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Your morning Briefing: Morrison’s stand on freedom of religion

Your 2-minute digest of today’s top stories and must-reads.

Hello readers. The PM has decided freedom of religion will be a key election issue,

12/1/2/2018: Archbishop Anthony Fisher is is commenting on the religious freedoms report out of Canberra. Photographed at St Mary's Cathedral on Wednesday evening. Hollie Adams/The Australian
12/1/2/2018: Archbishop Anthony Fisher is is commenting on the religious freedoms report out of Canberra. Photographed at St Mary's Cathedral on Wednesday evening. Hollie Adams/The Australian

ScoMo’s stand on religion

Scott Morrison will take a ­religious discrimination act to the next election, in a major change to commonwealth discrimination laws that will introduce, for the first time, stand-alone legal protections for Australians of faith. The Australian can reveal the Prime Minister will today unveil the long-awaited review into ­religious freedoms conducted by former Liberal attorney-general Philip Ruddock and accept its centrepiece recommendation for a religious discrimination act.

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Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at 10 Downing Street in central London as she waits for the result of a confidence vote by her Conservative party on December 12, 2018. (Photo by Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP)
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at 10 Downing Street in central London as she waits for the result of a confidence vote by her Conservative party on December 12, 2018. (Photo by Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP)

May faces no confidence vote

Theresa May is fighting the biggest test of her political career with a vote of no confidence by Tory backbenchers this morning, and she has tried to win over wavering politicians by promising them that she would not contest the next general election.

Greg Sheridan suggests Ms May has no one to blame but herself, and the surprise is not that her leadership has been challenged, but that it went unchallenged for so long.

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Untold story

International websites and newspapers have published an important story relevant to all Austral­ians which cannot be ­reported here. Some online sites also published details, but were subject to what is known as geo-blocking so that readers in Australia are unabl­e to view the reports. The ­details have been widely circulated on social media, as users in Australia and around the world find and post that news online.

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Roberta Williams (left) is seen with daughter Dhakota (right) arriving at the Supreme Court in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, December 12, 2018. (AAP Image/Daniel Pockett) NO ARCHIVING
Roberta Williams (left) is seen with daughter Dhakota (right) arriving at the Supreme Court in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, December 12, 2018. (AAP Image/Daniel Pockett) NO ARCHIVING

Williams widow’s last-ditch fight

The widow of slain gangland figure Carl Williams has made a last-ditch bid to prevent the sale of her deceased father-in-law’s house, claiming the involvement of Lawyer X had tainted the process. The property, in Essendon, Melbourne, which is listed for auction on Saturday, has been the subject of a bitter legal battle ­between the Australian Taxation Office and Roberta Williams, who is the executor of her father-in-law George Williams’ estate.

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Rod Clement Margin Call Cartoon for 13-12-2018Version: 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.
Rod Clement Margin Call Cartoon for 13-12-2018Version: 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.

AVO sought

Helen Rosamond, the woman at the heart of a fraud case engulfing NAB, has sought an AVO against her ex-husband, Margin Call reveals.

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Kudelka’s view

Jon Kudelka Letters Cartoon for 13-12-2018. 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.
Jon Kudelka Letters Cartoon for 13-12-2018. 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.
Jason Gagliardi

Jason Gagliardi is the engagement editor and a columnist at The Australian, who got his start at The Courier-Mail in Brisbane. He was based for 25 years in Hong Kong and Bangkok. His work has been featured in publications including Time, the Sunday Telegraph Magazine (UK), Colors, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, Harpers Bazaar and Roads & Kingdoms, and his travel writing won Best Asean Travel Article twice at the ASEANTA Awards.

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/briefing/your-morning-briefing-morrisons-stand-on-freedom-of-religion/news-story/c334ded30cedeb5db288d202e95ec097