Morning mail: push for Joyce to quit Wednesday: Reports that National party figures intend to ask deputy PM to stand down. Plus: Israeli police say Netanyahu should be charged with bribery and fraud Barnaby Joyce during question time on Tuesday. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Eleanor Ainge Roy @EleanorAingeRoy Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 14 February. Top stories As reports emerged that a delegation was being formed to urge Australia's beleaguered deputy PM to stand aside last night, the former Nationals leader Warren Truss said the Barnaby Joyce furore needed to be resolved "constructively and quickly". Truss told ABC's 7.30 a decision about whether Joyce continued to lead the Nationals was a matter for his parliamentary colleagues but he noted the deputy PM had been "diminished" by rolling controversy over his private life. While some Nationals sources discount the idea that the party-room numbers are there to roll Joyce, the ABC has reported that senior party figures have been approached to ask him to step down. Julian Assange will continue to face detention if he leaves the Ecuadorian embassy in London, after a British judge upheld a warrant for his arrest. Judge Emma Arbuthnot said: "I find arrest is a proportionate response even though Mr Assange has restricted his own freedom for a number of years. Defendants … come to court to face the consequences of their own choices. He should have the courage to do the same." Assange, 46, skipped bail to enter the embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of sexual assault and rape, which he denies, and which have since been dropped by Swedish prosecutors. Schools must retain the ability to hire and fire teachers based on their beliefs and adherence to religious codes, Christian Schools Australia has told the Ruddock review into religious freedom. The lobby group also called for "the right to select students", including to eject them, in a joint submission with Adventist Schools Australia. Submissions from LGBTI organisations and Amnesty International called for a repeal or narrowing of religious exemptions to discrimination law. A study has found that 89% of children in detention in WA have severe cognitive impairment, the vast majority undiagnosed. The study, conducted by the Telethon Institute, found 36% have foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, the highest rate in a prison environment anywhere in the world. Only two of the children had been diagnosed before the study. Seventy-four were Indigenous, because 73% of the detainees at Banksia Hill are Indigenous. Twenty-one children had an IQ of less than 70, the level at which a person is declared unfit to plead under WA law. Israeli police have recommended that Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted on charges of bribery and breach of trust in two corruption investigations. The recommendation has been handed to the attorney general, who will decide whether to indict. Police have questioned the PM several times regarding two cases including Case 1000, or the so-called "gifts affair", involves claims that he and his family received valuable gifts from international billionaires including James Packer. Netanyahy held a press conference in Jerusalem to deny wrongdoing. Sport The England cricketer Ben Stokes will be tried for affray in Bristol after an altercation outside a nightclub. Stokes, 26, appeared before magistrates on Tuesday alongside Ryan Hale, 26, and Ryan Ali, 28, with all three indicating pleas of not guilty. With a short pre-season and jobs to balance, AFLW players' strength conditioning is insufficient and it is no surprise to see last weekend's spate of ACL injuries. Nor can we expect the injuries to disappear any time soon, writes Hannah Mouncey. Thinking time A still taken from a documentary called Asio Makes a Movie. Photograph: Macquarie University Archive footage released by Australian security services shows how they spied on Indigenous activists during the cold war. On 7 June 1951 an Aboriginal man, Ray Peckham, and the Indigenous activist Faith Bandler set sail from Melbourne to the World Youth festival for peace in Soviet-controlled East Berlin. They were watched by agents of the homeland security agency Asio. How closely Asio filmed their activities in Australia is revealed by Alec Morgan in his new short film, Asio Makes a Movie. The film launches Present Traces, a new Guardian Australia series from Macquarie University featuring films linked by use of archive material. The timber deck conservation on the Polly Woodside cargo ship; garden and building maintenance at Como House in South Yarra; and stone conservation at Old Melbourne Gaol. These are some of the unlikely "conservation" projects which the government says it is funding to benefit threatened animal and plant species, writes Lisa Cox, in the latest instalment of the Our wide brown land series. While conservationists describe the heritage activities as worthy community projects, there is little chance any of the endangered species linked to the sites – including the grey-headed flying fox, the powerful owl and the eastern-barred bandicoot – actually occur at those sites. James Trezise from the Australian Conservation Foundation slams them as "an absolute scandal". "They're trying to shove morality down our throats," a legal aid lawyer told the Indonesian journalist Stanley Widianto. Today Indonesia's parliament will vote on revisions to the criminal code that may outlaw extramarital and homosexual sex, meaning they carry maximum prison sentences of five years and 12 years. Attacks on the personal lives of Indonesians are not unfamiliar, writes Widianto, and this vote follows raids on gay bars and saunas and the arrest and humiliation of 12 trans women in Aceh. But will Joko Widodo step in to stop the vote, or will activists be successful in their campaign to delay it until after the next presidential election? What's he done now? Despite crowing on Twitter that his infrastructure policies are getting "great reviews", the office culture at Donald Trump's White House may need some fine-tuning, with CNN reporting that more than a third of staff have quit in the first year. The rate of departures is double that of George W Bush's first year, and three times that of Barack Obama's. Media roundup The Sydney Morning Herald splashes with building pressure on Barnaby Joyce to resign, saying 33-year-old Adam Marshall, the NSW tourism minister, is the most likely candidate to replace him as the member for New England. The Conversation reports the ban on Labor candidates using their social media accounts as publicity platforms may signal a cooling infatuation with social media. And the ABC splashes with an exclusive on billion-dollar tax avoidance by some of Australia's largest companies, reporting that Qantas hasn't paid corporate tax in close to a decade. Coming up In the Senate, the tensions on water policy in the Murray-Darling will reach a climax today with a vote on a Greens motion that would block the federal government's attempts to prune the environmental water recovery target for the northern basin by 18%. If the Greens are successful, expect fireworks from the NSW and Victorian governments who are threatening to walk away from the plan. Still in Canberra, the Liberal senator Jim Molan will make his maiden speech. Sydney FC are taking on the Suwon Bluewings in the Asian Champions League group match at 7.30 AEDT in Sydney. 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