The Loop: Why did Rachelle Miller speak out, Patty Mills (and Meghan Markle) score big wins, and emit Australia undisclosed methane?

Good morning, it is Friday, December 3rd. Here’s what you need to get started today.

Former Liberal activist Rachelle Miller says she speaks out so that other women in politics can be heard.(Four corners)

It took a year after the former Liberal employee Rachelle Miller first told his story of the minister Alan Tudge for her to finally be heard, and for him to face the consequences and stand aside.

Mrs Miller received a call from the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, John Kunkel, just before Question Time yesterday, to say that Scott Morrison had asked the Secretary of Education to stand aside pending an inquiry into Mrs Miller’s allegations that their relationship was abusive.

If Mrs Miller needed support, she says Mr Kunkel assured her that she should just take action.

Sir. Tudge “completely and utterly rejects” the allegations of abuse, even though he has admitted the consensual affair, which he says he deeply regrets.

Sir. Kunkel’s phone call to Mrs Miller marked a marked change in the government’s response from when Mrs Miller first told her story to the Four Corners’ Inside the Canberra Bubble story in November 2020. After that, she says, she heard nothing.

Continue reading Louise MIlligan’s analysis here.

Use of satellite images from European Space Agency combined with meteorological data and atmospheric models, Christian Lelong, director of natural resources at the geospatial analysis firm Kayrros, has been able to measure methane leaks from the fossil fuel industry worldwide.

What he has found over Queensland’s cool Bowen Basin raises serious questions about whether Australia has reported accurately its greenhouse gas emissions to international bodies.

A map provided by Kayrros shows the distribution of methane hotspots discovered in Australia since 2019 and associated with coal mining.(Supplied with: Kayrros / Sentinel-5P data)

Patty Mills has become the first basketball player to win The Don Award, after his inspiring performance led the Boomers to a virgin medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

The Don is awarded annually at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Awards to the athlete or team whose actions have inspired the nation the most over the past 12 months.

Is there anything Mills can not do?

Patty Mills had an excellent Olympic campaign for the Boomers.(ABC RN: Jeremy Story Carter)

News while you slept

Let’s get you up to speed.

Meghan Markle had sued the publisher of Mail on Sunday and the MailOnline website for breach of privacy and copyright.(Reuters: Ian Vogle)

The news the Australians are looking for

• Powerball – A lucky ticket holder in Western Australia claimed the Powerball jackpot and won the full price of $ 80 million.
• Ghislaine Maxwell – This is the fourth day in Maxwell’s lawsuit over sex trafficking. A former housekeeper has testified that the British socialite was the “lady of the house” on the property of the now deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein in Palm Beach.

A sketch in the courtroom shows Ghislaine Maxwell watching a witness testify.(AP)

• Alec Baldwin– The actor had an interview with the American ABC network, which is broadcast today. What we do know so far is that Baldwin says he did not pull the trigger on the plug gun that fired and killed a film photographer on the set for the film, Rust.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume.

Alec Baldwin says he “would never point a gun at anyone and hit the trigger.”

Donald Trump, Rihanna and Bob Cats were in the news this week. But do you know why?

Will you be declared a national hero for your efforts, or will you be thrown out without ceremonies?

Test yourself to find out.

That was it for now

We will return later with a wrap of all the great news from today.

Loading

ABC / wires

.