Good morning. Australian states and territories will receive fewer Pfizer vaccines in October. Foreign nurses are being blocked from work in New South Wales because of bureaucratic hurdles. Josh Frydenberg will make the economic case for Australia adopting a net-zero climate commitment, warning the country has a lot to lose if others believe “we are not transitioning in line with the rest of the world”. And, at the Adelaide Zoo, sex-shy pandas will try it the “old fashioned way” in the hope of conceiving a cub.
Leaked figures, seen by Guardian Australia, confirm concerns that the supply of Pfizer vaccines to states and territories will be reduced in October, the critical month that NSW and Victoria intend to reach the 70% vaccination target and push towards further reopening at 80%. The national cabinet told the states and territories their allocations of Pfizer will fall from 10.9m in September to 8.4m in October.
Overseas-trained nurses in Australia are frustrated they can’t work in NSW hospitals, which are desperate for staff to deal with Covid patients, because they can’t travel to Adelaide for an in-person exam required for some foreign degree holders. “It is a real war zone, and I am sitting at home numb and helpless, having a vast experience in critical care,” said a Colombian nurse who is unable to gain registration in NSW because she can’t go to South Australia due to closed state borders.
At the meeting with business leaders today, Josh Frydenberg will make the economic case for Australia adopting a net-zero commitment, warning the country can’t risk being perceived as a climate change pariah by financial markets. With the government attempting to land a formal commitment to net zero by 2050 ahead of the UN climate summit in Glasgow, the federal treasurer will note that trillions of dollars are being mobilised globally in support of the transition, and 129 countries have now committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. In the lead-up to Cop26, co-chaired by the UK and Italy, the Italian ambassador to Canberra has warned that there is “no time to lose” in fighting the climate crisis and expressed hopes that Australia will commit to net-zero emissions. “There is no second chance if we fail,” Francesca Tardioli said in an interview with Guardian Australia.
Australia
Australia’s competition watchdog is examining the proposed acquisition of one of the country’s largest independent brewers, Fermentum, by multinational beverage giant Lion. Fermentum is best known for craft beer brand Stone & Wood, and major players Lion and Carlton and United Breweries control 80% of Australia’s beer market.
The National Rural Health Alliance has called on the federal government to transfer the funds to establish a new model of healthcare for rural communities. It says lack of access to health services, due predominantly to the difficulty in attracting and retaining a rural health workforce, is driving the $4bn deficit in health spending.
An emergency department doctor has developed a simple way to help save the lives of shark attack victims by stopping the blood loss. The technique has to be endorsed by the Australian Resuscitation Council to be included in the first aid guidelines, but it has already been described by another expert as “a fantastic life-saving idea”.
Australian parents say the negative impact of the pandemic and prolonged lockdowns on the mental health of their children has worsened, and many struggle to access support, according to a survey by the Australian National University. “Seeing my daughter suffer in her mind just breaks my heart,” said one parent.
The Melbourne diocese of the Anglican church received almost $16m in jobkeeper subsidies in 2020, enough to clear its estimated sexual abuse compensation bill of $14.3m, accounts filed with the charities regulator show.
The world
London police have arrested a 38-year-old man on suspicion of killing Sabina Nessa, the 28-year-old primary school teacher from south-east London who is thought to have been murdered on the five-minute walk from her home to a nearby pub. Her death shocked the country, after the murders of Sarah Everard and the sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry this year, renewed the debate about the safety of women on the UK streets.
The US envoy to Haiti has resigned in protest at what he called the Biden administration’s “inhumane” mass deportation of Haitian migrants and asylum seekers. His resignation is a serious blow for an administration that came to office promising a more humane approach to immigration after Donald Trump’s policy of child separation.
Apple has opposed the EU plans to make a common USB-C charger port mandatory for all mobile phones, tablets and headphones in order to reduce electronic waste and save consumers’ money. The company said in statement that the “strict regulation mandating just one type of connector stifles innovation”.
