News live: Australia joins sanctions against ‘extremist settlers’ in West Bank; fuel excise cut still set to expire at end of June

Key events

‘Tax reform’s hard’, Albanese says

Albanese was asked if he’s been surprised by any backlash to the changes to the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing.

“Tax reform’s hard … We’re working through these issues,” the prime minister said, pointing to efforts to support first home buyers. “The changes that we’ve made are modest.”

He went on to note the changes include grandfathering provisions that won’t hurt those already with negatively geared assets.

Albanese maintained that Treasury forecasts on house prices don’t show falls, but rather a much smaller increase over time rather than large gains.

It is certainly the case that since the changes were made in 1999, house prices have increased by 400%. That’s more than double the increase in incomes, and that’s what leads and explains the gap that’s there in affordability.

What we’ve done is thrown everything at supply … But we need to do more. Which is why these changes are aimed at boosting supply as well as giving first home buyers a fair crack.

Albanese says Australia still impacted by Middle East conflict ‘each and every day’

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is now on the ABC News Breakfast couch. He said Australia remains concerned about the economic impact of the turmoil in the Middle East.

“We’re a long way away, but we’re impacted here each and every day,” he said.

Albanese went on to say the government would make an assessment on the fuel excise cut as the conflict continues. The cut is set to expire at the end of June.

The prime minister said fuel shipments are continuing due to the work of the government.

Coalition needs to convince Australians it is a ‘genuine and credible’ alternative, Hume says

Jane Hume, the deputy opposition leader, said while she believes the Labor government had broken trust with voters, the Coalition had done so too, after fracturing and reuniting multiple times in recent months.

Hume spoke to ABC News Breakfast saying the opposition had to rebuild trust with Australians, adding:

Our job now is to demonstrate that we are a genuine and credible alternative to this terrible Labor government.

Hume added she thinks Tony Abbott’s presidency of the Liberal party is “terrific” and an opportunity for the Coalition.

He’s a great supporter of the party, he’s a great supporter of Angus Taylor, I think this is a great opportunity. The Liberal party has always been what John Howard called the broad church: we like having different opinions.

We listen to everybody’s views, and we represent them.

Clean energy advocates say it’s great to see ‘green energy statecraft’ at play after Bowen’s remarks in Germany

Clean energy advocates have cheered Chris Bowen’s remarks about electrification at a climate change conference in Bonn, Germany.

Melissa Conley Tyler, an honorary fellow at the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne, said it was “great to see green energy statecraft in practice”, adding:

As new president of negotiations for COP31, Australia will play a crucial role in setting the agenda and bringing countries together to agree on action.

Patrick Veyret, the spokesperson for Energy Consumers Australia, said:

The benefits of going all-electric are clear: cheaper bills, predictable energy costs, energy sovereignty and healthier environments to live and work in. …

As Australia steps up to lead negotiations for COP31, the federal government must back its international climate ambition with concrete domestic action. We need a clear, national roadmap and ambitious electrification targets to help households and small businesses to become all-electric.”

Australians should expect fuel excise cut to expire at end of June, transport minister says

Catherine King, the federal transport minister, said the Australian government maintains a diplomatic solution is needed amid renewed tensions in the Middle East surrounding the strait of Hormuz.

King spoke to ABC News Breakfast this morning, saying:

Obviously we know that we need diplomatic solutions to the conflict in the strait of Hormuz, and we want to urge all parties to continue to negotiate that.

I understand this is a pretty fragile ceasefire, and you’re seeing that borne out, unfortunately, this morning.

King was asked about any extension of the fuel excise cut, which ends at the end of this month. She said the government is still talking to industry, including trucking companies, about the impacts of continued spikes in fuel prices, but said Australians should expect that cut to expire at the end of June:

Obviously we are doing everything we can to shield Australians from this conflict in the Middle East. … But people should, at this stage, expect that it’s coming off at the end of June.

Climate change minister says world is having an ‘electrification moment’ at major conference

The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, said he thinks the world is having an “electrification moment” during a climate change conference in Bonn, Germany this week.

Turkey, the incoming presidency of the next UN climate summit, known as the COP, announced new targets calling for the global electrification target to rise to 35% by 2035.

Bowen said during the climate meeting Australia had done a lot of things “right” to meet that moment and confront the climate crisis, saying:

One thing that we have been getting right in Australia is that the journey to net zero runs through households, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in many ways.

I think what’s happening is this: a lot of households are saying, well, now that we have solar panels on the roof and a battery in the garage, why don’t we get an EV? Because we can charge that EV at night off our battery and pay nothing. And I think these things become self-fulfilling and self-reinforcing.

