What we learned today, Friday 24 April
Thanks for staying with us today. We’ll leave our live coverage of the day’s news there for this evening. Here were Friday’s top stories:
Labor is poised to reject a growing push for a new 25% tax on gas exports in next month’s budget.
The United States has approved the first major submarine contract under the Aukus security deal.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has spoken on the phone with Vietnam’s president as he continues a diplomatic campaign to shore up Australia’s fuel supplies across Asia.
The NSW government has moved to expand hate speech laws to include Nazi slogans.
A Sydney man was set to face court over allegedly fraudulently claiming $1.5m for providing non-existent services through the national disability insurance scheme.
NSW Fair Trading inspectors have now visited more than 2,300 petrol stations since the beginning of the fuel crisis linked to the war in the Middle East.
NSW police have said they foiled an alleged plot to kill a prominent figure in organised crime.
Major bedding retailer fined over fake online discounts
A major online bedding supplier has been hit with a $15 million fine for advertising fake discounts and creating a fake sense of urgency by using a countdown timer that reset itself.
Emma Sleep made false or misleading representations about the sale price of mattresses, bed frames, pillows, and accessories, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission revealed on Friday.
The company admitted to making false claims on 74 of its products, with most being advertised as on sale when no saving existed.
It also admitted lying that the “discount” prices were for a limited time only and using phrases such as “Ending Soon” when the products continued to be advertised at the same or similar price.
The Federal Court found the conduct was a deliberate marketing strategy and senior management turned a blind eye to whether it contravened Australian Consumer Law.
The conduct occurred between June 2020 and March 2023, during which Emma Sleep made more than $134 million in revenue on the sale of over 243,000 individual products.
Emma Sleep Pty Ltd has been ordered to pay a penalty of $7.5 million, and Emma Sleep Southeast Asia Inc will pay $7.5 million.
- AAP
Anthony Albanese’s Anzac Day message for 2026 has paid tribute to the Australian soldiers who landed at Gallipoli 111 years ago.
He said in his message, released on Friday afternoon ahead of Anzac Day on Saturday:
On Anzac Day, we pause to acknowledge the debt all of us owe to Australians who have gone to war in our name. Across our continent, from the biggest cities to the smallest country town, and in every corner of the world made hallow by the sacrifice of our fallen, we gather in respect, reflection, gratitude and pride.
One hundred and eleven years after the first Gallipoli landing, Anzac Day has come to stand for every generation of Australians who have served. At dawn services and marches today, we renew our solemn promise to remember all those young Australians who did not grow old and everyone they left behind.
We remember all who lived to keep fighting and all who finally made it home, but with the
battle raging forever in their hearts. We reflect on all they went through and all they were up against, and we give thanks for the difference they made just when the world needed it most.
Albanese’s message thanked veterans, including those currently serving, as well as their families.
He said:
Time and time again, Australians at war have embodied the courage, selflessness and mateship that define our national character. What their legacy proves to us is that even when peace seems elusive, it is always worth fighting for.
So we gather. And as we give thanks for the light of every bright dawn that was their promise to us, we keep tending the flame of memory.
ASX logs second week of losses as banks, miners weigh
Australia’s share market has fallen for a fourth-straight session, with banks and miners weighing heavily on the bourse as the Persian Gulf conflict dims the global economic outlook.
The S&P/ASX200 slipped 6.9 points on Friday, down 0.08 per cent, to 8,786.5, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 17.8 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 9,006.4.
The All Ordinaries fell 162.3 points, or 1.77 per cent, for the week.
Energy, utilities stocks and the traditionally defensive consumer staples sector had a positive week, buoyed by rising oil prices with no end in sight to the US-Iran conflict that has strangled a key crude shipping route.
The Australian dollar is buying 71.29 US cents, down from 71.52 US cents on Thursday at 5pm.
- AAP
Gas company concedes a 25% export tax would not impact global prices
INPEX, a major Japanese gas exporter (which the Japanese government owns a 22% stake of) says that slapping on a 25% gas export tax would not change global gas prices, it would just eat into the profits of providers.
The Senate inquiry into a gas export tax has journeyed over to Western Australia today, to talk to a group of gas companies.
Japan’s ambassador to Australia last month warned the government not to impose any new taxes on our gas exports - which they heavily rely on for energy, as well as revenue.
INPEX Australian representative, Mike Gardiner, told the Senate inquiry:
I don’t think the imposition of a gas tax will change the ultimate price of gas globally. If a gas tax is imposed on revenue, that tax at say 25% of export revenue will immediately flow to the profit before tax of the producer potentially wiping out their profit but it won’t hit global prices of gas and consumers.
The government has been using Australia’s exports to help shore up fuel supply from major fuel exporters in Asia during the Middle East crisis.
