Your morning Briefing

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

Hello readers, and happy New Year. Here is your two-minute digest of what’s making news today.

Rocks thrown at police at a party that has got out of hand at an AirBnB at Attunga Grove Werribee . Picture: Nicole Garmston

‘Smash the gangs’

Victorian federal cabinet ministers are urging the Prime Minister to intervene in the state’s youth crime crisis, expressing to him growing frustration over the ­Andrews government’s management of law and order following a spree of violent incidents involving African gangs. At least a dozen Victorian-based federal MPs, including the cabinet ministers, have ­approached the Prime Minister in recent months to discuss what they believe has ­become “the No 1” issue affecting the state.

“NSW, Queensland and other states don’t have this problem. Premier ­Andrews has lost control of law and order in Victoria and he needs to clean it up.”

Peter Dutton

-

Terrigal New Years Eve fireworks turn horribly wrong as barge lights on fire. Picture: Twitter

Fireworks barge explodes

Thousands of New Year’s Eve revellers were last night evacuated from a beach on the NSW Central Coast after a barge packed with fireworks caught fire. Crowds of people gathered on Terrigal beach just before the 9pm fireworks display and began cheering and filming when the first of the fireworks show commenced. Two pyrotechnicians were forced to jump overboard to escape the disastrous fireworks display.

-

Charlie Pickering arrives on the red carpet for the 2017 Logies at Crown Casino on Sunday, April 23, 2017, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Picture: Hamish Blair

Pickering’s slip of the tongue

Charlie Pickering had an awkward moment during the final seconds of 2017, after trying to crack a joke about NYE revellers kissing police officers.

-

Venice, Italy, 14th October 1971, Photographer Lord Snowdon, husband of Princess Margaret, pictured at work in Venice (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

The long read: Lord Snowdon behind the lens

Antony Armstrong-Jones lived not a double life, but perhaps parallel lives, writes A.A. Gill. The coolness, the manners, the archness that made him such a clever portraitist were also a protection against the Establishment, a life he could have been swallowed up by.

-

An utterly superb performance was capped when Australia’s golden girl Sam Kerr controlled Tameka Butt’s cross superbly on her chest, muscling past a couple of defenders before firing it in with her left foot to make it 6-1.Matildas V Brazil - matildas football australia

Sam I am

US two-times football World Cup winner Abby Wambach has come to the defence of rising Aussie star Sam Kerr after she was overlooked for the World Player of the Year shortlist. It was a ringing endorsement of Kerr who in the past year has become not only the highest-profile player in the Matildas, the national women’s soccer team, but has made the leap — or in her case backflip — into mainstream sporting stardom.

-

Comment of the day

“So collectively we’ll blow upwards of $20m up in smoke. Probably build a few small bush hospitals or new school buildings with that sort of money.”

Peter, in response to ‘Fireworks light up Australia’.

-

Johannes Leak’s view

Johannes Leak Letters Cartoon for 01-01-18Version: (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.