Your noon Briefing: Gichuhi takes bullying fight to PM

Welcome to your noon digest of what’s been making news and what to watch for.

Hello readers. Here is your noon roundup of today’s top stories and a long read for lunchtime.

Liberal Senator Lucy Gichuhi reacts during debate in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra, Monday, September 10, 2018. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

Gichuhi takes bullying fight to PM

Liberal senator Lucy Gichuhi says she has raised concerns about bullying in the Liberal Party with Scott Morrison. She said the Prime Minister has taken the issue seriously. Keep up with the latest from parliament in our live blog, PoliticsNow.

“Regarding bullying in my political career: yesterday I had a discussion with Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The Prime Minister has taken up the issue.”

Senator Lucy Gichuhi

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Senior counsel assisting the financial services royal commission Rowena Orr QC. Picture: Supplied

Exploiting the vulnerable

The banking royal commission has heard of insurance sold over the phone to a man with an obvious intellectual disability. Keep up with all the latest in our live banking inquiry blog.

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Mark Knight cartoon for 10 Sept, 2018 Herald Sun.

Mark Knight under fire

A cartoon by the Herald Sun’s Mark Knight depicting Serena Williams’s US Open meltdown has sparked outrage, amid claims it’s racist and sexist. Knight was forced to defend his portrayal of Williams, which shows her jumping up and down on a tennis racquet, with a baby’s dummy nearby. It followed the 23-time grand slam champion’s controversial, ill-tempered defeat in Sunday’s final. The cartoon drew condemnation from Twitter users ranging from Harry Potter author JK Rowling, Australian NBA star Ben Simmons and Yassmin Abdel-Magied.

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Gunns rd reserve, Hallam, robbery

Walking-track robberies

Police are searching for a teenager accused of robbing several women at knifepoint on a popular walking-track in Melbourne’s south east. It is believed that the young offender threatened the women on four separate occasions, between August 5 and August 29, in Hallam.

“The teenager involved in all incidents is perceived as African in appearance, about 15-year-old with a skinny build and short dark hair. On each occasion it is believed the same offender has approached a number of women who were on the walking-track on Gunns Road Reserve, threatening them with a knife and demanding they hand over their possessions.”

Victoria Police spokesman

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Scott Morrison, the new PM, and Sally McManus.

The long read: Unions go corporate

Leading Australia’s union movement, Sally McManus rails against profits and power concentrated in the hands of few, writes Brad Norington. She speaks the language of an activist-style ACTU secretary, saying she wants to change the rules with laws that would swing the balance back to workers and the unions that represent them. She even has advocated “breaking” laws judged bad ones. But here lies the contradiction, or a fundamental disconnect with the working people McManus and the union movement claim to represent, according to John Slater of the Menzies Research Centre.

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Comment of the day

“Serena may be a champion tennis player but that doesn’t excuse her behaviour in the US Open final which was simply deplorable. She took it too far and was rightly penalised. Mark Knight’s cartoon captures the mood and intent perfectly.”

Michael, in response to ‘Serena Williams cartoon: Herald Sun cartoonist Mark Knight under fire’.