| | 24/01/2025 Albanese’s $10,000 tradie plan, judge challenges Trump, Kidman snubbed in Oscars noms |
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| | | Morning everyone. Anthony Albanese will try to boost his government’s credibility on fixing the housing crisis today when he outlines a plan to entice would-be tradie apprentices with a $10,000 bonus. Donald Trump sent markets spinning again overnight with a pledge to slap tariffs on goods from all countries, though he also faces a challenge as a judge blocked his executive order on birthright citizenship. Elsewhere, we have news of the Oscar nominations (with bad news for Nicole Kidman), a thriller in the tennis, and Australia’s women rode their luck in the rain to an Ashes series win. |
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| Australia | | Red hawk found | The red goshawk, Australia’s rarest bird of prey, has been photographed for the first time in central Australia to the delight of conservationists. | Bed closures | More than 60 mental health beds in New South Wales public hospitals are temporarily closing as some hospitals are being givendirectives to limit psychiatric assessments because of mass resignations. | Builder boost | Apprentice tradies stand to get an extra $10,000 from a re-elected Labor government as Anthony Albanese tries to encourage more young people to go into the building industry to help meet his home-building targets. Plus: an explainer on how fee-free Tafe will work. | At the double | Woolworths is selling a significantly smaller stick of Brut deodorant for more than double the unit price of the old product in an extreme example of “shrinkflation”. | Gender question | Gender-diverse Australians applying to stay in the US long-term could face visa delays and be forced to use their gender designation at birth on forms following Donald Trump’s executive order on gender. |
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| World | | Oscar pointers | Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard’s musical about a transgender gangster escaping from the mob in Mexico, has received a record 13 Oscar nominations for a film not in the English language. The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody as an architect who survived the Holocaust, took 10 nominations, including Guy Pearce as best supporting actor. But Nicole Kidman was a surprise omission. Here’s the list. If you think that’s rubbish, tell us your picks. | ‘Lots of jobs’ | Donald Trump has told global business leaders in Davos that all imports into the US will face tariffs, adding that he would ask Saudi Arabia and Opec to reduce oil prices, causing crude to fall overnight . Follow developments live. A judge blocked Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. A TV meteorologist has been fired from her station after she criticised Elon Musk for his apparent fascist salutes. | Purdue payment | Members of the family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma have agreed to pay up to $7.4bn in a new settlement to lawsuits over the toll of the powerful prescription painkiller. | ‘We were betrayed’ | The families of the Cradock Four, who died at the hands of the apartheid-era security forces in 1985, are suing the South African government for failing to bring the perpetrators to justice. | ‘Glad they’re dead’ | The Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been jailed for a minimum of 52 years for the “ferocious” and “sadistic” murders last year of three young girls and attempted murder of 10 others. |
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 | Full Story | | Is Albanese letting Dutton set the political agenda? Bridie Jabour talks to editor-in-chief Lenore Taylor and head of newsroom Mike Ticher about whose pre-election message is cutting through and connecting with voters. | |
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| | | | | | | | | The most important news from Australia and the globe, as it breaks |
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| | Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties |
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| In-depth | | With no change in the divisive debate about Australia Day, Tory Shepherd talks to Indigenous leaders and activists calling for a calmer and more nuanced public dialogue. Bridget Cama, a co-chair of the Uluru Youth Dialogue, says questions about the suitability of the date don’t “get to the root cause of why so many First Nations people feel so much pain”. |
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| Not the news | | For the follow-up to her Miles Franklin prize-winning novel, Safe Haven, Shankari Chandran has moved to thriller territory with the tale of a CIA agent investigating the assassination of a journalist in Sri Lanka. It’s a “true page-turner”, according to our reviewer Bec Kavanagh. |
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| Media roundup | Yang Hengjun, the Australian writer jailed in China, has to choose between food and bed clothes in his Beijing prison, according to the Age. A huge joint project between Santos and Tamboran could result in thousands of new jobs in Darwin, the NT News reports. |
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| What’s happening today | Canberra | Anthony Albanese addresses the National Press Club at 12.30pm. | Sydney | Findings from inquest into 19 Covid deaths at Newmarch House. | Adelaide | Olympic cyclist Rohan Dennis to be arraigned for sentencing. |
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| Brain teaser | And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. | |
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| Contact us | If you have a story tip or technical issue viewing this newsletter, please reply to this email. If you are a Guardian supporter and need assistance with regards to contributions and/or digital subscriptions, please email customer.help@guardian.co.uk |
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A message from Lenore Taylor editor of Guardian AustraliaI hope you appreciated this newsletter. Before you move on, I wonder if you would consider supporting our work as we prepare for a pivotal, uncertain year ahead.
The course of world history has taken a sharp and disturbing turn in 2024. Liberalism is under threat from populist authoritarianism. Americans have voted to install a president with no respect for democratic norms, nor the facts that once formed the guardrails of public debate.
That decision means an alliance critical to Australia’s national and economic security is now a series of unpredictable transactions, with a partner no longer committed to multilateralism, nor efforts to curb global heating, the greatest threat we face. We just don’t know where this will lead.
In this uncertain time, fair, fact-based journalism is more important than ever – to record and understand events, to scrutinise the powerful, to give context, and to counter rampant misinformation and falsehoods.
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If you can, please consider supporting us with just $1, or better yet, support us every month with a little more. Thank you. | | |
| Lenore Taylor
Editor, Guardian Australia |
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