce gambling harm in the community.
We announced these changes back in May as a staged approach to ensure pubs and clubs were given the appropriate amount of time to conceal, remove and switch off any gambling promoting signage.
While venues have until 1 September to comply, our expectation is that they remove signs as quickly as possible and not leave it until the last minute.
Removing this signage is just one important part of our commitment to gambling reform to reduce harm and tackle money laundering head on in NSW, and we are delivering.
The maximum penalty attributable for those who fail to remove their signs and breach the Act is $11,000, for each offence.
Thoughts are with loved ones of missing ADF personnel: governor general
Governor general David Hurley, a former senior officer in the Australian army, has released a statement on Sunday regarding the helicopter crash during military exercises:
My thoughts are with the loved ones and colleagues of the four Australian Defence Force personnel missing from the helicopter crash overnight.
The impact of this terrible incident is being felt keenly.
Each of the four missing ADF personnel made the decision to serve their nation – to serve us. We must never lose sight of, nor cease to be grateful for, the service and sacrifice of those in uniform.
Linda and I spent Friday with troops participating in exercise Talisman Sabre. The bond between our serving personnel, their pride in serving their nation and their commitment was, as always, striking. Those that serve, their families and, especially, the loved ones of the four missing personnel are in our hearts.
Tamsin Rose
Noel Pearson on distilling the voice to parliament
Aboriginal leader, Noel Pearson, is speaking about the Indigenous voice to parliament at the North Bondi surf club this morning alongside local MPs.
He told the packed room he has been “grasping” for a way to distill the yes message to the Australian people in recent weeks and he had decided getting voters to read the provision was the best way.
He said:
I have found most useful is to urge our fellow Australians to read the provision. That’s the starting place and the ending place … We can get our relationship right and we can get our nation right by completing the Australian constitution.
Event attendees were handed small cards explaining the provision and encouraged to show it to others.
Pearson also invited a woman from the crowd to explain how she had explained it to him earlier.
She said:
This is a plea from the Aboriginal people of Australia to please listen to them on those policies which affect their lives. That’s all it is.
Labor plan for HECS may come too late
Yasmin Jenkins Gunn knew the cost of arts degrees had just doubled to $43,500 when she enrolled to study in 2021.
But the Melbourne-based gender studies student followed her passions anyway – they weren’t going to change based upon government policy.
It frustrated me, but it didn’t dissuade me.
Two years later, her total debt is already more than $20,000 – the cost of an entire arts degree just a few years ago. She has only managed to study part-time, working in hospitality to cover high living costs.
Her debt increased by $1,000 alone in the latest financial year on top of annual fees with recent indexation.
It keeps going up and up; I’m afraid to even look.
Labor has confirmed it plans to scrap reforms introduced by the former government which increased the student contribution of some degrees. But students will have to wait until at least 2024 to see how their contributions will change.
For more on this story, read the full report by Caitlin Cassidy.
Double-dissolution election trigger looms
Labor will lay down the groundwork for an early election trigger if it can’t clinch support for its signature housing policy as federal parliament returns.
Both houses of parliament will sit over the next fortnight after a five-week break.
The government will reintroduce the $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund to the lower house this week, but a second vote will not be held until October.
If the housing legislation is knocked back twice within three months, the government will have the option of calling a double dissolution election.
This would result in every senator being up for re-election.
The government’s announcement last week that it intends to strengthen rights for casual workers who want to become permanent employees will likely be debated during the fortnight.
The opposition has called for an industrial relations system that allows for flexibility for workplaces and staff.
It will also be the first time parliament sits since the release of the damning robodebt royal commission report this month.
– AAP
For background on this story, you can read this piece from The Guardian’s Amy Remeikis:
Child protection initiative an example of how voice might work, minister says
Finally, Rishworth is asked about a new initiative on child protection which involves shared decision-making with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities on these matters.
She says the ministerial council on child protection – which includes every state and territory – have agreed to “work in a different way to reduce the rate of out-of-home care”.
That is including equal numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders meeting and making decisions with commonwealth and state and territory leaders. Aboriginal leaders have said they have hope for the first time that we will implement things like the Indigenous child protection placement principles. So this is a new way of working, of actually sharing power.
Rishworth says this will also be an example of how the voice would work if the referendum succeeds with the body providing “advice and intel and information”.
Rishworth, asked about the rate of sexual assault on university campuses, says “data is key” to understanding what is actually happening and bringing those numbers down.
Data is key to making sure that we can actually deal with the problem. But it’s not just about more data. What we need to see – and universities are in a really unique position for this – is actually interventions. Interventions to actually ensure that younger people starting at university have information on consent, understand what sexual assault is.
Rishworth also said she did not think “universities have been doing enough on this”.
Consent laws ‘a matter for states and territories’: Rishworth
Rishworth is asking about a recent Senate inquiry into the patchwork of different legal definitions regarding the definition of “consent” that exist across the states and territories. The potential for harmonising them would resolve a range of issues.
Rishworth says she would like to see “strong consent laws”.
I think that is really important. But we also know that there is a lot of educative work to do out there on what “consent” means. The research does show that people are confused, people have different interpretations of what “consent” actually means. Indeed, a lot of people don’t want to talk about it. If they can avoid talking about consent, they will. They don’t know how to have those conversations with their children, either.
On whether age of consent laws should be 16, Rishworth says that is “absolutely a matter for states and territories” and that legal definitions that may clarify the need for active content – rather than assumed consent – are under consideration.
That is something that is actually being discussed at the moment.