Morning,

In honour of Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month, Mamamia is sharing a series of letters from the loved ones of those taken by domestic violence.

This week, Sue Clarke, wrote an incredibly powerful letter to her daughter Hannah Clarke, who was murdered alongside her three children in February 2020. You can read it here.

John Herron, father of Courtney Herron who was murdered in 2019, has also written an open letter.

Keep your eyes out for more in coming days as we shed light on this endemic issue.

These are your top five news stories for Thursday May 19.

1. PM accidentally 'bulldozes' kid during soccer game.

Scott Morrison has accidentally tackled an eight-year-old during a soccer match in Devonport, Tasmania.

The Prime Minister was taking part in a training game at the Devonport Strikers Football Club when he lost his balance and tackled Luca Fauvette to the ground.

In video footage shared online, Luca was quick to get back onto his feet before rejoining the game.

Prime Minister @ScottMorrisonMP has taken a tumble during a friendly soccer match with children in Tasmania. 7NEWS at 6pm | https://t.co/Rql2EcSX9d #ausvotes #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/Jw53rfiHx6
— 7NEWS Australia (@7NewsAustralia) May 18, 2022

Addressing the club's parents and kids, Morrison took the incident in his stride.

"I look forward to coming back on another occasion. I think that when that grandstand comes down, I hear it might need a bit of a bulldozer to knock it down, so I might be able to help with that," he told the room.

Morrison attended the club after local Braddon MP Gavin Pearce announced upgrades to the ground's facilities if the Coalition government is re-elected.

2. Shayna Jack and Cody Simpson make Australian swim team.

After a two-year doping ban, Shayna Jack has secured selection on the Australian swim team for this year's world titles and Commonwealth Games.

Jack will swim at this year's world titles and Commonwealth Games, where she will be joined by pop star Cody Simpson.

The 23-year-old broke down after sealing a 100 metres freestyle spot at the national championships in Adelaide last night.

"I am just overwhelmed with emotions to be back on the team," she said. "Not many people really know what I actually went through, the depths of it... And to be back and wearing those (Australian) colours again means more than anything to me."

Shayna Jack is on track to return to the Australian swim team after serving a doping ban, @stevelarkinaap reports.

Jack won her 100 metres freestyle heat on today's opening day at the nationals in Adelaide.

MORE: https://t.co/r7oRmrvZ8Y

📷 | Dave Hunt - @aap_photos pic.twitter.com/3PhxHWSeBp
— AAP Sport (@AAPSport) May 18, 2022

Jack's triumph came moments after global pop sensation Simpson finished third in the men's 100m butterfly final.

"I certainly didn't even expect it to even be a possibility until 2024," Simpson said of being on an Australian team.

Other winners included Elijah Winnington (men's 400m freestyle), Jenna Strauch (women's 100m breaststroke) and Josh Edwards-Smith (men's 200m backstroke).

3. PM dodges wages responsibility.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is blaming Australia's cost-of-living crisis on inflation, which he says is outside his control.

But wages are lagging well behind the inflation rate, news data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows.

The annual rate was 2.4 per cent, less than half the rate of inflation at 5.1 per cent, according to the figures released yesterday.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said good government helps wages to rise, not fall backwards.

"What a hit. This delivers the biggest cut to real wages in more than 20 years," he told the National Press Club yesterday.

"Under Scott Morrison, real wages are plummeting while the costs of living are skyrocketing."

Real wages have gone backwards yet again under this government – with a fall of 2.7%, the worst result in 20 years. Under Scott Morrison, real wages are plummeting while the costs of living are skyrocketing. pic.twitter.com/GX6gm1Ss2l
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 18, 2022

Meanwhile, Labor is set to release its election promise costings and how they will be funded, after the Coalition spent the past week attacking Labor over the delay.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese says the promises will be partly funded by winding back $750 million in government grants he says represent "waste and rorts" under Morrison.

4. Russia soldier pleads guilty in first war crimes trial.

A Russian soldier has pleaded guilty to charges of killing an elderly unarmed civilian, in the first war crimes trial since the Ukraine invasion.

21-year-old Vadim Shyshimarin could get life in prison if convicted of shooting a Ukrainian man in the head through an open car window in a village in the northeastern Sumy region on February 28, four days into the invasion.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has previously said her office was readying war crimes cases against 41 Russian soldiers for offences including bombing civilian infrastructure, killing civilians, rape and looting.

Breaking News: A Russian soldier pleaded guilty in Kyiv to shooting a civilian, in the first Ukrainian trial over a potential war crime since Russia’s invasion.

Asked if he accepted his guilt, the soldier said: “Yes. Fully yes.”https://t.co/9Wd9cE0jdI
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 18, 2022

Meanwhile, Turkey has blocked the start of NATO accession talks for Finland and Sweden, sources at the military alliance have told the DPA news agency.

As a result, NATO's governing body, the North Atlantic Council, was unable to begin the planned accession process straight away.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey was unable to accept a proposed enlargement of the alliance that would compromise NATO's own security, reiterating his claims that Sweden and Finland were effectively supporters of terrorism for their alleged support of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish People's Defence Units (YPG) militia in Syria.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would assess the membership bid as quickly as possible but stressed that the security interests of all allies "have to be taken into account," referring to Turkey's objections.

5. Australian rainforests dying faster.

Climate change is taking a devastating toll on Australia's rainforests killing trees at a faster rate since the 1980s, a new study confirms.

The study, published in the journal Nature, found the average death rates of tropical trees in Australia have doubled in the last 35 years,

"Trees are living around half as long, which is a pattern consistent across species and sites across the region. And the impacts can be seen as far back as the 1980s," said James Cook University professor Susan Laurance.

Australia’s tropical rainforests have been dying faster for decades in ‘clear and stark climate warning’ https://t.co/l13mYWL89O https://t.co/Rgf9rzKCpJ
— Climate News (@Climate_News_a1) May 18, 2022

Lead author and tropical forest ecologist David Bauman said the study found the increase in tree mortality would further impact the environment.

"A sustained doubling of mortality risk would imply the carbon stored in trees returns twice as fast to the atmosphere," Dr Bauman said.

And that's it, you're all up to speed. We'll be back to bring you more of the top news stories throughout the day.

- With AAP.

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