Your afternoon Briefing: Vic Police launch criminal probe into Red Shirt Rorts

Good afternoon, readers. Victoria Police launch a criminal probe into Red Shirt Rorts and how Labor-voters hijacked the PM’s Longman visit.

Good afternoon, readers. Victoria Police has launched a criminal probe into the Red Shirt Rorts and how Labor-voting customers hijacked Malcolm Turnbull’s Longman pub visit.

VFF ConferenceDaniel Andrews, Premiere of Victoria. Photo by Chloe Smith.

Criminal probe into rorts for votes

Victoria Police has launched a criminal investigation into Labor’s so-called Red Shirt Rorts in a major pre-election blow to the Andrews government.

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Local resident Toni Lea (left) gestures towards Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (centre) and LNP candidate for Longman Trevor Ruthenberg (right) at the Sandstone Point Hotel at Sandstone Point, Queensland, Friday, July 27, 2018. (AAP Image/Darren England) NO ARCHIVING

Catholic schools push for Labor

The Queensland Catholic schools sector has intervened on the eve of a critical by-election in Longman with a letter endorsing Labor’s funding and policies, while Malcolm Turnbull’s lightning visit to a pub in the marginal seat was derailed when Labor-voting customers took him to task over penalty rates and the ABC.

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15/2/18 Telstra CFO Warwick Bray ahead of the company's H1 results at their HQ in Melbourne. Aaron Francis/The Australian

Telstra swings axe on job cuts

Two senior Telstra executives are in the firing line as the telco pushes ahead with the first wave of its recently flagged job cuts.

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Flying over the suburbs of Melbourne; Community; Housing Development; Railroad Crossing; Crossing; Urban Scene; Aerial View; High Angle View; Melbourne - Australia; Roof; Street; Suburb; Residential District; City; Aerial Photograph. For group read story on rooming house laws. iSTOCK

Property investors feel squeeze

Property investors are facing a credit crunch as new restrictions hit prospective borrowers, warns CoreLogic.

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(FILES) In this file photo taken on May 1, 2018, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the annual F8 summit at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. It has turned into a brutal reality check for Facebook. The social network star -- which had weathered storms over privacy and data protection -- is now looking ahead at a cloudier financial future that threatens to end its years-long breakneck growth pace. Shares in Facebook plummeted 19 percent to $175.30 in early trade Thursday, wiping out some $100 billion -- believed to be the worst single-day evaporation of market value for any company. / AFP PHOTO / JOSH EDELSON

Facebook ain’t cool no more

A phone hook-up with analysts and investors that cast doubts about Facebook’s growth started normally enough, but it ended up costing the company $135 billion. Alan Kohler and David Swan dig into the dynamics that sparked the stunning 19 per cent fall in The Money Cafe.