FOLLOW THE MONEY

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been forced to repay $1000 of an allowance that he claimed for two nights worth of accommodation (though the accommodation itself was valued at just $360) — and paid for by the South Australian government. In a nifty scoop, The Daily Telegraph reports the PM will now pay back the money, nine months after the trip.

No such troubles for NSW state MP Gareth Ward, who got into trouble on a trip to New York when an expensive massage he booked for his hotel room turned into an attempted extortion attempt. Ward wisely paid for the trip out of his own pocket.

Turnbull’s decision comes as his government prepares to crack down on foreign donations, with the Herald Sun reporting legislation banning foreign donations will be introduced as soon as next month.

The Hun also reports that a group called the Australian Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China has been acting as a “front” group for Chinese government, funnelling almost $6 million in political donations in recent years. The council, which counted Bob Hawke and Malcolm Fraser as patrons when it was founded, denies the “front” allegation.

BUTLER GETS BURNT

The Coalition has opened another energy-based attack on Labor, with Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg laying into his opposite number Mark Butler after the latter admitted Labor had been warned that signing off on three gas hubs in 2012 would pave the way for an increase in domestic gas prices.

The Coalition has taken an aggressive approach this week, focusing mostly on its “Kill Bill” strategy by trying to discredit the Opposition Leader’s economic credentials and tagging him “Red Bill”. Yesterday, Scott Morrison lashed out at the “neo-socialists” in the Labor Party, an attack Chris Bowen shrugged off as “beyond embarrassing”.

You’ve got to feel a little bad for Butler. According to the Australian Financial Review, the shadow minster was actually trying to do the Coalition a favour by declining to rule “clean coal” out of a future clean energy target. That would keep the wedge issue off the table and help the cabinet tame its wild, climate-sceptic backbench, should it try to to push a CET through before Christmas.

AUSTRALIA TO ASSIST DUTERTE

The Phillipines has confirmed that it will accept an offer from Julie Bishop to assist in the country’s fight against Islamic State-linked militants. As fighting continues in the city of Marawi, a spokesperson for President Rodrigo Duterte said Australia would not provide combat troops, instead providing training and technical assistance.

THE LUCKY NUMBER: 77

That’s how many seats a party will have to win in the House of Representatives in order to select a speaker and form government once the AEC’s most recent redistribution is complete. As expected, the shuffle will bring the lower house to a total of 151 MPs, though the process might not be complete before the next federal election is called.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Fairfax Media football columnist Michael Cockerill dies, aged 56

Socceroos’ World Cup dream on the brink after crashing to Japan

Mamamia: former editor in Labor’s sights for Richardson’s seat

Grog abuse drops under welfare card

CBA transaction review finds large scale failures across multiple businesses

Qantas extends Emirates deal, switches from Dubai to Singapore as Sydney-London stopover

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Brisbane: ACTU head Sally McManus will call for a “new deal” for workers in a speech attacking the “failed ideology of neoliberalism”.

Darwin: NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner to address the Darwin Mining Club

Kalgoorlie: PM Malcolm Turnbull is expected to announce an extension of cashless welfare card trials.

COMMENTARIAT

We all deserve a little more respect from Turnbull & Co — Waleed Aly (The Age): “…if politicians have to appear somewhere serious, like in front of a judge, to give some sober honesty, it’s hard to resist the conclusion the public isn’t being taken particularly seriously.”

Big business and the banks have no one but themselves to blame — Laura Tingle (Australian Financial Review $): “Yet increasingly, what is occupying and animating federal politics is the need for the government to step in and correct market failures, or even just the impact of sheer market greed. In other words, the business community has brought any such “re-regulation” on its own head.”

Why I’ll vote for freedom in same-sex marriage debate — Karina Okotel (The Australian $): “I have even been told to go back to my own country, difficult given I was born in Australia. But the discrimination and hate I faced just by querying whether we should be legalising same-sex marriage has been like nothing I have experienced.”

THE WORLD

Almost 2 million children have been shut out from schools as flooding continues to devastate India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The death toll is now thought to be as high as 1200 people,with as many as 40 million impacted. Monsoon rains have been largely responsible for the huge flooding, with Oxfam reporting as much as two-thirds of Bangladesh are now under water. — The Independent

New Zealand Labour leader Jacinda Ardern has surged ahead of her conservative rival Bill English, increasing Labour’s primary vote in polls from 26% to 43% in just one month. Kiwis head to the polls later this month. — The Guardian

WHAT WE’RE READING

Exiles on Pennsylvania Avenue: how Jared and Ivanka were repelled by Washington’s elite (Vanity Fair): “Kushner and Ivanka will leave the White House at some point. When they do, it will be a welcome development for those who view the pair not merely as Trump’s protectors, as they see themselves to be, but rather as one of his greatest weaknesses. As a former West Wing staffer from a previous administration told me, ‘There’s nothing more obstructive and distracting and unhelpful than to have a bunch of stupid apolitical family members calling all the shots’.”

How to get rich in Trump’s Washington (New York Times Magazine): “In the tumult following Trump’s win, Stryk was discovering that many of his old friends — most of them fellow Washington backbenchers, B-listers and understudies — had vaulted to positions of unexpected influence. A guy Stryk knew at the inaugural committee put out the word among Trump alums that New Zealand’s party was the week’s hot ticket. Stryk called a friend at Salem Media, the right-leaning media-and-talk-radio company, which signed on as a party sponsor. Another friend, the actor Jon Voight, agreed to attend as a special celebrity guest.”

The last Nazi hunters (The Guardian): “Today, the youngest suspects are 90 years old, and most were low-level Nazi functionaries: guards, cooks, medics, telephone operators and the like. The defendants tend to die during the lengthy judicial process, so the odds of conviction are miniscule. Partly as a result, few Germans know the Central Office exists, and many of those who do tend to view it with ambivalence.”

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