Your morning Briefing: Wage rises outpacing living costs

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.

ESOC 2015- Professor Mark Wooden speaks during session 4 of the Economic & Social Outlook Conference in Melbourne.

Wages outstrip living costs

Wages have far outstripped increased living costs over the past decade, rising 31 per cent against a 22 per cent lift in inflation, delivering real gains in living standards. Melbourne Institute professor Mark Wooden said that although consumer prices and the wage price index both rose by an identical 2.1 per cent in the year to June, there had not been an extended period where wages grew more slowly than living costs for more than two decades.

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Scott Briggs before Treasurer Scott Morrison Delivers the 2017 Budget in the House of Representatives Chamber, in Parliament House, Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

PM’s ally behind $1bn bid

Liberal Party heavyweight Scott Briggs — a close friend and ­political ally of Scott Morrison and a former professional colleague of new Immigration Minister David Coleman — is driving a bid to win a visa-­processing contract understood to be valued at up to $1 billion.

The Prime Minister could be involved in the process to sign off on the contract through cabinet or the expenditure review committee following an independent tender process being run by the Department of Home Affairs. Keep up with all the latest from parliament in our live blog, PoliticsNow.

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diver Vernon Unsworth and Elon Musk

Diver sues Musk

A British diver who helped rescue 12 youth soccer players trapped in a flooded Thai cave is suing Tesla chief executive Elon Musk. Vernon Unsworth alleges that Musk falsely accused him on Twitter of being a pedophile. The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court seeks more than $US75,000 ($A104,000) in damages and a court order stopping Musk from making further allegations.

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Rod Clement Margin Call Cartoon for 18-09-2018. 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.

Early start for Phelps

Sydney City Councillor Kerryn Phelps isn’t quite off a standing start when it comes to her run as an independent in the seat of Wentworth, writes Margin Call. Local GP and longstanding activist Phelps, 60, who declared her wildcard candidacy on Sunday, seems to have been cooking up a plan for a tilt at representation in the federal Parliament for almost six months ahead of local member and former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull pulling the plug on public life three weeks ago.

In April this year Phelps created a new corporate entity, KP Independents, with herself as a director along with Phelps’ spouse Jackie Stricker-Phelps. But there is also a third mysterious backer in Mosman resident Dion Morrison, who is also a director as well as company secretary of the new entity.

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Johannes Leak’s view

Johannes Leak Letters Cartoon for 18-09-2018. 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.