Your morning Briefing: Major power firm eyes coal plant deal

Welcome to your 2-minute briefing on the day’s top stories and must-reads.

Welcome to your 2-minute update on the day’s top stories and must-reads.

Delta Power Plant, at Vales Rd, Vales Point.

Clean coal goals

One of Australia’s leading energy companies has flagged plans to enter a partnership with specialised Japanese or Chinese developers to build a “clean-coal” power plant within five years if Malcolm Turnbull’s energy reform blueprint is implemented. Ahead of a crucial Coalition partyroom meeting today, industry support for coal-fired power stations is expected to help win over wavering government MPs who must endorse the national energy guarantee to secure support from the states. Stay abreast of all the energy debate developments and more in our live blog from parliament, PoliticsNow.

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Opposition Leader Bill Shorten in Question Time in the House of Representatives Chamber, Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

Odds shorten

Bill Shorten is the man most likely to be elected prime minister at the next election: Australia faces a Shorten-led Labor government within eight months, writes Dennis Shanahan. Coalition hopes of destroying the Opposition Leader or of Labor facing a debilitating and destructive leadership battle are forlorn. Coalitionists need to recognise Shorten is secure and Labor will not implode.

“Shorten’s chances at the next election are greater than those of Liberal incumbent Malcolm Turnbull and, perhaps more importantly, Labor leadership aspirant Anthony Albanese.”

Dennis Shanahan

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10/8/2018: Australias most decorated Afghanistan veteran Ben Roberts-Smith with his wife Emma, on the Sunshine Coast . Ben Roberts-Smith has been accused of violence against his wife and others, which he strongly denies, and is taking legal action. Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Cross words

Former defence minister Brendan Nelson has warned of the consequences of tearing down Victoria Cross winner Ben ­Roberts-Smith, saying his battlefield honours were awarded only after intense scrutiny by senior military and government leaders.

“It (the VC) is rarely ­awarded because at every single step of the process, from eyewitness ­accounts to the myriad ­layers in the military chain of command, every single person ­involved rigorously interrogates the factual basis of the recommendation to award ‘the Cross’.”

Brendan Nelson

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Rod Clement Margin Call Cartoon for 14-08-2018. Version: 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.

Flat batteries

Andy Penn’s Telstra releases its results on Thursday. Just as well Elon Musk’s Tesla boardmate Robyn Denholm hasn’t yet taken over number crunching duties at the telco — how could she find the time? Denholm’s lucrative side project on the board of Tesla — a company the subject of two new shareholder class actions and interest by the US corporate cop SEC following Musk’s extraordinary tweeted plan to privatise the firm — is becoming increasingly time consuming, writes Margin Call. Life will be interesting for Denholm when she takes over Telstra’s CFO duties from Warwick Bray on October 1.

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Johannes Leak’s view

Johannes Leak Letters Cartoon for 14-08-2018. Version: 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.