Your noon Briefing

Welcome to your noon digest of what’s been making news and what to watch for.

Hello readers. Here is your noon round-up of today’s top stories so far and a long read for lunchtime.

Germaine Greer

Most rapes ‘just bad sex’

Germaine Greer has dismissed the violence of rape and suggested that the crime should be punishable by 200 hours of community service. She called yesterday for an overhaul of the criminal justice system saying that most rapes did not involve any injury and were “just lazy, just careless, just insensitive”.

“We haven’t been destroyed, we’ve been bloody annoyed, is what we’ve been.

“I reckon 200 hours of community service will do — would do me. I suggested a long time ago that maybe a little tattoo would be a good thing. Maybe an ‘R’ on your hand. I’d prefer it on your cheek.”

Germaine Greer

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Job PD900844: One Nation Senators, Pauline Hanson with NSW senator Brian Burston in the Senate chamber in Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Gary Ramage

‘Sold out’

Pauline Hanson claims One Nation senator Brian Burston had told her he agreed with her policy to block the government’s company tax cuts, despite the senator claiming he was blindsided by the One Nation leader’s announcement she had pulled her support.

Senator Hanson accused Senator Burston of “selling himself out for $55 million,” and said he would not be allowed to vote against party policy on the issue. The Australian revealed this morning Senator Burston has vowed he would vote in favour of tax cuts to big business, contradicting his leader. Keep up with all the latest from parliament as it unfolds in our live blog, PoliticsNow.

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George Brandis meets Queen Elizabeth II.

Handbag code

An apparently bland photograph of George Brandis’ first official meeting with the Queen contains a secret code which shows what Elizabeth II really thinks of Australia’s new High Commissioner to the UK. The position of the Queen’s trademark Launer handbag in the Audience Room signals to her lady-in-waiting whether she is comfortable with the meeting or wants to be rescued immediately.

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(FILES) In a file picture taken on December 13, 2007, North Korea's chief delegate Kim Yong Chol (C) and North Korean soldiers cross the border which divides the two Koreas to attend the inter-Korean general talks at the south side of the truce village of Panmunjom, in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). US President Donald Trump confirmed on May 29, 2018, that a senior North Korean official is headed to New York for talks as preparations for his historic summit with Kim Jong Un gather pace. "Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!" Trump wrote in a tweet, hailing the formation of a "great team" for the talks. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / jo yong-hak

The long read: Stalinist spy or statesman?

The US and North Korea are both striving hard to put the cancelled summit back on the agenda, writes Cameron Stewart, and no one is striving harder than veteran North Korean General Kim Yong-chol, whose rap sheet includes masterminding the attack by a North Kor­ean midget submarine on the South Korean naval corvette Cheonan on March 26, 2010, and being censored by the Obama administration for his role in nuclear proliferation.

FILE - In this May 24, 2018, file photo, People watch a TV screen showing file footage of U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. Kim Yong Chol, a top lieutenant of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is in the United States to conduct one of three sets of parallel talks aimed at salvaging a summit between Kim and President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

Meantime, while North Korea is reportedly stalling over plans to give up its nuclear weapons, Kim Jong-un is willing to make another concession to the US President — opening up a Western hamburger franchise in his isolated kingdom, according to NBC.

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Comment of the day

“One Senator spent his career serving Australia with distinction prior to entering the Senate, the other Senator served his trade union before it arranged a seat for him in the Senate.”

Ian, in reponse to ‘Doug Cameron, Jim Molan clash over ‘flag-wrapping nonsense’.’