Albanese convenes national cabinet to discuss fuel crisis
Tom McIlroy
State and territory leaders will hold talks with Anthony Albanese this morning as national cabinet continues to grapple with the international fuel crisis.
The prime minister is due to chair the virtual meeting mid-morning.
It comes a day after the US President Donald Trump threatened that Iran would be “blown off the face of the earth” if it attacks US vessels trying to reopen a route through the strait of Hormuz.
More than 800 ships and 20,000 crew members remain stranded in the region.
Federal government data shows Australia has 43 days of petrol supply on hand, along with 33 days of diesel and 28 days of jet fuel.
Key events
Benita Kolovos
Victoria premier won’t say how much 10m litre fuel reserve cost
Victoria premier Jacinta Allan has refused to say how much the 10m litre fuel reserve has cost taxpayers, citing commercial arrangements with Exxon Mobil:
When the opportunity presented itself through discussions that … the minister had with Exxon, that there was some supply available, we made the decision to secure that supply … and we’ve done [that] through a commercial arrangement, … those arrangements are commercial in confidence.
The fuel was purchased at the market price, and we will continue to look at ways that we support more broadly, our ag sector and our farmers.
Allan says the fuel would last for “two weeks worth of activity during the harvest season” for the entire Victorian agricultural sector.
She said the decision came after Tuesday budget was completed, so it is not included:
This decision came after the budget books had been audited by the auditor general. So it will be, it will be accounted for the future budget updates. But we can do this because we have a budget in surplus. And when you have a budget in surplus, you can provide support in uncertain times. And we are in uncertain times.
Tory Shepherd
Antisemitism royal commission enters third day
The royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion will sit for its third day today, from 10am AEST.
Yesterday, Jewish Australians told the inquiry of being targeted, abused, and attacked, and of their ongoing fear for themselves and their families.
Today another 12 witnesses will appear – many of them using pseudonyms.
Jeremy Leibler, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, will be today’s last witness. In his submission he wrote that he will focus on “the antisemitism that operates through the delegitimisation of Israel and the weaponisation of the word ‘Zionist’ as a proxy for ‘Jew’.
He wrote:
It is this form that has driven the explosion of hostility in universities, in professional life, in cultural institutions, and in the public square. And it is this form that our political and institutional leaders have found themselves unable or unwilling to confront.
You can read Ben Doherty’s wrap of yesterday’s hearings here:
Krishani Dhanji
Albanese government abandons beleaguered inland rail project connecting NSW with Queensland
The Albanese government will drastically scale back the beleaguered inland rail project, abandoning plans to connect country NSW and Queensland by rail, as the price tag blows out to more than $45bn.
Originally envisioned to run 1,700km from Melbourne to a port near Brisbane, the mega infrastructure project will now only connect Beveridge, on the outskirts of Melbourne, to Parkes in central-west New South Wales – about half the distance – with the government reallocating $1.75bn of the funding to other national rail upgrades.
The cost has increased more than 50% in just three years, since Dr Kerry Schott was commissioned by Labor in 2023 to independently review the project.
Schott estimated the project would be completed by 2031 and cost upwards of $31.4bn – a doubling of the previous estimate – which she called “astonishing”, adding she was not confident on the figures.
Read more:
Victoria has secured 10m litres of diesel as fuel reserve for agriculture, premier says
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference in Williamstown this morning to announce the state has secured 10m litres of diesel as a “strategic fuel reserve” for the agricultural sector.
Allan said it will mean farmers can be confident making planting and farm management decisions for the winter growing season.
She said the reserve doesn’t change day-to-day supply of diesel but it is a contingency if the federal government moved to level 4 of the national fuel security plan.
Allan said:
The Commonwealth [position] continues to be that there are sufficient fuel supplies for the period ahead, and the Commonwealth Government have done a tremendous job in securing additional fuel supplies through to the end of June. But of course, our farmers plan and operate for a longer period, and that is why having this 10 million litres of fuel, of diesel set aside in a Victorian reserve is about giving farmers that confidence that they need.
Victoria police treating fire at car dealership in Port Melbourne as suspicious
Victoria police are investigating a fire at a car dealership in Port Melbourne.
Emergency services were called to the area around 4.50am this morning. Crews extinguished the blaze, but officials are treating the fire as suspicious. The ABC reports the fire took place at a Chery car dealership, which opened last week.
Victor Sargin, the manager of the business, told ABC Radio Melbourne the impacts appeared to be limited mostly to smoke damage.
“Luckily, the floors are hard floors, so those flames have only caught on to some furniture and the reception desk at the front,” he told the ABC.
