Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 28 November. Top stories The man who was once Channel Nine's biggest star, Don Burke, appeared on Nine last night to deny allegations of sexual harassment made against him by three women who had told their stories to the ABC. It was an extraordinary hour of television, starting with Burke's lengthy interview with Tracy Grimshaw on A Current Affair, and continuing on the ABC's 7.30, which devoted its entire 30 minutes to the story. To Grimshaw, Burke admitted he had been stupid and a bully and had engaged in multiple extramarital affairs – but denied all allegations of sexual harassment. "I'm not that man at all," he said. "It's a witch-hunt … I might have terrified a few people, or whatever, and I shouldn't have done that, but these sort of things bear no relation to me and what I am about." Over on 7.30, the three women who accused Burke of abusive behaviour and indecent assault told their stories. "Dealing with Don Burke was an endurance test in terms of his persistence in commentary about anything sexual," a former researcher, Louise Langdon, told the ABC. This morning Fairfax Media has published further allegations against Burke, including comments he allegedly made while filming a TV segment at the home of Olympic swimmer Susie O'Neill. The Minerals Council of Australia has backed away from its push for legislation to limit the environmental advocacy work done by charities. The council says it does not support policies requiring environmental charities to devote most of their resources to on-the-ground remediation, despite having written submissions to government calling for it to consider such policies. The MCA's submission to the federal inquiry into reform of tax-deductible gift recipients said Treasury's proposal to allow environmental charities to spend only 50% of their expenditure on political advocacy was "sound in principle", but urged it to consider limiting it to just 10%. BHP recently distanced itself from the MCA's original position on the issue.
Prince Harry has announced he and girlfriend Meghan Markle are engaged. The pair met in the summer of 2016, and the Prince told media gathered outside Clarence House that he knew Markle was the "the one" the first time they met. Markle and Harry have faced intense media scrutiny throughout their relationship. Last year the prince issued an unorthodox palace press release slamming some reports about Markle as racist and sexist. The couple plan to marry in the spring of 2018 – the Queen, Prince Philip, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn were among many who offered their congratulations. Most Australians would support a royal commission into the banks, the Guardian Essential poll has found. The poll showed 64% in favour, including 62% of Coalition supporters. Support is highest among Labor voters at 72%, and people intending to vote for someone other than the major parties (71%), but there is also clear majority support among Coalition voters and Greens voters. Barnaby Joyce has held out the prospect that the Nationals might formally support an inquiry into the banks when the party room meets next week, with dissident parliamentary numbers for the proposal building. A large eruption of Bali's restless Mount Agung volcano may be imminent, Indonesian officials have said, as they called for 100,000 people to leave the area. So far, 40,000 people have been moved away from the volcano and tens of thousands of travellers have been stranded due to airport closures. Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency has strongly urged people to immediately leave the designated exclusion zone, which has been extended to an 8-10km radius of the volcano. The governor of Bali said as many as 150,000 could be called on to leave, and some might be evacuated by force if they refused to do so. Sport England's cricketers have been hit with a curfew by team director Andrew Strauss after losing the first Ashes Test. Strauss said his "naive" squad needed to be "smarter" and cannot socialise beyond midnight, following blanket media coverage of Jonny Bairstow's bizarre clash of heads with Australia's Cameron Bancroft in a bar four weeks ago. Reaction to the first Test has focused on England's mental fragility. Jason Gillespie says the way Australia exploited the Bairstow incident shows the home side know how to get under the vistors' skin, while Vic Marks says England's whole tour is at risk of disintegrating unless they respond better. Thinking time |
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