Your noon Briefing

Welcome to your noon roundup of how the day has played out so far and what to watch for.

Hello readers. Here is your noon digest of what’s making news and a long read for lunchtime.

08/12/2017: MUA members arrive as Union members join together with the MUA to protest outside Victoria International Container Terminal in Melbourne. Stuart McEvoy for The Australian.

Super-union

The Fair Work Commission has approved the merger of the nation’s two most militant unions, the construction and maritime unions, into a 144,000-member super union. But employers said they would take court action to try to overturn approval of the merger between the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the Maritime Union of Australia.

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Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Wednesday, February 28, 2018. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING

‘Lost the plot’

A Labor frontbencher says Bill Shorten has “lost the plot”, after the Opposition Leader yesterday hardened the party’s stance on the Adani mine, saying he does not support it. Labor’s position had previously been that the mine would need to stack up economically without government intervention. Troy Bramston, meantime, examines Labor research that shows most voters don’t like or trust Bill Shorten.

“Lost the plot ... off the reservation ... on a frolic of his own against the party position.”

Labor frontbencher on Shorten’s latest Adani stance

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Linda Burney and Pat Dodson at Shadow Ministry meeting at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

Under rug swept

It is gut-wrenching to picture a grown man raping a two-year-old, but for many it seems easier to ­ignore it than to be enraged, writes Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who argues that convenient distractions cover up the blight of sex crimes in Aboriginal communities.

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Frances McDormand and Meryl Streep.

Easy riders

“Inclusion rider.” When Frances McDormand won the Oscar for best actress yesterday, writes Jennifer Oriel, she rapped about women having stories to tell and being hooligans and anarchists who clean up well. Despite first impressions, inclusion rider is not politically correct porn or a slow train to a re-education camp. It’s a contractual rider that actors with a messiah complex insert to demand gender and race diversity on set.

“It’s the kind of requirement that killed off Star Wars and Ghostbusters, as politically correct casting gave us charisma-free viewing.”

Jennifer Oriel

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Sydney barrister Sandy Street SC.

The long read: Meet Sandy Street

It’s standing room only when Judge Sandy Street is presiding. Nicola Berkovic meets the descendant of the closest there is to NSW legal royalty. His father, Sir Laurence Street, was NSW chief justice, as was his grandfather and great-grandfather. Judge Street, who has a habit of standing at the bench, has quickly become a controversial figure in the Federal Circuit Court.

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Comment of the day

“Barnaby Joyce and Alan Joyce ... Australians all let us all de-Joyce.”

Roger, in response to ‘Barnaby Joyce doesn’t want privacy, it’s all an act’.