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.

Australian minister for Trade, tourism and investment Steven Ciobo attends a meeting of the Visegrads countries (V4) on economic relations with Australia on January 19, 2018 at the Castle Garden in Budapest. / AFP PHOTO / Attila KISBENEDEK

Trade win

The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact has finally been sealed, with the historic 11-nation deal set to come into effect by March ­following lobbying efforts by Japan and Australia to convince a reluctant Canada to sign back on to the agreement. The multi-trillion-dollar trade agreement was finalised overnight in Tokyo, resurrecting a deal that was thought to have been killed off when Canada sabotaged negotiations in November by failing to attend a final vote at the APEC conference in Vietnam that would have ratified it. The deal will lock in greater trade access for Australia to ­markets estimated to be worth ­almost $14 trillion.

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Spain's Rafael Nadal reacts against Croatia's Marin Cilic during their men's singles quarter-finals match on day nine of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 23, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Paul Crock / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE --

Rafa’s wrath

Rafael Nadal has accused organisers of the Australian Open for forcing players into a dangerously busy schedule after retiring hurt in the fifth set of his quarter-final last night. After a shock elimination by Martin Cilic, the world No 1 linked the workload players are forced to endure at the Melbourne tournament with the high number of injuries this year. “Somebody who is running the tour should think a little bit about what’s going on,” Nadal said in a post match press conference. “Too many people are getting injured.”

“I don’t know if they have to think a little bit about the health of the players. Not for now that we are playing, but there is life after tennis. I don’t know if we keep playing on these very, very hard surfaces what’s going to happen in the future with our lives.”

Rafael Nadal

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Dr Bella d’Abrera is the director of Foundations of Western Civilisation Program at the Institute of Public Affairs. Picture: Nigel Welch

Australia stay

An overwhelming 70 per cent of Australians do not want the date of Australia Day changed and only 11 per cent believe it should be moved from January 26, according to a new poll. Commissioned by free-market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, the poll of more than 1000 Australians found only 23 per cent of Australians thought councils should stop holding citizenship ceremonies on January 26, and 50 per cent disagreed with the councils that had moved them. Respondents were also asked for their views on Australian history and national pride, with 76 per cent saying they believe Australia has a history to be proud of and 11 per cent disagreeing. Of those surveyed, 87 per cent said they were proud to be Australian and 3 per cent said they were not.

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Schmooze, you lose

When Davos rolls around, deja vu sets in, writes Janet Albrechtsen. There’s the familiar smell of jet fuel as private planes land near the small Alpine town this week. There’s a nice theme: this year it’s “creating a shared future in a fractured world.” And the familiar sound of hobnobbing among global elites, from top CEOs to prime ministers, other political leaders, various intellectuals and even a few monarchs, usually of the Eurotrash variety. Wine glasses will clink inside Davos’s Michelin-star restaurants — Glow, with food by Armin Amrein, is a must — and merriment will drift into late nights at the Postli Club. As usual, celebrities — this year Elton John, Cate Blanchett and Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan — will sprinkle stardust and a certain stream of consciousness on everything from climate change to globalisation.

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Rod Clement Margin Call cartoon for 24-01-18Version: (Original)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.

Cat’s away

Man of the moment Antony “The Cat” Catalano is really taking this family stuff seriously, according to Margin Call. With the shock of Catalano’s departure from the Fairfax-backed property listings business Domain still ricocheting around the market, we hear The Cat, his wife Stefanie and some of his eight children are off to Aspen for a skiing holiday. A good dose of the white stuff sounds like just the thing. Now liberated from Domain (a mere two months into its life on the ASX), there’s no reason to rush back to prepare for the business’s first-half results on February 19. That joy belongs to Nick Falloon, who as of Monday is Domain’s executive chairman, in addition to his role as Fairfax chairman.

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Clement’s view

Rod Clement Letters Cartoon for 24-01-18 Version: (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.