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.

Justice Party Senator Derryn Hinch in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, March 22, 2018. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING

PM ‘no’ to Hinch

Malcolm Turnbull says there would be too many complexities added to the tax system if the government adopted a proposal from Victorian senator Derryn Hinch to exempt the major banks from a business tax cut. The Prime Minister said the government was “working on” securing enough crossbench support to pass its enterprise tax plan but warned Senator Hinch’s proposal would not be adopted.

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A screen at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) displays losses in early trading in Sydney on February 6, 2018. Australian stocks slumped 2.58 percent at the open on February 6 as they followed the lead of Wall Street which endured a brutal session with one of its steepest ever one-day point drops. / AFP PHOTO / SAEED KHAN

Fight to finish

China will “fight to the end” in a trade war initiated by Washington, the Chinese embassy in Washington has declared. In a strongly worded statement, the embassy said it was “strongly disappointed” in Donald Trump’s decision to slap $US60bn ($AUD77bn) of new tariffs on Bejing, and would not recoil from a trade war. The ASX has plunged on trade war fears, with about $30bn wiped off the value of local stocks.

“If a trade war were initiated by the US, China would fight to the end to defend its own legitimate interests with all necessary measures.”

Chinese embassy

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8.3.2018.Jo Dyer is the 2019 AWW director , pictured at the Palais on Karrawirra Parri,Adelaide. PIC: TAIT SCHMAAL. EMBARGOED TILL 12am.

Hair Dyer

There are growing calls for Adelaide Festival chief Rob Brookman to review the appointment of ­Sydney-based Writers Week director Jo Dyer over her expletive-laden Facebook spray at the new Liberal government in South ­Australia. Premier and Arts Minister ­Steven Marshall said the relationship with the arts community had not got off to a great start. “I’ve never met Jo Dyer,” he said. “I’ve got far, far, far more important things to get on with in this state at the moment than worry about what Jo Dyer thinks about the Liberal Party.”

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Wounded Australian troops evacuated from New Guinea 1942 by Qantas. Picture courtesy of Qantas Heritage Collection

The long read: Leap to London

Tomorrow, a new Qantas Boeing 787 Dreamliner named Great Southern Land will lift off from Perth airport and set course for London, nonstop. This will be ­another record-breaking flight by Qantas — nearly 15,000km, taking 17 hours and 20 minutes. It’s a remarkable demonstration of how the aviation industry has progressed in the past 75 years. Tomorrow’s flight will be three times longer than the pioneering Perth-Ceylon Catalina flight, flown 4½ times faster in two-thirds of the time it initially took.

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Comment of the day

“Here is the campaign slogan for the next election. ‘Labor steals grandmothers’ tax refund to favour union controlled superannuation funds’.”

Mauro, in response to ‘10 facts about Labor’s tax grab’. And find out what our readers had to say this week on Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ ‘rorts for votes’, an infamous Uber ride, South African farmers and Yassmin’s free speech award in the Readers’ Comments column.