Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Sussan Ley appears to have given up trying to meet voters where they are, instead allowing conservative MPs to dictate policy to keep her job – and keep the Coalition together Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Six months ago on Thursday, the new Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, stood in the opposition party room at Parliament House and promised the Coalition would meet voters “where they are”. Six months on – and after another messy few weeks for the Liberals and Nationals – Ley was back in the same spot confirming the Liberals had dumped support for net zero emissions by 2050. Continue reading...

Troubled waters over the world’s longest suspension bridge are no surprise. The Italian government should be funding public services A dozen or so times each day, as Italy’s southbound Intercity rail service arrives in the Calabrian town of Villa San Giovanni, the journey comes to a dramatic halt. The train is decoupled from its tracks, carefully loaded on to the deck of a ferry, and secured in place. The entire cargo then eases out into the Strait of Messina en route to Sicily. Invariably, this 25-minute crossing becomes an impromptu community moment. Passengers abandon their carriages, flocking to the ship’s top-deck snack bar to share freshly fried arancini, trade anecdotes, and admire the vista over Mount Etna’s distant peak, before returning to continue their journey by rail. For tourists and itinerant visitors like myself, the ferry crossing is a charming novelty. For local people, however, it has long been a defining part of their identity. In his 1941 novel, Conversations in Sicily, the writer Elio Vittorini describes a group of fruit pickers congregating on the boat’s deck, feasting on large chunks of local cheese and enjoying the view. As the narrator joins them, he is transported to “being a boy; feeling the wind devouring the sea”, while gazing out at “the ruins along the two coasts”, separated, poetically, across the water. Jamie Mackay is a writer and translator based in Florence Continue reading...

Michael Miller tells Senate misinformation inquiry platforming climate deniers and net zero critics part of ‘great democracy and healthy debate’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free weekly media newsletter here A senior News Corp Australia executive has defended the company’s platforming of climate science deniers, saying its news outlets were not part of a “denial machine” spreading misinformation. News Corp Australia’s executive chair, Michael Miller, told a Senate inquiry into climate and energy misinformation there was no coordination across the organisation’s news outlets to feature voices sceptical of climate action or Australia’s current goal to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Sign up to get Guardian Australia’s weekly media diary as a free newsletter Continue reading...

We cannot claim to be of the right of politics yet shy away from targets that hold us to account, especially ones that were once the Liberals’ own Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast It has been suggested to me that my views on our society’s relationship with the natural world come from my Celtic upbringing fused with the Anglican faith, which I still practice. My starting point when considering any matter concerning the health of our environment is that nature must be at the centre of all decision making. For the world sustains us, and we must be respectful to it in all our endeavours. As a Liberal senator with a “conservative” disposition, this manifests itself as a deep and abiding commitment to leave the planet healthier than when I was born. I confess that there are times during debates in the party room when I reflect whether I am in a “real conservative” minority. Continue reading...