Morning mail: religious discrimination pledge, devastating crop losses, greening apartments

Thursday: Coalition seeks assurances over faith-based schools. Plus: Victoria’s controversial pandemic laws derailed

Good morning. The federal government faces seeks assurances over its revised religious discrimination laws. Storms and flooding wreak havoc across North America and regional NSW. And Australian apartment dwellers face hurdles as they embrace sustainable living.

The federal government continues to face internal divisions over its revamped religious discrimination legislation, despite the attorney general, Michaelia Cash, requesting “detailed drafting” from the Australian Law Reform Commission to ensure children are not discriminated against in faith-based schools on the basis of “sexuality or gender identity”. Two Coalition senators have vowed to withhold support for the bill and, with a resistant crossbench, the bill could require Labor’s support to pass. Cash said the government recognised faith-based schools’ right to “maintain conduct and teaching in accordance with their faith” but not in ways that were discriminatory to individual children.

Farmers along the Lachlan River in NSW are facing devastating crop losses before what was to be a bumper harvest, with the mayor of Forbes saying the economic cost would be in the millions. Veteran growers have confirmed that it is the biggest flood in several decades in the area, saying the extreme climate event comes as a “double whammy” as it affects not just the winter crop but the subsequent growing season as well.

A massive storm has killed at least one person, with several more feared dead across the west coast of North America, with Vancouver cut off and record rainfalls destroying highways in Canada and the US. Canada’s largest port has been rendered inoperative by flood waters, while landslides have swept at least 10 vehicles off a highway.

Australia

As few as 1% of casual staff at Australian universities will convert to permanent roles, despite the passing of labour law changes mandating greater job security six months ago – a rate the National Tertiary Education Union has called “abysmal”.

One in 10 staff working in the department responsible for protection against sexual harassment have reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment, a survey of the Attorney General’s Department has found.

Common painkillers could provide a similar level of pain relief to opiates six times their dosage, a study of bone fracture patients has found. Researchers concluded that the ongoing use of strong opioids after leaving hospital “should not be supported”.

“Blue hydrogen”, produced using natural gas, will release much higher greenhouse gas emissions than “green hydrogen”, ANU research has suggested, with lobby groups calling on the government to do more to fund green hydrogen technology.

The world

The internationally regarded Syrian musician Omar Souleyman has been arrested in Turkey on terrorism charges relating to his alleged membership of the Kurdistan Workers’ party. His family have rejected the charges, claiming they stem from a “malicious report”.

A British F35 jet has crashed during a routine operation over the Mediterranean. The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the pilot successfully ejected but it is unlikely the £100m plane is salvageable.

Denmark has accused the UK of breaking a post-Brexit fisheries deal, claiming it is denying access to centuries-old fishing grounds that are vital for Denmark’s industry.

A French dictionary has been accused of “wokeism”, after it recognised the gender-inclusive pronoun “iel” – a neologism combining the French words for he (“il”) and she (“elle”).

Recommended reads

For millions of Australian apartment dwellers looking to embrace sustainable living, there’s only so much you can do by yourself. But as David Beard and Henry Christie have shown, cajoling a strata board into “greening” up the entire apartment complex can happen – with patience and preparation. “I think there was a fair degree of ‘we should be doing this to be environmentally friendly’ but the economics still had to stack up.” And as Sally Dillon writes, with several councils now offering rebate and incentive schemes to retrofit older buildings, chance conversations with neighbours could be the perfect way to start.

The past 12 months has seen the strongest private sector wages growth for nearly seven years. But far from a harbinger of a coming “wages boom”, as Greg Jericho explains, just keeping up with inflation is a more realistic target. “Government policy to cap public service wages during the pandemic has seen wages growth in that sector plummet … And while the growth of wages over the past year has been strong, so too has been the growth of prices.” Factor in a 3.0% consumer price index rise over the same time period and real wages remain weak.

“We are excited about hosting a family Christmas gathering ... but have a dilemma.” This week, advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith takes on the thorny issue of vaccination: what to do when some family members refuse it. “Some ‘anti-vaccine’ people get vaccinated if things they care about are on the line, like work, or an important event. You won’t know how unshakeable their position is if you don’t put one big effort into trying to shake it.”

It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for the funniest things on the internet. Bryce Mills has seen a funny thing or two in his days and, whether that’s filming atmosphere-less fake pranks, or just finding creative ways to say no to sex, here’s his top 10 list.

Listen

Australia earned the status of a climate laggard in Glasgow. But with the Cop26 pact in place, what level of accountability will we now see from the Australian government? On this episode of Full Story, climate editor Adam Morton and political editor Katharine Murphy examine the entrails.

Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.

Sport

Football in Australia is no stranger to “new dawns” but, as Emma Kemp explains, in the lead-up to the A-League Men’s opening weekend there’s a fresh impetus and, dare we say it, even optimism surrounding the game.

Just over a year out from the 2022 Qatar Fifa World Cup, 12 teams have booked their berths, including all four semi-finalists from 2018. Martin Laurence runs the numbers and presents the top 10 contenders.

Media roundup

Former cabinet minister Adem Somyurek has dealt Daniel Andrews a significant blow, vowing to block his pandemic management legislation, the Herald Sun reports. Australia will need to undergo an energy transition “akin to the industrial revolution”, experts have warned, the Financial Review writes.

Coming up

NSW parliament is to debate a bill that will require pounds and shelters to consult with rescue groups before killing animals.

Evacuated residents will return home in some parts of Forbes as Dominic Perrottet visits the area.

And if you’ve read this far …

Images of him in his horned headdress became almost synonymous with the January US Capitol riot. But the man who became known as the “QAnon shaman”, Jacob Chansley, will spend 41 months in prison for his role during the deadly attack.

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