Your noon Briefing: Win or lose, Shorten is safe, says Swan
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.
‘Win or lose, Bill’s OK’
Incoming Labor national president Wayne Swan says there will be absolutely no implications for Bill Shorten’s leadership if Labor bucks the historical trend and loses seats in tomorrow’s Super Saturday by-election contest. Mr Swan’s comments come as Mr Shorten’s former leadership rival Anthony Albanese this morning failed to rule out ousting the Labor leader if his party asks him to take charge, and Mr Shorten’s office confirmed that he would not be making any appearances in by-election seats today, but would be doing radio interviews.
“Longman has only been held once for Labor in the last 22 years, prior to (Labor candidate) Susan (Lamb) winning the seat, and of course Braddon has gone backwards and forwards like a yoyo over a 20 year period, so tough seats for Labor.”
Wayne Swan
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Packer’s death threat
Kerry Packer may not be the only Australian who has wanted to stop the flow of breath from Malcolm Turnbull’s mouth, but he is probably the richest businessman to deliver the threat. As a much younger man and working in business, the Prime Minister found himself a vital organ in the body of work performed by the Packer empire as it sought to take over Fairfax in 1991. Turnbull was close to Packer when the billionaire businessman was part of a consortium trying to buy the relentlessly troubled media company as the wheels were falling off the empire.
“Kerry got a bit out of control at that time. He told me he’d kill me, yeah. I didn’t think he was completely serious, but I didn’t think he was entirely joking either. Look, he could be pretty scary.”
Malcolm Turnbull
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Banking bust
The banking boom of the last 20 years is one of the biggest booms Australia has ever seen, writes Robert Gottliebsen. On average over almost two decades revenue has grown by eight per cent, profits have soared and the high dividends have insulated a great many Australian savers from the effects of low interest rates. But leading global management consulting firm ATKearney has undertaken a detailed review of Australian banking prospects and says the five banks won’t be in the top 10 ASX stocks within the next two-to-five years.
“The golden age of banking is ending, profit growth ahead is going to be tough as easy profits are eroding.”
ATKearney
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Gone girl
Her website is known for peddling dubious new-age therapies, but when Gwyneth Paltrow tried to extend her empire into the offline world things did not go so well. The print magazine of the American actress’s Goop lifestyle brand was shut down after its publisher, Conde Nast, insisted on fact-checking the health claims made by alternative healers.
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The long read: Just a whimper in the end
The disappearance of the hallowed Fairfax name after 177 years is a gripping story of mismanagement, lack of awareness and hubris, writes Mark Day.
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Comment of the day
“Waleed Aly is some piece of work. If any of his guests dared to generalise about a life situation of other people from a position of protected privilege he would tear shreds off them ... the smug hypocrisy of this man knows no bounds.”
Read Mark’s full comment, also comment of the week, in response to The Mocker’s latest column on Victorian gangs in today’s Readers’ Comments column.
China’s great wall of silence
China deliberately concealed information about the coronavirus, and now it is fighting an inquiry. So what is Beijing hiding?
Your noon Briefing
Your 2-minute digest of the day’s top stories.