Morning Mail: Cyclone Pam devastates Vanuatu, NSW election, Abbott backs 'lifestyle choice' and raw onions

Guardian Australia's Morning Mail Monday 16 March 2015 g
Cyclone Pam
It's feared the death toll from the worst natural disaster in Vanuatu’s recorded history could rise as authorities struggle to assess the full impact of cyclone Pam. Follow our rolling coverage of events in Vanuatu as the situation develops today. Australia pledged $5m in aid as emergency response teams headed to the Pacific island chain to assess the damage, where around 90% of houses in Port Vila have been destroyed, many people displaced, and schools ripped apart. An estimated 103,000 people in Vanuatu have been affected by Cyclone Pam, with thousands more affected in nine countries across the Pacific, and up to 75,000 children in Vanuatu could be in desperate need of food, water and shelter. See how it unfolded yesterday in our rolling coverage. More deaths and dire water shortages are expected as remote island communities are 'waiting to be heard' after they were ravaged by the deadly storm. Amateur video showed the damage in Port Vila in the immediate aftermath, where eight people have been confirmed dead, while new video footage last night revealed the full extent of the damage caused by cyclone Pam. Follow all our Cyclone Pam coverage here.
NSW election
In a wide-ranging Q&A, reporter Bridie Jabour asked NSW Labor leader Luke Foley the question on everyone's lips, “Who are you?” Read our comprehensive profile piece on the man who wants to be premier. In the second leaders’ debate, the NSW premier and opposition leader seemed distractingly competent - unlike their federal counterparts - and, refreshingly, they're arguing about big issues, writes Gabrielle Chan. Both parties are pitching for the law and order vote in the upcoming NSW election, but the Liberals are focusing on criminal sanctions related to the drug ice while Labor wants more police. NSW deputy premier Troy Grant used the Nationals campaign launch on Sunday to reassure voters electricity assets in the bush will not be sold as part of the government’s privatisation plan, while announcing millions of dollars in regional train and mobile service upgrades. We also have the five key factors that could decide the outcome of the NSW election, and use ourinteractive map of NSW to resize the state by the statistics that matter - now with bonus Icac edition. Follow all our NSW election 2015 coverage here.
Australian news and politics
The 'father of reconciliation', Patrick Dodson, says Tony Abbott "does not have the knowledge" to take the country towards recognition of Indigenous people in the constitution, but the PM has refused to apologise for his characterisation of remote communities as a “lifestyle choice”, and stood by his comments when asked if he would at least concede it was a poor choice of words: “I’m not going to concede that. I accept people have a right to be critical of me, but I’m certainly not going to concede that" Bill Shorten has convened a meeting of the renewable energy industry today in an apparent attempt to gather support to put a compromise position to the Abbott government on the renewable energy target. Lenore Taylor writes that the government is increasingly unable to explain how it will take care of the things Australians elected them to do – such as healthcare, our kids’ education, the elderly, the unemployed, climate change, our attitudes towards Indigenous Australians, our unity of purpose as a nation. Australia does not expect Indonesia will move to execute Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran until every legal avenue has been exhausted, Julie Bishop says. Tony Abbott says there is hope that Indonesian president Joko Widodo will grant a reprieve from the death sentence, but says he's not going to speculate and "the less said the better" at this stage. In the hopes of securing a Senate deal, the government is offering "pension adequacy reviews" every three years to make sure it's proposed change to the indexation of the pension doesn't hit the hip pocket too hard. Christopher Pyne’s threat to cut research funding if the Senate blocks his higher education changes appears to be backfiring with crucial crossbenchers digging in.
Around the world
Prayers were said at churches across India on Sunday for an elderly nun who was raped at a convent school in an attack that has intensified anger over sexual violence and scared Christians. The French financial state prosecutor has requested that HSBC’s Swiss private bank be sent to criminal trial over a suspected tax-dodging scheme for wealthy customers. US Secretary of State John Kerry says the US will have to negotiate with Syrian president Bashar Assad to stem the nation’s violence, saying "everybody agrees there is no military solution". A 20-year-old protester has admitted to shooting two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, and is facing life in prison, but he claims the shots were not aimed at police. Explosions outside two churches in the Pakistani city of Lahore have killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens more, sparking mob violence in which two suspected militants died. Following wild rumours of his death, a botched cosmetic procedure, or even the birth of a secret love child, the latest explanation for Vladimir Putin's mystery disappearance 10 days ago is ... flu.
More from around the web
Among the most read on the Guardian this morning:Why are white people expats when Africans, Arabs, Asians and the rest of us are immigrants? Because Europeans can’t be at the same level as other ethnicities. They are superior. Immigrants is a term set aside for ‘inferior races ... Focus groups conducted exclusively for Fairfax Media show western Sydney voters describing Tony Abbott as incompetent, an international embarrassment and a fool, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.   The federal government is close to reversing its opposition on strat­egic grounds to Australia joining the $50bn China-led infrastructure bank, the Australian reports.   The Daily Telegraph says Mike Baird is set to be re-elected in the NSW election on March 28, with the government gaining a bounce in the latest poll.
One last thing
So our PM ate a raw onion, but the question is, Why?! "While people looking at Tony Abbott’s words and actions and thinking 'what the hell are you doing?' is nothing unusual these days, this example has clearly struck a chord because [..] onions are not the same as apples! It shouldn’t be possible to make this sort of mistake, or convince yourself otherwise. And yet, the Australian PM has done this. However, and this may be the first time this phrase has ever been used in a serious context, science backs up Tony Abbott." Kind of.