Your noon Briefing
Welcome to your noon roundup of what’s making news and how the day has played out so far.
Hello readers. Here is your noon digest of what’s making news today plus a long read for lunchtime.
Labor’s next top model
Treasurer Scott Morrison has dismissed Labor’s calls for independent economic modelling by the Productivity Commission into the new trans-Pacific partnership trade deal. Independent international modelling published in The Australian today has shown Australia stands to reap an increase of up to 1 per cent of GDP from the deal, struck between 11 Pacific Rim countries on Tuesday in Davos, Switzerland. Opposition trade spokesman Jason Clare has repeatedly refused to say whether Labor will support the passage of legislation relating to the TPP, calling for Productivity Commission modelling and citing union concerns over labour market testing as a key sticking point. Labor leader Bill Shorten is yet to comment on the new deal.
“This is economic common sense. I mean you don’t need modelling to prove economic common sense. I mean our instincts on these issues I think are very clear. Labor’s instincts are all over the shop. They don’t have economic instincts.”
Scott Morrison
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Justine’s jury
The troubled investigation into the shooting death of Australian Justine Ruszczyk by a US policeman has taken another twist with a grand jury to be convened to gather evidence in the case. The move shows that authorities are still struggling to make a prosecution case against policeman Mohamed Noor who shot the 40 year old dead as she approached his police car in her pyjamas in Minneapolis last July. Grand jury investigations traditionally favour accused police officers but the family’s lawyers have still welcomed the move in the hope it sparks a breakthrough in the case.
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Roos’ Dutch treat
The Socceroos have a new coach after Dutchman Bert van Marwijk was signed to take Australia to the World Cup. Football Federation Australia made the announcement today that van Marwijk will lead Australia at football’s showpiece in Russia, in June-July. He will replace Ange Postecoglou, who resigned in November after qualifying the Socceroos for the finals. Van Marwijk coached Saudi Arabia during the Asian World Cup qualifiers, helping them to qualify automatically at the expense of Australia, who finished third in the group and advanced only after glowing through sudden death qualifiers against Syria and Honduras.
The 55-year-old Dutchman was favourite for the position despite a number of high-profile candidates being mentioned, including Roberto Mancini, Louis van Gaal, Slaven Bilic and Jurgen Klinsmann.
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Doping probe
Frenchwoman Alize Cornet faces a disciplinary investigation after missing three random drug tests, the French tennis federation (FFT) has announced, AFP reports. The FFT said they had been informed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) that 27-year-old Cornet, ranked 42 in the world, had missed the tests in a 12-month period and would not be considered for Fed Cup duty while the inquiry was ongoing. However, she insisted that the ITF “didn’t want to hear” her reasons for the missed tests. Keep up with all the action in our Australian Open live blog, with the women’s semi-finals being played this afternoon, while Kyle Edmund will play the biggest match of his career against Marin Cilic tonight.
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The long read: One small first step
The enthralling reimagining of the birth of our nation by Trent Dalton and Eric Lobbecke continues. In part five of First Fleet: A Graphic Journal, confronted by the limitations of Botany Bay, the First Fleet leader rows north and discovers a body of water beyond his dreams.
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Comment of the day
“Nothing less than tough, zero-tolerance policing, mandatory minimum sentencing and deportation of offenders who commit serious offences will solve the problem.”
Angela, in response to ‘Residents’ safety fears rising as crime wave engulfs Melbourne’.