Your morning Briefing

Welcome to your morning digest of the top stories of the day.

Hello readers and welcome to your two-minute digest of what’s making news today.

The cover of the 2018-19 Budget papers is seen at Canprint in Canberra, Sunday, May 6, 2018. Australia's Treasurer Scott Morrison will deliver his third Budget on Tuesday, May 8. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

Budget in the balance

Scott Morrison will formally enshrine the government’s tax limit of 23.9 per cent of GDP in the nation’s fiscal future while the government is also expected to confirm in ­tomorrow night’s budget that it will return the balance sheet to surplus in 2019-20, a year earlier than forecast . David Uren reports on how a commitment to infrastructure projects worth $24.5 billion will be central to the Coalition’s budget claims of growth. Adam Creighton writes that the Treasurer is set to once again avoid the big questions facing Australia’s economy when he delivers the budget. Keep up with all the developments in our live blog PoliticsNow on the eve of the budget.

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AMP CEO Craig Mellor stands on stage with Chairman Catherine Brenner before their AGM in Sydney, Thursday, May 11, 2017. (AAP Image/David Moir) NO ARCHIVING

AMP’s downfall emails

The emails that caused AMP to unravel, released by the banks inquiry, provide an astonishing glimpse inside the company, Pamela Williams reveals. John Durie, meantime, writes that former Future Fund chairman David Murray agreed to take on the rescue mission at AMP in an effort to restore public faith.

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Cameron Stewart's Inside Story on how a crash unearthed a double life.

Pedophile’s double life

Cameron Stewart has the Inside Story on how a freak car crash at a beach in Rio unearthed the double life of fugitive Australian pedophile John Gott. It was a good life for a man who had been on the run from Australian authorities for 22 years. Now he is in a coma in a Rio hospital as authorities try to piece together how he lived two secret lives on opposite sides of the world.

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This May 5, 2018, photo, released by the Royal Malaysian Police shows a rusty tanker near Kota Tinggi in Johor state, Malaysia. Malaysian police have intercepted the tanker with 131 Sri Lankans believed bound for Australia and New Zealand, smashing a large human smuggling ring that has been operating for over a year. (Royal Malaysia Police via AP)

Smugglers stymied

Malaysian police say they have busted an international smuggling syndicate after intercepting a modified tanker carrying 131 Sri Lankans believed to be bound for New Zealand and Australia and arresting 16 suspected smugglers. Malaysian naval and coastguard authorities detained the group of 98 men, 24 women and nine children in the early hours of Tuesday as they were being ferried by fishing boat from Kota Tinggi, in Johor on the country’s southern tip.

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NEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 05: Kosta Barbarouses of the Victory scores a goal past goalkeeper Glen Moss of the Jets during the 2018 A-League Grand Final match between the Newcastle Jets and the Melbourne Victory at McDonald Jones Stadium on May 5, 2018 in Newcastle, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Video ref benched?

The future of the video assistant referee in the A-League could come into question with Football Federation Australia expected to look closely at the system as a result of Melbourne Victory’s controversial 1-0 win over the Newcastle Jets in the grand final at McDonald Jones on Saturday night, writes Ray Gatt.

“If we do stick with VAR — and that is my first thought — then we have to make sure we eliminate the chances of a network failure. We can’t have this happening again.”

A-League boss Greg O’Rourke

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Kudelka’s view

Jon Kudleka Letters Cartoon for 07-05-18Version: 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.