Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 19 April. Top stories Scientists have chronicled the "mass mortality" of corals on the Great Barrier Reef, in a report that says 30% of them died in a catastrophic nine-month marine heatwave. The study, published in Nature, examined the link between the level of heat exposure, subsequent bleaching and coral death. The extent and severity of the die-off surprised even the researchers. Prof Terry Hughes told Guardian Australia the 2016 marine heatwave had been far more harmful than historical bleaching events, where an estimated 5% to 10% of corals died. "When corals bleach from a heatwave, they can either survive and regain their colour slowly as the temperature drops, or they can die," Hughes said. Researchers were also surprised at how quickly some corals died in the extreme marine temperatures. "The conventional thinking is that after bleaching corals died slowly of … starvation. That's not what we found. We were surprised that about half of the mortality we measured occurred very quickly." The Labor states will seek a watertight undertaking that their renewable energy schemes and targets will remain undisturbed by the Turnbull government's proposed national energy guarantee, at a critical meeting today. Victoria's energy minister, Lily D'Ambrosio, told Guardian Australia she would work constructively towards achieving a national consensus "but we've got thresholds – red-line issues – that we are not going to compromise on". State and territory energy ministers will meet tomorrow with their federal counterpart, Josh Frydenberg, to determine whether the guarantee proceeds to the next stage of work – detailed design. The start of the wet season in Bangladesh is exposing the 150,000 Rohingya refugees to increased risk of disease, infection and mudslides as their basic camps begin to turn to slush. The first bout of rain lasted an hour but left destruction in its wake. Cox's Bazar is the most densely populated refugee camp in the world. Fiona MacGregor of the International Organisation for Migration said water-borne diseases and infection would spread quickly in the stagnant, unclean water. A $50-a-week increase to the minimum wage would create up to 87,000 jobs in the first two years, unions have claimed. The Australian Council of Trade Unions has made a submission to the Fair Work Commission, which is considering its claim for a uniform 7.2% increase to the minimum and award wages to take effect from 1 July. Unions have argued that low-paid workers spend most of their extra income, meaning an increase to the minimum wage would boost aggregate demand and create jobs. In its reply submissions the Australian Industry Group called the ACTU claim "manifestly excessive and completely unrealistic". The Queen's last remaining corgi has died, leaving the monarch without a corgi for the first time since the second world war. Willow, 15, was the 14th generation descended from Susan, a corgi given to the then Princess Elizabeth on her 18th birthday in 1944. The Queen has owned more than 30 dogs of the breed during her reign. It was reported in 2015 that she had stopped breeding corgis because she did not want to leave any behind after she died. Two dogs remain in the royal household – Vulcan and Candy – which are informally known as "dorgis", a cross-breed between a dachshund and a corgi. Sport Expect the unexpected for AFL in 2018. With all teams displaying early vulnerabilities and opponents capitalising on any error or weakness, the 2018 AFL season is already defying prediction. This week our cartoonist David Squires reviews the final regular season round of the A-League and welcomes Mike Mulvey back to the competition. Thinking time | 
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An underwater photographer documents an expanse of dead coral at Lizard Island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef in 2017. Photograph: AP 
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