Pocock says Japan ‘making money’ on Australian gas exports
David Pocock has dismissed Japan’s warnings against a proposed Australian gas export tax, as the government looks to be growing more receptive to overseas partners’ opposition to the idea.
Pocock said the export tax would not increase gas prices for overseas buyers of Australian gas.
He noted that Chevron earlier today told the parliamentary inquiry that the company was a price taker and did not control the gas price it paid. He told the ABC that showed prices wouldn’t be passed on to overseas partners:
We now know that 25% export tax would be paid for by these multinational companies. They would not be able to pass it on to Japan and South Korea.
Japan and South Korea, Japan more so, actually invest in companies that are exporting Australian gas, they have a 20% stake in impacts to export a huge amount of gas and don’t supply any of the domestic market so they are making money there. They are making money when we send them gas: they have a gas import tax they’ve used build 90 days worth of liquid fuel storage unlike here in Australia. …
They have no gas fields, they are just really smart. They put the Japanese people first.
Pocock compared Japan’s protests against the tax proposal to its complaints when the Queensland government increased the royalty take on coal mining:
They jumped up and down when the last Labor government in Queensland raised the coal royalty and said all sorts of things, they import the exact same amount of coal now as they did back then and Queenslanders get a much better return on their resource.
Albanese speaks to Vietnamese president on energy supply chains
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has spoken on the phone with Vietnam’s president as he continues a diplomatic campaign to shore up Australia’s fuel supplies across Asia.
He congratulated Tô Lâm, the newly re-elected president and general secretary of the Communist party of Vietnam and discussed the conflict in the Middle East.
The two leaders “agreed on the importance of energy regional cooperation to ensure global energy supply chains were kept open to benefit the security and prosperity of both nations”.
Vietnam isn’t one of the main exporters of fuel to Australia, but we do get about 13% of our crude oil imports from the nation. Vietnam also imports gas from Australia.
The PM visited several nations including Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia this month to ensure Australia would continue to receive fuel shipments in the midst of war in the Middle East.
Updated
Trade minister says Labor ‘not changing our policies in respect to gas’
More on Labor readying to drop considerations of a new gas export tax: The trade minister, Don Farrell, has given the bluntest public sign yet that the proposal is all-but gone from the government’s plans, saying “the most important thing” was to honour existing export contracts.
While the prime minister hasn’t explicitly ruled it out, his public comments and those of other senior ministers in recent days have raised concerns about how it would work and how such a change would affect exports to buyers.
Farrell was asked at a press conference today whether a 25% tax on gas exports was off the table for the coming budget. He replied:
I think the Treasurer and the Prime Minister remain pretty clear. We’re not changing our policies in respect to gas.
But all of those things will be revealed in a couple of weeks’ time when the Treasurer, a very good Treasurer, Treasurer Chalmers, announces what’s in our budget.
Farrell went on to say the government “has the job of making these decisions and will make the decisions in the best interest of Australia.”
The most important thing that Australia can do and the Australian Government can do is to ensure the conditions are there for the continued export of our gas... Australia has an obligation, an agreement, to supply this gas.
I think the most important issue and the most important thing that Australia can do, the Australian Government can do, is to ensure that we continue to honour all of our obligations to our friends in Southeast Asia and East Asia.
Labor is set to reject new tax on gas exports
Labor is poised to reject a growing push for a new 25% tax on gas exports in next month’s budget.
It’s understood the government has elected not to pursue a new tax on gas exports in the budget, prompted in part by the global oil crisis and Anthony Albanese’s diplomatic efforts in shoring up fuel supply from Asian allies by pledging reliable access to liquefied natural gas.
Pocock, the independent senator who has been among those campaigning strongly for a gas export tax, had this to say about the news:
I am appalled but not surprised to see the Albanese government caving to gas companies.
Less dramatic changes, including reforms to the petroleum resources rent tax or a tax on windfall profits, have not yet been ruled out, and there is strong support inside the Labor caucus for gas reforms.
Read the full report from Josh Butler and Krishani Dhanji here:
Petrol prices at pre-war levels in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane
Petrol prices have fallen to pre-Iran war levels in Australia’s three biggest cities, after steady declines in wholesale prices.
Sydney’s service stations are selling unleaded for an average price of 185.3 cents a litre today, the cheapest its been since 26 February, according to MotorMouth. The US-Israel war on Iran sent oil prices surging from 28 February.
Melbourne’s average unleaded price is 183.8 cents a litre, the cheapest since 24 February, and Brisbane’s is 184.6 cents, the cheapest since 17 February. That’s a two month low.
Adelaide’s average unleaded price is 177.2 cents a litre, the cheapest since 3 March but also tying with its 24 February level. Perth and Canberra are averaging early March prices while Darwin’s unleaded price rose today.
