Your afternoon Briefing: WA steers clear of controversial carbon offsets

Your 2-minute digest of the day’s top stories.

Hello readers. WA’s environmental regulator scraps talk of carbon emissions offset requirements, and Kiwis to pull out of Iraq.

PIRATE: UNDATED : Australian resources giant Woodside's Cossack Pioneer oil production facility in the North West Shelf (NWS) gas project, which produces a third of Australia's oil and half of its natural gas, off the northwest coast of Australia in undated handout photo received in 2001. Western Australia / Industry

WA steers clear of controversial carbon offsets

Western Australia’s environmental regulator has dropped any reference to full carbon emissions offset requirements as it launched a formal consultation around the guidelines that had threatened billions of dollars of new resources projects.

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Former PM Kevin Rudd launching his second political memoir, The PM YEARS at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

Rudd’s change of heart

Four years after rejecting a Companion of the Order of Australia, Kevin Rudd relents.

See who else is on the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for 2019.

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A New Zealand army soldier watches the 53rd Iraqi Army Brigade Combined Arms Training Activity at the Taji Military Complex, Iraq. *** Local Caption *** Defence Force personnel from Australia and New Zealand are training members of the Iraqi Security Forces to defeat the Daesh terrorist group. They are deployed on active service to Iraq as part of Task Group Taji 5. The training includes: the laws of armed conflict, weapons handling, first aid, vehicle checkpoints, explosive hazards awareness, building clearances and obstacle breaching techniques. Instruction is inclusive of tactics, techniques and procedures from squad through to company-level operations for use in the fight against Daesh.

Kiwis to pull out of Iraq

New Zealand will withdraw its troops from Iraq over the next year, its government has announced.

Since 2015, New Zealand has deployed personnel alongside Australian forces to train Iraqi soldiers at camp Taji, north of Baghdad, with 95 Kiwis currently there.

PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 08: Ashleigh Barty of Australia celebrates victory with former Australian Tennis player Rod Laver following the ladies singles final against Marketa Vondrousova of The Czech Republic during Day fourteen of the 2019 French Open at Roland Garros on June 08, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

‘Fear won’t get you anywhere, mate’

Put it on a T-shirt. Ash Barty’s simple playbook that became a three-step plan to winning.

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SPORT - AFL Round 19 - Fremantle Dockers v Carlton Blues, Patersons Stadium, Perth. Photo by Daniel Wilkins. PICTURED - Anthony Maslin and Rin Norris release balloons before the clash.

‘Where we were was hell’

The Perth couple whose three children were killed in the MH17 attack over the Ukraine five years ago have told how they found meaning and hope after “after the world ended”.