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Your morning Briefing: Super fee rip-offs revealed

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.

Jon Kudelka Letters Cartoon for 07-08-2018. 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.
Jon Kudelka Letters Cartoon for 07-08-2018. 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.

Super rip-offs revealed

Australians are being ripped off by super fund trustees “surrounded by temptation” to do the wrong thing with the $2.6 trillion retirement savings pile, while regulators are failing to search out and punish bad behaviour, the banks royal commission has heard. In one example of fee gouging outlined at the royal commission yesterday, NAB charged a customer of its MLC division an array of fees that gobbled up $892.20 of $1101.95 earned from a year-long investment in the simplest option available, cash.

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Labor MP Emma Husar waves to a neighbor as she leaves  her place of residence in South Penrith with her children. Pic Jenny Evans
Labor MP Emma Husar waves to a neighbor as she leaves her place of residence in South Penrith with her children. Pic Jenny Evans

Husar’s $570 Comcar jaunt

Federal Labor MP Emma Husar clocked up a $570 taxpayer-funded Comcar bill for a trip from her home in Sydney’s west to catch an interstate flight by allegedly having her driver wait for hours in the city while she attended a breakfast fundraiser and Bill Shorten policy launch. The bill, more than four times the usual cost of a direct Comcar trip to Sydney airport, was incurred in March on the day Ms Husar flew to Queensland for ­official business, and to attend a Bruno Mars concert with a friend.

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Harry Hughes, nephew of Lucy Turnbull. Hughes with Britt Dietrich from an image taken from Facebook.
Harry Hughes, nephew of Lucy Turnbull. Hughes with Britt Dietrich from an image taken from Facebook.

Lucy Turnbull’s nephew in coke bust

The nephew of the Prime Minister’s wife — a former NSW Liberal minister’s staffer — has been arrested by police for being in possession of cocaine in ­Sydney’s CBD. Harry Hughes, the nephew of Lucy Turnbull, who until last October worked for Planning Minister Anthony Roberts, was arrested by undercover detectives at Bar Mordeo, an establishment frequented by NSW government staffers, last month. It is understood police will allege Mr Hughes, 23, was found with 0.7g of cocaine.

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A giant piece of Ice breaks off the Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia, Argentina
A giant piece of Ice breaks off the Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia, Argentina

‘Hothouse’ Earth

A two-degree rise in global temperatures could spark a “Hothouse Earth” cascade of feedbacks with terrible consequences for ecosystems, society and economies, according to an alarming new paper lead-authored by Climate Council scientist Will Steffen. The international paper, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says “a fundamental reorientation of human values, equity, behaviour, institutions, economies, and technologies” is required.

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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 12:  Ricky Ponting speaks after being inducted ito the Hall Of Fame at the 2018 Allan Border Medal at Crown Palladium on February 12, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia.  (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 12: Ricky Ponting speaks after being inducted ito the Hall Of Fame at the 2018 Allan Border Medal at Crown Palladium on February 12, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

Punter turns pro

Life after cricket just got a bit richer for former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, reveals Margin Call. Company records obtained by Margin Call show the son of Tasmania has joined the registry of online gambling outfit CrownBet Holdings. His transformation from Punter to bookie is complete. In recent weeks, Ponting has been given a 1 per cent stake in the outfit. The filings give the stake a paper value of $1.4 million.

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Fremantle Docker Andrew Brayshaw points to his teeth after being hit by Andrew Gaff in Round 20.
Fremantle Docker Andrew Brayshaw points to his teeth after being hit by Andrew Gaff in Round 20.

‘Cops should charge Gaff’

The laws of the land do not stop at the boundary line of a football oval, but you would be forgiven for thinking that they did. If West Coast’s Andrew Gaff had been wearing an Eagles scarf and sitting on the wing of the Perth Stadium when he hit Fremantle’s Andrew Bradshaw, he would have been dragged out the back, driven from the ground in a divi van and almost certainly charged on the spot, writes Peter Lalor.

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Clement’s view

Rod Clement Letters acrtoon for 30-05-18Version: 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.
Rod Clement Letters acrtoon for 30-05-18Version: 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-super-fee-ripoffs-revealed/news-story/67d24cd9a7fc8c6b1e703a168a52c9d9