Morning Mail: headwinds for green revolution, Football Australia’s Fifa deadline, Fauci takes the fifth

Want to get this in your inbox every weekday? Sign up for the Morning Mail here, and finish your day with our Afternoon Update newsletterMorning everyone. Despite Australians’ enthusiasm for installing home solar panels and batteries, a survey shows today that anti-wind power campaigns are undermining wider popular support for the transition to green energy.We have analysis on how the revelations at the NSW Icac are pushing the Liberals into dangerous territory, Anthony Fauci declining to give evidence to the US Senate, and “Clicky Ponting” suspended amid a local cricket scandal in the UK.Bat signal | A sudden decline in critically endangered bats is troubling experts, who recorded about 5,000 fewer southern bent-wing bats than usual at Naracoorte’s “bat cave” in South Australia this summer.Electric shock | Organised campaigns against wind and solar energy have proved “extremely effective” in undermining support for renewable energy but enthusiasm for electric vehicles has jumped after Donald Trump’s attack on Iran, according to a snapshot of attitudes to the clean energy transition.AI spending ‘cap’ | Software firm Atlassian has sought to tighten tracking of its staff’s AI spending by introducing “wallets” with monthly caps of up to $2,000 for each employee amid an explosion in costs at other tech companies.Flu spread | Scientists have confirmed that bird flu is being spread locally in Australia but what does it mean for wildlife, what can be done to stop it, and how bad will it get?‘Shit sheet’ fight | The NSW Icac hit pay dirt yesterday, Anne Davies writes, with the revelation that a faction of rightwing Liberals compiled “shit sheets” of potentially damaging material to use against their factional political opponents. Continue reading...