The exact circumstances surrounding the fire have not yet been determined, and police are appealing to anyone with footage or information to contact them.
Man thought to be trapped in car submerged in weir near Sydney
A search is under way for a man believed to be trapped inside a car submerged in weir at a national park, AAP reports.
NSW police believe two people were inside the car when it crashed into Audley Weir near Sydney about 1.15am. The car quickly submerged into the water with the two men inside.
The 20-year-old driver managed to extricate himself from the car and was taken to hospital for mandatory testing.
A multi-agency search operation is continuing to locate the passenger, as police establish a crime scene and begin investigations into the incident. Motorists are urged to avoid the area, with parts of the Royal national park closed.
Penry Buckley
NSW government to fast-track renewable energy approvals
The New South Wales government will today introduce legislation it says will speed up the delivery of renewable energy projects as coal-fired power stations exit the system.
The prioritising renewable energy bill will allow the state’s energy minister, Penny Sharpe, to select the “highest-priority” proposals for storage, network, and renewable energy generation and recommend them for fast-tracking to speed up approvals. Sharpe says:
This new legislation will mean infrastructure projects that are critical for manufacturing jobs, economic growth and energy affordability don’t get stuck in the queue. No matter where you live in this state, you will benefit from us getting on with the job and delivering quality renewable projects as fast as we can.
The government says the proposed law will not remove any environmental or community assessments. Environmentalists have expressed concern that widespread changes made to planning laws last year could be used fast-track mines and power projects without environmental approvals.
Renewable energy now provides about 36% of NSW’s supply, but the state government has said it will continue to approve coalmine expansions, despite ruling out mines on greenfield sites in its recent industry statement. It drew criticism from environmental groups who said this preserved the status quo. The Minns government has approved at least eight coal expansions and extensions since the 2023 election.
‘They’re big dollars’: Taylor says Coalition would target renewables and corporate welfare to cut spending
Angus Taylor was asked this morning where the opposition would rein in spending if in power. The opposition leader said the Coalition would target expensive renewable energy projects like green hydrogen, corporate welfare programs and the installation of new power lines.
Taylor told ABC News:
They’re big dollars, these programs. They’re adding to the inflation fire, we’re about to cross the threshold of a trillion dollars of debt. And that adds to the inflation fire.
Taylor was asked how the opposition’s plan to increase defence funding would play into that, and if cuts to social services were needed. He said:
I wrote to the prime minister and said to him, we’ll work with the government on a bipartisan basis to find sensible savings opportunities. … We’re pleased to see they want the NDIS to be sustainable. It’s taken too along for them to come to this.
Adeshola Ore
Federal shadow treasurer says any handouts in budget could add to inflation
The federal shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, has warned that potential cash handouts in next week’s federal budget could add to inflation.
Speaking to the ABC’s 7.30 program last night, Wilson was asked about unconfirmed reports that the Albanese government would deliver a cash splash – with income tax relief of up to $300 for working Australians – as part of cost-of-living relief in next week’s federal budget.
Wilson said:
Unfortunately when the government hasn’t take inflation seriously, we’ve ended up in this situation and the risk is that if you keep handing out money to households, what you’ll actually do is fuel inflation.
The RBA governor, Michele Bullock, who has historically refrained from commenting on government spending, said governments could help fight inflation by limiting their spending.
Bullock also acknowledged that low-income Australians were the hardest hit by the country’s inflationary pressures.
Chalmers won’t speculate about any tax relief
The treasurer was asked about the potential of any additional tax relief in light of the latest inflation figures and the interest rate rise. He said he would not comment on anything in the lead up to the budget, saying “some of the speculation turns out to be right, som turns out to be wrong”.
Chalmers added:
This is a government that cuts taxes. We’ve cut taxes already and we will cut taxes again, we made that clear and we made that public.
The issue is, the budget won’t be pumping a lot of extra stimulus in the economy, in fact overall we’ll be winding back spending in the budget.
Chalmers says Australians paying a ‘hefty price’ for Middle East conflict
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he knows Australians are paying a “hefty price” for the war in the Middle East, adding that the upcoming federal budget will be “really responsible” to take the inflation challenge seriously.
Chalmers spoke to ABC News this morning:
Australians didn’t choose this war in the Middle East, we have no control over when it ends, but we’re paying a hefty price for it, at the bowser and beyond.
So we know that people are under very serious pressure, we know these price pressures have escalated because of the war in the Middle East, but we had inflationary challenges before that as well.
And again, that’s why this budget is a really important budget.
Good morning, Nick Visser here to pick up the blog. Let’s get to it.
