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Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of the Australian news day. I’m Martin Farrer, bringing you the main overnight breaking stories before my colleague Natasha May takes the reins.
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We have a cracking exclusive story this morning about how the former energy minister Angus Taylor asked his department to consider delaying telling voters about electricity price rises before the May election, then made the decision to do so anyway. He later claimed he didn’t know about the rises. And it turns out Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg were in on the plan as well.
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It comes on the day that rising power and gas bills and making housing more affordable will be on the agenda of a meeting of treasurers. The online meeting, hosted by federal treasurer Jim Chalmers, comes as the Reserve Bank releases its latest statement on monetary policy later this morning.
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We also have an excellent story from our medical editor, Mel Davey, about how researchers at the University of Sydney believe the key to Covid immunity might lie with the discovery of a receptor protein in lungs which “acts a bit like molecular velcro” and sticks to the spike of the virus. This means the virus is immobilised in people with lots of the protein, possibly explaining how some people don’t become infected and others become very ill.
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The US believe without doubt that the Chinese balloon that flew over North America for more than a week before being shot down over the Atlantic was “clearly for spying”. A US official made the claims overnight. Australian defence officials say they are not aware of any incidents of Chinese surveillance balloons travelling over Australian territory.
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With that, let’s get going for the day.
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Key events
Welcome
Martin Farrer
Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of the Australian news day. I’m Martin Farrer, bringing you the main overnight breaking stories before my colleague Natasha May takes the reins.
We have a cracking exclusive story this morning about how the former energy minister Angus Taylor asked his department to consider delaying telling voters about electricity price rises before the May election, then made the decision to do so anyway. He later claimed he didn’t know about the rises. And it turns out Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg were in on the plan as well.
It comes on the day that rising power and gas bills and making housing more affordable will be on the agenda of a meeting of treasurers. The online meeting, hosted by federal treasurer Jim Chalmers, comes as the Reserve Bank releases its latest statement on monetary policy later this morning.
We also have an excellent story from our medical editor, Mel Davey, about how researchers at the University of Sydney believe the key to Covid immunity might lie with the discovery of a receptor protein in lungs which “acts a bit like molecular velcro” and sticks to the spike of the virus. This means the virus is immobilised in people with lots of the protein, possibly explaining how some people don’t become infected and others become very ill.
The US believe without doubt that the Chinese balloon that flew over North America for more than a week before being shot down over the Atlantic was “clearly for spying”. A US official made the claims overnight. Australian defence officials say they are not aware of any incidents of Chinese surveillance balloons travelling over Australian territory.
With that, let’s get going for the day.
