Morning mail: Anger over Kavanaugh, abortion 'disrespect', Brazil heads to polls
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Version 0 of 1. Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 8 October. Top stories A day after Brett Kavanaugh was granted the ninth seat on the US’s highest court, the Republican senator Susan Collins has defended herself against charges of the #MeToo movement, while Republicans crow that Kavanaugh’s victory has re-energised their base. Collins, whose vote was critical in the narrowly won confirmation, was asked by Dana Bash of CNN whether she had betrayed women. “It is not fair to Brett Kavanaugh for this to be disqualifying in the absence of evidence, but that does not mean that I don’t believe Christine Ford was a victim of sexual assault,” she replied. With the dust barely settling after a process that was meant to uphold the sanctity of the supreme court but ended up being one of the most partisan confirmation proceedings in history, thousands of women and men continued to rally outside the court in protest. Much of the anger was directed at Collins. The political wing of Planned Parenthood said: “Senator Collins has made it clear that she can no longer call herself a women’s rights champion. She has sided with those who disbelieved, disrespected and even mocked survivors.” Collins said George W Bush had phoned her three times to talk up Kavanaugh, and that pressure from both sides had been “overwhelming”. A crowdsourced fund to try to unseat Collins when she comes up for re-election in 2020 has already attracted more than $2m. Doctors in regional Queensland routinely treat women seeking an abortion with “deep disrespect” and dictate scripture instead of dispensing medical advice, pro-choice GPs in the state say. “Abortion is a mortal sin and you’ll go to hell,” one doctor reportedly told a woman in Cairns. Another told a 15-year-old she had “good child-bearing hips” and should keep her baby, while a married woman in her 30s was told to “keep your legs together next time”. Heather McNamee, a Cairns GP specialising in reproductive health, said she had helped each of these women after they faced judgment from other doctors. This month the Queensland parliament is due to debate a bill that will remove abortion from the criminal code. Latin America’s largest democracy was on tenterhooks on Sunday as 147 million voters went to the polls to elect Brazil’s next president, with a far-right populist leading what some call the most critical race for power in Brazilian history. Eve of election polls gave Jair Bolsonaro, a pro-dictatorship former paratrooper, a lead of at least 15 points over his closest rival. In a Trumpian election-eve broadcast Bolsonaro, 63, told his 7 million Facebook followers: “Let’s make Brazil Great! Let’s be proud of our homeland once again!” The growing sense that a pro-torture, pro-gun populist notorious for his hostility to black and gay people, indigenous communities and the left could win has left progressive Brazilians in a deep funk. “I feel breathless,” said historian Heloísa Starling. “We are living through a moment where the past is no more, but the future hasn’t yet arrived. This produces such anguish.” In what may be interpreted as a rebuke to Donald Trump’s administration, Labor has called on Australia’s allies to stop framing foreign policy issues in terms of “globalism versus patriotism” and work towards keeping the international rules-based order intact. Penny Wong says countries should not be closing themselves off from the world and turning inwards, because it will lead to misunderstanding, tension, rivalry and conflict. Wong will say today – at the Perth USAsia Centre – that the international rules-based order has helped to resolve global tensions and tackle complex problems, and we should be doing all we can to maintain it. The Liberals have launched a sharply negative attack on the independent Wentworth candidate Kerryn Phelps, distributing tens of thousands of leaflets in Wentworth warning of “uncertainty” and suggesting that a vote for Phelps would usher in a Labor government. “A vote for Phelps is a vote for … Labor?” says the leaflet, which is authorised by the NSW Liberal party’s director, Chris Stone. It includes tear-outs from the Australian that reported she had hired a former Labor staffer to assist her campaign. There is no mention of the Liberal candidate for Wentworth, Dave Sharma. An angry Phelps said she was aware of the brochure and expected the attack. “They perceive me as a threat and they are unwilling to fight me on policy,” she said. Sport Liverpool and Manchester City have drawn 0-0 in the first heavyweight contest of the Premier League season. Not many people would have anticipated such an outcome and, for Riyad Mahrez, a strangely subdued game will be remembered as a personal ordeal. Thinking time It’s 1965 and a media controversy of a different nature is raging over the Sydney Opera House. The building – at this point still a shell – has become a national scapegoat, slandered in the media and grumbled about in pubs. Its extravagant design and escalating cost has made it emblematic of the divide between the haves and have-nots, and tipped it into the centre of a battle between Labor and the Liberals. The glittering sails loom large over Kristina Olsson’s hotly anticipated third novel, Shell. “It’s set in the year that Utzon was really falling in public estimation and we’d gone into Vietnam,” she explains. “The idea of those two things happening at either end of Macquarie Street [home to Parliament House] seemed to me quite shattering.” Since 1869, the Herald and Weekly Times has been the paper regional Australia has turned to. But in the past two weeks the paper run by News Corp out of its Melbourne office has cut four experienced reporters. This exit of talent spells bad news for rural communities facing the worst drought in a generation. But while large publishers are cutting staff and reducing coverage, some independent publishers are paddling against the tide and thriving. “What I have come to believe is that if you are a country newspaper owned by Fairfax, you are doomed … ” said one editor. “You will be shut down eventually.” Recently Gerry Georgatos travelled to two island communities that have recorded their first youth suicides – months after the introduction of the internet in mid-2017. Child suicides are no longer rare, with rates the highest they have ever been. “As a nation, our governments and institutions should be doing everything possible for a civil and courteous society, for loving narratives, for outreach support, for technology primed to the betterment of its users and unable to be misused to the detriment,” Georgatos writes. Media roundup Chinese investment in Australia dropped 40% last year, the Australian Financial Review reports, twice the drop worldwide. The pullback is evidence of Canberra’s tough new stance on sensitive infrastructure and property, and Beijing’s “crackdown on trophy acquisitions”, the paper says. The Canberra Times reports that a strike is brewing at the University of Canberra for the first time in a decade, with young academics saying they are under extreme pressure and are being exploited. Daniel Andrews’ government has edged ahead of Matthew Guy’s opposition in the Victorian state election race, the Age reports, drawing on figures from a specially commissioned opinion poll. Coming up The inquest into the Dreamworld tragedy resumes today with senior supervisors and park managers among those expected to give evidence. The new $50 banknote will be revealed with special tactile features for Australians who are blind or have low vision. Supporting the Guardian We’d like to acknowledge our generous supporters who enable us to keep reporting on the critical stories. 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