Morning Mail: Perrottet leadership crisis, Pell ‘chose church over victims’, ‘river rabbits’ invasion
Perrottet #Perrottet
Morning, everyone. Dominic Perrottet’s leadership of NSW is in crisis today after his admission about wearing a Nazi uniform at his 21st birthday party. His shock confession appeared to be designed to head off his political rivals using the episode to embarrass him in the state election campaign and threatens to lift the lid on internal party strife.
We have more reporting from victims of historic child abuse in the Catholic church after the death of George Pell, and the plague of the “river rabbits”.
Australia Carp at a farm in Moulamein, NSW. Photograph: Jeremy Morton/Facebook
‘River rabbits’ | A “jaw-dropping” number of invasive European carp – known as “river rabbits” – are spawning and growing in the Murray-Darling River and increasing pressure on the already delicate ecosystem of smaller native fish.
‘Inexcusable’ | The NSW transport minister, David Elliott, called Dominic Perrottet on Tuesday night to tell him rivals knew the premier had dressed in a Nazi uniform at his 21st birthday party and could use it against him. There could also be a picture in circulation, according to party insiders. Jewish groups said it was an inexcusable lapse while Labor said the shock confession made Perrottet “unelectable”.
Flying blind | The loss of two transparency systems thanks to computing problems has left the public unable to monitor politicians’ use of taxpayer-funded travel and expenses, including trips taken in costly VIP government jets.
Pell priority | George Pell decided to safeguard the financial interests of the Catholic church rather than protect victims of child sexual abuse by priests, according to one survivor, who said the late cardinal “didn’t even look me in the eye” when apologising.
‘Billionaire biffo’ | The spat between Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest over the $30bn Sun Cable solar project has revealed the sheer scale of technical, economic and even geopolitical hurdles to completion.
World Army troops stand guard outside the Planalto Palace in Brasília. Photograph: Amanda Perobelli/Reuters Full Story Rafqa Touma browses at Sappho Books, Cafe and Bar in Glebe, Sydney. Photograph: Yuji Shimada/The Guardian
Finding Australia’s most beautiful bookstore
Rafqa Touma loves books and bookstores – so much so that she decided to make an entirely non-scientific, completely subjective journey to find the most beautiful one in Australia.
Full Story Finding Australia’s most beautiful bookstore
Sorry your browser does not support audio – but you can download here and listen https://audio.guim.co.uk/2020/05/05-61553-gnl.fw.200505.jf.ch7DW.mp3
In-depth Photograph: Guardian
A resurgence in the popularity of baby names from the early 20th century – such as Alice, Evelyn and George – has been highlighted by a new dataset on children’s names. But although biblical names have remained an obvious inspiration for parents, the diversity of names is increasing and – paradoxically – the most popular names are becoming less common overall. Josh Nicholas explains.
Not the news Heartbreak High star Thomas Weatherall. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian
After shooting to fame as Malakai in the remake of Heartbreak High, Thomas Weatherall is starring in a self-penned monologue, Blue, about mental health opening this weekend at the Sydney festival. The Kamilaroi man tells Kate Cunningham about dealing with success and how he hopes his new show will help Australians “talk about the difficult things”.
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Dominic Perrottet’s Nazi uniform transgression leads many front pages and websites today with the Australian reporting that the NSW premier is “truly sorry”. The Sydney Morning Herald says his leadership is in “turmoil” but a comment piece says he has bigger problems than a “gotcha lapse” from the past. The ABC leads on Anthony Albanese’s trip to PNG, saying a security treaty could be in place by April. The Age says the Greens’ showdown with the gas industry threatens to derail federal Labor’s energy reforms.
What’s happening today
Toyah Cordingley | A New Delhi magistrate is expected to approve the extradition to Australia of Rajwinder Singh, who has been accused of murdering the Queensland nurse in 2018.
Palmer judgment | The supreme court in Brisbane is expected to hand down its judgment in the civil case involving Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel and liquidators Vannin Capital.
Flood relief | Jim Chalmers will visit flood-recovering NSW to assess relief funding.
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