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.

Scott Bucholz pats Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce on the shoulder during a vote on a censure motion brought on by Labor to censure the Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce, in the House of Representatives Chamber at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

No, Minister

Malcolm Turnbull has launched an extraordinary assault on Barnaby Joyce, calling on him to ‘consider his own position’ and humiliating him by ordering a ban on ministers having sexual relationships with staffers. Dennis Shanahan says ‘Puritan Turnbull’ is the weakest way out, while Paul Kelly suggests the PM has effectively declared ‘no confidence’ in his deputy. My Joyce also faces new questions over government payments of more than $5000 to a hotel owned by a close friend.

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The fight at Sydney airport in 2009. Picture: Supplied.

Uncomfortably numb

I saw a bikie killed. It made me numb. His killer’s slaying makes me numb again, writes Jacquelin Magnay. She witnessed the vicious fatal beating of Anthony Zervas at Sydney Airport between Hells Angels and Comanchero bikie gangs. Now one of those involved in the brawl, Comanchero boss Mick Hawi, has been killed by gunmen outside a south Sydney gym.

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Liberal MP Andrew Hastie speaks during debate of the Marriage Amendment Bill in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, December 7, 2017. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

Oil ‘danger’

Australia’s failure to meet emergency oil reserves now posed a national security threat, the head of the government-controlled ­intelligence and security committee has warned following an international report that confirmed Australia was vulnerable to external oil “supply” shocks.

A report by the International Energy Agency revealed Australia last year had reached its lowest level of emergency supply in ­almost 20 years and had been “well below” the mandated ­reserve of a minimum 90-day supply, required under its international obli­gations, for the past five years.

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In this Feb. 1, 2018 photo, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, with his wife Melinda, poses for a photo before an interview with The Associated Press in Kirkland, Wash. The Gateses, as the world's top philanthropists, are rethinking their work in America as they confront what they consider their unsatisfactory track record on schools, the country's growing inequity and a president they disagree with more than any other. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Gates slams tech giants

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has backed greater public scrutiny of the role and power of today’s technology ­giants, in an exclusive interview with Cameron Stewart for The Deal. His comments come amid a growing backlash against the powerful influence of tech giants such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. Mr Gates, who led Microsoft through a bruising antitrust battle in 2001, wants open public debate about issues such as privacy, monopoly power and government responses. “Absolutely, people should be debating these tech giants,” he says in an exclusive interview with The Deal magazine in his Seattle headquarters.

“Whether it’s privacy or how people consume the news or hate speech. They’d be crazy not to be talking about the government policies that touch on the services that these companies offer.”

Bill Gates

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Australia's silver medallist Jarryd Hughes poses on the podium during the medal ceremony for the Men's Snowboard Cross at the Pyeongchang Medals Plaza during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang on February 15, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Dimitar DILKOFF

Frosty for snowman

Sydneysider Jarryd Hughes won Australia’s 15th Olympic winter medal, a silver in the snowboard cross at Bokwang yesterday, only to return to a frosty reception by his fellow Australian athletes. Fellow Australian finalist Alex “Chumpy” Pullin, who said he was caught by a gust of wind and “overshot a jump by 40 foot’’ to finish sixth, congratulated and hugged the other contenders, including the winner Frenchman Pierre Vaultier, but snubbed Hughes. In other news, a devastated Lydia Lassila has crashed out of the women’s freestyle aerials while Channel Seven defends former Olympian Jacqui Cooper, who is accused of racism after a comment about Chinese aerial skiers. Keep up with all the Winter Olympics action in our live blog.

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Kudelka’s view

Jon Kudelka Letters page cartoon for 16-02-2018Version: (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.