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 round-up of today’s top stories so far and a long read for lunchtime.

Australian Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon listens to Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale addressing the National Press Club in Canberra, Wednesday, April 4, 2018.(AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

Rhiannon retires

Greens NSW Senator Lee Rhiannon will step down from parliament in August but will continue to campaign to advance the party’s causes. The outspoken senator announced this morning she will be replaced by Dr Mehreen Faruqi who was to lead the Greens NSW senate ticket at the next federal election.

“When I was young, parliament was where we went to protest, not to get a job.”

Lee Rhiannon

-

Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, May 24, 2018. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING

Blame Bill

Malcolm Turnbull has blamed Bill Shorten for the raft of July by-elections, in response to Labor fury after the government set the poll date for the same day as the ALP national conference. The Coaltion’s Kill-Bill campaign is beginning to hit home, writes Dennis Shanahan.

“Bill Shorten... thought he could get away with it and leave them there, sitting there, drawing their parliamentary salary, spending their parliamentary expenses, for all of those months when it was clear that the highest court in the land had said they were not eligible to sit there.”

Malcolm Turnbull

-

Tiahleigh killer pleads guilty

Tiahleigh Palmer’s foster father Rick Thorburn has pleaded guilty to the 12-year-old girl’s murder. Thorburn, who shed tears in the dock, faces a mandatory life sentence for the cold-blooded crime that led to multiple reviews of the child safety, foster care and blue card systems in Queensland.

-

steve smith and the list of players

Smith returns

Steve Smith commits to return to cricket next month as part of Global T20 Canada League with David Warner expected to follow suit.

-

"Izmir, Turkey - June 11, 2012: Close up to Google website through a magnifying glass on the laptop. Google is the most popular search engine in the world." Istock

The long read: Every move you make

Fears are mounting that some companies may be collecting some personal data without our knowledge, but experts say Google’s power makes it the biggest threat to privacy, given the amount of information it gathers and the huge reach of its sites and apps, writes Chris Griffith.

-

Comment of the day

“Trump’s letter to the North Korean regime is fantastic. Read it carefully and you see the diplomatic blend of compliments, innuendo, proposals and realpolitik that are essential in a power play such as this.”

John, in response to ‘North Korea ‘still willing to resolve issues’ as Donald Trump cancels meeting with Kim Jong-un’. And catch up with the best of what our readers had to say in the Readers’ Comments column.