Morning Mail: Marist Brothers face questions; Erin Patterson retrial bid; and Norway flushes Trump with best toilets

Morning everyone. We have an exclusive top story revealing that lawyers working for the Marist Brothers have been asked to explain why they advised the Catholic order to keep a serial offender out of “the legal arena” lest he implicate church officials.

Erin Patterson will find out today if she has won her appeal for a retrial for the mushroom murders, the long-awaited Sydenham-Bankstown metro extension opens, and 100,000 young Australians are being enrolled in a huge health survey. Key US Senate races are too close to call days before the midterms, Norway fires back at Trump, and Australia are well set to win the series in South Africa.

Australia

• Patterson verdict | Erin Patterson is set to find out if she could face a longer prison sentence or a new trial, as Victoria’s highest court hands down its decision on two appeals regarding her triple murder case.

• Exclusive | Lawyers acting for the Marist Brothers have been subpoenaed to explain a once-confidential document showing they advised the Catholic order to keep a serial offender out of “the legal arena”, suggesting he was too honest and might implicate senior church officials.

• ‘Awesome day’ | Hundreds of rail enthusiasts and a handful of bewildered commuters have ridden the first service on the long-awaited extension to Sydney’s metro line, bringing an end to more than two years of replacement buses.

• Albanese pledge | Anthony Albanese has ruled out major cuts to health, education and essential services in December’s midyear budget update but conceded savings are required as Labor struggles to curb accelerating inflation.

• Health challenge | Researchers hope to better understand the drivers of health challenges facing younger people, such as mental illness and rising cancer rates, through the recruitment of 100,000 people for Australia’s largest intergenerational study of wellbeing and ageing.

• Farley offer | Anthony Albanese offered the One Nation MP David Farley an additional staff member in an “unsolicited” move the party has branded an attempt to win over the new member for Farrer using taxpayer funds.

World

• Carolina dreaming? | The US Senate race in South Carolina – one of the most Republican states in the country – is a dead heat, according to a new poll, with Democrat hopes also strong in Texas, Michigan and even Mississippi. Alaska’s Republican governor plans a criminal investigation after the Democrat Senate hopeful was accused of trying to confuse voters by recruiting a candidate with the same name as her opponent. Follow developments on the campaign here. In better news for Donald Trump, the US economy performed better than expected last month.

• Trekkies mourn | Patrick Stewart, the acclaimed British stage and screen actor renowned for both Shakespeare and sci-fi, has died. He was 86. The Star Trek and X-Men star died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles.

• Spain | As Spain begins three days of mourning, the search for more victims of Wednesday’s train crash continues along with an investigation into how the disaster was allowed to happen.

• Netanyahu ‘smear’ | Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of using smear tactics to cling to power, after he claimed that Arab Israeli parties had used foreign backing to “steal” Tuesday’s election, in which the prime minister’s coalition lost its parliamentary majority.

• Norway | After the US president vented his fury over failing to win the Nobel peace prize by describing Norway as a “shithouse country”, the country’s tourist board has responded by posting pictures of its best public toilets and saying: “Norway makes shit houses great again!”

Full Story

Covert recordings and alleged confessions: an update on the murder trial of Beau Lamarre-Condon

Taylah Strano is joined by Guardian reporter Kat Wong to unpack the key evidence and latest updates from the courtroom.

In-depth

A tiny inner Melbourne basement apartment has won the interior prize at Australia’s National Architecture awards. Doosie Morris describes how it was transformed from a grotty conversion into a stylish urban space. And you can check out the other award-winners at our gallery here.

Not the news

A new memorial with a new take on Tasmania’s bloody history was dedicated in Hobart this week on the site where a statue of former premier William Crowther once stood. Paul Daley applauds how this marks a more enlightened approach to truth-telling in the post-colonial world.

Sport

• Cricket | Australia finished the third day of the third Test in Cape Town in a strong position to win the match and series after Josh Inglis completed his century to establish a lead of 100 over South Africa, who were then reduced to 140-4 at the close.

• Rugby league | Supporters of the Pacific nations at the Rugby League World Cup are adding colour to the tournament in western Sydney as their teams compete on the global stage, writes Alex McKinnon.

• Olympics | Durban will be South Africa’s preferred candidate to host the first Olympics in Africa when bidding starts for the 2036 and 2040 Games.

The government’s much-maligned tax reforms could be boosting new housing supply with analysis carried in the Telegraph revealing the biggest jump in the number of investor loans for newly built homes since records started. Climate change, declining krill abundance and illness are being blamed for a decline in whale migration along the coast of Western Australia, WAtoday reports. One Nation wants to force the next Victorian government to release details of controversial policies such as the Covid lockdowns and the Suburban Rail Loop, the Herald Sun claims.

What’s happening today

• Sydney | Sydney metro extension opened at 4.30am.

• Victoria | Erin Patterson appeal judgment at supreme court in Melbourne at 10am.

• Politics | One Nation NSW presser in Cessnock to announce its firearms policy at 12pm.

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