Your noon Briefing

Welcome to your noon roundup of how the day has played out so far and what to watch for.

Hello readers. Here is your noon digest of what’s making news and a long read for lunchtime.

A mural of Bill Shorten is seen along High St, in the Melbourne suburb Preston, which is located in the federal electorate of Batman. Monday, 26 February, 2018. (AAP Image/Luis Enrique Ascui) NO ARCHIVING

Shorten’s coal contortions

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says Bill Shorten is “anti-mining” and “anti-Queensland” after revelations he told millionaire environmentalist Geoff Cousins he would probably revoke the Adani licence if Labor won power. Senator Hanson said the Opposition Leader told her last year he was pro-coal.

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg says the Adani coalmine has been through extensive environmental approvals and Bill Shorten had no proof its licence should be revoked. Keep up with all the latest direct from parliament in our live blog, PoliticsNow.

“Bill Shorten will stop at nothing to keep the Greens preference deal alive, even if it means killing off up to 10,000 indirect and direct jobs for Central and North Queensland towns.”

Pauline Hanson

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MEDLEY, FL - MAY 22: A deployed airbag is seen in a 2001 Honda Accord at the LKQ Pick Your Part salvage yard on May 22, 2015 in Medley, Florida. The largest automotive recall in history centers around the defective Takata Corp. air bags that are found in millions of vehicles that are manufactured by BMW, Chrysler, Daimler Trucks, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Total recall

The federal government is taking the unusual step of ordering a national recall of nearly four million cars fitted with deadly Takata airbags because it’s unhappy with the industry response. It is one of the largest and most significant product recalls in Australia’s history and follows voluntary recalls by car makers last year.

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Police at the scene of a home invasion in Albion. Masked thugs have threatened a woman with a knife as she slept in a bedroom with a child at Albion. Tuesday, February 27. 2018. Picture: David Crosling

Home invasions

A 96-year-old woman is among victims targeted in a string of home invasions across Melbourne last night. At least four properties in Skye, Bayswater, Brighton and St Albans were robbed in the latest chapter of a violent crime spree gripping the city. In St Albans, in Melbourne’s northwestern suburbs, a 96-year-old woman was terrorised by a man who broke into her home around 4am and demanded cash and valuables.

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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 27: Jarryd Hayne speaks to the media during the Parramatta Eels NRL media day at the Old Saleyards Reserve on February 27, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Homesick Hayne

The most polarising and enigmatic figure in the NRL has taken a $700,000 pay cut to end the loneliness, writes Will Swanton. “I don’t think there’s many people in the country who’d be willing to sacrifice 700K,” Parramatta Eels captain Tim Mannah said ahead of Jarryd Hayne’s comeback in next week’s opening round of the NRL. “It says a lot about how genuine he is, how authentic he is about coming home and how much it means to him. I feel like everyone is pretty quick to judge him and he’s a target at times, but people quickly brush over the sacrifice he’s made to come back here.”

“I just wanted to be back here. I wasn’t sure if there was going to be an opportunity. I was fortunate enough that there was.”

Jarryd Hayne

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BEIJING, CHINA - AUGUST 28: A Chinese shopkeeper sells items including plates showing Chairman Mao and current president Xi Jinping and others at her stall in a market at a shopping district on August 28, 2015 in Beijing, China. China's government is relying on domestic consumption and services to sustain economic growth amid a slowdown in manufacturing and exports. Concerns about cracks in the world's second largest economy triggered a dramatic sell-off on global stock markets. China's government intervened to stop the rout by pumping billons of dollars in liquidity into its markets, cracking down on institutional selling and cutting interest rates for the fifth time in less than a year. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

The long read: Perils of emperor Xi

Xi Jinping has been widely dubbed China’s emperor, following news that the constitution will be changed to remove the limit of two five-year terms for presidents and vice-presidents, writes Rowan Callick. But in truth his pervasive powers — whose essence comes from being general secretary of the Communist Party of China, with his second crucial role as chairman of the central military commission — already exceed considerably those of China’s historic emperors.

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Comment of the day

“Millions spent investigating flirtatious texts? No wonder there’s still a budget black hole.”

Geoffrey, in response to ‘Border chief Roman Quaedvlieg’s ‘salacious’ texts in custody of probe’.