Good morning, this is Patrick Keneally filling in for Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 2 November. Top stories Investigators at the scene of a terrorist attack in New York have found a note referring to Islamic State. The state governor, Andrew Cuomo, told CBS the investigation into the attack, which left eight people dead and 11 injured, was continuing and law enforcement officers had the note. It was reportedly found inside a rented pickup truck used to mow down cyclists on a Manhattan bike lane on Tuesday afternoon. The man – who has been named as Sayfullo Saipov, 29, an Uber driver originally from Uzbekistan – is in a critical condition in a New York City hospital after being shot in the abdomen by a police, but is expected to survive. Cuomo called him a "depraved coward" and insisted the attack "did not instil terror" among New Yorkers. Police said the suspect had been planning the incident for weeks and followed Islamic State guidelines "to a T". The US president, Donald Trump, responded to the attacks with criticism of the visa system Saipov used to enter into the US and said he would consider detaining the suspect in the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But the option of sending a suspect to Guantánamo would be fraught with legal difficulties. Trump's vociferous response to the New York attack is in marked contrast to his silence after the attack in Las Vegas in which 58 people were killed. "One prompted a sombre tone, quotation from scripture and prayer for unity. The other brought a barrage of tweets, peppered with capital letters and exclamation marks and bent on divisiveness and blame," writes David Smith in Washington. The president of the Senate, the Liberal Stephen Parry, is expected to formally resign from parliament today after being told by UK authorities that he holds British citizenship. With Parry's resignation, 10% of senators have resigned for section 44 concerns since the election. Katharine Murphy writes about how Parry's resignation puts pressure on Malcolm Turnbull to audit MPs. Speaking in Jerusalem overnight, however, the prime minister again batted away suggestions all MPs should have their citizenship status checked. Late yesterday Barnaby Joyce inflamed tensions within the Coalition by backing his National party colleague John "Wacka" Williams to be the Senate's next president, describing him as a "straight shooter". The presidency traditionally sits with a member of the Liberal party when the Coalition is in government but Williams has thrown his hat into the ring. The ACTU says it will seek dramatic pay increases to ensure a minimum "living wage" for Australian workers, to help lift people out of poverty. The Fair Work Commission sets the level of the minimum wage every year but, in a new policy paper, the ACTU argues "inadequate" emphasis is given to the needs of the low paid compared with other economic considerations. "When millions of working people have fallen into poverty, Australia needs a pay rise," said the ACTU secretary, Sally McManus. "The decline of our minimum wage is clear proof that the rules that once made Australian workplaces fair are broken." The rising price of utilities is putting pressure on the budgets of low-paid workers the ACTU's analysis shows, with the price of electricity increasing more than five times faster than inflation, while gas and utilities price increases are about four times faster than inflation.
A highly critical independent report into Grenfell Tower produced 12 years before the fire showed a negligent approach to residents' safety by the body responsible for its management. The document, which has been made public after a protracted campaign by residents, suggested that torches with rechargeable batteries should be installed in every flat, wired to the mains to recharge, so that residents could use them to escape. It was commissioned in 2005 after two-thirds of the tower's emergency lighting units failed a routine inspection. Survivors of the fire said not all the stairwell lights were working on the night of the fire and darkness, compounded by thick smoke, had made escape difficult. Protesters have crashed a tongue-in-cheek "street party" organised by the artist Banksy outside his Walled Off hotel in the West Bank city of Bethlehem to mark the 100th anniversary of the Balfour declaration, which promised a national Jewish homeland in Palestine. People from the nearby Aida refugee camp said afterwards they objected to the way the event had used Palestinian children as the centrepiece of the performance. "We came because we didn't like the use of the British flags or the way they were using Palestinian children," said Munther Amira, a prominent activist from Aida who planted a large Palestinian flag in the middle of a cake. Sensitivities are running high over the centenary of the Balfour declaration, which will be marked on Thursday with a formal dinner in London. Sport Rafael Nadal has ensured he will end the 2017 season ranked as the world No1 after a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Chung Hyeon at the Paris Masters. It is the fourth time the 31-year-old has achieved the feat, having previously finished 2008, 2010 and 2013 on top. The result caps off a remarkable season for Nadal, who bounced back from wrist problems last year to win his 15th and 16th grand slam titles at the French Open and US Open. Tiger Woods has endured another troubled year, culminating in a guilty plea to a charge of reckless driving, but he is remodelling himself as a mentor as well as a competitor as he plots his latest return. Ewan Murray writes that while Woods may not win again, his latest comeback can still inspire. Thinking time |
How true are the stories we tell ourselves? The editor of Griffith Review, Julianne Schultz, says the Australian narrative about tolerance and mateship is just about worn through, and the nation needs a new story. In this extract, she argues that the only extraordinary thing about Australia – so average in so many other ways – is our extraordinary and profound Indigenous history. "In Australia the old stories also sound thin and one dimensional, like music on a dusty vinyl record that has been played a few too many times. New versions might seek to add nuance and complexity, but are quickly dismissed by the old gatekeepers who continue to stand guard and prepare to wage a contest that is more bitter than ever." Sam Coley, a 32-year-old Adelaide-based law student, has won the 2017 Richell prize for emerging writers for his novel, State Highway One, which the judges described as "a gripping read". The novel follows twins as they take a road trip from one end of New Zealand to another, confronting grief, loss, and questioning what it really means to come home. Read the first chapter of the prize-winning work here.
The radical right will launch an unprecedented assault on Australia's anti-discrimination laws if Australians, as predicted, votes yes in the same-sex marriage postal survey, Rodney Croome writes. "Coalition conservatives will attempt to load down marriage equality legislation with so many exemptions to anti-discrimination legislation that it will be difficult for the Senate to support." Croome says that to defend our anti-discrimination laws from the coming attack we must now explain why these laws matter. What's he done now? Trump rattled off several tweets in the immediate aftermath of the NYC terrorist attack on Wednesday and went highly personal and political, taking aim at the Democratic Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, and an immigration lottery program he helped design, under which the suspect entered the US from Uzbekistan. "The terrorist came into our country through what is called the "Diversity Visa Lottery Program," a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based. ... We are fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery Systems. We must get MUCH tougher (and smarter)." Media roundup The ABC leads with the news that Cassie Sainsbury has been sentenced to six years in a Colombian prison after a judge accepted the Australian's plea deal for trafficking cocaine. The 22-year-old was arrested in April with almost 6kg of cocaine hidden in her luggage. The Courier-Mail splashes with an "election exclusive" about the LNP's plan for a curfew for young people in Townsville. In what the paper calls a Queensland first, the LNP has pledged a six-month trial of a curfew for children under 16 roaming the streets after 10pm unless in the company of a parent or adult guardian. And the West Australian leads on the conviction of two women who helped each other carry out a brutal "thrill killing" and backyard burial of an autistic teenager, Aaron Pajich, in 2016. Coming up The standoff between more than 600 refugees and asylum seekers who are refusing to leave the former immigration detention and centre on Manus Island and Papua New Guinea authorities continues. Yesterday the Kurdish Iranian journalist and refugee Behrouz Boochani wrote that "refugees were in a state of absolute exhaustion, starvation and thirst. They drifted into sleep as they wasted away." Annastacia Palaszczuk will shift her campaign for re-election in Queensland to Rockhampton. The opposition leader, Tim Nicholls, will finally head north to Townsville after spending the first few days of the campaign marooned in the state's south-east amid a charter plane shortage. 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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Workers continue to collect evidence around truck used to strike pedestrians in Manhattan. Photograph: UPI/Barcroft Images 
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