Your morning Briefing

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

Good morning readers. Here is your two-minute digest of what’s making news today.

BEIJING, CHINA - JANUARY 01: The honor guards attend the flag-raising ceremony at the Tiananmen Square on January 1, 2017 in Beijing, China. About 26,000 people come to watch the flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square on the first Day of 2017 in Beijing. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

China ties on brink

Business is signalling the relationship with Beijing is at a “tipping point” as it urges Malcolm Turnbull to ensure tensions over new measures curbing foreign interference do not trigger a damaging reduction in the numbers of ­Chinese students or tourists. National president and chairman of the Australia China Business Council, John Brumby, said relations were “very finely balanced”, while former Australian ambassador to Beijing Geoff Raby warned that a sustained period of turbulence could reduce international demand for a university education in Australia — an export sector worth $28 billion a year. Simon Benson, meantime, reports on how a Liberal Party-aligned fundraising machine organised a private briefing by Chinese officials for federal and state MPs, while in Bennelong, John Alexander is working hard to hold the support of the 17,000-strong Chinese community.

-

Senator Cory Bernardi speaking at Senate doors at Parliament House in Canberra.

No-vote MPs fight back

The conservative pushback to same-sex marriage has begun with No-voting MPs seeking to influence a review of religious freedoms led by former Liberal attorney-general Philip Ruddock. Conservatives yesterday said the substance of unsuccessful amendments to protect religious freedoms — defeated on the floor of parliament despite the passage of a historic gay marriage bill last week — needed to be revisited by the Ruddock review or risk being seen as an affront to No voters.

-

(FILES) This file photo taken on May 02, 2014 shows British publicist Max Clifford arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London on May 2, 2014 to be sentenced after being convicted on eight counts of indecent assault. Britain's disgraced celebrity publicist Max Clifford, once the king of tabloid kiss-and-tell stories, died on Decelber 10, 2017, having reportedly suffered a heart attack following a sudden collapse. / AFP PHOTO / Leon NEAL

Max Clifford dies

Disgraced celebrity publicist Max Clifford, a confidant to the stars who fell from grace amid Britain’s investigation of past sexual abuse, has died at 74 after collapsing in prison. Once one of the most powerful figures in British entertainment, Clifford was convicted in 2014 of eight counts of indecent assault stemming from attacks on teenagers dating back more than 40 years. He was serving an eight-year prison sentence at Littlehey Prison in Cambridgeshire when he died, Britain’s Ministry of Justice said.

-

row of different types of glowing light bulbsNational Science Week - Light Poster LED Lights

Rise of ‘energy poverty’

First came the results of the 2016 Census, then the Australian Bureau of Statistics published the results of the Household Expenditure Survey. The census operates on a five-yearly cycle while the HES is conducted every seven years. Bernard Salt takes advantage of this demographic alignment of the planets to metricise the scale of an important social issue: energy poverty.

-

PERTH, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 07: An umpire inspects cracks in the pitch before start of play during day five of the First Test match between Australia and South Africa at the WACA on November 7, 2016 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

‘World’s fastest wicket’ off the pace

The legend of the fastest wicket in the world lingers still, but the WACA Ground has become a batsman’s friend, so much so that Australia coach Darren Lehmann gave his strongest indication yet that Mitchell Marsh would play in the third Ashes Test. But, writes Wayne Smith, the reality is that the ground that produced that epic greentop Gillette Cup final of 1976 between Western Australia and Queensland — the one that coined the phrase “Queensland, glorious one day, all out for 62 the next” as they chased WA’s measly 77 — has now become the mellowest of tracks for batsmen.

-

Kudelka’s view

Jon Kudelka Letters page cartoon for 11-12-2017Version: (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.