Who is funding our thinktanks, Donald Trump ally shot in US, Tim Wilson’s costly sharemarket bet | The Guardian

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Uniform disclosure rules would ensure a level playing field for thinktanks, Transparency International Australia says.

11/09/2025

Who is funding our thinktanks, Donald Trump ally shot in US, Tim Wilson’s costly sharemarket bet

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Paul Gallagher

Good morning. As some of Australia’s biggest thinktanks refuse to reveal their backers, we weigh up whether they should be made to be more open about where their money comes from.

Prominent US rightwing activist Charlie Kirk has been shot at a Utah university event, and reportedly died. And the Polish PM says his nation is closer to conflict “than any time since the second world war” after an incursion by Russian drones.

And back home, a new report has laid bare how continued natural disasters will ravage the future economic wellbeing of Australia’s young people in the coming decades.

Australia

Layla Wang says she felt a sense of hopelessness when she was evacuated from her home as a teenager due to natural disasters.

Exclusive | A report by Deloitte, commissioned by Unicef, has found the impact of disasters on Australia’s young people aged up to 24 will cost $100bn between now and 2060. The most significant cost is the loss of lifetime earnings for those who, after a disaster, do not finish high school.

Transparent enough? | Despite increasing calls to be more open, Australia’s biggest thinktanks are deeply divided on whether disclosing their financial backers is in the public interest.

Tim Wilson | The Liberal MP’s register of interests shows that he has a leveraged investment that profits when the benchmark ASX 200 falls – and experts say it may have lost him “quite a bit” of money.

Porepunkah shootings | The circulation of footage taken when fugitive Dezi Freeman allegedly shot dead two police officers and wounded a third is “distressing and disappointing”, police say.

Wild weather | After a tornado and flood rescues yesterday, large parts of NSW are bracing for a further battering of rainfall and heavy winds from a low pressure system off the Tasman Sea.

World

Soldiers walk next to a site where a roof of a house was destroyed, after Russian drones violated Polish airspace.

Drone tensions | Poland has dismissed Russia’s claim the drone incursion was unintentional; the Polish PM says the country is closer to military conflict “than at any time since the second world war”; drones in Poland are another unsettling escalation by Russia after the Trump-Putin summit, Dan Sabbagh writes.

Utah shooting | Charlie Kirk, the powerful rightwing US activist and Donald Trump ally, has been shot while hosting a debate on the campus of Utah Valley University. Donald Trump has announced on social media that Kirk died.

Middle East crisis | Israel is defiant despite international outrage at the Qatar airstrike targeting Hamas; and the Israeli military killed at least 41 people as it continued to order the population of Gaza City to evacuate. Read our special report from the Guardian’s reporter in Gaza as she weighs whether to stay or flee.

‘My best pal’ | Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Mandelson’s emails reveal the UK ambassador to the US stayed in contact with the late financier and sex offender well after allegations about him came to light.

Royal reconciliation? | Prince Harry has met with King Charles in their first face-to-face meeting for 19 months, coming after the Duke of Sussex expressed hope of a reconciliation with his family in May.

‘Recklessness’ | Kamala Harris’s new memoir questions Joe Biden’s judgment in deciding to seek re-election in 2024 – while revealing her own frustrations at being marginalised within the US administration.

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Full Story

New Zealand Police acting deputy commissioner Jill Rogers (l) at a roadblock where a shootout occurred near the town of Piopio.

How New Zealand police closed in on fugitive Tom Phillips

On Monday, four years on from taking his three children and fleeing into the bush, Tom Phillips was shot dead by police after opening fire on an officer on a rural road. His children are now with authorities. Michelle Duff speaks with Nour Haydar from Waitomo about how Phillips managed to survive in the remote wilderness – and why many questions remain unanswered.

In-depth

NT senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s demotion to the backbench means she will be free of the rules which usually require members of the shadow ministry to toe the party line.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s refusal to endorse Sussan Ley’s leadership was a deliberate provocation that left the opposition leader no choice but to move. But by sacking Price, Ley only exacerbates the schism within the Liberals and Nationals. After a messy week, Tom McIlroy argues, the Coalition is still in a dangerous limbo.