Australia can meet its Paris targets – if government doesn’t hinder progress

ANU research suggests net cost of achieving Paris targets is zero because renewables are now cheaper than fossil fuels

New research finds Australia is installing renewable energy faster than any other country, a trend that will allow Australia to meet its economy-wide Paris targets five years ahead of schedule if politics doesn’t derail the trend, according to new research from the Australian National University.

While emissions have been rising across the economy since the Abbott government repealed the carbon price after winning government in 2013, they have been falling in the electricity sector because of the closure of ageing coal plants and the rapid uptake of renewables.

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For the sake of trust in politics Tim Wilson must go – the problem is he can’t see that | Katharine Murphy

Tim Wilson, in his hurry to ‘help’, has overreached and anyone can see his position isn’t tenable

If it wasn’t already obvious, we have entered the “whatever it takes” stage of proceedings.

The Coalition wants to get back into the contest, and is on the hunt for the knockout blow, or blows. The core objective at the moment is to get the whole country roiling about Labor’s “retirement tax” (that isn’t a tax, just like the carbon tax was never a tax despite what Tony told us).

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‘Beggars belief’: more endangered parrots exported from Australia

Warren Entsch demands investigation after German convicted kidnapper boasts about new shipment

A government MP has said it “beggars belief” that more endangered Australian birds have been exported to a German organisation headed by a convicted kidnapper and extortionist, after a Guardian investigation revealed there had been multiple warnings that the birds could be sold to collectors at a huge profit.

Warren Entsch repeated calls for an independent investigation into how the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots was able to receive hundreds of rare and endangered birds from Australia, after its founder, Martin Guth, used a social media post to say more endangered species had arrived at its facilities in January.

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Bill Shorten demands extra sitting weeks to fast-track banking reforms

Labor leader says failure to act will show Coalition ‘putting the interests of the big banks’ first

Bill Shorten says Scott Morrison must schedule two extra sitting weeks in March to fast-track the legislative changes recommended by the banking royal commission, saying failure to act quickly will show voters the government is “putting the interests of the big banks ahead of them”.

As Morrison signalled executives of the National Australia Bank should reflect on Kenneth Hayne’s “sharp” assessment of their conduct, Shorten wrote to the prime minister on Tuesday, declaring it was critical the reforms be legislated as soon as possible, and demanding two extra sitting weeks be scheduled in March.

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Josh Frydenberg defends Coalition’s climate record as he faces challenge in Kooyong

Treasurer says climate change is real and Scott Morrison’s government takes emissions reduction ‘very seriously’

Josh Frydenberg has defended the Coalition’s record on climate change and says he will work hard to earn the trust of his constituents in the face of a challenge from long-time Liberal and now independent Oliver Yates.

Yates, a former Macquarie banker and head of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, confirmed on Wednesday he would run in Kooyong at the coming federal election, declaring Frydenberg deserved to be challenged because of a lack of action on the environment.

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What happened to the deal – and the refugees – surviving Australian and US politics? | Anne Richard

I signed the agreement to resettle some of Australia’s refugees from Nauru and Manus Island in the US. I wanted to see how they are faring now

Two years ago, Australia’s then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull called to congratulate Donald Trump on his inauguration, and to elicit the new president’s support for continuing an agreement between Australia and the US. Australia had stopped thousands of asylum seekers from reaching its shores and had arranged to detain them on islands in the South Pacific; the US had agreed to resettle some in America. The transcript of the phone conversation makes clear that the deal was a top priority for Turnbull and an unwelcome surprise for Trump, who called it “a rotten deal”.

Related: US believed Australia would take more refugees in exchange for Nauru and Manus deal

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Murray Darling Basin Plan breaches Water Act, royal commission to find

Commissioner to find $13bn plan to restore river took into account factors other than the environment’s needs when it set the amount of water needed to be bought back from irrigators

The Murray Darling Basin Plan is likely in breach of the commonwealth act that underpins it – the Water Act 2007, the South Australian royal commission into the plan is expected to find.

The report of the royal commission into the Murray Darling Basin Plan is being handed to the state governor on Tuesday but it is up to the SA government when it is released.

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Huge crowds attend Invasion Day marches across Australia’s capital cities

Scott Morrison talks of his ancestor’s arrival on the continent, and defends celebration of Australia Day

• Hundreds attend first dawn service to be held on Australia Day

Scott Morrison has said 26 January 1788 was “pretty miserable” for his ancestor, in a speech defending the celebration of Australia Day, while tens of thousands of people joined Invasion Day marches around the country calling for the public holiday to be abolished.

Morrison told a citizenship ceremony in Canberra that his fifth great grandfather, William Roberts, arrived with the first fleet in a group that was “wretched, naked, filthy, dirty, lousy, and many of them utterly unable to stand, or even to stir hand or foot”.

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Australia Day honours list: Kylie Minogue and Peter Reith among 2019 recipients

Women account for 37.5% of those honoured – a record but still short of the 40% target promised by Labor

This year’s Australia Day honours list has the highest proportion of women ever – but female recipients still make up just over a third of the list, only a 4.5-percentage-point increase from last year.

Seven former Liberal or National male politicians have been honoured in the 2019 awards, including former Nationals leader Warren Truss, former deputy Liberal leader Peter Reith and former Liberal national director Tony Nutt.

