South Sydney’s Mitchell and Canberra’s Wighton apologise for ‘embarrassing’ their clubs after 30th birthday celebrations result in arrests

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Latrell Mitchell and Jack Wighton have apologised for “embarrassing” their clubs after the NRL players were arrested and charged for allegedly fighting outside a Canberra nightclub early on Sunday morning.

South Sydney Rabbitohs fullback Mitchell and Canberra Raiders five-eighth Wighton issued a joint statement on Monday as the pair departed for All Stars camp in New Zealand, addressing the “harmless” scuffle at Wighton’s 30th birthday celebrations at the weekend.

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Olympic Park in Homebush is about as far as you can get conceptually from an inner-city laneway – but it was the set times that caused the biggest comedown

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It’s been well over a decade since Laneway festival resembled the Melbourne street party it began as back in 2005. Now a six-stop tour across Australia and New Zealand, its Sydney iteration has most recently (and consistently) been held at the beautiful but bottleneck-inducing sandstone buildings at Rozelle’s Callan Park. But this year’s move to Sydney Showgrounds in Homebush was its most jarring yet: about as far as you could get conceptually from an inner-city laneway.

Recent festivals have dealt with bigger problems, of course: from the industry decimation wrought by the pandemic, to a spate of cancellations thanks to extreme weather – a fate that befell this year’s Auckland edition of Laneway. But a question loomed above the crowd: could the barren, grey Olympics wasteland, now home of the Royal Easter Show, retain a vibe?

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Exclusive: The vocal opponent of a voice to parliament is set to announce she will join the crossbench

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Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe is expected to announce she is quitting the Greens and will move to the crossbench.

Several senior Greens sources in Victoria told Guardian Australia that she will make the announcement following a party room meeting on Monday afternoon.

Anthony Albanese ‘very hopeful’ laws can be quickly introduced after successful referendum and says body’s advice would be ‘available for all’

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Legislation to set up the Indigenous voice would be introduced in this term of parliament if the referendum succeeds, Anthony Albanese hopes, and the body’s advice would be released publicly.

As politicians returned to Canberra on Monday for a religious service to mark the opening of federal parliament, a church leader implored MPs to back the voice, calling it a “great gift” that would work to address “petty factionalism” in politics.

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New legal advice will allow addition as part of $500m expansion to be completed by 2028, chair says

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The new chair of the Australian War Memorial, Kim Beazley, says he supports “proper recognition of the frontier conflict” as part of the institution’s $500m expansion, questioning how the institution can “have a history of Australian wars without that”.

The memorial has faced persistent criticism over its failure to properly commemorate the frontier wars, despite the conflicts being at the heart of Australia’s history.

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Beyoncé leads with nine nominations for her album Renaissance, tying her for most all-time nominations with her husband, Jay Z – but will she show up?

Taylor Swift has arrived in a very Midnights themed outfit – not lavender or maroon but navy blue with twinkling sequins.

Swift’s record-smashing album Midnights was released three weeks too late for Grammy consideration, but she’s still up for four awards: song of the year for All Too Well (10 Minute Version), best country song for I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault), best song written for visual media for her song from Where the Crawdads Sing, and best music video for her All Too Well short film.

The state government’s previous plan was slammed by experts as lacking scientific evidence. There are concerns the next iteration is no better

The NSW government’s main proposal to deliver on its promises under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is expected to be a project for the Menindee Lakes involving a visitors centre, but almost no additional water for the environment.

The Murray-Darling Basin Plan aims to address the historic over extraction of water by agriculture and return water to the environment. Most of this has been done by buying back entitlements to extract water from farmers, but the final part of the plan involves projects to use water more efficiently, leading to environmental benefits.

Parents and educators should approach a child refusing to go to school in a supportive, collaborative and responsive way, without punishment

School attendance levels in Australia are a massive issue, according to the education minister, Jason Clare. As he told reporters last week, he hopes to talk to state colleagues about the issue at a meeting later this month.

