Morning Mail: Rape alleged in WA youth detention; rightwing lobby’s ‘bizarre’ campaign; and Japan’s moon mission

Good morning. Today we detail allegations of “brutal” and “hectic” sexual abuse inside Western Australia’s youth detention centres, as coverage from our Duty of care investigation continues.

Meanwhile, a war of words has broken out between Advance and Coalition MPs in Victoria over fears the conservative lobby group’s pre-election ad campaign may hurt their fortunes at the ballot.

Authorities are under mounting pressure over their response to violent unrest sweeping through French cities. And: we join the hunt for secrets buried decades ago in the yard of a rural Queensland police station.

Australia

• Exclusive | Victorian Coalition MPs have criticised a conservative lobby group’s pre-election campaign as “bizarre” – and warned it may cost them a majority government at next month’s state election.

• Duty of care | As former child detainees alleging sexual abuse in WA state custody seek redress, one lawyer is condemning a shocking colloquial term used to describe compensation payouts.

• The Greens | Jordon Steele-John has accused an internal faction within the Greens of playing “nasty political games” and the leader, David Shoebridge, of pressuring him to take leave after complaints about his conduct were made public last week.

• ‘We are very close’ | Two years after a major train line in Sydney was closed to make way for rapid, driverless rail, local residents are now poised for change – not just to their commute, but their communities.

• ‘Totally unnecessary’ | An incarcerated Indigenous woman who gave birth via caesarean section was shackled to a hospital bed while she was in labour last weekend, an advocacy group has said.

• Page turners | Cloudstreet, Tim Winton’s sprawling family epic, has been voted Australia’s favourite book in a nationwide poll run by ABC Radio National to determine readers’ top 100 Australian books.

World

• ‘Failure of state’ | The French government is in crisis talks after one of the most violent days of unrest in years left public buildings burned, shops looted, and more than 2,000 people arrested.

• Russia-Ukraine war | Russia and Ukraine continue to trade strikes on each other’s power infrastructure, after the collapse of Donald Trump’s short-lived and unilaterally declared “energy ceasefire”.

• West Bank violence | A Guardian reporter filmed masked militants seconds before a West Bank attack on French mayor; the US ambassador to Israel has denounced the settler attack that left a Washington Post photojournalist badly beaten and needing surgery.

• Alberta incident | Four people have been killed and dozens more seriously injured after a “violent, fast-moving” fire tore through one of Canada’s busiest military training bases in Alberta.

• Back on deck | Pope Leo told a crowd gathered in St Peter’s Square that he would “gradually resume” activities, in his first appearance since undergoing an operation to remove a tumour from his lung.

• Martian moon mission | Japan is to launch a spacecraft on the world’s first mission to bring back samples from Phobos, one of the two small, potato-shaped moons orbiting Mars.

Full Story

NAZA: the film the Israeli government does not want you to see

Throughout the war in Gaza, the Israeli military has told its people – and the world – one thing: it does not deliberately kill civilians. But in a documentary by the Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, Israeli military insiders detail the vast AI systems used to rain down strikes on Gaza, which have directly led to the slaughter of civilians. Abraham and Szor talk about the political backlash against their documentary – including how they have been branded as traitors.

In-depth

Forty years ago, a constable dug a hole in the yard of the Mount Larcom police station to hide a stash of documents he had been ordered to incinerate. Were they evidence of police corruption, records of frontier war violence, or simple tales of daily life? What exactly is the secret that the rural Queensland police officer took to his grave? An unlikely team is looking for answers as they try to unearth the buried trove.

Not the news

In the latest of our Kindness of strangers series, we hear from a reader who – still in the fog of grief after the loss of his wife – found himself surprised when a package from a footy club arrived in the mail for his son with a note that read: “Thinking of you after the loss of your mum.” His son had only played two seasons with that AFL club, five years earlier. But they took the time to make an extraordinary gesture of care and support.

Sport

• Cricket | Australia’s Scott Boland damages South Africa with two wickets before rain stops play on day one of their second Test; Australia squeeze past New Zealand after mid-order collapse in opening women’s T20.

• Football | Noni Madueke breaks Nottingham Forest’s resistance as dogged Arsenal edge to victory; Manchester United held as Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s Leeds leveller keeps pressure on Michael Carrick; Ellie Carpenter leads Chelsea surge as sorry Spurs are hit for six in the Women’s Super League.

• Boxing | Daniel Dubois sends out warning to rivals with Fabio Wardley demolition, Donald McRae writes.

Hundreds of patients are arriving at NSW emergency rooms each month with complications after injecting unapproved peptides, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Scientists have launched a mission to Norfolk Island to save a tiny, hairy creature from the brink of extinction, the Age reports. Experts say multi-family households are an increasing feature of the rental market across Australia as prices rise amid a tight housing supply, ABC News reports.

What’s happening today

• NSW | A public hearing is scheduled in the NSW parliamentary inquiry into youth disability supports.

• QLD | The coronial inquest into the death of eight-year-old Elizabeth Struhs continues.

• Economics | The RBA assistant governor, Christopher Kent, is due to speak at the CBA Global Markets conference.

• NSW | The trial of veteran journalist Alan Jones continues in Sydney.

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Brain teaser

And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.