Your noon Briefing: More strife for Labor over Israel comments

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

Hello readers. Labor hit with new furore over MP’s Israel comments, and why the Nats say Kerryn Phelps should drop her reelection bid.

Labor backbench MP Josh Wilson reacts during House of Representatives Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, February 14, 2019. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

More Labor Israel strife

Days after the party’s Curtin candidate was forced to quit, a video has emerged of a Labor MP making controversial remarks. Fremantle MP Josh Wilson is reported to have told a meeting of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network that Israel checkpoints “are places that you go to and you die”. Keep up with the latest on the campaign trail in our live blog, PoliticsNow

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Kerryn Phelps, at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

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Phelps ‘should quit’

Barnaby Joyce has called on independent NSW MP Kerryn Phelps to drop her bid for re-election after the revelation she has continued to treat patients as a general practitioner. The NSW Nationals MP claimed Dr Phelps was in breach of section 44 of the Constitution, which holds that individuals are ineligible to sit as MPs if they receive financial benefits under an agreement with the federal government.

“Are your patients claiming Medicare? The answer is ‘yes’. Is Medicare from the government? Yes it is. It may be a pain in the neck, but it’s the law.”

Barnaby Joyce

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Israel Folau vs Rugby Australia's Raelene Castle

Battlefield tears rugby apart

At the end of this astonishing imbroglio, there will be only one person still standing, Israel Folau or Raelene Castle, writes Wayne Smith.

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Chris Brooks (left) father of Carly Marriott (third from left), Carly's husband Tom Marriott (second from right) and their daughters 2 year old Kate Marriott (second from left) and 1 year old Jemima Marriott (right) from Boomanoomana, NSW at their property on the boundary of the Mulwala Canal part of the Murray Irrigation district. Picture: Simon Dallinger

The long read: Thirsty soil, hard politics

Farmers cry “dry’’ but may lack the clout to change the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Ean Higgins reports.