Diesel prices across the capital cities are easing to less than 260 cents a litre, about where they were on or about 12 March.
That’s because wholesale diesel prices have fallen to their lowest point since about 11 March in all cities today, according to thee Australian Institute of Petroleum. Whole sale unleaded prices are also at their lowest since then.
Updated
Ten real estate companies in privacy sweep
The federal privacy commissioner has conducted a sweep of ten real estate companies to assess how they secure identity documents.
Earlier this week, we reported the commissioner, Carly Kind, ruled that rent tech platform 2Apply had unnecessarily collected the information of millions of Australians applying for rental properties.
Kind has focused on the power imbalance between renters and real estate companies leading to renters being forced to hand over much more personal information than required.
In Senate estimates hearings in February, she noted that a sweep of real estate companies was conducted in January, with “a particular focus on the collection of identity documents, because... that is an area of real privacy vulnerability.”
In a response to a question on notice from Greens senator David Shoebridge, tabled in parliament earlier this month, Kind revealed the ten firms being assessed as:
Ray White
LJ Hooker
Professionals Real Estate
Harcourts
Elders
Raine & Horne
First National
Century21
Barry Plant
Belle Property
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner plans to publish the compliance report by the middle of this year, and stated any enforcement action that may be taken will be announced “at the appropriate time”.
Senior Woolworths manager questioned about price of Tiny Teddies
A senior Woolworths manager has given evidence that the supermarket planned to put Arnott’s Tiny Teddies on a new long term “sale” price that was higher than its original shelf price had been.
The trial involving the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Woolworths continues today in testing allegations the supermarket disguised price increases on hundreds of products between 2021 and 2023.
The ACCC has accused Woolworths of using the “Prices Dropped” scheme to hide planned price increases with outsized, short-term spikes before reducing products to a supposedly discounted price that was actually higher than the original shelf price.
The federal court heard yesterday that Woolworths planned to increase the shelf price of products in advance so it could later display desired “was/is” price comparisons on their promotional tickets.
Cormac Deery, the commercial director of Woolworths’ “Grocery Non-Food” category, has been cross-examined by the ACCC’s barrister, Michael Hodge KC, this morning.
Deery was questioned extensively about Arnott’s Tiny Teddy variety packs – one of 12 Woolworths items which the trial is scrutinising in detail.
Court documents show the Tinny Teddies were sold at $5 for 495 days between 1 January 2021 and 10 May 2025.
Woolworths then lifted the biscuits’ price to $6.50 – but for just 15 days – before putting them on a new “sale” price of $5.50 and advertising them with a “Prices Dropped” promotional ticket for 337 days.
Deery conceded that, when they struck a new commercial agreement with Arnott’s to lift the retail price of the product that, it was agreed in advance it would then be put on the “Prices Dropped” program at $5.50.
Hodge put to him that there Woolworths never discussed with Arnott’s the possibility the Tiny Teddies would be on the shelves at $6.50 on an ongoing basis.
Deery said he disagreed, and that what had been important to him was the “overall commercial construct of the products”.
Deery will return to the witness box this afternoon to finish giving evidence.
Thanks Nick Visser, let’s keep on with the day’s news.
That’s all from me. Luca Ittimani will take things from here. Have a nice weekend.
Rural owners would pay lower premiums under NSW emergency services funding model
Rural property owners would pay less towards the funding of fire and rescue services under one of five models proposed for the reform of the emergency services levy (ESL) in NSW.
The Labor government announced its intention to scrap the ESL in 2023, to reduce premiums to encourage more people to insure their homes in the face of greater fire and flood threats. The former Coalition government dropped planned changes in 2019. Today the Minns government has released five potential models for reform which will be considered by a parliamentary inquiry.
The government has committed to introducing a new levy across all property-owners, in line with other states. Under one model, the charge would be determined according to property type, while under another, rural property-owners would pay less than those in regional towns and cities and metropolitan areas.
Under the current levy, households and businesses who take out property insurance contribute 73.3% of the funding for the NSW SES and fire agencies. Local councils contribute 11.7%, and the state government 14.6%. It says all five of its models deliver an average saving of about $65 per residential property.
The NSW treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, says:
Every time a mortgage-holder renews their insurance policy, they’re paying a price no homeowner in any other state has to pay.
We’ve got to try to remove pain-points like this tired, old levy, whenever we can. Especially as the pressures on working families get worse, as the oil shock continues.
US approves first major Aukus submarine contract
The United States has approved the first major submarine contract under the Aukus security deal, Press Association reports.
The $275m deal, awarded to American company Electric Boat, was announced by the US government on Thursday.
Under the 2021 security deal, Australia will acquire nuclear-powered submarines with support from the UK and the US, alongside cooperation on military technology.
