Morning Mail: Hanson’s gas policy flip-flop, homeless man shot with Taser, Trump rages at AI ‘conspiracy’

Morning everyone. Pauline Hanson has appeared to perform a significant policy U-turn after shelving One Nation’s commitment to a gas reservation in favour of a stance more aligned with the corporate interests of her benefactor Gina Rinehart.

It comes as figures show the country’s dependence on gas in the evening energy peak has slumped dramatically, a homeless Queensland man is in hospital after being shot with a Taser by police, the alarming rise of STIs, and Donald Trump rages against a “conspiracy” to undermine AI stocks.

Australia

• Theatre royal | Six years after the historian Jenny Hocking won her battle to release secret correspondence between Queen Elizabeth II, Malcolm Fraser and the governor general John Kerr, her fight to reveal the truth about Gough Whitlam’s dismissal is being adapted for the stage.

• Gas price | One Nation has come under fire for quietly shelving support for a new domestic gas reservation policy in preference of a policy that favours the party’s billionaire patron, Gina Rinehart. Australia’s dependence on gas for power during the evening, when the grid is under the most pressure, has fallen by nearly 70% over the past year as batteries surged in, replacing the fossil fuel.

• Exclusive | A homeless man was shot with a Taser by police in Brisbane after attempting to take his own life during a tent city clearance, sparking calls for mental health considerations when dealing with move-on orders amid Queensland’s homelessness crisis.

• STI spike | Rates of reported gonorrhoea and infectious syphilis have increased by more than 50% across Australia over the past decade, with experts warning of concerning rises among women.

• AI ‘attacks’ | One of Australia’s top intelligence agencies has warned that AI attacks could exploit the country’s old technology as the government negotiates its guardrails on artificial intelligence’s rapid development.

World

• ‘Sick conspiracy’ | Donald Trump has dismissed calls to increase controls on AI as a “sick conspiracy”, as stocks linked to the technology slumped after appeals from leading developers on the weekend for the industry to slow down. It came as US government borrowing costs rose to 5% for the first time since 2023 as soaring oil prices fuelled by the war in the Middle East triggered an intensifying sell-off in the global bond market.

• Europe’s test | Europe needs to show it will not be “scared off” in supporting Ukraine, the EU’s chief diplomat said, after a Russian drone hit a passenger train on the country’s border with Poland shortly after a convoy of high-level diplomats and former leaders had passed through.

• Striking it rich | The fortune of Africa’s richest person could swell by two-thirds to nearly US$60bn after his refinery in Nigeria listed publicly in the continent’s biggest-ever initial public offering.

• Kuta deaths | Indonesian police are investigating the deaths of three Australians who died in Bali over the weekend, with initial reports suggesting a father killed his two young children before taking his own life.

• Letby blow | Two leading experts have withdrawn from Lucy Letby’s defence team over concerns about the “scientific credibility” of some of its evidence as the former nurse tries to fight her conviction for killing seven babies.

Full Story

How Icac turned into the ‘best show in town’

As the New South Wales Icac investigation winds up this week, Reged Ahmad speaks to Anne Davies about what she describes as “the best show in town”.

In-depth

Enforcement of the hardline immigration cuts proposed by Pauline Hanson yesterday would cost “many many billions of dollars” and require widespread compliance checks across aged care facilities and some of the country’s biggest construction sites, according to business, universities and political rivals. In an opinion piece, Alan Gamlen says One Nation’s proposal to regulate the size and composition of the temporary migrant population has merit, but other aspects are blunt and punitive.

Not the news

For a “shy girl who usually tried to disappear”, Allison Harding’s summer job working at the local pool left her “feeling gentle waves of confidence”, she writes in our latest Job that changed me feature.

Sport

• Women in sport | Amid anger from leading sportswomen at the actor Sydney Sweeney for appearing almost naked in a sports betting ad, Zoe Williams considers the ad itself and how it contains a “double entendre in every crevice”.

• Football | The video assistant referee officials who allowed Erling Haaland’s winning goal in the Manchester derby have been stood down amid a storm over the decision. Arsenal are seeking an explanation from the refereeing body over a penalty awarded to Sunderland that Mikel Arteta described as “unacceptable”. Meanwhile, you can follow Leeds v Newcastle live here.

• Cricket | England’s cricket bosses have given new Test head coach Stephen Fleming permission to return to New Zealand to work as a commentator despite having formally started work.

OpenAI has issued an ultimatum to Anthony Albanese that it will not even consider investing in domestic AI training if the government refuses to water down copyright laws, the Australian claims. The revenue from seatbelt fines has surged 2,357% in a year as roadside AI cameras rake in millions for the NSW government, the Telegraph says. Gold Coast’s top gym owner has told the Bulletin that weight loss injections are fuelling a “skinny epidemic”. Marine park rangers say illegal commercial fishing is a major threat to the Northern Territory’s green turtle populations.

What’s happening today

• Environment | Former Tuvalu prime minister Enele Sopoaga, its climate change minister, Maina Vakafua Talia, and Canadian senator Rosa Galvez speak at the Climate Integrity summit at NSW parliament.

• Melbourne | The Victorian energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, AMEC’s Tim Jordan and the Vicgrid chief executive, Alistair Parker, speak at an energy security forum.

• Sydney | One-day coronial inquest into the death of a police officer from a gunshot wound to the head in Hurstville police station in 1935.

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