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Morning mail: NDIS’ ‘stealth cuts’, Australia’s influence wanes, new tunes

Good morning. More NDIS participants are speaking up about funding cuts putting them in positions that would reduce their quality of life, and Australia’s diplomatic influence in Asia has waned.

A terminally ill NDIS patient is facing re-hospitalisation after his funding for a 24-hour nurse was cut. Ian Haywood is the latest NDIS participant to speak out about what the federal Labor party and disability advocates say are “stealth cuts”. Haywood, who lives with motor neurone disease, had his plan cut to cover just six hours of nursing care each day, far less than the round-the-clock care he has previously been approved for. “They don’t think it is ‘reasonable and necessary’ for Ian to have nursing funding,” said his partner, Bianca*. “We think it is reasonable for him to stay home and it is necessary in order for him to live. It’s cheaper for them if he dies.”

Australia has weathered “sustained trade sanctions” from China to become more resilient but has lost ground when it comes to diplomatic influence in the region, according to the latest rankings of power in Asia. Australia remained ranked sixth in the overall rankings of comprehensive power in the region, after the US, China, Japan, India and Russia. Australia’s response to trade actions from China helped it to improve its score on its capacity to deter real or potential threats to state stability.

The UK’s political leaders have left it too late to make a substantial difference to a potential wave of Omicron cases, a government scientific adviser said as the country recorded 43,992 new Covid cases and 54 deaths. The comments come as the UK justice secretary, Dominic Raab, concedes that a “formal party” in Downing Street last December would have been contrary to Covid guidance. In the US, Dr Anthony Fauci has dismissed a Republican senator’s claim he is “overhyping” Covid as “preposterous”. Meanwhile in Belgium (where two hippos have tested positive for Covid), protests against government restrictions turned violent.

Australia

A classroom
The NSW Coalition government rejects the teachers’ union argument that the education department’s staff issues are related to pay. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

A NSW scholarship program to recruit new maths teachers attracted only six people last year, five of whom dropped out. As the state’s public school teachers prepare for their first strike in almost a decade, new figures have cast doubt on the success of the government’s attempts to address teacher shortages without significantly increasing pay.

The plan to control Kosciuszko national park’s feral horses poses a threat to the critically endangered freshwater fish the stocky galaxias. Horse numbers will be reduced overall but some will be allowed to remain in an area that is the only known habitat for fish.

Peter Cundall has died aged 94. The much-loved former host of the ABC television program Gardening Australia died peacefully after a short illness.

The world

A US congressman has caused outrage by posting an “insensitive” tweet of a Christmas picture of himself and what appears to be his family posing with an assortment of guns, just days after four teenagers were killed in a shooting at a high school in Michigan.

The UK data watchdog must introduce age verification for commercial pornography sites or face a high court challenge over any failure to act, children’s safety groups have demand in a letter to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Students at an Oxford University college have accused staff of disregarding their welfare after a postgrad who alleged she was sexually assaulted said she was treated with hostility after making a complaint.

Rescuers continue to search for survivors after the highest volcano on Java island erupted on Saturday, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more.

Recommended reads

The prolific Yolŋu artist Dhambit Munuŋgurr has been waiting a long time to get Julia Gillard’s attention. Gillard was set to visit the north-east Arnhem Land community of Yirrkala to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the bark petitions, but was toppled in a Labor leadership spill a fortnight beforehand. Now, almost a decade on, the former female prime minister has again inspired the 53-year-old artist – this time as the subject of a large-scale work, Order, which depicts Gillard in parliament during her 2012 misogyny speech. Order will be hung as part of Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala at the National Gallery of Victoria.

After an unfortunate experience with a metal bench, Darling the dog ended up with symptoms of acute traumatic stress. Helping Darling to relax was vital to helping – but unlike a human, she isn’t dealing with the ethical and cognitive issues often involved in post-traumatic stress. “Dealing with any traumatic stress implicates a bio-psycho-social approach, and while our focus here is on the body, the psychological and the social aspects of traumatic stress are not just additive but are multiplicative,” write Gill Straker and Jacqui Winship.

It’s that time of the month again – we’ve added 20 new songs to our Spotify playlist. Read about 10 of our favourites here, including Gang of Youths’ ambitious as hell and unrelentlessly earnest Tend the Garden, and Barkaa’s tune King Brown, in which the 26-year-old Malyangapa and Barkindji rapper reclaims a slur slung at her by a former lover. “A salsa sample anchors what is a truly singular hip-hop single, with Barkaa’s fierce bark obliterating whatever her sorry ex called her as toxic and then kept on calling her phone,” Nathan Jolly writes.

Listen

In early November, fruit pickers on Australian farms were granted a minimum wage. But unfair pay is just one example of the shocking conditions plaguing this sector, where it’s alleged that workers are routinely exploited. In this episode of Full Story, Laura Murphy-Oates speaks to reporter Cait Kelly about the dark side of Australian farm work.

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

Sport

Melbourne Victory’s women are now arguably the best A-League team in Melbourne after their 5-1 win over Adelaide United, writes Joey Lynch. “The overall performance would put a smile on the face of most coaches, especially taking into account that Victory had played all of one warm-up game during the pre-season and was missing its two best attackers.”

Lewis Hamilton has distanced himself from his Formula One team’s partnership deal with Kingspan, an insulation company linked to the Grenfell Tower fire, saying he had nothing to do with the decision.

Media roundup

Queenslanders will not receive kidney, lung or heart transplants until they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the Courier-Mail reports. A Victorian man is believed to be the first single man to be granted approval to have a biological child on his own under the state’s surrogacy laws, reports the Age.

Coming up

Sydney bus drivers will go on strike.

The man accused of Cleo Smith’s abduction is due in court in Carnarvon.

And if you’ve read this far …

Berlin’s DJs are persuading Unesco to grant heritage status to Berlin techno, saying they believe the backing of the UN body is vital for securing the future of the countercultural music genre that defined the reunification era.

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