Your noon Briefing: Coalition shelves ‘big stick’ bill

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

Hello readers. The Coalition has shelved its big stick power bill, and the era of El Chapo is finally at an end.

Workers from Endeavour Energy repairing a high-voltage power line that fell over multiple streets and properties around Aquilina Drive at Plumpton. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Big stick bill shelved

Under the threat of defeat, the Coalition will take its policy of divestment powers for power industry players to the election.

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Leanne McLean the new Commissioner for Children at the firearms committee first hearing at parliament house. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

‘Protect kids’

Tasmania’s children’s commissioner has intervened in the debate, urging for safeguards before kids can change their official sex.

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Australian Opposition Leader Bill Shorten delivers his response to the Closing the Gap report in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, February 14, 2019. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

Shorten unfazed

Bill Shorten says he isn’t worried the next election will be a re-run of the 2001 poll, after backing the medivac law. Peter Van Onselen suggests that Scott Morrison has turned a tactical parliamentary defeat into a strategic advantage. Politically speaking, Labor can’t win on border

protection. Keep up with the latest from parliament in our live blog, PoliticsNow.

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In this Jan. 19, 2017 photo provided by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, authorities escort Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, center, from a plane to a waiting caravan of SUVs at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, N.Y. The notorious Mexican drug lord was convicted of drug-trafficking charges, Tuesday, Feb. 12 2019, in federal court in New York. (United States Drug Enforcement Administration via AP, File)

The long read: No escape for El Chapo

Joaquin Guzman’s life of defying the authorities and ruling over a deadly drug cartel is surely at an end.

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Comment of the day

“Last night on the ABC’s 7.30, Labor’s shadow immigration minister, Shayne Neumann was already blaming Scott Morrison for any future boat arrivals AND refused to disclose if he was warned by ASIO or border protection authorities about how the Medivac bill would affect the likelihood of more boat arrivals.

“Labor is already playing the blame game, can you believe it. They are a disgrace!”

Stephen, in response to ‘Medivac forms already signed for 300 refugees’.