Your noon Briefing
Hello readers. Here’s the latest on how today is unfolding plus a long read for lunchtime.
Hello readers. Here’s your digest of how the day has played out so far and a long read for lunchtime.
Turnbull goes or I do: MP
Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop has urged an unnamed Coalition colleague who is reportedly intending to quit the Turnbull government when parliament returns to discuss his concerns with her or the Prime Minister. Sky News commentator Andrew Bolt reported last night that a Coalition MP has told him that he intends to step down from the government and sit as an independent member of the Coalition when parliament returns. According to Peter van Onselen, it’s unlikely that the Coalition MP threatening to quit the party is Tony Abbott or Kevin Andrews. So who, he asks, can it be?
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Postponed parliament ‘common sense’
Malcolm Turnbull says his decision to postpone next week’s sitting of the House of Representatives is simply “common sense”, and it was raised with Labor leader Bill Shorten “quite some time ago”. Labor has responded by saying that Mr Shorten rejected the idea as soon as it was raised, and the Prime Minister is “frightened” of his own party room and parliament.
“Bill’s more interested in playing games than for the parliament to do its work.”
Malcolm Turnbull
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Rose by any other claim
Veteran US TV heavyweight Charlie Rose has become the latest celebrity to be accused of sexual harassment, allegedly groping his victims and walking around naked in their presence. Eight women have told The Washington Post that the respected CBS and PBS host made unwanted sexual advances toward them, including making lewd phone calls and groping their breasts and private parts. Like Harvey Weinstein’s accusers, the women who Rose allegedly abused said he veered between bullying and flattery in his behaviour toward them.
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The long read: Manson family values
Does evil exist? Caroline Overington considers the man who for five decades provided an answer to this question: Charles Manson. Manson was as mad, as evil, as anyone who ever lived and now, at 83, he is dead, a victim of the slow collapse of his internal organs in a California prison where he spent the bulk of his life. Manson’s death draws a heavy curtain on one of the darkest chapters in US crime history. He was not the first celebrity serial killer — that title probably belongs to Jack the Ripper — but he was the first to attract cult-like status and a slavish following.
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Technology on Tuesday: Safe from prying eyes
Tech guru Chris Griffith reveals how Network Attached Storage can transform a home network into a private cloud powerhouse. NAS boxes are truly the missing link in home networks, probably because relatively few understand their use and potential. Yet everyone should consider a NAS. They can offer you terabytes of private cloud storage that isn’t housed overseas and potentially under the control of foreign governments, or controlled by the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, Google or Apple. There’s no annual fee to pay. As long as you secure it, the data stays inside your home and business.
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Comment of the day
“In the light of this display of hate I wonder how many people are experiencing voter regret.”
David, responding to Andrew Burrell’s story about a deluge of abusive emails, tweets, calls and Facebook posts to Liberal MP Andrew Hastie from Yes voters furious with Hastie’s decision to abstain from voting on SSM in parliament.
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.