This is something that we’ve learned along the way in Australia, and we’re sharing those thoughts, and we’re learning from others, of course, here in Bonn.

Good morning

It’s Nick Visser here to take over the blog. Let’s get to it.

Barbeques Galore goes bust with 62 stores to close

Australian retail chain Barbecues Galore will wind up its operations in the coming weeks after failing to negotiate a rescue deal, affecting 500 jobs.

Receivers confirmed on Tuesday that 62 company-owned stores will close, with staff facing redundancies. The brand’s other 27 franchise-owned stores are expected to work through “transitional arrangements” during the wind-up period.

The retailer, operational since the 1970s, entered voluntary administration in February. Management had been working on a conditional recapitalisation deal with major creditor Gordon Brothers, but negotiations with landlords and suppliers collapsed.

In a statement Tuesday, the receivers said staff will continue to be employed during the immediate receivership process before being made redundant:

All employees will be paid their full accrued redundancies and termination payments in the ordinary course of separation.”

Customers with a Barbequres Galore gift card will be able to use it until 30 June. However, in an arrangement first announced in February, for every $1 redeemed on a gift card, the shopper must spend $2. The receivers said in a statement:

Unredeemed gift cards will be treated as unsecured creditors after the 30 June deadline, so customers are encouraged to use their gift cards while they can do so.

Australia joins sanctions against 'extremist settlers'

Australia has joined the UK and other western allies in introducing sanctions against “extremist settlers” accountable for the “horrific levels of settler violence against Palestinian civilians”.

The announcement was made overnight by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and will see sanctions imposed on six firms and one individual involved in enabling and financing the recent upsurge in settler violence in the West Bank.

A statement released by Dfat said:

In response to the deteriorating situation in the West Bank, we the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Norway and the United Kingdom, have taken coordinated action to introduce sanctions and other measures to hold extremist settlers accountable for the horrific levels of settler violence against Palestinian civilians.

Extremist violent settlers, with the backing of their supporters, continue to attack Palestinians and abuse their human rights. They use violence to displace Palestinians, destroy property and perpetuate the illegal settlement enterprise, undermining the viability of the State of Palestine and the prospects for peaceful coexistence.

For too long, violent settlers have been able to act with near impunity, and settlement expansion and creation of outposts continue with the support and facilitation of the Government of Israel. In some cases, settler violence takes place under the protection of Israel’s security forces. We continue to urge the Government of Israel to take action to ensure meaningful accountability for violence in the West Bank. The Government of Israel should ensure every attack is swiftly and thoroughly investigated, take action against the outposts and organisations that allow violence to flourish, and stop the incitement of violence.

We believe that peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians can only be achieved through the implementation of the two-state solution. Together, we will continue to work towards this goal.

We Australia, Canada, France, Norway, and the United Kingdom have all taken the historic decision to recognise the State of Palestine, reflecting the rights of the Palestinian people and as part of our common efforts to protect the viability of the two-state solution. Today, we are acting together again in support of the same objectives.

We stand ready to take more action if the Government of Israel does not take urgent steps to address the situation on the ground.

Read more:

High court to rule on indefinite detention damages claim

The high court will today rule on whether the Australian government should pay damages to a man it held in indefinite immigration detention for 18 months despite there being “no real prospect of [his] removal”.

Safwat Abdel-Hady’s case could determine whether the 350-or-so non-citizens affected by the high court’s ruling against indefinite detention in November 2023, known as the NZYQ cohort, are liable for damages for false imprisonment.

The Austrian citizen was placed in immigration detention in 2017 after his visa was cancelled by then home affairs minister Peter Dutton for pleading guilty to poisoning to endanger life or inflicting grievous bodily harm in 2012.

The federal circuit court ruled in June 2024 Abdel-Hady was declared not medically fit to travel for an 18-month period between July 2022 and February 2024 due to his medical conditions, and therefore there were no real prospects of removing him from Australia.

Abdel-Hady’s lawyers argued last November he should not have been detained by authorities using the precedent established in the 2004 case of Al-Kateb.

Lawyers acting for the government did not dispute that Abdel-Hady was wrongfully detained but argued the high court’s 2004 ruling had allowed authorities to detain someone indefinitely under the Migration Act before it was later ruled unlawful in 2023 in the NZYQ case.

We’ll bring you the judgment once it’s delivered after 10am.

Read more here:

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.

Australia has joined the UK and other western allies in introducing sanctions against “extremist settlers” accountable for the “horrific levels of settler violence against Palestinian civilians”. More coming up.

The high court will today rule on whether the Australian government should pay damages to a man it held in indefinite immigration detention for 18 months despite there being “no real prospect of [his] removal”.