Your morning Briefing: Six dams planned for north

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.

Tou Ruchkaew and her husband Ian Quin at their mango farm Tou's Garden outside Darwin.

Six new dams

Scott Morrison has been handed a scientific blueprint to transform northern Australia into the ­nation’s “next great food bowl” that will underpin a push to attract investment for up to six new dams, a move that promises to turbocharge regional economies and win over rural voters.

The benefits of greater agricultural development could lead to the creation of 15,000 jobs and generate $5.3 billion in economic activity throughout northern Australia each year, including an ­annual boost to Darwin’s economy of about $2.6bn.

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Angus Taylor, Minister for Energy in Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Gary Ramage

Price cuts before Paris

Energy Minister Angus Taylor has set out the Morrison government’s new energy agenda that will ­relegate Australia’s Paris carbon emissions cuts to a third-order issue and prioritise slashing power prices and ensuring system ­reliability.

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28/07/2018 Portrait of author Tim Winton, whose novel That Eye, The Sky has been made into a play at State Theatre Company of SA at the Dunstan Playhouse Theatre, Adelaide. Photo by Kelly Barnes

Festivals dumbed down

The dumbing-down of writers festivals started when they began inviting personalities who hadn’t written a book, said author Tim Winton, who appeared last night at the Melbourne Writers Festival amid a program that includes sessions about tattoos and pet meditation.

“You’ve got really big stars showing up at writers festivals who aren’t writers and often haven’t written their own books. They have become a form of public entertainment.”

Tim Winton

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Rod Clement Margin Call cartoon for 30-08-2018. 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.

Big stick for bank bosses

Our new Prime Minister Scott Morrison loves a big stick. And now that his ministry has been assembled, ScoMo has an important one to give out, writes Margin Call. The influential House of Representatives economics standing committee needs a new chair now that the previous one, Sarah Henderson, has been given an Australia pin and joined the Morrison ministry. And in six weeks the committee will receive the CEOs of the big four banks: CBA’s Matt Comyn, Westpac’s Brian Hartzer, ANZ’s agile Shayne Elliott and the current black sheep, NAB’s Andrew Thorburn.

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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 29: Lance Franklin of the Swans and Jesinta Franklin arrive during the 2018 AFL All-Australia Awards at the Palais Theatre on August 29, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Franklin All Australian captain

Sydney star Buddy Franklin has been rewarded for another outstanding home-and-away season by being named All Australian captain. And selectors named two No 1 club ruckmen — Melbourne’s Max Gawn and Collingwood’s Brody Grundy — for the first time since 2012.

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Kudelka’s view

Jon Kudelka Letters page cartoon for 30-08-2018. 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.