Morning mail: call for energy relief, Boris Johnson faces ‘vote strikes’, Socceroos defeat UAE

Good morning. Energy ministers will meet today to discuss gas supplies and power price rises impacting cost-of-living pressures. And the Socceroos keep their World Cup hopes alive.

The Albanese government has been urged to provide a $1,000 emergency energy debt relief payment for those on fixed incomes before power bills soar amid a “full-blown cost of living crisis”. The Australian Council of Social Service has written to the new federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, warning it is “deeply concerned about the financial pressures on people on very low fixed incomes”. Bowen will meet state and territory energy ministers today to hash out a response to a “perfect storm” of cost-of-living pressures. The ministers are also under pressure to agree on “a speedier move” away from natural gas. Industry leaders have written an open letter calling on politicians to improve supply and increase efficiency in energy markets.

First homebuyers are likely to be hit hardest by an onslaught of interest rate rises, analysts say. Analysts warn the economic consequences of RBA’s “blunt instrument” attempt to limit inflation, lifting its official cash rate by 50 basis points to 0.85% and signalling more increases to come, will fall disproportionately on those living in outer suburbs. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, acknowledged that the rate rise – the highest single increase in more than 20 years – would hurt homeowners already grappling with “skyrocketing” cost-of-living pressures. Westpac was the first of the big banks to pass on the rise.

Rebel Conservative MPs in the UK are drawing up plans for “vote strikes” in a bid to paralyse law-making and capitalise on the dramatic Boris Johnson no-confidence vote. Some of the 148 MPs who voted to oust the prime minister on Monday said they would try to stymie his legislative agenda, as happened at the end of the Theresa May era, by abstaining on key laws. They plan to start with a showdown over a bill to override sections of the Northern Ireland protocol.

Australia has defeated the United Arab Emirates 2-1 in the World Cup qualifier in Qatar and progressed to a final playoff for a spot in the 2022 World Cup. Now the Socceroos must prepare to face Peru in a final, sudden-death playoff next Monday in Doha (early Tuesday AEST).

Australia

Facebook Twitter Jack Dunn says Dfat should clearly advertise the little-known US entry requirement that led to his deportation ordeal so others can avoid his experience

An Australian traveller, Jack Dunn, was denied entry to the US, cavity searched, sent to prison and subsequently deported due to a little-known entry requirement for the US – a rule that requires those entering on a visa waiver to have booked either a return flight or onward travel to a country that does not border the US.

Twice as much greenhouse gas could be leaking from coalmines than is being reported in official government accounts, according to a report using data from the International Energy Agency. Ember thinktank’s report suggests coal contributes more to the climate crisis than all the cars on Australian roads.

Sydney is experiencing the coldest start to winter in 30 years while parts of northern Australia swelter through near record high June temperatures.

Suicide-related ambulance presentations in Australia increased by more than 50% in the first year of the Covid pandemic, research suggests.

The embattled buy now, pay later sector will be regulated under the same laws as credit cards. The financial services minister, Stephen Jones, says the government will also move to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges like other financial markets.

The world

Facebook Twitter Israel’s prime minister Naftali Bennett, right, and foreign minister Yair Lapid. Photograph: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images

Israel’s coalition government is teetering on the brink of collapse after a bill renewing civilian legal rights for Jewish settlers in the West Bank failed to pass on Monday night, in what Israeli media describe as “one of the most surreal votes in Israeli history” and “political suicide”.

Ukraine has accused the Russian army of abducting about 600 residents in the Kherson region in the country’s south and keeping them in “torture chambers”. Meanwhile, Moscow’s forces have control of 97% of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, according to Russia.

Culture sector workers, artists, professors and environmentalists in Rome have urged Unesco to remind the city’s council of its duty to protect the world heritage site as they decried “mortifying” scenes of rubbish and other signs of decay.

Recommended reads

Facebook Twitter Ballet star Laura Fernandez fled Moscow: ‘It was becoming morally difficult for me to continue my life in Russia.’ Photograph: Levente Szabo

When many of her fellow Muscovites began describing the destruction of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol as a “liberation”, Laura Fernandez’s mind was made up. The star ballerina, who is half Ukrainian and half Spanish, fled Moscow and her position as first soloist with the Stanislavsky Theatre on 20 April. Before a performance in Sydney, she talks to us about her future.

Celebrity chef-slash-restaurateur Matt Moran is one prominent Australian lifting the lid on his family history when Who Do You Think You Are returns to SBS on 21 June. For Moran, the experience was a thrilling opportunity – especially as some “absolute doozies” about his ancestors were revealed in the process. His line of work means that Moran considers a certain kitchen tool his most useful object. The longtime chef tells us about the knives he couldn’t live without, as well as the stories behind a couple of prized collections.

All 90s children are haunted by Miss Trunchbull – but revisiting Danny DeVito’s 1996 film Matilda is a zany and joyful experience, writes Shaad D’Souza. “Matilda is an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1988 book of the same name. Unlike most Dahl adaptations, though, the changes make it even better; keeping the weird, witty spirit of the original text while building out the story into something that doesn’t feel thin when spread over 90-odd minutes.”

Sport

Facebook Twitter Cherbourg cannot wait for former local Selwyn Cobbo to make his State of Origin debut for Queensland tonight. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP

Tonight is no normal Wednesday night for the Cherbourg Sports Complex. More than 1,100km to the south, one of Cherbourg’s favourite sons will stride on to rugby league’s biggest stage for the first time and the sports complex he knows so well will throw open its doors to an Indigenous community riding a wave of emotion inspired by Selwyn Cobbo’s incredible rise from Brisbane Broncos rookie to State of Origin sensation.

Serious concerns were raised about Uefa’s safety and security department earlier this year when an English safety expert with decades of experience quit his role as a consultant for European football’s governing body.

Media roundup

A marathon City of Melbourne council meeting has backed a one-year halt in the rollout of further bike lanes in the Hoddle Grid in the wake of a significant backlash from some city traders, residents and motorists, reports the Herald Sun. Police are investigating how two women in their 20s died after their bodies were found in a flat in Sydney’s south-west after lying there for several days, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Coming up

The Murugappan family will leave Perth to return to their home town of Biloela in Queensland.

The NSW public sector will start a 24-hour strike.

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