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.

20150225: Wagga Wagga: Nationals MP Michael McCormack prepares to leave his home in Lake Albert NSW ahead of MondayÕs vote for the leader of the National Party and Deputy Prime Minister. Photo by Sean Davey.

McCormack to lead Nats

Low-key NSW Nationals MP ­Michael McCormack is set to take over from Barnaby Joyce as Deputy Prime Minister today after a push by several colleagues failed to install Queensland rookie David Littleproud as the party’s new leader. Mr Littleproud, the Queensland-based Agriculture Minister who entered parliament only in 2016, withdrew from the contest late last night in a bid to avoid a divisive partyroom ballot this morning. “Now is not the time for internal contests,’’ he said in a statement. It is hard to think of a more unworthy winner, writes Richo: Mr McCormack has achieved nothing as a minister and is a question time non-event. Nationals MP Andrew Broad, meantime, has stopped short of an accusation but says Libs MP knew of harassment complaint against Barnaby Joyce. Stay abreast of the latest developments in our live blog, PoliticsNow.

“Now is the time for all individuals to be team players. Now is the time to think about stability and the good of the party.”

David Littleproud

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Senator Pauline Hanson at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

Hanson to sink tax cuts

Pauline Hanson has torpedoed the government’s proposed company tax cuts, ruling out the support of One Nation senators and saying there is no guarantee it would boost investment while it would hurt local investors and add to government debt. The One Nation leader’s uncompromising stance, which denies the government the Senate majority it needs to pass the bill, comes as both Malcolm Turnbull and Acting Prime Minister Mathias Cormann make a last-ditch effort to win support.

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CM EOYFS online security generic

Tech giants in ACCC sights

A high-powered investigation will examine how technology giants such as Google and Facebook harvest valuable personal data from Australians as part of a world-first inquiry into the fast-growing digital media market. The Australian has exclusively obtained a 39-page issues paper by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, which sets out the scope of its high-­profile inquiry.

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(FILES) In this file photo taken on November 11, 2017 US President Donald Trump (R) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin talk as they make their way to take the "family photo" during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in the central Vietnamese city of Danang. With the surprise indictment on February 16, 2018 of 13 Russians for meddling in the US election, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of possible collusion between Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Moscow has entered new territory.In the first charges directly related to the election, the indicted Russians were accused of running a secret campaign to tilt the vote, including by churning out online posts that were damaging to Trump's political rivals. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / JORGE SILVA

Weaponising Facebook

More than just a political earthquake is being unleashed in indictment against Russians for interfering in 2016 Presidential election, writes Alan Kohler. Naturally enough all the focus on last week’s US indictment against 13 Russians for interfering in the 2016 Presidential election has been on whether the trail leads to an impeachable offence by President Trump. Not yet it doesn’t, but special counsel Robert Mueller’s posse appears to be closing in. The stunning thing is not so much how sophisticated and well-planned the operation was, although it was certainly that. It’s that it was easy, and apparently inexpensive.

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PYEONGCHANG-GUN, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 25: Flag bearer Jarryd Hughes of Australia and flag bearer Billy Morgan of Great Britain participate in the Parade of Athletes during the Closing Ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium on February 25, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

Medal mettle

Australia’s performance at the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games — two silver medals and a bronze medal — was labelled “the best’’ result by chef de mission Ian Chesterman. He said internal expectations were for three medals, and he hailed how the team of 51 had greater international depth than before in a “new era’’, with seven athletes reaching the top six.

“We’ve matched the number of medals previously won, and demonstrated a depth of elite results that we have not seen before.”

Ian Chesterman

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Kudelka’s view

Jon Kudelka Letters page cartoon for 26-02-2018Version: (1280x720 - Stretched to Fit)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.