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 roundup of today’s top stories and a long read for lunchtime.
No cuts
Pauline Hanson has ruled out supporting Malcolm Turnbull’s big business tax cuts. The One Nation leader said she had made a final decision this morning to vote against it after a conversation with fellow One Nation senator Peter Georgiou. She said would not support a reduction in the tax rate for businesses with a turnover of $50m or more. She said there was no more room for horse trading. Keep up with all the latest events from parliament as they unfold in our live blog, PoliticsNow.
“Let them take it to the next election, let’s see what the people say. We’re standing firm on it, we’re not supporting corporate tax cuts. It is not changing.”
Pauline Hanson
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Council fights back
Queensland’s scandal-plagued Ipswich council has launched legal action to stop the Palaszczuk government proceeding with moves to sack the Labor-dominated local authority. Queensland Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe has used new legal powers to demand the council convince him it should remain in place, or else face being replaced by unelected technocrats.
“Ministerial powers must be exercised lawfully, and this move is to protect Queensland councils into the future by ensuring that, from the outset, these ministerial powers are appropriately applied.”
Ipswich council
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Bricking it
There is an old saying, writes Robert Gottliebsen: “Buy bricks and mortar and you will never go wrong”. Longer term that rule has delivered in major capitals but there can be some very scary experiences along the way. Nothing illustrates that better than a significant part of the Sydney (yes, Sydney!) residential real estate market, which is down around 20 per cent from the peaks of two or three years ago. And the banking royal commission could make things worse, prompting nervous bank staff to second-guess loan decisions and usher in a credit squeeze.
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Finger of God
A raised-fingered salute from Diego Maradona to greet the winning goal from Marcos Rojo just about summed up an extraordinary, raucous evening of drama and salvation for Argentina. Just when the world was willing to pack them off as a desperate rabble, not even Lionel Messi’s genius enough to save them from an early exit, Argentina’s mutineering team managed to save themselves with an “up yours” to those who had been ready to write them off.
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The long read: Trade war’s friendly fire
Few symbols so potently encapsulate American power, wealth, freedom and consumerism, but the Harley-Davidson motorbike soon may symbolise something else entirely: the cost of Donald Trump’s trade war.
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Comment of the day
“A drover’s dog could beat Shorten. Pity the Liberals don’t have one!”
Barry, in response to ‘Shorten’s gambling on a policy leap into the past’.
China’s great wall of silence
China deliberately concealed information about the coronavirus, and now it is fighting an inquiry. So what is Beijing hiding?
Your noon Briefing
Your 2-minute digest of the day’s top stories.