Your morning Briefing

Welcome to your morning roundup of what’s making news and the must-reads for today.

Hello readers. Here is your two-minute digest of what’s making news today and a long read for later.

10/01/2018 Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young at her home in Belair, Adelaide. Kelly Barnes/The Australia

Green fail

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has again failed to ­promptly reimburse taxpayers for expenses she was not entitled to, the latest in a series of instances where the party’s finance spokeswoman has left government ­invoices unpaid for more than 120 days. Senator Hanson-Young, 36, who this year marks her 10th year in the Senate, worked briefly as a bank teller ­before entering politics. But despite having a key economic portfolio, she has shown a disregard for the proper management of her own government funding. This comes just six months after ‘Whalewatchgate’.

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Australian superannuation, generic money dollars, super

Super downsize me

Australians looking to buy their first home or planning to downsize their home to fund their retirement should be aware of key superannuation changes which come into force this year. The changes were announced in the May 2017 budget and come into effect from July this year, National Australia Bank’s director of self managed super funds, Gemma Dale, said. The changes could provide a potential “windfall” for those in a position to take advantage of them.

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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 15: Bombers head coach Mark Thompson looks on during the round 13 AFL match between the Essendon Bombers and the Melbourne Demons at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on June 15, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Bomber’s Bitcoin binge

Former AFL player and coach Mark “Bomber” Thompson had become increasingly solitary and removed from his past footballing life, dedicating large amounts of time to his new passion of bitcoin trading in the months leading up to his questioning in relation to a drug trafficking probe. Friends were increasingly concerned about the Essendon and Geelong stalwart who, according to one former football colleague, had recently stacked on a substantial amount of weight, appeared “tired and distracted” and “looked awful”

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FILE - In this Oct. 3, 2017, file photo, investor Warren Buffett gestures on stage during a conversation with CNBC's Becky Quick, at a national conference sponsored by the Purpose Built Communities group that Buffett supports, in Omaha, Neb. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is adding Gregory E. Abel and Ajit Jain as directors, boosting the size of its board to 14 members. The company said Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018, that Buffett and Charles T. Munger, Berkshire Hathaway's vice chairman, will retain their positions on the board. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

Buffet’s Bitcoin blast

Berkshire Hathaway is promoting the two top candidates to eventually replace CEO Warren Buffett to its board, but the 87-year-old investor says he isn’t leaving. It comes as the famed investor said he will never invest in cryptocurrencies.

“I can say almost with certainty that cryptocurrencies will come to a bad end.”

Warren Buffet

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Vegetation that would have stopped the mudslides was destroyed by last month's catastrophic wildfires. Picture; Twitter.

Mudslide mayhem

Rescue workers are searching for dozens of people missing in the Southern California mudslides, with 300 still trapped and the death toll climbing to 15. At least 100 homes were destroyed and dozens of cars were swept away after the slide swept through a landscape already razed in catastrophic wildfires last month.

“This is a million times worse than that fire ever was.”

Jennifer Markham, Montecito resident

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(FILES) This file photo taken on February 14, 2017 shows French actress Catherine Deneuve posing on the red carpet for the premiere of the film "Sage Femme" (The Midwife) in competition at the 67th Berlinale film festival in Berlin. France's most revered actress Catherine Deneuve hit out on January 9, 2018 at a new "puritanism" sparked by sexual harassment scandals, declaring that men should be "free to hit on" women. / AFP PHOTO / dpa / Gregor Fischer / Germany OUT

Castigating Catherine

Catherine Deneuve and other critics of the #Metoo movement against sexual harassment sound like “the tiresome uncle at the family dinner” who does not understand that the world is changing, leading French feminists say. Deneuve and 99 other women this week signed a column in the newspaper Le Monde that argued that the #Metoo movement amounted to puritanism and was fuelled by a hatred of men. Italian actress Asia Argento, who was among the first to accuse Harvey Weinstein, led the backlash. Hollywood star Michael Douglas, meantime, has issued a pre-emptive denial of claims he committed a sex act in front of a female employee.

“Deneuve and other French women tell the world how their interiorised misogyny has lobotomised them to the point of no return.”

Asia Argento

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Nick Xenophon poses for a picture at Yianni's on Hindley in Adelaide, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017. (AAP Image/MATT LOXTON)

The long read: Nick’s pick

Nick Xenophon came to a simple conclusion six months ago, writes Luke Griffiths. After a decade as a South Australian senator and less than a year out from a state election, it was time to leave Canberra and sort out troubles at home. The constant barbs about his home state had suddenly taken on a different edge. The attacks had, he believed, become too personal. They had to stop. Are the lights on? Why are all your young people leaving? A shrewd and canny politician had sniffed a golden political opportunity.

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Comment of the day

“Apparently SHY in a former life was a bank teller. Now she thinks she’s entitled to treat taxpayer funds as an ATM.”

Sir Les, in response to ‘Sarah Hanson-Young again trips up on expenses payments’.

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Clement’s view

Rod Clement NEW Letters cartoon for 11-01-18Version: (650x366)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.