Your noon Briefing
Hello readers. Here’s the latest on the day Ange said goodbye to the World Cup-bound Socceroos plus a long read for lunchtime.
Hello readers. Here’s your digest of how the day has played out so far and a long read for lunchtime.
Exit stage left for tearful Ange
A tearful Ange Postecoglou has sensationally quit his post as Socceroos coach after getting the team to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. “After a great deal of thought and soul searching I have decided the journey for me ends as Socceroos coach,” Postecoglou said. “I have said many times it has been the greatest privilege of my life and it’s probably not the end I envisaged when we started, but at the same time I know it is the right time for me and the right decision.
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NXT senator has citizenship doubts
Nick Xenophon Team senator Sky Kakoschke-Moore has concerns about her eligibility to sit in parliament. Senator Kakoschke-Moore will hold a press conference at 12pm Adelaide time and read from a statement outlining her concerns about potentially holding dual citizenship. Her office confirmed there were concerns about potential dual citizenship but would not elaborate.
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Parliament delay ‘good housekeeping’
Malcolm Turnbull has responded to Tony Abbott’s criticism of his decision to delay next week’s sitting of the House of Representatives, saying the move is simply “good housekeeping”. The former Prime Minister last night declared that he would not have made the same decision, decrying the current period in parliament as an “era of toxic egos”.
“We might not always want to go back to parliament, but you always have to go back to parliament because that’s your job.”
Malcolm Turnbull, to Sky News host Peta Credlin
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Kim binges on purges
One of Kim Jong-un’s top aides has been purged in a power struggle between civilian party chiefs and the Korean People’s Army. Hwang Pyong-so, head of the army’s powerful General Political Bureau, and his deputy have been punished for an “impure attitude” toward the ruling Korean Workers’ Party, according to South Korea’s spy agency. If the sackings are confirmed they will represent the latest in a purge of senior officials by the North Korean leader.
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The long read: How the AFP was born
A plebiscite, an embattled PM, a howling mob. Ring any bells? Andrew Kidd Fraser delves into the confluence of events a century ago that led to the formation of the Australian Federal Police.
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Comment of the day
“An idealist fighting against those with funding. I wish him well. Like Bill Leak — the martyr of free speech.”
PTP, in response to Environment Editor Graham Lloyd’s story on the outspoken James Cook University professor who has gone to court to defend his criticism of Great Barrier Reef science.
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She’s lost control again
The burqa is not a religious garment. It is not a requirement of Islam. Muslim women do not have to be covered head to hand to toe, not according to the Koran. It has nothing to do with religious freedom, writes Caroline Overington — it is used as a tool of shame, and of control.