Morning mail: ‘shocking’ rate of aged care sexual abuse, Queen ‘humbled’ by support, June tunes

Monday: Peak rights group for older Australians demands urgent action. Plus: Rafael Nadal wins his 14th French Open

Good morning. Anthony Albanese is in Indonesia today after flying to Jakarta yesterday for his first meeting with President Joko Widodo.

The “shocking” rate of sexual abuse of aged care residents has barely changed since the royal commission. More than 500 cases were reported in the last three months of 2021 and experts say victims, many of whom live with dementia, are still being failed by an ill-equipped system. The peak rights group for older Australians is demanding urgent change, launching a new project, named Ready to Listen, in an attempt to train providers to properly deal with sexual violence.

The global accounting firm PwC told the Brazilian meat multinational JBS it would save about $70m a year in Australian tax if the company followed advice that was structured as a legal service to prevent it being seen by authorities, according to documents released by the federal court. The ATO is investigating JBS for alleged tax avoidance and launched a federal court lawsuit that resulted in PwC being forced to hand over some of the documents it had insisted should be kept from authorities because they contained legal advice.

The Queen said she was “humbled and deeply touched” while thanking people for their support in celebrating her platinum jubilee. She acknowledged that she has not been able to attend all the official events held to mark her 70 years on the throne but said she was “committed to serving you to the best of my ability, supported by my family”. As the bunting comes down after the long weekend’s celebrations, many in Buckingham Palace will breathe a sigh of relief but, behind the scenes, succession planning is well under way.

Russia launched airstrikes on Kyiv for the first time in five weeks yesterday, claiming it was targeting western-supplied tanks. President Vladimir Putin said Russia would strike new targets if the US started supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles. As of this morning, 262 children have been killed and 467 injured, according to the latest figures from the Ukrainian parliament.

Australia

Grocery delivery startups are facing funding difficulties as rising inflation and interest rates have made venture capitalists far more conservative with their cash. Two companies have already collapsed from unsustainable costs in the last two months.

Twelve years since the introduction of My Health Record at a cost of more than $2bn, hardly anyone is using the digital service. Research shows many Australians find their medical records have not been uploaded and clinicians fail to see the benefits of using the national online database.

Homeless services are scrambling to provide help for those sleeping rough as wild weather and the icy snap have made conditions more difficult.

Victoria police have failed to meet their Indigenous employment target of 1%, with just 0.55% of its workforce identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. The force said it was voluntary for employees to identify their background, meaning the data collected was widely accepted as underreported.

The world

The allies of the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, will switch their focus to winning a vote of no confidence, conceding they now have little chance of stopping one being triggered.

At least 49 people died after a fire tore through a shipping container depot in Bangladesh, sparking a chemical explosion that engulfed many of those who had rushed to the scene to help. The death toll is expected to rise.

Gunmen launched an assault on a Catholic church in Ondo state in Nigeria during mass yesterday, killing more than 50 people in a “satanic attack”, local officials and volunteers said.

Hundreds of minority Hindus have fled from Indian-administered Kashmir after a fresh spate of targeted killings stoked tensions in the disputed Himalayan region.

Recommended reads

Each month we add 20 new songs to our Spotify playlist. Read about 10 of our favourites here, including Alex the Astronaut, Spacey Jane and the Whitlams.

For a generation of parents who have spent the past two years with more child contact hours than we would have ever expected, children’s music has become omnipresent. And while annoying parents with the musical equivalent of a mosquito can be lucrative, there is fertile ground (and perhaps more longevity) in the possibility of making something they’ll enjoy alongside their kids. How do you make songs children love and adults can stand? A new batch of children’s music artists think they’ve figured it out.

Do you know which breeds of cats can be trained to play fetch and carry things? Moggies have paraded en masse at the Melbourne cat lovers show, with a special breed for everyone to discover. Check out our picture gallery here.

Listen

The 47th parliament of Australia has been hailed as the most diverse parliament yet but diversity advocates say there is still a long way to go before it reflects society. So why has it taken so long for Australia’s parliament to look more like its people? In today’s Full Story, Laura Murphy-Oates speaks to diversity advocates Kat Henaway and Tharini Rouwette, and former hopeful Labor candidate Tu Le, about how to improve First Nations and multicultural representation in parliament.

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

Sport

Rafael Nadal has won his 14th French Open title, defeating Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 at Roland Garros. The win takes his record career grand slam tally to 22, creating a gap between himself and his two greatest rivals, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, who both have 20 major titles.

There is something in the air at Rugby HQ and for once it isn’t panic. It smells, dangerously, like hope. The Australia-England three-Test series is less than a month away and Eddie Jones’s side are coming off another dud Six Nations tournament. But will Dave Rennie’s team have the teeth to rip in and win?

Wales has qualified for a first football World Cup in 64 years after edging out Ukraine in a nervy playoff final.

Media roundup

The NSW government will spend $4.5bn to recruit more than 10,000 nurses, doctors and other staff to the state’s hospitals and to help the struggling sector, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.The AFR says Santos and Beach Energy will spend tens of millions of dollars to drill extra wells in South Australia’s Cooper Basin as they bring on additional gas supply. The WA senator Patrick Dodson has said achieving an Indigenous voice to parliament is the nation’s immediate priority, and changing the date of Australia Day would not happen in the short term, reports the West Australian.

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