It will be funded by Australia and cover “support engineering, technical, design agent and design transfer activities” from the United States.
Updated
Harvey Norman facing class action for ‘misleading’ ads
Angry customers are taking on retail giant Harvey Norman in a class action over claims they were misled by false promises of interest-free loans, only to be slugged with hefty fees and charges, AAP reports.
A directions hearing over the upcoming legal battle was held in the Brisbane supreme court on Friday, and will return to court on 24 June.
Carter Capner Law launched the challenge on behalf of customers after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) successfully prosecuted Harvey Norman and credit provider Latitude Finance Australia in the federal court.
“The consumers seek the payment of damages and refunds of the price paid for the goods acquired as a result of the defendants’ misleading conduct,” Carter Capner Law director Peter Carter told AAP.
The class action seeks to recover financial losses, including fees and charges.
Consumer watchdog ASIC had earlier taken the retail giant and Latitude to court over the store chain’s national ad campaign which promoted “no-deposit” and “interest-free” payment methods between January 2020 and August 2021.
In October 2024, the Federal Court found them guilty of misleading people with the ads, saying customers entered a “fundamentally different financial arrangement” than the one promoted. An appeal by Harvey Norman and Latitude was dismissed in September 2025.
Commbank deploys AI agents to find fraud
Commonwealth Bank says it has deployed an agentic AI system to detect fraud and scam patterns on transaction and payments data.
The AI agent monitors 80 million transaction, card and online payments on Commbank’s platform every day. Where suspicious patterns are identified, the system analyses the severity and proposes detection rules to intercept them.
Commbank’s executive general manager of fraud and scams, James Roberts said:
The agent operates around the clock, continuously monitoring activity and adapting to emerging threats.
The new rules are reviewed and approved by Commbank staff before being implemented. The agent has contributed to three-quarters of Commbank’s fraud rules, the bank said.
Commbank sends over 40,000 warning alerts to customers per day on the Commbank app, and fraud detection has led to a reduction in fraud losses by 20% in the first half of the 2026 financial year, compared to the same period in 2025.
Anglicare Australia says raise in jobseeker needed before more people pushed on to the program
Anglicare Australia has joined calls to raise jobseeker, after the latest report from the economic inclusion advisory committee (EIAC) warned of rising unemployment.
The Anglicare Australia executive director, Kasy Chambers, said:
With unemployment expected to rise, more Australians will be pushed on to jobseeker at the worst possible time.
Right now, these payments don’t even cover the basics. People are being forced to skip meals, delay medical care, and go without essentials just to get by. That is the reality of living on jobseeker. As more people rely on these payments, more people will be pushed into poverty.
Chambers said the EIAC report makes clear that raising the rate is the most urgent step the government can take.
This is the moment to lift these payments before more people have to live on them.
Updated
ANZ estimates inflation rose to 4.7% annually in March
ANZ has estimated inflation will be shown to have raced to 4.7% in March, when new consumer price index data is released in five days’ time.
Most of that will be from the surge in fuel prices, which the bank economists believes rose 35% from Feburary to March, according to a note today.
The Reserve Bank’s rate-setting board will gather five days after that to make its next call, with financial markets this morning betting on a 60% chance it will increase interest rates once more.
The RBA will be watching the the less volatile trimmed mean measure of inflation. ANZ believes that will rise to 3.3% on a monthly basis but 3.6% on a quarterly basis. Had fuel prices been flat, that measure would have been 3.5%.
Police didn’t need new hate speech laws to move neo-Nazis from NSW parliament, inquiry hears
The NSW government has moved to expand hate speech laws to include Nazi slogans, but the inquiry heard submissions that police should have moved on the rally under existing powers. The co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Peter Wertheim, told the inquiry:
With every other application where objections have been taken—and rightly so in most cases, in our view—the rationale has been expressed in terms of public safety considerations, not legality considerations.
Clearly there was a blind spot somewhere by whoever approved this in terms of understanding that having a phalanx of neo-Nazis standing outside the NSW parliament and bellowing antisemitic rhetoric constituted a public safety issue, regardless of whether that rhetoric fell afoul of the law.
Inquiry into NSW parliament protest calls for policing of neo-nazism under existing laws
An inquiry into a neo-Nazi rally on the steps of New South Wales parliament has recommended police improve training to better deal with far-right protests under existing laws.
The inquiry, which was commissioned following the rally in November last year in which more than 60 members of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network (NSN) stood in formation, bearing a large banner with the slogan “Abolish the Jewish Lobby”, released its final report yesterday.
Among its recommendations are for police to develop internal training to guide the enforcement of offences that target right-wing extremism, after police did not oppose an application for the rally on the grounds the slogan did not meet the legal threshold for hate speech, or move on protesters on the day. The police’s response led to accusations of a double standard when it came to the policing of pro-Palestine protests, which the police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, and the NSW premier, Chris Minns, have denied.
