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 and a long read for later.

Australian Greens Leader Richard Di Natale speaks during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Monday, November 6, 2017. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

Greens day

Greens leader Richard Di Natale says changing the date of Australia Day will be one of his top priorities for 2018. Senator Di Natale has told more than 100 Greens councillors across the country that they will have the full support and resources of the federal party if they launch local campaigns to move celebrations from January 26. He said he hoped to build upon the momentum of the Greens-led Yarra and Darebin councils in Melbourne and the Fremantle council in Western Australia, which shifted Australia Day celebrations last year.

“All Australians want a day on which we can come together and to celebrate our wonderfully diverse, open and free society, but January 26 is not that day.”

Senator Richard Di Natale

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Main event of Jacinda Ardern

Aussie Ardern

Both are young, ambitious, popular women — political cleanskins who have reinvigorated their parties ahead of tight elections, hunting down male-led conservative governments. Perhaps it is not so surprising then that New Zealand Labour Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, 37, and Tasmanian Labor Opposition Leader Rebecca White, 34, should strike up a rapport across the Tasman.

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14/1/18: Mother of Labor MP Susan Lamb, Hazel (no last name to be used) answers the door at her home about 150km outside Brisbane. Hazel confirmed that Susan Lamb had not been in contact to obtain a copy of her marriage certificate and as a result the UK Home Office was unable to complete the renunciation because it did not have all necessary documents for Lamb's citizenship status. Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Mum’s word

Federal Labor MP Susan Lamb’s fight to avoid a referral to the High Court has been dealt a blow after her estranged mother yesterday raised doubts about the Queensland backbencher’s efforts to renounce her British citizenship. The first-term MP, the member for the marginal seat of Longman on the northern outskirts of Brisbane, has consistently claimed she took the “reasonable steps’’ required under the Constitution to renounce her British citizenship and remain in parliament.

“She didn’t contact me but I would have definitely helped her.’’

Hazel Lamb

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This combination of 2008 and 2017 photos shows photographers Bruce Weber, left, and Mario Testino. On Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018, The New York Times reported that male models have accused Weber and Testino of unwanted advances and coercion. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, Michael Sohn)

Out of Vogue

The favourite photographer of Diana, Princess of Wales is the latest person to be accused in a sex abuse scandal that is engulfing the modelling world. Mario Testino, who created many of the most iconic photographs of Diana, is accused of sexually exploiting male models, as is his contemporary Bruce Weber. Both have been banned from Vogue and other Conde Nast publications. Testino’s photoshoot with Diana, Princess of Wales made history. The pictures showed a smiling, relaxed Diana in all her captivating beauty, echoing the public’s adoration. Months later, she was dead. But behind those pictures of Diana and others, including Kate Moss, lies an apparently sordid side to Testino which, according to The New York Times, involved sexual exploitation of male models in an industry being exposed for its treatment of young people.

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Donald Trump and the bull of Wall St

Trump bump

The Donald J Trump enigma: No American President in recent US history has so dramatically improved the American economy boosting pay rates, job numbers, retail sales, business investment, profits and, of course, the share market. It’s an astounding transformation that will create a tidal wave of repercussions around the world, writes Robert Gottliebsen.

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ANU student Vanamali Hermans (19yrs) at home in Canberra.Mali's mother Julie Hermans is 51yo and has spent the past year in a hospital in northern NSW, unable to leave because the NDIS will not fund her any accommodation. The mother suffered a rare disease in 2016 which left her a quadriplegic. After an initial period in hospital at Murwillumbah she has been unable to be discharged because the NDIS will not fund accommodation unless she can secure accommodation with a provider but a provider will not bring her on unless she has funding. Nightmare scenario for Mali, who is 19yo and studying sociology at A NU in Canberra.Picture Gary Ramage

The long read: System of a down

Every day Mali Hermans, 19, phones her mother in hospital — where she has been stuck in ­“purgatory” for more than 15 months — and the conversation almost ­always ends with a plea to “get me out of here.” The case of 51-year-old Julie Hermans, who contracted the rare neurological condition Atypical Guillain-Barre Syndrome in October 2016, has swiftly become a ­potent and very human example of what happens at the murky ­intersection of the $22 billion ­National Disability Insurance Scheme and other programs. Rick Morton shines a light on a broken system.

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Australian Open Tennis. Qualifying. Bernard Tomic vs Lorenzo Sonego on Court 8. Bernard Tomic during his 3 set loss today .Pic: Michael Klein

Jungle rumbles

Now entrenched in the tennis wilderness after failing to qualify for the Australian Open, it seems likely Bernard Tomic’s next public appearance will be the jungle in a questionable career move. If locker room scuttlebutt is accurate, the 25-year-old will appear in a reality show in South Africa in coming weeks on the Ten Network. In our live Australian Open blog, Courtney Walsh suggests only four men can beat Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and an Aussie is one of them.

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Comment of the day

“Is this the political future now? Vacuous inexperienced children who win votes not for their policies but because they are nice people?”

Shane, in response to ‘Would-be Ardern of Aussie politics Rebecca White finds kindred spirit in Kiwi PM’.

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Johannes Leak’s view

Johannes Leak Letters page cartoon for 15/01/2018Version: (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.