Recommended reads
With their artificial insemination expert unable to travel, Australia’s only two giant pandas will try to mate the old-fashioned way. A tiny mating window opens for the notoriously sex-shy animals once a year. Fu Ni and Wang Wang at Adelaide Zoo will have about 36 hours to try for a cub. And Wang Wang was caught on camera “twerking” around the pen as he prepares for the event.
It has been more than a decade since Natalie Imbruglia released an album. And although comeback records sometimes carry a whiff of desperation, Firebird, her sixth record, is delightfully unburdened, writes Shaad D’Souza: “a carefree survey of pop and rock trends that re-establishes the fact that, at her best, Imbruglia is a canny lyricist and an incisive, whip-smart writer of hooks”.
Nazi Germany and the world wars have inspired many of Tom Keneally’s rich narratives, most famously the Booker prize-winner Schindler’s Ark. Set in his home town amid the traumas of the interwar period, Keneally’s 35th novel, Corporal Hitler’s Pistol, is a compelling blend of historical crime thriller and intricate portrait of an Australian rural community, writes Susan Wyndham in her review of the book.
Listen
Last week, Australia entered into a new defence pact with the United States and the United Kingdom. The pact, dubbed Aukus, will see Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines from the US and the UK, effectively ending a $90bn contract Australia had previously signed with France. In this episode of Full Story, Lenore Taylor and Mike Ticher speak to Gabrielle Jackson about the immediate fallout from Australia’s new partnership and the ramifications of the Aukus alliance.
Diplomacy and defence in the wake of Aukus – with Lenore Taylor
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Celebrating a birthday, within Covid guidelines, was enough to put three 18-year-olds in quarantine. Then one ended up in hospital unable to breathe or walk. Gabrielle Jackson, Guardian Australia’s associate editor of visual and audio, recommends this piece by Rafqa Touma about teenagers suffering from Covid for the latest episode of Australia Reads podcast.
‘I wasn’t certain I was going to leave hospital’: Sydney teenagers tell of terrifying Covid experience
Listen to the best of Guardian Australia’s journalism on Australia Reads podcast on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
On Saturday night, Australia is expected to defeat Argentina, who are yet to win a match in the Rugby Championship. But that is precisely what makes the Pumas so threatening. The Wallabies need to play with the same composure and discipline that were features of their performances against South Africa, writes Bret Harris.
Ahead of the AFL grand final against Melbourne on Saturday, Luke Beveridge’s unique approach to coaching may give the Western Bulldog’s the edge, Jonathan Horn writes. Unlike the laconic coaches of past generations, Beveridge forms a close, emotional bond with his players, encouraging them to imagine themselves as part of something bigger. Despite this, he’s an exacting coach with an ability to brutally assess for his own side’s weaknesses.
“I wouldn’t want to be in the ring with someone like me.” Anthony Joshua has warned his opponent Oleksandr Usyk ahead of the heavyweight title defence fight on Saturday night, which, he said earlier, could be one of the toughest fights of his career.
Media roundup
AFR has reported that Scott Morrison and India’s prime minister Narendra Modi are expected to discuss energy and technology partnership after their bilateral meeting at the Quad leaders’ summit. At today’s meeting of energy ministers, the ACT and Victoria will lead the push against Energy Minister Angus Taylor’s plan to subsidise coal and gas-fired power stations dubbed as “CoalKeeper,” ABC News has reported.
Coming up
The first-ever Quad leaders’ summit begins in Washington DC with Joe Biden, Scott Morrison, and the prime ministers of India and Japan, Narendra Modi and Yoshihide Suga.
Warren Ellis will join Andrew Stafford at Guardian Australia’s book club over Zoom next Thursday, 30 September, to discuss his life, career and his book, Nina Simone’s Gum, as well as to answer your questions, if you pre-register in time.
And if you’ve read this far …
Fossil hunters have unearthed remnants of the oldest – and probably weirdest – ankylosaur known so far, from a site in Morocco. The remains, dating back 168m years, are extraordinary in being the first to have defensive spikes that are fused to the skeleton, a feature researchers say is unprecedented in the animal kingdom.
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