The police opposed applications for pro-Palestine marches on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House. A Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (Lecc) inquiry will examine alleged police brutality at a protest against the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, in February.
Kyle Sandilands leaves federal court
Kyle Sandilands has left the federal court after attending a joint case hearing.
He told the media “don’t believe the bullshit you hear and read.”
His former co-host Jackie “O” Henderson was a no-show to court today. Both are suing ARN Media for more than $80m each.
With that, he stepped back into his Rolls-Royce and drove away.
Updated
Queensland attorney general cheers Vyleen White killer’s lost appeal
Queensland’s attorney general, Deb Frecklington, has welcomed the news the teenager who killed Vyleen White has lost his appeal against his 16-year prison sentence.
Frecklington released this statement this morning:
No sentence will ever bring grandmother Vyleen White back, and my thoughts and prayers remain with Victor and the White family on what continues to be an incredibly difficult day.
I welcome today’s decision which dismisses the killer’s appeal to reduce his sentence.
The devastating loss of Vyleen revealed the horrifying reality of Labor’s Youth Crime Crisis.
Vyleen’s murder is exactly why the Crisafulli Government’s first act in office was to strengthen laws and deliver Adult Crime, Adult Time.
Under our laws, this killer would have faced life imprisonment.
Queensland’s parliament yesterday passed the latest stage of those “adult crime adult time” laws, with 55 offences now covered by the laws, which make young people face the same sentencing provisions as adults if convicted.
Updated
Queensland boy who killed grandmother in car jacking loses appeal
A teenager who killed a grandmother and triggered landmark youth justice laws has lost an appeal over his 16-year sentence, AAP reports.
The boy was 16-years-old when he fatally stabbed Vyleen White in a carjacking outside a shopping centre west of Brisbane in February 2024, sparking statewide outrage.
The crime was the catalyst for controversial “adult crime, adult time” laws, ensuring juveniles face at least 20 years in custody for serious offences like murder. However, they were not retroactive and the boy was sentenced under the state’s previous laws, receiving a 16-year jail term.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appealed, claiming his jail term was excessive for a non-premeditated murder and that the sentencing judge had made an error.
The boy received the highest sentence ever handed down in Queensland to a 16-year-old for a single stable murder, defence barrister Matthew Hynes told the court of appeal justices in March.
“This is a case where there is a single stab with fleeting attention,” he said.
However the court dismissed the appeal, rejecting the arguments.
The teenager pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced in November 2025.
He is likely to be released from custody in late 2033, about the time of his 26th birthday, after 60% of his sentence is completed with time already served.
Updated
Sydney man faces court over $1.5m NDIS fraud
A Sydney man was set to face court over allegedly fraudulently claiming $1.5m for providing non-existent services through the national disability insurance scheme.
The 33-year-old man came to the attention of the government’s fraud fusion taskforce in January 2024. Investigators searched an apartment in Bankstown, Sydney in June 2024, where they found evidence allegedly linking the man to 80 claims submitted from January to March against 22 unknowing NDIS participants.
In August 2024, the man was banned for two years from NDIS activities. The national disability insurance agency, which administers the NDIS, obtained an arrest warrant in February this year and the Australian Federal Police found and arrested the man on Thursday in Tahmoor, Sydney.
The man was charged with 22 counts of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and 10 counts of attempting to obtain a financial advantage by deception, facing a maximum of 10 years in prison.
He is set to face Parramatta court on 19 June, an AFP spokesperson said on Friday.
The Albanese government has cited NDIS fraud as a reason for its sweeping cuts to the scheme which will cut off 160,000 participants. It had formed the taskforce to address the exploitation of the NDIS by organised crime, as you can read here:
Pocock says government ‘ignoring the needs’ of vulnerable Australians as independent report calls for jobseeker to be lifted
As Cait Kelly brought you a moment ago, the government’s independent economic inclusion advisory committee has released its annual report before the budget, calling for an increase to jobseeker to 90% of the aged pension over four years, and an increase to commonwealth rent assistance.
The committee, which was established by Labor in 2022 as part of a deal with independent senator David Pocock, made the same recommendation to increase jobseeker and other income supports in 2025, 2024 and 2023. The government is unlikely to increase jobseeker in the coming budget.
Its fourth report states there are now 3.6 million Australians, including 1 million children and young people, who are now living in poverty.
It recommends actions to decrease the number of children living in poverty through family payments and child support systems and calls for an immediately end to all Centrelink payment penalties, including suspensions and cancellations related to compulsory activities.
Pocock says that months into the crisis in the Middle East, the government still hasn’t taken any “meaningful action” to support the most vulnerable Australians.
