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 digest of today’s top stories.

(FILES) In this file photo taken on October 21, 2016, the guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur (DDG 73) operates in the South China Sea as part of the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG). - An American warship has sailed through waters off the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, in the latest implicit challenge to Beijing's sweeping territorial claims in the region, the Pentagon said Sunday, September 30, 2018. "Guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur conducted a freedom of navigation operation," an official told AFP. "Decatur sailed within 12 nautical miles of Gaven and Johnson reefs in the Spratly Islands." The official said all US military operations in the area "are designed in accordance with international law and demonstrate that the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows." The 12-mile distance is commonly accepted as constituting the territorial waters of a landmass.  Beijing claims all of the Spratly chain. There was no immediate reaction from China, but a similar US operation in July, involving the disputed Paracel islands, prompted a furious Beijing to deploy military vessels and fighter jets. (Photo by Petty Officer 2ndClass Diana QUINLAN / Navy Media Content Operations (N / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / US NAVY/Petty Officer 2nd Class Diana Quinlan" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

China’s high seas game of ‘chicken’

A Chinese warship sailed within metres of an American destroyer — forcing it to change course — in an “unsafe and unprofessional” encounter as the US vessel was in contested waters in the South China Sea, an official said. The USS Decatur guided-missile destroyer was conducting what the military calls a “freedom of navigation operation”, when it passed within 12 nautical miles of Gaven and Johnson reefs in the remote Spratly Islands. The 12-mile distance is commonly accepted as constituting the territorial waters of a landmass.

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jANET aLBRECHETSEN ON kIRSTEN fERGUSON.

‘My biggest ABC board regret’

In 2015 I played a part in recommending Kirstin Ferguson for the ABC board, something that I came to regret very quickly, writes Janet Albrechtsen.

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Julia Gillard and John Howard are the "gold standard'' of how to conduct yourself after losing the Prime Ministership.

How ex-PMs should behave

Julia Gillard and John Howard are no “miserable ghosts” but rather have set the gold standard for how former PMs should behave, according to Liberal backbencher Michael Sukkar.

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This undated photo of Julie Swetnick was released by her attorney Michael Avenatti via Twitter, Wednesday, Sept. 26. 2018. Swetnick is one of the women who has publicly accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. (Michael Avenatti via AP)

Accuser’s legal history

Julie Swetnick, the third women to publicly accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, has an extensive history of involvement in legal disputes, including a lawsuit in which a former employer accused her of falsifying her college and work history on her job application.

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Comment of the day

“The ABC is at present similar to an organisation that should go into voluntary administration. Financially it cannot managed its budget, and morally it is bankrupt. The best option by the government is to sack its board, sack the interim CEO and appoint an administrator for the next twelve months. Someone like Kenneth Hayne or another Justice who has no other purpose but to completely overhaul the ABC.”

Fred, in response to ‘Fan-girl Ferguson would be a poor fit to chair ABC’.