There’s evidence that school attendance rates have been dropping now for 10 years, and we see it amongst boys and girls, we see it in every year from kindergarten right through to the end of school.

What the growing number of children who refuse to attend school need most is tough love. Going to school must simply be non-negotiable.

Learning difficulties: some children struggle with the academic side of school, which may lead to feelings of frustration or a lack of motivation.

Social anxiety: some children may be fearful of social situations, which can cause them to avoid school.

Mental health issues: children who are dealing with depression, anxiety, or other mental health problems may have trouble getting to school.

Family problems: issues at home such as divorce, financial problems, or trauma can affect a child’s emotional wellbeing and willingness to go to school.

Negative school experiences: children who have had negative experiences such as bullying may be less likely to attend school.

• Right-back plays 30 minutes for Lyon after rupturing ACL
• Australia kick off campaign against Ireland on 20 July

Ellie Carpenter says she is “grateful” to be back in action after giving the Matildas a timely boost ahead of the Women’s World Cup with a return to competitive football eight months after rupturing her ACL.

Australia’s first-choice right-back came off the bench for Olympique Lyonnais with her club side 5-0 up against Rodez in a French cup match over the weekend and came through the half-hour appearance unscathed.

Actor is 18th person to claim grand slam of an Emmy, an Oscar, a Tony and now a Grammy

Viola Davis has has joined the elite group of Egot winners with her victory at the Grammy awards on Sunday.

Known as US entertainment’s grand slam, the illustrious acronym Egot signifies a recipient of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award. Davis is the 18th person to achieve Egot status, joining the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Andrew Lloyd Webber and John Gielgud.

Five-storey blaze at Springvale’s Bright Moon hall drew a crowd of onlookers, firefighters say

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A fire has gutted the Bright Moon Buddhist Society temple in Melbourne’s south-east.

Sunday night’s fire in Springvale could be seen for many kilometres and drew a crowd as orange flames engulfed the temple roof and a pillar of smoke rose from it.

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Emma Pattison and family found at prestigious Surrey independent school early on Sunday morning

The headteacher of a prestigious private school in Surrey has been found dead alongside her husband and daughter.

Emma Pattison, the head of Epsom College, was found at the school along with her husband, George, 39, and seven-year-old Lettie on Sunday morning.

‘There’s a real compounding perfect storm of factors right now that could increase the risks,’ lead researcher says

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International student deaths by suicide will continue if gaps in delivering targeted mental healthcare aren’t addressed, new research suggests.

The research, published by the University of Melbourne and Orygen in January, followed a 2021 Victorian coroner’s report that found 47 international student suicides had occurred in the state in the decade to 2019.

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Panel of experts predict higher rates will last all year but should start to come down in 2024

Australia’s Reserve Bank will push up rates once again at its first meeting for the year on Tuesday, according to all but two of the 29 leading economists surveyed by the Conversation at the start of 2023.

Those experts predict we will still be living with higher rates by the end of the year, although they should start to come down in 2024.

Police warn about social media speculation over missing woman as new images released from the morning she disappeared

Police searching for Nicola Bulley have condemned elements of social media speculation as family friends hit out at “vile” theories being posted online as new images of the 45-year-old on the morning she disappeared were released.

The search for the mother-of-two entered its second week with police continuing to pursue the theory that Bulley fell into the river while walking her dog in the Lancashire village of St Michael’s on the Wyre.

First sitting week begins after a summer of political debate about the voice, gas, Medicare and capitalism. Follow the day’s news live

At the same time, Tony Burke was speaking to Patricia Karvelas on ABC radio RN about the machineries legislation which has to go through the parliament to enable the voice vote.

