Morning mail: Laming staffer’s Rittenhouse costume, ‘stealth’ Omicron variant, Australia’s top Google searches

Wednesday: A taxpayer-funded staffer for federal MP Andrew Laming dressed as Kyle Rittenhouse for Halloween. Plus: Australia's top Google searches for 2021

Good morning. Before you Google Covid news, which was Australia's top search in 2021, we have the latest on the Omicron variant in your morning mail today. Plus the details of a questionable Halloween outfit choice by an Andrew Lamming staffer and word on new music from former Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns.

A staffer for federal MP Andrew Laming, Barclay McGain, has posed with a paintball-style toy assault rifle dressed as Kyle Rittenhouse for a delayed Halloween party. McGain posted the photo, in which he was dressed as the teenager who shot dead two Black Lives Matter protesters and was acquitted of all criminal charges, to social media with the caption: Kyle Rittenhouse on neighbourhood watch duties in Brisbane's south tonight." McGain was sacked from his electorate officer position by Laming 18 months ago over a controversial schoolies video that denigrated Indigenous Australians. Six months later he was rehired by Laming.