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‘Please help me’: refugee footballer Hakeem al-Araibi tells of his Thai jail ordeal

Exclusive: In an interview with the Guardian he pleads for his release and says he fears torture and jail if extradited to Bahrain

Hakeem al-Araibi, the refugee footballer from Bahrain who was detained in Thailand while on his honeymoon, has said he is “losing hope” and believes he will be tortured again or even killed if he is deported to Bahrain.

Speaking to the Guardian from Bangkok Remand Prison, a visibly distressed Al-Araibi said he was “terrified ” and that his fear was “getting worse every day”. Al-Araibi was given asylum in Australia in 2017 after fleeing his home country where he was persecuted for his beliefs, tortured in prison and convicted on a trumped-up vandalism charge.

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Warren Mundine picked by Scott Morrison to stand in marginal seat of Gilmore

Indigenous leader and former Labor boss to be parachuted in as a Liberal in the NSW electorate held by retiring MP Ann Sudmalis

Indigenous leader Warren Mundine will be parachuted in to contest the marginal seat of Gilmore under a Scott Morrison-endorsed plan being considered by the New South Wales Liberal party executive.

On Tuesday the state executive voted to block the preselection of real-estate agent Grant Schultz, who had been picked by local members to contest the seat held by the retiring MP Ann Sudmalis.

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Another Murray cod dead at Menindee as locals brace for another kill

Murray-Darling commissioner offer to include Menindee fish kill in inquiry rejected by South Australia attorney general

Another 80cm Murray cod has died in the Lower Darling River on Friday afternoon, raising fears among Menindee locals that the predicted drop in temperature overnight will trigger another fish kill incident.

The Guardian saw the large cod, estimated to be about 30 to 40 years old, floating about 1km downstream from where another large cod died on Thursday.

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Australia to introduce rules about sedating or restraining nursing home residents

Aged care minister says he was disturbed by footage of elderly men being chemically and physically restrained

On the eve of the royal commission into the aged care sector’s first hearing, the Morrison government has flagged new regulations on the use of chemical and physical restraints in nursing homes.

There are no rules in Australia governing the use of restraints in aged care facilities, unlike the US, Britain and Europe.

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Peter Dutton tops GetUp’s ‘hard right’ hit list for federal election

Tony Abbott in second place as activist group looks to extend list of targets

Peter Dutton is the most unpopular Australian politician among GetUp supporters, with the activist organisation now looking to extend its “hard right” MP target hit list for the upcoming federal election.

The home affairs minister, who is already facing an established GetUp campaign against him in his marginal Queensland seat of Dickson, dominated the activist group’s poll of most loathed politicians, attracting 22,028 first-place votes.

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Australia too slow in considering Saudi teen’s asylum bid, rights group says

Human Rights Watch says government should have acted with more urgency to help Rahaf al-Qunun

Human Rights Watch Australia has criticised the government’s handling of a Saudi teenager’s bid for asylum, after the 18-year-old was granted safe haven in Canada.

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun fled from Kuwait to Thailand, saying she had been abused by her family and feared for her life if deported back home.

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Lawyers given just 36 hours to respond to Dutton’s child sex offender register plan

Law Council president Arthur Moses says legal profession would be very troubled if proposal is rushed for political purposes

The government has allowed Australia’s peak legal body just 36 hours to respond to its public child sex offender register proposal, a move the Law Council has labelled “absurd”.

Peter Dutton announced on Wednesday the government was considering establishing a register which could include the postcode, name and photo of child sex offenders. Reaction was mixed, but Dutton said the government would be asking for the views of a wide range of stakeholders, including child advocacy groups and legal representatives.

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Fraser Anning billed taxpayers for staying at brother’s Queensland hotel

Exclusive: senator claimed expenses for two trips to Babinda in 2018, where his brother owns a hotel

Fraser Anning claimed a taxpayer-funded accommodation and meals allowance for staying at his brother’s hotel in the regional town of Babinda.

The independent senator’s use of taxpayer funds for travel has been under scrutiny since he announced he would bill the public to travel from Queensland to a far-right rally in St Kilda on Saturday.

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Rahaf al-Qunun: Labor says Saudi refugee should be resettled in Australia

Bill Shorten urges Scott Morrison to accept Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun now that the UN has validated her refugee claim

Labor has said the Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun should be resettled in Australia now that her refugee claim had been validated.

The party’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Penny Wong, told ABC radio on Thursday Bill Shorten had written to Scott Morrison urging him to accept Qunun.

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Rahaf al-Qunun: Saudi teenager given refugee status by the UN

Australia to consider asylum request after home affairs minister says she would not get ‘special treatment’

Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun has been found to be a refugee by the United Nations, and the Australian government will now consider her asylum request, according to the Department of Home Affairs.

The 18-year-old woman barricaded herself in a Bangkok airport hotel room on Sunday to prevent her forcible return to Saudi Arabia, where she claims her family will kill her because she has renounced Islam.

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Rahaf al-Qunun: Saudi woman under UN protection as Australia urges asylum claim

Thai authorities say 18-year-old will not be forced to return with her father to the Middle East, where she claims her family will kill her

An 18-year-old Saudi woman who barricaded herself in a Bangkok airport hotel room to prevent her forcible return to a family she claims will kill her, has been taken under the protection of the UN high commissioner for refugees in Thailand.

The Australian government said on Monday night Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun’s situation was “deeply concerning” and it had lobbied the Thai government and the UNHCR to allow her to formally claim asylum.

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