Morning mail: how Tony Abbott hurt the public service Wednesday: Former Treasury head Martin Parkinson says his sacking by the ex-PM damaged the whole of government. Plus: Steve Smith feels the Ashes pressure Tony Abbott in parliament Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian Eleanor Ainge Roy @EleanorAingeRoy Good morning, this is Martin Farrer standing in for Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you today's main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 6 December. Top stories Tony Abbott's time in office damaged the public service, according to Martin Parkinson, the head of Treasury who was sacked by the former prime minister before being rehired by Malcolm Turnbull. Parkinson, who was removed for following Rudd-Gillard government directions on climate change, said the brutal treatment he experienced had a broader impact. "Senior colleagues reported their staff saying, 'Well I'm not going to put my hand up for a controversial role because this is what happens … You follow on the democratically elected, legally mandated directions of the government of the day and you get sacked as a result.'" In a wide-ranging interview with the Policy Shop podcast, Parkinson, who is now head of Turnbull's department, also lamented how technology had caused the media cycle to focus on too much on "gotcha" moments rather than thoughtful analysis. Australian Border Force officials are telling refugees on Nauru they must separate from their wives and children – and face never seeing them again – to apply for resettlement in the US. Recordings of phone conversations and an email chain confirm the ABF is encouraging permanent family separation, in contravention of international law, and directly contradicting evidence given to the the Senate by the department secretary, Mike Pezzullo. Several department sources, and sources on Nauru, have confirmed to the Guardian that it is "unofficial policy" to use family separation as a coercive measure to encourage refugees in Australia to agree to return to Nauru, or even to abandon their protection claims altogether. Theresa May is "afraid of her own shadow" and incapable of making decisions, according to an EU ambassador, as the British prime minister battles to salvage the wreckage of her Brexit policy. Her humiliation this week in Brussels, when Brexit talks collapsed because her DUP allies could not accept her concessions to the Irish government on border controls, has left European governments in despair. "We cannot go on like this, with no idea what the UK wants," the ambassador said. Another source said disfunction in the Tory government meant "we have to treat the UK political system like a rotten egg". Donald Trump's favourite bank has been forced to hand over his account details to Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor who is investigating whether the US president's campaign conspired with the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential election. Deutsche Bank, the German bank that is the biggest lender to Trump's business empire, has submitted documents about its client relationship with the president and some of his family members after Mueller issued the bank with a subpoena for information. The news was first reported by Handelsblatt, the German newspaper. The reports mean that Mueller is investigating the president's finances. Deutsche declined to comment. Dustin Hoffman and John Oliver have clashed during a public Q&A session after the satirist confronted the actor about allegations of sexual harassment. The pair become involved in a heated argument during an event to promote the 20th anniversary of the black comedy Wag the Dog, the Washington Post reported. Oliver asked Hoffman directly about allegations made against him by Anna Graham Hunter last month and said the actor's public statement on the issue was a "cop-out". Hoffman noted that Oliver "wasn't there" at the time of the alleged incident, to which Oliver replied: "I'm glad I wasn't." Sport The Australian captain, Steve Smith, is feeling the pressure of Ashes cricket in Adelaide as England retained faint hopes of winning the second Test. The tourists closed day three on 176-4 last night, still needing 178 to win but with their captain, Joe Root, unbeaten on 67. But Australia's cause wasn't helped by poor decision-making by Smith, writes Ali Martin, who wasted all his team's DRS reviews on unsuccessful challenges, much to the delight of England's barmy army. The midfielder David Silva is an injury doubt for Sunday's Manchester derby in a blow for EPL leaders Manchester City, who have denied offering Lionel Messi a €100m signing on fee to leave Barcelona. Thinking time Is Romper Stomper an accurate representation of our times? Photograph: Stan The refugee and journalist Behrouz Boochani says he has a "duty to history" to keep writing. When we asked if he would write another column to report on events at Manus Island last week, his translator, Omid Tofighian, said Boochani hadn't eaten or slept for two days. He was worried about his friend's wellbeing and suggested he should sleep. But Boochani refused and, in his latest column, he explores Australia's understanding of its own history and lays out his motivation for continuing to report from Manus. "This writing that comes out of Manus is the unofficial history of Australia, a history that will never be authorised by the government." Is the time right for a television remake of Romper Stomper? That question has lingered since the TV project was first said to be under way. The mood in Australia right now certainly feels incendiary, with the visit this week of the alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. With the series starting on Stan on New Year's Day, perhaps a more vital question to ask is whether this is an accurate representation of our times? Having watched the first two episodes, Luke Buckmaster argues that the answer is unequivocally yes – and the implications are shocking. Scientists are hopeful that stem cell technology could soon find a cure for diabetes, blindness and birth defects. The techniques developed in so-called regenerative medicine have moved on from early controversies, writes Hannah Devlin, and now offer real hope to people such as Hassan, a Syrian boy born with a rare genetic skin condition called epidermolysis bullosa that causes fragile, blistering skin. His family was preparing for palliative care until an Italian scientist, Michele de Luca, took on the case and grew an entire replacement skin which has enabled Hassan to live a normal life. What's he done now? Or what hasn't he done? We know that Donald Trump loves to tweet (or at least his lawyer does), but he has been eclipsed by his predecessor, Barack Obama. The former president's tweet quoting Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Charlottesville protests received more than 1.7m retweets and was the second most popular tweet of the year. An appeal for chicken nuggets took out top spot. The Donald can't let that lie, can he? Media roundup The Australian leads with last night's revelations in parliament that Bill Shorten's ally David Feeney could face a byelection over his citizenship status. The Daily Telegraph also likes that story and widens it to say that 18 MPs face doubts, under the headline "What a load of Bill". The ABC reports on a union claim that bosses are sitting in on workers' medical appointments to find out more about compensation claims. And the Age says Optus has beaten Telstra in a survey of which mobile phone service is best. Coming up The dual citizenship saga will continue to consume parliament today, as declarations tabled last night put question marks over the eligibility of at least seven MPs. And could the Queensland election possibly be called today? The ABC was reporting on Tuesday evening that Labor has 47 seats, the number required to win. 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. Guardian News & Media Limited - a member of Guardian Media Group PLC. Registered Office: Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU. Registered in England No. 908396