Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 27 November. Top stories A group of Australia's most senior clinicians have urged the federal government to allow them to travel to Manus Island and conduct free health assessments of refugees and asylum seekers to ensure they are not being deprived their human rights. The 18 current and former heads of peak medical bodies and royal colleges of medicine say they are "deeply concerned" about the physical and mental health of the men, who were removed from the decommissioned detention centre last week. "We believe that the humanitarian issues take precedence over politics," they wrote in an open letter. "This is a matter beyond immigration and border control but one that affects the health of people and others' perceptions of our great nation." The clinicians said poor hygiene and sanitation, limited electricity and inadequate living conditions would all exacerbate disease and ill health, and offered to assist in an "immediate, independent review" of those still on Manus. A standoff lasting more than three weeks came to an end on Thursday after Papua New Guinean police wielding metal batons forcibly removed all remaining men. Many have since reported injuries and alleged further beatings, including the Kurdish-Iranian refugee and journalist Behrouz Boochani, who was targeted for arrest on Thursday. The Senate will consider a cross-party same-sex marriage bill all this week – and Labor and marriage equality advocates believe few, if any, of the Coalition conservatives' amendments stand a chance of winning Senate support. The cross-party bill, authored by the Liberal senator Dean Smith, has support from Labor, the Greens, the Nick Xenophon Team, Derryn Hinch and is co-signed by the Liberal senators Linda Reynolds and Jane Hume. Advocates believe there is little appetite even within the Coalition for major changes to it. The Pope's visit to Myanmar today has raised fears of violence if he mentions the plight of the Rohingya, who have been fleeing their homeland in their hundreds of thousands to escape violence since August. Myanmar stands accused of perpetrating ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state – allegations its rulers vehemently deny – and members of the Christian minority fear a strong statement from the Pope could trigger further unrest. "Like other people, I'm afraid of what he will say about Rakhine state," said a nervous priest named Father Paul. Rohingya have been arriving in Bangladesh with stories of massacres, gang rape and arson by soldiers and local Buddhists, with the US, the UN and human rights groups saying the violence amounts to ethnic cleansing. Exclusive: a coalition of 24 Australian charities have demanded Malcolm Turnbull's government stop its attempts to limit their ability to engage in advocacy. Before the launch of the "Hands Off Our Charities" campaign today, the Australian Council for International Development commissioned polling that showed Australians of all political persuasions tended to oppose the government's plan to ban foreign donations to charities from being used for advocacy. Sport The England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow is being investigated over an an alleged incident in a Perth bar at the start of the Ashes tour four weeks ago. As England face a thumping defeat going into the fifth day of the Test, the England and Wales Cricket Board has confirmed it is looking into a claim by Fox Sports News that Bairstow "head-butted" Cameron Bancroft, Australia's opening batsman. Australia's horror rugby union defeat by Scotland should not be treated as an aberration but an opportunity to address the flaws that have been exposed over a year that deserves barely a pass mark, writes Bret Harris. Against the Scots, the Wallabies' inability to adjust to adversity was exposed, with the side's continuing ill discipline and persecution complex of particular concern. Thinking time |
The secondhand bookstore Gould's Book Arcade has been the dusty wonder of the Sydney suburb of Newtown since it opened on King Street 30-odd years ago – but soon its doors will close. Rising rents have collided with a dip in demand for tattered reads, magazines and preloved records, and some 2m books and an extraordinary political legacy are set to be lost with it. Steph Harmon meets Natalie Gould, the daughter of the late founder Bob Gould, for a trip down memory lane inside a legendary, cavernous, three-storey warehouse. Adani's Carmichael coalmine has dominated the Queensland election campaign and activists believe it may have galvanised support for Labor, writes Amy Remeikis. The exit polls commissioned by GetUp in inner-city seats found up to 70% of respondents were against the billion-dollar rail line loan for Adani, while a further 30% said Labor's decision to veto the loan helped decide how they would vote. Within the LNP, some believed the veto was enough to drive votes to the Greens – and it was those preferences that look likely to hand seats to Labor. "It was a significant emotional issue," said one LNP strategist on Sunday, saying the prospects for the billion-dollar rail line loan for Adani had dimmed considerably. "In my view, the loan is dead." Australia has repeatedly claimed it "doesn't have to choose between America and China" during the great strategic contest between our major ally and our major trading partner. But Hugh White says Canberra's mantra is a perfect example of the tendency to confuse a wish with a fact. "Our whole vision of Australia's future assumes that we can avoid such a choice, so that we can keep relying on China to make us rich while America keeps us safe," he writes. "But in recent years, as the rivalry has escalated, we have more and more faced important choices about when to support America and when to stay on the sidelines." What's he done now? Donald Trump has restated his support for Roy Moore, the Republican Alabama Senate candidate who is accused of sexual misconduct with four women, one of whom was 14 at the time. Trump penned a series of tweets slamming Moore's rivals in Alabama, calling Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones 'WEAK" and saying of the incumbent: "I endorsed Luther Strange in the Alabama Primary. He shot way up in the polls but it wasn't enough. Can't let Schumer/Pelosi win this race. Liberal Jones would be BAD!" Media roundup The SMH and the Age splash with a joint ABC investigation into accusations of sexual harassment and bullying by the TV personality Don Burke. A series of women have claimed he was a "twisted abuser", with several former female employees alleging Burke was a "psychotic bully", a "misogynist" and a "sexual predator" who indecently assaulted, sexually harassed and bullied a string of female employees. In a letter Burke denied the allegations and said: "The bitter irony is that I have had a lifelong opposition to sexism and misogyny. Burke's Backyard was a lone bastion of anti-misogyny since its inceptions in 1987." The NT News's front-page features a report into illicit drug use revealing arrests for ice, ecstasy, cannabis and cocaine have all increased in the territory, but pot remains the state's preferred illegal drug, Arrests for amphetamines – including ice – showed a 57% increase between 2015 and 2016, according to data from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, but drug lab busts were decreasing, suggesting drugs were being smuggled in from overseas. And the ABC has a feature on rising seas leaking into a former US nuclear waste dump on a remote, low-lying Pacific atoll – part of the Marshall Islands – which is flushing out radioactive substances, threatening the already tenuous existence of Enewetak locals. "That dome is the connection between the nuclear age and the climate change age," says Marshall Islands climate change activist Alson Kelen. "It'll be a very devastating event if it really leaks. We're not just talking the Marshall Islands, we're talking the whole Pacific." Coming up In federal politics today the Senate will debate the same-sex marriage bill, there will be fallout from the Queensland election, with Malcolm Turnbull under pressure over the poor LNP performance as campaigning continues for byelections in New England and Bennelong. The scheduled sitting of the House of Representatives has been cancelled by the government but some MPs have threatened to turn up anyway. Supporting the Guardian We'd like to acknowledge our generous supporters who enable us to keep reporting on the critical stories. If you value what we do and would like to help, please make a contribution or become a supporter today. Thank you. |
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A group of refugees and asylum seekers walk by a construction site. Photograph: Behrouz Boochani 
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