Your morning Briefing: Shorten’s $1.75bn preschool vote pitch

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

Hello readers. Here is your 2-minute digest of what’s making news today.

Lucas, 4 (right) reacts as he sits with Labor Candidate for Dickson Ali France (left), Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education Amanda Rishworth (centre) and Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten at the Goodstart Early Learning Centre at Albany Creek in Brisbane, Wednesday, October 3, 2018. Mr Shorten used the visit to discuss Prime Minister Scott Morrison's $440 million cut to preschool funding. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt) NO ARCHIVING

Shorten’s preschool pitch

Bill Shorten has guaranteed to subsidise 600 hours of preschool for 700,000 children and extend access to three-year-olds in a $1.75 billion challenge to the Morrison government over universal funding for early education. In what the Labor leader claims will be the most significant early education reform to date, the existing 15 hours a week of subsidised preschool for four-year-olds would be extended to three-year-olds under a Shorten government.

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Train terror

Up to 100 youths of African appearance reportedly terrified train commuters in Melbourne’s southeast overnight.

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John Holland pic for DT Business. Perth Children’s Hospital – Work on the Perth Children’s Hospital is proceeding well

Asbestos breach

Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group has imported about 3500 Chinese-made rail carriages containing asbestos in one of the largest breaches of a national ban on asbestos imports since it was introduced 15 years ago. The Australian Border Force will take no action, however, against the Perth-based company over the ­asbestos, which was found in the suspension system of rail cars in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

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A police K9 unit continues to search for victims in the wreckage following earthquakes and tsunami in Palu, Central Sulawesi Indonesia, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018. Aid was slowly making its way into areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami that struck a central Indonesian island, with one neighborhood's residents clapping, cheering and high-fiving in their excitement Wednesday at seeing a stopped truck laden with supplies. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

‘Our kids went to camp, never came back’

At lunchtime on Friday, Salvation Army Major Santoso dropped off his excited 15-year-old daughter Priska, newly enrolled in senior high, at a weekend Bible camp at the Protestant church hall near her school in Central Sulawesi. He kissed her forehead and told her to “take care” before watching her walk inside with her mother’s backpack over her shoulder. He is still searching for her in the rubble following the earthquake and tsunami, writes Amanda Hodge and Nivell Rayda.

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Eric Lobbecke Op Ed Cartoon for 04-10-2018. Version: Ozoped Artwork (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.

Supreme circus

It is impossible to turn the eye away from the spectacle of the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination circus in the US. It is a defining moment in Western politics, writes Greg Sheridan.

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Melbourne Storm players return to Melbourne to greet the fans after last nights Grand Final loss to the Sydney Roosters. . Pic: Michael Klein

Storm shares

NRL runners-up Melbourne Storm is set to become the first privately owned sports club in the country to sell shares to its fans, using a model similar to famed US NFL club Green Bay Packers. Investment bank Greenhill has been appointed by the Storm to explore selling a slice of the club to fans as early as this off-­season, in the belief that having thousands of fans owning the team would put it in safer hands than being solely reliant on its three business-identity owners.

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Johannes Leak’s view

Johannes Leak Letters Cartoon for 04-10-2018. 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.