Your morning Briefing: Blueprint to fix choked cities

Welcome to your morning digest of the top stories of the day.

Hello readers and welcome to your two-minute digest of what’s making news today.

Delays of up to 30 minutes are affecting the Sydney Trains. Pictured are the platforms at Central Station in Sydney.Picture: Christian Gilles

Fix our cities

The nation’s infrastructure tsar has warned that population growth would cripple Australia’s capital cities and consign them to a future of congestion unless ­federal and state governments radically improve the way they plan and deliver major road and rail projects. Infrastructure Australia chief executive Philip Davies has also ­issued a clarion call to both major political parties to resist ill-­planned infrastructure commitments before this weekend’s by-elections or risk burdening taxpayers with costly, pointless projects.

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Minister for Human Services Alan Tudge during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Tuesday, September 5, 2017. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING

Victorian crime

Crime statistics showing Sudanese-born people are 57 times more likely to be charged with aggravated robbery in Victoria than their Australian-born counterparts have sparked ­renewed calls for a law-and-order crackdown by the ­Andrews government. Figures from the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency, to the end of March, also show Sudanese-born people are 33 times more likely to be charged with riot and affray compared with Australian-born counterparts.

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Close Up Of Hand Holding Plastic Straws Polluting Beach

Last straw

The party is over for plastic straws, declared The Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday as Hungry Jacks followed Macca’s and Ikea in banishing the evil tubes from its counters. The speed with which corporations and governments have surrendered to this eccentric campaign is a triumph for slacktivism, the one-click, cost-free way to take a stand for humanity or the planet, writes Nick Cater.

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Iran and US engaged in a war of words on Twitter.

Twitter war

The ongoing Twitter war between the US and Iranian presidents has widened as Iran’s Foreign Minister joins his leader’s attack on Donald Trump, warning him to “be cautious”. Mimicking Mr Trump’s own bellicose rhetoric, Mohammad Javad Zarif shot back: “COLOR US UNIMPRESSED … We’ve been around for millennia & seen fall of empires, incl our own, which lasted more than the life of some countries.”

“WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE AND DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS.”

Mohammad Javad Zarif

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Rod Clement Margin Call cartoon for business 24-07-2018Version: Business Cartoon (1280x720 - Aspect ratio preserved, Canvas added)COPYRIGHT: The Australian's artists each have different copyright agreements in place regarding re-use of their work in other publications.Please seek advice from the artists themselves or the Managing Editor of The Australian regarding re-use.

Westpac reprieve

Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer and his wealth boss Brad Cooper have gained a reprieve from the next instalment of Kenneth Hayne’s royal commission. How did they pull that off, asks Margin Call. CBA, NAB and ANZ were all invited to attend the highly politicised round, which starts on August 6 and which will rifle through the $2.3 trillion superannuation industry.

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Johannes Leak’s view

Johannes Leak Letters page cartoon for 24-07-2018Version: Letters Cartoon (1280x720 - Aspect ratio preserved, Canvas added)COPYRIGHT: The Australian's artists each have different copyright agreements in place regarding re-use of their work in other publications.Please seek advice from the artists themselves or the Managing Editor of The Australian regarding re-use.