Your noon Briefing

Hello readers. Here’s the latest on how this Thursday is playing out and a long read for lunchtime.

Hello readers. Here’s the latest on how this Thursday is playing out and a long read for lunchtime.

Senator Dean Smith speaking on the Marriage equality bill in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

Smith conjures Gorton’s ghost as Senate debates SSM bill

Senator Dean Smith, speaking on the marriage equality bill, has told the Senate same-sex marriage reflects the deepest conservative and liberal ideas. “Liberal because it advances the sum of freedoms and conservative because it nurtures our families, affirms a vital institution and strengthens the social fabric which is the sum of all of our human relationships,” he says. “Today I think of John Gorton, the only Prime Minister to come from the Senate, and who 44 years ago moved a motion calling for the decriminalisation of homosexuality. Malcolm Turnbull, meanwhile, says parliament can extend past its scheduled final sitting day of December 7 to ensure it passes same-sex marriage before Christmas. Keep up with all the latest developments as they happen in our live blog, PoliticsNow.

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Job PD863637. The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with Senator Mathias Cormann during a press conference speaking about the results of the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Gary Ramage

Say it loud and proud: Mal rules on SSM

Okay, so why is nobody saying the obvious this morning? The success of the same-sex marriage survey is a giant victory for Malcolm Turnbull, writes Caroline Overington. He has actually won one. His opponents, left and right, don’t like it, but it’s true. Everyone mocked a national survey on the issue. Except Turnbull. He stuck at it. Shorten? A wrecker, then he danced the polka.

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New Senator Andrew Bartlett after being sworn-in, in the Senate Chamber, Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

New citizenship doubt for Greens

The Greens have sought fresh legal advice over the eligibility of one of its newest senators Andrew Bartlett to sit in parliament following a landmark High Court ruling yesterday that created a new constitutional headache. Mr Bartlett was a researcher at the Australian National University when he nominated for the 2016 election, which constitutional lawyers say could put him in breach of the Constitution. They acknowledge it is a “grey area” that has never been tested.

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U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a speech for the U.S. troops at the U.S. Yokota Air Base, on the outskirts of Tokyo, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017. President Trump arrived in Japan Sunday on a five-nation trip to Asia, his second extended foreign trip since taking office and his first to Asia. The trip will take him to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and Philippines for summits of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Lunchtime long read: Trump’s Asian takeaway

Donald Trump’s loudest critics have been confounded, writes Rowan Callick. The US President did not embarrass himself, his office or his country during his tour of Asia — the longest since George HW Bush’s visit 25 years ago. However, that is the best that can be said. The bar was set low.

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Comment of the day

“Will the standing joke ... ‘You used to go to Rhodesia to see the Zimbabwe ruins, now you go to Zimbabwe to see the Rhodesia ruins’ become obsolete?”

Larry, on the coup that has overthrown Robert Mugabe.