Lovitt Technologies | Protesters who vandalised a defence manufacturer and set vehicles alight in Melbourne could face life imprisonment, with the incident investigated as an act of terrorism<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018Real challenges\u2019 | Reading and writing scores are going backwards in almost every age group<\/a> in Australia\u2019s national standardised school tests, with one in three students failing to meet Naplan benchmarks.<\/p>\n Site scrubbed | References to \u201cgender equality\u201d have been removed from the Queensland Office for Women\u2019s website, amid claims the state government wants to \u201cdewokify\u201d the public service<\/a>.<\/p>\n Analysis | The last five minutes of former finance minister Damien Tudehope\u2019s examination before the Independent Commission Against Corruption delivered a bombshell<\/a>, Anne Davies writes.<\/p>\n WorldOn 23 July, more than 2,000 Israelis from the religious right stormed the compound around al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock. Photograph: Ilia Yefimovich\/AFP\/Getty ImagesFull Story Composite: Carly Earl<\/p>\n The \u2018extremely effective\u2019 campaigns undermining support for renewables<\/p>\n Despite most Australians supporting clean technology, the campaign against wind and solar infrastructure has proven to be effective in remote and rural areas. So how do we bring everyone along on the transition to a renewable energy-focused future? And who\u2019s putting up roadblocks? Graham Readfearn joins Reged Ahmad to unpack Australia\u2019s relationship with renewables<\/a>.<\/p>\n In-depthThe Jocko Graves statue in Maitland, New South Wales has been in the town\u2019s main street since some time between 1881 and 1891. Photograph: Percy Sternbeck\/Coalfields Local History Association<\/p>\n A 150-year-old statue of an enslaved American child in a regional NSW town has ignited a furore over race, censorship and what defines art. The statue became a Maitland landmark \u2013 with its image put on postcards, teaspoons and other memorabilia. Now, the council has condemned an art exhibit challenging the statue<\/a>, which the artist says \u201cdoes not represent Black skin with any dignity\u201d.<\/p>\n Not the newsThe six books up for the 2026 Miles Franklin award: Little World, My Heart in Evening, Discipline, You Must Remember This, Fierceland and First Name Second Name. Composite: Guardian Design\/Black Inc, Evercreech, UQP, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Books Australia<\/p>\n Australian fiction has long been interested in the relationship between the local and the global \u2013 and the six books shortlisted for this year\u2019s Miles Franklin award range across time and place, engaging with histories of empire, environmental ruin, migration, ageing, political activism and war. Take a look at our guide to this year\u2019s shortlist<\/a>.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Every weekday<\/p>\n Sign up to Morning Mail<\/p>\n Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n SportArs\u00e8ne Wenger and Fifa\u2019s secretary general Mattias Grafstr\u00f6m (right) flank Gianni Infantino at the World Cup semi-final between England and Argentina in Atlanta last month. Photograph: ANP\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Gambling influencers are flooding social media with videos but so far only one has been disciplined<\/a>, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Almost one in five Australian bird and mammal species is at high, very high or extreme risk<\/a> from the H5 bird flu virus, the Age reports.<\/p>\n What\u2019s happening today<\/p>\n Corruption inquiry | Icac hearing into the NSW Liberal party continues.<\/p>\n Courts | The Alan Jones trial continues.<\/p>\n Literature | Miles Franklin literary award winner announced.<\/p>\n Sign upSign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n If you would like to receive this Morning Mail update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here<\/a>, or finish your day with our Afternoon Update newsletter<\/a>. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland<\/a>.<\/p>\n Brain teaser<\/p>\n And finally, here are the Guardian\u2019s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning. Federal police say the vandalism of a defence manufacturer in July last year is being investigated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-844088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784862016_340_500.jpg\")
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