Burke:

So the machinery, there’s two different bits that have to go through the parliament. The first is updating the referendum laws themselves. That’s been introduced to the parliament. There’s a committee that’s looking at it now. And so it’s sort of sitting in the House of Representatives issued report in the next couple of weeks and, and then the mission that part of it will go through, then you deal with the second bill a bit later in the year. So in the probably the second quarter of the year. And that’s the bill that has the question, and the specific word for word changes that would go into the Constitution, that one has to be passed by an absolute majority of each house of the parliament. And once that’s happened, then the deadlines as to when the vote will happen are all locked in.

I gotta say, I can’t think of any referendum proposal where there has been more process than this. The the entire processing years of what Peter Dutton was in government of the way to the universe, Simon from the heart is an extraordinary process and led by the people who should be leading this in terms of the invitation that’s then come to the rest of Australia. So the challenge now, I guess, is whether we can respond with the same level of graciousness as the invitation.

Let’s go back to first principles. What is the Voice? The Voice is constitutional recognition of our First Nations people to ensure they have a say. I think it’s a pretty good thing for people to have a say in matters that affect them. It’s one of the ways that we can ensure we improve not only our nation, but also the aspirations and opportunities for our First Nations peoples. I was really pleased to see, while I was away, that all First Ministers, Liberal and Labor, have backed in the Voice. It shows what you can do when you take the politics out of it.

I think the Voice will have a say in matters that affect First Nations people. But I think the point here is - why are some people so concerned about that?

Well, do you think people having a say is a problem, Michael? (the host)

That’s the implication in your question. I mean, we have years of disadvantage, years of... ..so many broken hopes. And we can be so much stronger as a nation. We can become much more unified. And the First Ministers, Premiers and Chief Ministers have demonstrated that. We want to walk down this path together. It’s not about “gotcha” moments. It’s not about tricky questions and answers. It’s about the nation coming together and saying, “Yes, we will take the outstretched hand which is the Uluru Statement from the Heart.” “We will recognise our First Nations people. We will give them a say. And we will work through the detail of that together.” And that’s a good thing.

Premier Dominic Perrottet has been under pressure to announce gambling industry reform as election looms

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Every poker machine in New South Wales will be cashless within five years under an ambitious plan to overhaul the gaming industry.

The contentious package passed a snap meeting of state cabinet on Sunday.

The PM marked 100 days in office unmoved on nurses’ pay, as recession looms and the cost of living crisis continues

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Good morning. Imogen Dewey here this morning to kick off your news week – and we’re back to parliament today so keep an eye out for our politics blog. On that note, Anthony Albanese’s government is facing some policy pressure, while overseas, fallout from the Chinese “spy balloon” incident continues. Plus we get into the continuing rise of sophisticated scams – and how to avoid them.

Here are the major headlines from across the country and around the world.

Asia Power Index | The Lowy Institute’s annual ranking is out today, with Australia coming in sixth behind US, China, Japan, India and Russia. We’ve seen a big increase in regional diplomatic influence over the past year.

Fuel tax credits | The Albanese government has been urged to halve the $8bn a year it gives mining trucks, semi-trailers and other heavy vehicles, with a new report finding changes are crucial for budget repair and meeting emissions targets.

More of the same | Meanwhile experts say the government’s environment plan to encourage companies to invest in nature merely expands a Morrison-era Coalition proposal and risks failing due to lack of business interest.

Defining antisemitism | Australian universities are split on whether to adopt a controversial definition after a push from MPs that has been criticised as an “outright attack on academic freedom”.

‘Cruel’ delays | Survivors and advocates have condemned hold ups in the case to potentially defrock Peter Hollingworth, the former Australian governor general and former archbishop of Brisbane, for failures to act on child abuse allegations in the Anglican church. A secretive hearing is due to begin today.

Nikos Christodoulides emerges as frontrunner and will face Andreas Mavroyiannis in vote next Sunday

The race to become the eighth president of Cyprus will extend into a second week after the Mediterranean island’s former foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides emerged as the frontrunner but failed to gain enough support to win outright.

The 49-year-old independent will face Andreas Mavroyiannis, a veteran career diplomat backed by the leftist Akel party, in a runoff on 12 February.