Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 1 December. Top stories Peter Dutton says the Coalition's U-turn on holding a royal commission into the banking sector has provided a golden opportunity to investigate unions' links to industry superannuation funds. The commission was regrettable, Dutton said, but "hopefully for some people they can present their cases and there can be some closure around what's been a difficult situation. There's also another element to it – that is, to have a look at some aspects within the industry super funds which have union members and whatnot on the board." The senior minister in the Turnbull government said: "I think people lose a lot of their super through fees and through donations and all sorts of support for unions. So I think it's a good opportunity in that sense to have a look at the detail and people can put all of that information forward and we can see the recommendations from the commission." The Industry Super Australia chief executive, David Whitely, said Dutton's comments about industry super funds were "deeply surprising" but he would welcome the scrutiny. The Australian Bankers' Association says the commission is "unwarranted" and fails to recognise that Australia's banks are now undergoing "the largest reform program in decades". In a comment piece on the royal commission Martin Farrer writes that it won't improve competition, and could lead to costlier mortgages, but may still expose systemic problems. The British prime minister, Theresa May, has said she is not afraid to criticise Donald Trump, as tensions escalated between the two world leaders over Trump's rogue and dangerous tweeting. Speaking in Amman, Jordan, on the final stop of a tour of the Middle East, May said she was "very clear" that Trump's retweeting racist images from a far-right British group was "the wrong thing to do", but stressed the importance of the special relationship between the US and the UK. Britain's ambassador to Washington, Sir Kim Darroch, confirmed on Thursday that he had personally raised the issue of the tweets with the White House. As opposition continues to grow to Trump's state visit to Britain, privately, ministers do not expect the visit will take place any time soon, as there are serious concerns about the possibility of widespread protests. Read Martin Kettle's analysis of the standoff here, and why he thinks Britain should demand an apology from America and cancel Trump's visit. The White House is reportedly planning to replace secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, with the current CIA chief, Mike Pompeo, within weeks, but it is unclear at this stage whether Donald Trump has signed off on the switch-up. Asked if he wanted Tillerson to stay on on Thursday, Trump said: "He's here. Rex is here." Tillerson's departure would end a troubled tenure for the former ExxonMobil chief executive, who has found himself increasingly at odds with the president over policy challenges such as North Korea and under fire for his planned cuts at the state department. In October Tillerson was reported to have called Trump a "moron" – a claim he has not denied, and Trump responded by challenging his secretary of state to an IQ test. Decades of unsustainable logging could trigger an ecosystem-wide collapse in Victoria's central highlands within 50 years without urgent intervention from the state government, ecologists have warned. According to modelling produced by Australian National University, there is a 92% chance the mountain ash forests will not be able to support its current ecosystem of arboreal animals, such as the critically endangered Leadbeater's possum, by 2067. If current logging practices continue, or if the forests experience another Black Saturday-level bushfire, the likelihood of collapse approaches 100%. Guardian Australia understands it is one of the top three issues the premier, Daniel Andrews, wants resolved before the 2018 state election. A major EU investigation has found that one of Europe's largest brewers may have been charging Belgians more for their beer than people in other countries for years. AB InBev, the world's biggest brewing company, has been accused of charging less for its popular Jupiler and Leffe beers in France and the Netherlands than in Belgium, and using its dominant position in the Belgian market to get away with it. For Belgians, where beer is one of the few unifying cultural artefacts of its multilingual society, the finding is particularly galling. Sport Wayne Bennett isn't the only Australian plotting the Kangaroos downfall in Saturday's Rugby League World Cup final. Scott Barker, the "super-coach's" right-hand man, also hails from Australia and has followed Bennett's every move for the past decade. John Davidson profiles the notoriously secretive performance analyst who may not be able to stay in the shadows much longer in the event of an unlikely English triumph. After last weekend's disappointing end to the year, life might be about to get even tougher for Australia's rugby union side, with the Wallabies in danger of falling behind as the northern-southern hemisphere divide continues to close. Thinking time |
Is the Australian white ibis the Donald Trump of Guardian Australia's bird of the year poll? Ben Raue certainly thinks he might be. "The results so far of the Guardian's bird of the year poll have not been without controversy," he writes. "The Australian white ibis, a bird that is disliked by many who encounter it, took an early lead and has maintained that lead for more than a week. Raue credits the bin chicken's success to the first-past-the-post voting method – everyone gets one vote, and the candidate with the highest vote wins. Watch out Australia, the country's most notorious scavenger is on the verge of being declared the nation's favourite bird. Cringe. "After more than 20 days of resilience in a harsh situation, having no food, water and medication, refugees in Manus prison were forced to a new camp. The transfer was conducted by absolute force and, as always, the Australian government denies the truth and has declared it a 'voluntary and peaceful' transfer," writes the Iranian refugee Behrouz Boochani in his latest dispatch from Manus Island. "Conversely, what we experienced – and what the huge volume of footage and photos distributed in the news and social media reveal – is something different from the government's claim." Lou Chamberlin has been photographing street art in Melbourne for more than a decade, and offered to take the Guardian for a stroll through a few of her favourites. The title of her new book, Burn City, plays off the term "burners", which some street artists use to describes a work so vivid or hot that it burns off the wall. From local artists including Rone, Adnate and 23rd Key, to big international names such as Austria's Nychos and London's Fin DAC, Chamberlin has a fondness for them all. What's he done now? Earlier in the week Donald Trump suggested a "FAKE NEWS TROPHY!"be awarded to his least favourite news outlets, with contenders including MSNBC, CNN and The New York Times. Today, on Twitter, the president has declared a winner. The Failing @nytimes, the pipe organ for the Democrat Party, has become a virtual lobbyist for them with regard to our massive Tax Cut Bill. They are wrong so often that now I know we have a winner! Media roundup All major papers lead with the government's announcement it hold a royal commission into the banking sector. "Turnbull retreats" the Sydney Morning Herald declares. "Bank-flip" at the Canberra Times, and "Bank probe hits union super" at the Financial Review. The Adelaide Advertiser has an interview with the mother of one of the Riverland high school students charged with allegedly plotting a massacre at the school, and says her son is not the ""cold-hearted psychopath that he was painted out to be" and that he really has a ""heart of gold". Police claimed on Wednesday they had foiled a plot by two teenage boys to attack students at the school before the end of term with knives, home-made bombs and guns. And the ABC reports that skin cancer experts are calling for "mole-mapping" to be covered by Medicare. Senior dermatologists say the technique is "vital" for saving lives, but costs range from $250 to $450. Coming up Malcolm Turnbull will appear on 3AW radio to justify his banking backflip and explain his ongoing woes. Victoria and South Australia are braced for record-breaking rain later today, with warnings that lives could be at risk from floods.
And at 2am on Saturday, the draw is made for the group stages of the football World Cup. Who will the Socceroos face in Russia next year? 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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People walk past a Commonwealth bank branch in Sydney. The government bowed to growing pressure on Thursday to announce a royal commission into the banking sector. Photograph: Rick Rycroft/AP 
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