We’ve seen the prime minister jump to the defence of multinational gas companies while ignoring the needs of the most vulnerable Australians … Australia should be proud of the safety net we provide to those who have fallen on hard times and help them to build a better life rather than condemning them to economic and social exclusion.
Updated
David Pocock accuses government of ‘rolling out’ talking points from the gas industry
Independent senator David Pocock spoke earlier about the government’s reported ruling out of a gas export tax. He had this to say:
We now have the vast majority of Australians that say ‘that’s a finite resource that belongs to us, we want a return on that resource’.
And yet we have a prime minister and others who are just rolling out the talking points from the gas industry.
We had politicians parroting those talking points, those numbers. We now have people in the media giving us those numbers with no interrogation of where they come from.
Surely the PM should be giving us the ATO’s figures, not the gas industry’s figures.
Updated
Rise in unemployment would mean Australians need higher welfare payments, government’s expert committee warns
The government’s independent expert economic inclusion advisory committee has called for an increase to jobseeker, youth allowance and related payments and remote area allowance in this budget.
Released today, it also recommends reform of employment services to stop punishing people and provide genuine help for people to get into decent paid work.
Cassandra Goldie, the chief executive of the Australian Council of Social Service, said:
With some predicting unemployment could rise to between 5 and 6.5% by the end of the year, we urgently need a stronger safety net and employment services that don’t punish people but help them to get paid work.
Cost-of-living support must be targeted to people already living in poverty, who face severely rising costs of fuel, food and rent.
Income support payments are so low that people cannot meet their needs, let alone look for paid work with any dignity or stability. That has to change in this budget.
Updated
Four arrested in Sydney over alleged plot to kill prominent figure in organised crime
NSW police have said they foiled an alleged plot to kill a prominent figure in organised crime.
Officials with Taskforce Falcon said four men have been charged over their involvement in various stages of the alleged conspiracy. Police said the investigation began after officers on patrol in Sydney’s Bankstown noticed a car with cloned plates in September.
The driver allegedly sped away and officers began a chase. They later discovered the vehicle abandoned and an allegedly loaded handgun discarded on the road.
The incident set off an investigation under the taskforce. NSW police said detectives later uncovered aspects of the alleged murder plot, including setting up staged vehicles, surveilling the target and a planned getaway driver.
After extensive inquiries, four men were arrested yesterday. Two men from Leppington, aged 26 and 21, were charged with conspiracy and agreement to commit murder; a man from Punchbowl, 21, was charged with participation in a criminal group, contributing to criminal activity; and a man in Ashcroft, 17, was charged with participation in a criminal group, contributing to criminal activity.
The first three men were refused bail and will appear in court today. The teenager was granted strict conditional bail and will appear in children’s court next month.
Updated
AFL player Lance Collard’s ‘crippling’ ban for allegedly using homophobic slur slashed on appeal
St Kilda forward Lance Collard will serve a two-week suspension over his latest homophobic slur after having his ban reduced by the AFL appeal board, AAP reports.
Collard was initially banned for seven weeks, with a further two weeks suspended, after being found guilty of calling a VFL opponent the slur last month. He denied the allegation.
On reducing the sanction, the board declared a suspension of that length would have had a “crippling” effect on the 21-year-old fringe player’s career.
Collard’s reduced two-week ban comes with a further two weeks suspended until the end of next season, when his existing contract expires.
Read more:
NSW inspectors have visited more than 2,300 petrol stations to ensure fair pricing
NSW Fair Trading inspectors have now visited more than 2,300 petrol stations since the beginning of the fuel crisis linked to the war in the Middle East.
The Minns government said drivers should continue to use the FuelCheck website over the long weekend to ensure the fuel they buy is in-line with standard pricing. Officials have handed out more than 210 fines so far, about 70% of which have been issued in regional NSW.
Those who fail to meet their obligations can face on-the-spot penalties of $1,100, with court penalties of up to $110,000.
Anoulack Chanthivong, the minister for fair trading in NSW, said:
As our robust re-inspection regime continues, we’re calling on every motorist in the state to report regional and metropolitan service stations that are taking them for a ride.
My message to service stations remains clear: do the wrong thing and you will be caught.
Updated
Kyle Sandilands arrives at federal court
Kyle Sandilands has arrived at the federal court this morning, calling on ARN to put him back on the radio.
The media swarmed Sandilands as he exited a Rolls-Royce and moved up the court steps.
A reporter asked “how ugly is this going to get?”, to which Sandilands replied: “It’s pretty ugly now.”
His message to ARN? “Put me back on the radio.”
Asked if he had spoken with Jackie “O” Henderson, he said he hadn’t – meaning they still haven’t reconnected since their on air blowup.
He is there for a joint case management hearing, despite he and Jackie “O” filing separate cases against ARN.
ARN is seeking damages from the pair for breach of their separate $100m contracts and loss of advertising revenue.
