Your morning Briefing: PM’s energy pitch as Labor goes green

Hello readers and welcome to your two-minute digest of the day’s top stories.

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

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaks at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Tuesday, August 7, 2018. The Prime Minister was speaking about International Education. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins) NO ARCHIVING

PM’s energy pitch

Malcolm Turnbull will commit to underwriting new dispatchable power generation in a bid to secure support for the NEG. Daniel Andrews’s 11th-hour list of demands is playing shameless, petty politics with Australia’s energy future, writes Geoff Chambers, while Henry Ergas argues that the onus is on the PM to explain why the NEG is the right response. Confused by the NEG? Explainer reveals all you wanted to know but were afraid to ask.

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Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten speaks to the media during a press conference with newly re-elected Member for Braddon Justine Keay following a visit to Tasmanian Family Medical in Burnie, Tasmania, Tuesday, July 31, 2018. (AAP Image/Grant Wells) NO ARCHIVING

Shorten’s stay

Bill Shorten accepted upgrades from a hotel with connections to a sultan who would have homosexuals stoned to death. The federal Opposition Leader accepted six upgrades from the Brisbane-based Royal on the Park, which is owned by the Brunei ­Investment Agency — the sovereign wealth fund for Brunei — a small Asian monarchy ruled by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.

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Piggy banks with the logos of the big four banks (from top) Commonwealth, National, Westpac and ANZ in a race, for The Deal magazine, 07/2009.

Super hit

The compensation that banks are preparing to pay for fees they charged over services never provided is racing towards $1bn. The corporate regulator has revealed the total payout to customers of AMP, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, National Australia Bank, Westpac and other large financial institutions could quadruple to $850 million from the more than $200m already paid to customers caught up in the “fees for no service” scandal.

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Lindsay Labor MP Emma Husar and domestic violence victim Angela Zena Hadchiti with her petition. 17th February 2017, Photo: Wolter Peeters, The Sydney Morning Herald.

‘Brutal and bizarre’

That’s how a former employee of Emma Husar describes working for the embattled MP. Then there was the case of the disappearing daughter. Angela Hadchiti told The Australian she had decided to speak out because she was infuriated that Ms Husar was publicly dismissing allegations of alleged ­office bullying and harassment by blaming disgruntled ex-staffer Jeremy Anderson for a political “stitch-up”.

“There is not one staffer ­involved in this. I want to take the burden off Jeremy Anderson and his father. There are 22 of us, and we are in this together. We have been speaking to Bill Shorten’s office, to NSW Labor and to the union for months.”

Angela Hadchiti

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Rod Clement Margin Call cartoon for 23-06-17Version: (Original)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.

Taj on Swan

Indian industrialist Pankaj Oswal and wife Radhika have sold their derelict half-built dream home “Taj on Swan” in Perth’s exclusive Peppermint Grove. It was not a good investment, writes Margin Call. Pankaj and Radhika — the flamboyant heirs to a contested billionaire family fortune — reportedly sold the home this week for $17 million, cementing a significant loss for the now Dubai-based couple, who paid $22.7m for the patch in Western Australia’s booming 2006. And that’s not the end of their losses.

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07/08/2018 West Coast player Andrew Gaff at the AFL Tribunal for punching Fremantle player Andrew Brayshaw. Picture : David Geraghty / The Australian.

King hit ends season

West Coast Eagles star Andrew Gaff was last night suspended for eight matches — ending his AFL season and his Brownlow Medal chances — for a sickening punch on a Fremantle opponent that was described as “ferocious in its impact and grave in its consequences”. The ban is one of the heaviest handed down by the AFL tribunal, eclipsing the seven-match suspension given to Sydney’s Barry Hall in 2008 for knocking out West Coast opponent Brent Staker with a left hook.

“The last 48 hours has probably been the toughest couple of days of my life. I see myself as a caring, gentle and measured person. I’m disappointed in myself. I’m disappointed I’ve let my teammates down.”

Andrew Gaff

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Kudelka’s view

Jon Kudelka Letters Cartoon for 08-08-2018. 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.