Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 7 March. Top stories Australian gun lobby groups pumped more than $500,000 into minor rightwing parties such as One Nation and Katter's Australia party during last year's Queensland election campaign. The figures, available in election disclosures, are part of a push to weaken the country's firearm control laws by cashed-up firearms groups. The Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia spent $550,000 on the "Flick 'Em," campaign which urged voters to put Labor and the Liberal National party last. Guardian analysis of donation disclosures reveals that the campaign was almost entirely funded by pro-gun groups. Their financial clout is an unintended consequence of John Howard's firearms reforms after the Port Arthur shooting in 1996. One of the requirements for gun ownership is a reason for having a firearm, and a valid reason is belonging to a shooting club, which then pays dues to the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia. The association has 185,000 members, including 68,000 in Queensland, and in 2016 a study found its seven biggest branches had amassed a war chest of more than $34m. The second person found unconscious in Salisbury alongside the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal is his 33-year-old daughter. The apparent poisoning of the pair, who remain in a critical condition, follows the death of Skripal's wife, Liudmila, in 2012, after she arrived in Britain with her husband, who was swapped in 2010 as part of a spy exchange. Skripal's son has also died, aged 43. The pair's sudden and unexplained illness will invite comparisons with the poisoning in 2006 of another Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko. The UK's leading counter-terrorism office is investigating, while Boris Johnson said the UK would "respond appropriately and robustly" if it discovered Russia had a hand in the poisoning. Watch a video explainer of Skripal's career and work for MI6 here. Donald Trump has responded to North Korea's shock announcement that it may be open to to relinquishing nuclear weapons if it begins direct talks with the US. He tweeted overnight: "Possible progress being made in talks with North Korea. For the first time in many years, a serious effort is being made by all parties concerned. The World is watching and waiting! May be false hope, but the US is ready to go hard in either direction!" Mike Pence said: "All options are on the table and our posture toward the regime will not change until we see credible, verifiable, and concrete steps toward denuclearization." A Labor government would put gender at the heart of its thinking, the party's deputy leader has promised. Speaking to mark International Women's Day, Tanya Plibersek will tell the press club the party will get more women into senior positions in the public service. "We can't wait 50 or more years to close the pay gap," she will say. "We can't wait 30 years for equal political representation. In 1972 we said, 'It's time.' In 2018 women are saying. 'Time's up.'" This follows Kelly O'Dywer's speech on Tuesday in which she volunteered to champion a "fighting fund" to back female Coalition candidates. Australia and Timor-Leste are expected to sign a historic maritime border treaty in New York after decades of talks dogged by accusations of greed and espionage. But negotiations remained bitter until the end, with the Timorese chief negotiator, Xanana Gusmao, accusing Australia of collusion. The border treaty, to be signed by Agio Pereira and Julie Bishop at the UN, will divide the Greater Sunrise gasfield, estimated to be worth about $53m, with 80% in Timor-Leste's economic zone. Sport Evolution, not revolution: that's the message from the first Socceroos squad announced by Bert van Marwijk. It is a selection that validates his predecessor Ange Postecoglou's judgment, with the Dutchman seeing no reason to make significant modifications. It also points to Van Marwijk's famed pragmatism. Three NRL clubs will begin the season with new coaches in charge. How will they fare? Based on statistics over the past 18 seasons, a club can expect their new coach to improve the team defensively but that is no guarantee of success. Thinking time |
In rural Australia, neighbours rely on each other for security and community, yet Kate (not her real name) says her neighbours hate her family. Her crime? Not cutting down enough trees on her central Queensland property. In the latest feature in Our Wide Brown Land series, Kate tells Michael Slezak that her neighbours sometimes clear trees on her property without permission. The idea that clearing trees and shrubs from the Australian landscape is development that adds value to otherwise worthless land has persisted since colonialism. But given that Guardian Australia analysis shows less than 50% of Australia's original wilderness still exists and is at risk, it's time to change that mindset. So how do we do that? 'We tore the cover off a city and showed the American dream was dead.' A decade on from The Wire, some of its writers and stars look back at a series that changed TV. Although at first David Simon's "anti-cop show" struggled to find an audience, it was soon lauded as a classic and made stars of Idris Elba, Michael B Jordan and others. Girls are taught in a million ways that they should please others, but what's the alternative? Nelly Thomas suggests that the best way to raise children that are resilient – and happy – is to accept them as they are. "Some humans are fat, some are shy, some are loud and some have hairstyles, and wear clothes, that other people don't like. We have the choice to either accept that – and teach our kids to accept it – or to try changing them, and in doing so to tell them that the world is right: there is something wrong with you." What's he done now? Donald Trump has spent his evening taking a swipe at the Oscars. "Lowest rated Oscars in HISTORY. Problem is, we don't have Stars anymore – except your President (just kidding, of course)!" he tweeted overnight. Media roundup The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the National party "mishandled" a confidential allegation of sexual misconduct against Barnaby Joyce, and that the complainant's identity was accidentally revealed. The Adelaide Advertiser reports that the University of South Australia has vowed to clamp down on "medieval" hazing rituals, saying it won't promote any colleges that can't meet conduct standards. Scientists have modified a tobacco plant to use 25% less water, the ABC reports, in a breakthrough that could have significant advantages for Australian farmers and the environment if applied to other crops.
Coming up The Reserve Bank governor, Philip Lowe, will speak at the Australian Financial Review business summit in Sydney, followed by Malcolm Turnbull. The deputy Labor leader, Tanya Plibersek, will deliver an International Women's Day address at the National Press Club in Canberra. 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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A gun group urged voters to put major parties last in the Queensland election. Photograph: J M Giordano for the Guardian 
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