Your noon Briefing: ALP franking fears to spark payout flood

Your 2-minute digest of the day’s top stories and a long read for lunchtime.

Hello readers. The trickle of investment companies looking to avoid Labor’s franking credit changes has become a flood, and Bill Shorten is accused of running a boys’ club by the new ACTU chief.

Shadow Treasurer, Chris Bowen holding a doorstop to discuss the release of the final Productivity Report into superannuation, at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

Dive for dividends

The trickle of listed investment companies paying special dividends to shareholders to beat Labor’s franking credit changes is threatening to become a flood. Following in the footsteps of companies like Australian Foundation Investment Co, the $1.1 billion Brickworks Investment Company issued a surprise dividend on Wednesday morning and vowing to pay another one later this year.

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Former Labor MP and first female ACTU president, Jennie George. SUPPLIED

Bill’s boys’ club

The first female president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions has labelled Bill Shorten’s Victorian Right faction a “boys’ club” that has junked its commitment to affirmative action for women in the Labor Party. Jennie George, who was a federal Labor MP from 2001 to 2010, said it was “ironic” the Opposition Leader lauded the Labor Party’s female representation when his faction was “the worst offender in promoting women to the House of Representatives”.

“Since Bill Shorten took over as Leader of the Opposition not one new woman has been elected as a federal MP from the Victorian Right.”

Jennie George

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01/05/2018: Warren Mundine for The Deal magazine.Pic by James Croucher

Nats may run

The Nationals are considering running against the Liberals in the NSW seat of Gilmore, in a move that could take further votes away from Scott Morrison’s hand-picked candidate Warren Mundine. NSW Nationals state director Ross Cadell said the party was considering running.

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FIEL - In this March 1, 2018, file photo, ailing radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, center, arrives for medical treatment at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia. A lawyer for the ailing radical cleric who inspired the Bali bombers said Friday, Jan. 18, 2019, the Indonesian government will release him from prison next week. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)

The long read: Bashir backlash

Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s pardon for the extremist cleric dismays all sides. Amanda Hodge and Nivell Rayda have the story.

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Comment of the day

“I love how Janet highlights that we cannot really schedule quality time with our kids, it happens somewhere in the quantity time. So many parents miss this important fact.

“Another very important point she makes is that many women who label themselves as feminists, do not care one iota about women or women’s choices.”

Sally, in response to ‘Feminists should learn from John Howard: it’s a matter of personal choice’