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.
Division belled
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud was just a few MPs short of winning the support of the Nationals partyroom, highlighting division in the party. The Australian understands that Mr Littleproud was about three votes short of Michael McCormack when he pulled out of the contest at 11pm last night. Mr Littleproud is understood to have pulled out when he realised he would not quite get the numbers, wanting to avoid the party looking divided. Keep up with events from Canberra as they happen in our live blog, PoliticsNow.
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Terror ‘close’
The leader of a militant Aboriginal group targeting the Commonwealth Games has warned that young activists could resort to terrorism in pursuit of their goals. Brisbane activist Wayne Wharton said Malcolm Turnbull’s intransigence on indigenous issues from Australia Day to the Uluru Statement was pushing some protesters to consider more radical and, potentially, violent tactics.
“Malcolm Turnbull’s statements in the past three weeks are close to inciting (the use of) guns and (Aboriginal activists) taking up terrorism.”
Wayne Wharton
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Black-sack brigade
The black widows of Islamic State are creeping out of the caliphate and into the West, writes Jennifer Oriel. Having lost the battle to enslave women and girls for the caliphate, the brides of genocide are demanding the right of return to the countries declared enemies of Allah. They’re piling on feminine wiles to escape their well-deserved fate six feet under the crumbling caliphate. Prepare yourself for a season of female jihad filled with crocodile tears, protests of innocence and a stock-standard victim script worthy of an Oscar.
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Banking bombast
For sheer hubris it’s hard to go past the “Australian Banks Belong to You” campaign — the Australian Bankers Association effort to soothe community anger against banks during a potentially incendiary royal commission, writes Adam Creighton. You would have had to have lived under a rock not to have been reassured by Gracie, a Westpac receptionist for 33 years, that banks don’t keep all their profit:
“Nearly 80 per cent go back to shareholders. The majority of those shareholders are everyday Australians.”
‘Gracie’
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Behind the Media: Michael Ware’s War
Don’t miss Stephen Brook’s latest Behind the Media podcast. This week, our media diarist, fresh from surviving an attack from a pack of possibly rabid Thai dogs, meets the ultimate foreign correspondent “dog of war”, Michael Ware.
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The long read: Besties get back to business
Just before Donald Trump and Malcolm Turnbull walked into the East Room of the White House for their press conference, there was a moment, writes Cameron Stewart, that spoke volumes about the welcome given to Australia in Washington at the weekend. Read on to find out what it was.
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Comment of the day
“It’s outrageous that we would even be thinking of allowing people back into our country who have fought for an enemy state ... Their passports should have been marked ‘never to return’.”
Leona, in response to ‘Evil sisters of Islamic State play victim’.
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.