Albanese convenes national cabinet to discuss fuel crisis
Tom McIlroy
State and territory leaders will hold talks with Anthony Albanese this morning as national cabinet continues to grapple with the international fuel crisis.
The prime minister is due to chair the virtual meeting mid-morning.
It comes a day after the US President Donald Trump threatened that Iran would be “blown off the face of the earth” if it attacks US vessels trying to reopen a route through the strait of Hormuz.
More than 800 ships and 20,000 crew members remain stranded in the region.
Federal government data shows Australia has 43 days of petrol supply on hand, along with 33 days of diesel and 28 days of jet fuel.
Budget to include $74m to fight terrorism and online threats
Tom McIlroy
Next week’s federal budget will fund a dedicated national centre to detect and disrupt the evolving threat of online violent extremism and terrorism.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, will announce the $74m in funding over two years for the project on Wednesday. It is part of the government’s response to the Bondi terror attack in December.
The centre will combine Asio and federal police officers and bring together work by state and territory police forces and overseas law enforcement agencies to better target online terrorists who threaten violence and manipulate vulnerable young people.
Specialist counter terrorism investigators and intelligence analysts will be able to monitor high-risk online spaces, assess credible threats and coordinate disruption of extremist content and activity, including through covert online engagement.
“The capability we’ve always had to monitor extremists in the meeting room, now extends to the chat room,” Burke said.
A bolstered online threat capability will give AFP and Asio the resources they need to target terrorists and violent extremists online.
Jordyn Beazley
State MP for Newtown, Jenny Leong, also spoke at the meeting, telling attendees:
You’re welcome in Newtown electorate anytime.
She raised comments made by Minns government member Ron Hoenig, who is Jewish, and distanced himself from the potential ban during question time yesterday.
After being asked by the opposition what he had done – as the minister of local government – to stop the event from going ahead in a council-owned venue, Hoenig said:
Just because I, and other people, might find it personally offensive does not mean that governments have unlimited power to constitutionally strike down the right of everybody else to freedom of political communication.
Sydney forum held in ‘park in the dark’
Jordyn Beazley
A pro-Palestine meeting that had their booking in a council venue cancelled after what the Sydney mayor called a “a persistent media campaign by the Murdoch press” was instead held in a “park in the dark”. Speakers spoke against criminalising saying the phrase “globalise the intifada”.
The meeting, attended by several dozen people and a large contingent of media, was held in a park in Darlington after Clover Moore announced on Monday evening she had requested the chief executive of the council withdraw the booking.
Discussing the decision, Moore said public events must not “contribute to hostility and fear”. The move was met with relief by the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies.
An organiser for the meeting, which was run by Stop the War on Palestine and was titled “why it is right to globalise the Intifada”, said the last minute cancellation meant the group had to have the meeting “in a park in the dark”.
Jewish man Ed Carroll was a speaker at the meeting. He was one of the first people to be arrested in Queensland after the state government placed a maximum two-year prison sentence on saying the phrases “globalise the intifada” or “from the river to the sea”.
He spoke from Queensland via zoom and was beamed onto a projector set up in the park. He said it’s likely he will be one of the lead plaintiffs in a planned constitutional challenge against the ban.
At one point during the meeting, a man wearing a shirt that said “FCK HMS”, stood nearby the meeting yelling at people to “go home”. He held a sign that said: “Globalise the intifada is Bondi Beach 14 December 2025!”.
Last week, the NSW premier, Chris Minns, said he would only ban the slogan “globalise the intifada” if a potential constitutional challenge to a similar ban in Queensland is unsuccessful.
It was the strongest indication yet that the state government may not seek to proscribe the contested phrase at all.
Big four banks lift interest rates
Adeshola Ore
Australia’s big four banks have all lifted interest rates after the Reserve Bank handed down a third consecutive rate hike yesterday.
The RBA lifted the cash rate from 4.1% to 4.35%, in a widely expected decision on yesterday afternoon.
Macquarie Bank was the first Australian bank to announce it would pass on the 0.25% interest rate rise to its variable home loan customers from 22 May.
The country’s big four banks – Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), National Australia Bank (NAB), Westpac and ANZ — followed suit, announcing they would all pass on the 0.25% increase to their customers.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Nick Visser will be your guide.
The “globalise the intifada” forum banned from taking place in a council venue on Monday night went ahead last night in a park in Sydney where participants discussed legal challenges to the ban on using the phrase, as well as the phrase “from the river to the sea”. More details coming up.
And Australia’s big four banks have all lifted interest rates after the Reserve Bank handed down a third consecutive rate hike yesterday. More reaction to the rate hike coming up.
Leave a Reply