Updated
Ben Roberts-Smith planned to leave Australia and researched buying wellness business in Spain, court documents show
In case you missed this one from last night:
Ben Roberts-Smith was planning to leave Australia to live overseas and had a business-class flight out of the country booked in four days’ time when he was arrested at Sydney airport this month, court documents allege, with investigators telling a court “his willingness to return to Australia to face prosecution cannot be judged”.
Roberts-Smith was ultimately granted bail last week under strict conditions, a move opposed by prosecutors who said there was potential concern he was a flight risk and might try to avoid ever having to face trial for a series of alleged murders he committed in Afghanistan.
He is accused of killing unarmed, handcuffed civilians who were in the custody of Australian soldiers and posed no risk to safety, in situations where there was no active engagement in conflict.
Read more here:
Updated
Asic issues warnings to ‘finfluencers’ over alleged unlicensed financial advice
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) issued warning notices to four finance influencers, also known as “finfluencers”, AAP reports.
They are suspected of providing unlicensed financial advice, such as promoting claims of guaranteed returns, which could also be misleading or deceptive.
As younger Australians increasingly turn to social media for personal finance advice, the watchdog is attempting to crack down on bad online actors before anyone gets hurt.
“If someone on social media is promising easy money or guaranteed returns, there is a real risk they’re breaking the law, and you could be the one who loses money,” Asic commissioner Alan Kirkland said. He continued:
What people see online is shaped by algorithms designed to drive clicks and engagement, rather than promoting accurate information.
While the influencers have not been named, the commission’s surveillance has focused on those targeting Australian investors and discussing products like leveraged derivatives, shares and exchange-traded funds.
Asic has urged young Australians to study social media influencers and compare their advice with trusted, evidence-based sources.
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Microsoft and Meta announce large staff reductions as they spend big on AI
Meta and Microsoft are trimming their workforces by thousands as they make heavy investments in AI and executives claim that the technology is meeting their companies’ productivity needs.
Meta told staff on Thursday that on 20 May it would cut some 10% of its personnel – just under 8,000 employees– to boost efficiency, part of a layoff plan made months ago. The company is also closing about 6,000 open roles. The same day, Microsoft announced to employees, for the first time, that it would offer voluntary retirement to about 7% of its American workforce of roughly 125,000.
In an internal memo to Meta’s staff, Janelle Gale, the chief people officer, didn’t mention AI explicitly but said the cuts would allow the company to “offset the other investments we’re making”.
In Meta’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings presentation, the CEO, Mark Zuckerberg spoke about a “major AI acceleration” that included plans to spend between $115bn and $135bn on AI – nearly twice the company’s capital expenditure the previous year.
Read more here:
James Valentine chose assisted dying but barriers remain for Australians wanting to access it
When the beloved broadcaster and saxophonist James Valentine died this week it was on his terms – he was at home, surrounded by his family, after making the choice to use voluntary assisted dying (VAD).
“Throughout his illness, James did it his way, which lasted all the way until the end,” his wife, Joanne, and two children, Ruby and Roy, said in a statement.
“Both he and his family are grateful he was given the option to go out on his own terms.”
As tributes flow for Valentine, advocates for VAD hope his loss will encourage the federal government to address structural barriers to accessing the end-of-life care that are preventing some Australians from doing the same.
Every Australian jurisdiction excluding the Northern Territory has legalised VAD, which represents about 2% of all deaths, or 5% of cancer deaths. The NT government has committed to draft and debate a VAD law, with no timetable in place.
Read more here:
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Resources minister says gas companies have spent billions establishing energy infrastructure
Madeleine King, the federal resources minister, said there was no change in the government’s position on the taxation of gas.
She spoke to RN this morning, saying gas companies had spent tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars over decades to create gas facilities, calling claims gas companies were getting gas at a sweetheart deal were “absurd”.
She said:
These facilities support communities across the country … It’s only in the universe of the Greens party and their friends that they can say that spending hundreds of billions of dollars across the country could be considered in any way free. It’s clearly an absurd position.
We’ve got to remember what those billions of dollars of investment has delivered for the Australian people and what we get out of it. And one of those things is a domestic gas supply.
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Government has reportedly all but ruled out gas export tax
As reported by Dan Jervis-Bardy earlier this week, Guardian Australia understands the government has all but ruled out a 25% tax on gas exports, while the ABC reported the PM himself was poised to kill off the tax.
Spender said the government should still push forward with it. She told RN Breakfast:
I think this is where community pressure really matters.
The status quo doesn’t work. We do need a different model. The government is responsible for this. It really did not take action when it should have. It didn’t learn the lessons from Ukraine.
We cannot let another crisis pass and yet not to actually do the right thing by Australians who are really struggling right now.
