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Morning mail: PM to unveil India flight plan, Sydney restrictions, office housing?

<span>Photograph: Glenn Campbell/EPA</span>
Photograph: Glenn Campbell/EPA

Good morning – did you stay up to watch the meteors? It’s Friday 7 May, and this is Imogen Dewey with the latest news on Covid restrictions and the lead-up to the budget, plus warnings over Queensland’s proposed coercive control laws.

The Morrison government is expected to begin repatriating Australians stranded (an estimated 9,000) amid India’s deadly second Covid wave as soon as its travel ban ends on 15 May, with evacuated citizens and permanent residents to quarantine at Howard Springs near Darwin. Scott Morrison is expected to announce details today. New South Wales yesterday announced new restrictions for greater Sydney, including Wollongong, the Central Coast and the Blue Mountains, following two cases of local Covid transmission in Sydney’s east. New Zealand has temporarily suspended quarantine-free travel from the state – initially for 48 hours – while the source of the infections is investigated. And Australia’s drugs regulator confirmed five more cases of a rare clotting condition are likely linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, taking the country’s tally to 11 cases.

The Morrison government will allocate another $58.6m to “gas-fired recovery” measures in Tuesday’s federal budget and is continuing to hold out the prospect of building a new power plant in the Hunter Valley despite experts questioning the need for it. While finance minister Simon Birmingham said the budget won’t be “completely bereft of savings”, he confirmed it will be some time before it returns to surplus, saying the federal government has “to be honest about the uncertainties we face”. The economy has grown but wages haven’t, meaning workers are receiving less for their labour than before the pandemic – and small businesses are struggling to find enough staff.

A Queensland proposal to criminalise coercive control could be dangerous for vulnerable women, particularly First Nations women, some criminologists and advocates say. Queensland and New South Wales are both exploring options to make coercive control an offence and recognise non-physical forms of abuse as a form of domestic violence. But documented failures by police to properly contextualise domestic violence incidents or recognise the behaviours have raised concerns.

Australia

NSW water resources plans for the Murray-Darling Basin, which were submitted more than a year after deadline, must be revised after being rejected by the authority.
NSW water resources plans for the Murray-Darling Basin, which were submitted more than a year after deadline, must be revised after being rejected by the authority. Photograph: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

NSW has been told to go back and try again on almost all of its Murray-Darling Basin plan submissions, which failed to pass muster with the basin authority and criticised for failing to include Indigenous groups.

After a Guardian investigation, the NSW transport department launched an internal enquiry over its purchases of tens of millions of dollars in environmental offsets in western Sydney. Now it has referred the matter to Icac.

A South Australian coroner has rejected a bid from prison officers to avoid answering some questions at an inquest into the death in custody of Aboriginal man Wayne Fella Morrison.

Australian universities are pushing for the introduction of Hecs-style loans to cover “micro-credentials”. A pre-budget submission suggests encouraging upskilling with short courses could also help the sector recover revenue lost in the pandemic.

Christian Porter has moved to strike out major sections of the ABC’s defence of his defamation claim, and prevent them from becoming public, accusing the public broadcaster of abusing the court process.

The world

New restrictions and deep cuts to allowances mean both French and Jersey boat owners feel betrayed by Brexit.
New restrictions and deep cuts to allowances mean both French and Jersey boat owners feel betrayed by Brexit. Photograph: Siegfried Modola/Getty Images

The European Union accused the UK of breaching post-Brexit trade terms overnight, as tensions over fishing rights in the Channel Islands were de-escalated after a dramatic 24 hours.

At least 25 people were killed after armed police stormed one of Rio de Janeiro’s largest favelas in pursuit of drug traffickers, in what activists called one of the deadliest raids in the city’s history.

China has rejected accusations of human rights abuse and economic coercion, made by G7 foreign ministers, accusing them of “blatantly meddling” in China’s internal affairs, calling their remarks groundless.

The White House has called for “responsible space behaviours” as a debris from a Chinese rocket, thought to be out of control, is expected to crash back to Earth on Saturday, US time.

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Listen

The Guardian is celebrating its 200th anniversary. And today on Full Story, Gabrielle Jackson speaks to Lenore Taylor and Katharine Murphy about how the organisation’s purpose defines how we analyse and imagine a better future for Australia.

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

Sport

The Sydney Swans hastily flew out last night, minus three assistant coaches, as the AFL and NRL mapped out a response to growing concern about Covid-19 cases in the NSW capital. The same night, the vast majority of Australia’s 38-strong Indian Premier League contingent departed for the Maldives, beginning their long and indirect journey home from the aborted Twenty20 tournament.

“Collingwood people love Nathan Buckley; now even they are impatient,” writes Jonathan Horn. “Do the club have the plums to part ways with a favourite son, to do it swiftly and to handle it with dignity?”

Concussion spotters, whose job is to identify from the stands possible brain injuries, are to be introduced at the football World Cup next year. Though standard in the NFL and rugby union, they have yet to be adopted across football and their use in Qatar will be a first at a major international tournament.

Media roundup

The PM was under fire last night on Q+A, as a viewer accused him of abandoning the Indian community. South Australia is pushing ahead with plans for the country’s first Indigenous Voice to parliament, the Australian reports. The CFMEU, one of Australia’s most powerful unions, is “splintering” over a leadership battle, says the Age. And the Sydney Morning Herald reports that Europe is urging countries like Australia to adopt carbon tariffs and reduce the income of oil-rich states.

Coming up

More meteors, if you set your alarms early (or late) this weekend.

National cabinet meets today, with a focus on the India travel ban.

Mother’s Day is this Sunday.

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