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Allegra Spender says 25% gas export tax would help fix ‘faulty’ system
Independent MP Allegra Spender said a 25% tax on gas exports would help rectify what she sees as “faulty” taxation arrangements that have seen an Australian resource sent overseas with minimal benefit to the country.
Spender spoke to RN Breakfast this morning:
The gas industry is a very profitable industry and pays income tax. And every company in Australia, frankly, should pay income tax on its profits and should pay the proper rate. But the gas companies are different because they also sell an Australian resource which they extract, which we can’t get back once it is sold.
I think Australians rightly believe they should share more of that revenue.
Spender was asked if it was the right time to push the tax amid a fuel crisis. She said this had happened before, during the outset of the Ukraine war, and it hadn’t been sorted at that time.
We’re back here again and they should fix it.
We are lucky to be an energy exporter at a time where the world needs energy. We are a great partner in this. But it is a reasonable thing for Australians to get a fair return on that. And, at the moment, we just aren’t.
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Chris Minns says NSW won’t have enough capacity to provide similar services to those removed from NDIS
Minns maintained the state government didn’t have the capacity to provide services to tens of thousands expected to be taken off the NDIS in NSW amid the government’s changes announced this week.
The premier told ABC News:
We can’t and I think we need to be really honest about that. If there’s going to be changes to the NDIS – and I’m not a state leader who’s knocking the federal government’s right and probably responsibility to reform the NDIS, it’s cost too much money – but we have to be really frank with people.
We can’t offer at the state level the kinds of services that are being rolled out at the NDIS.
Minns said the state wasn’t being “stingy” but was “full on and flat out” providing emergency care at hospitals, educating children and building houses “and all the things that we’re obligated to do at the state level”.
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NSW premier says fuel crisis demonstrates renewed need to electrify the economy
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said the state is open to having new refinery capacity but said he believes it’s more important to have increased fuel capacity on shore and to electrify the economy.
Minns spoke to ABC News this morning, saying any transition to more domestic energy production was even more pressing considering that this is “unlikely to be the last Middle Eastern war that we have in our lifetime”.
It seems to happen every 10 years or so and, if we have got other ways of powering our economy through renewable resources and gas and coal, then that’s a good thing right now for Australia.
Minns added couldn’t rule out the country moving to the next level of the national fuel security plan but he thinks “the best most practical things governments and people do is not panic but prepare”.
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Two children in hospital after dingo attacks at WA campground
At least two children have been treated in hospital after dingo attacks at the same remote West Australian campground, Australian Associated Press reports.
Authorities have warned others in the area to use caution and said the animals involved would be exterminated if possible.
A four-year-old girl was bitten on the leg by a dingo at Dales Campground, in Karijini national park, on Wednesday night, authorities said.
The girl’s mother was also bitten while attempting to protect her, with both receiving first aid on-site before being transported to Tom Price hospital for treatment.
Earlier in the week, about 8am on Saturday, a six-year-old girl was approached by an aggressive dingo that nipped at her clothing. She was not injured.
On Monday, a six-year-old boy was bitten on the neck and arm and was taken to Tom Price hospital by his parents for medical treatment.
Rangers have been conducting nightly patrols since the initial attack to locate and humanely destroy the problem dingoes as soon as a safe opportunity presents, WA’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions said.
Additional staff with specialist dingo management experience have also flown up from Perth to assist.
The campground remains open, with park rangers advising campers of the dingo risk on arrival and providing safety information.
“The Parks and Wildlife Service is urging anyone travelling to Dales Campground at Karijini national park to be on the alert and take every precaution,” the department said. “There is permanent dingo safety signage installed at several locations within Dales Campground.”
The department said dingoes were an important part of the local ecosystem but visitor safety was the number one priority.
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Good morning, Nick Visser here to take the reins and guide us through Friday. Let’s get to it.
Court hears Woolworths planned price hikes and subsequent drops
Under cross-examination by the ACCC’s barrister, Michael Hodge KC, Robinson conceded Woolworths had planned the elevated short-term price of $6.50 would become the product’s “was” price before it was even changed.
Robinson also acknowledged the supermarket negotiated profit margins with the supplier based on the third “Prices Dropped” price of $6.
The court was shown the proposed promotional plan for the baby rice from 2022 which said the number of weeks it would be at the new shelf price of $6.50 was “zero” whereas the number of weeks it would then be sold for $6 was 52.
Woolworths denies the ACCC’s allegation that in many cases it inflated prices solely to establish a higher “was” price so that it could make customers think they were getting a discount.
Sam Woodcock, who has worked in management roles across Woolworths for more than nine years, also appeared as a witness.
Woodock conceded Woolworths had planned price hikes and subsequent drops promoted as discounts in negotiation with the product suppliers.
“Essentially if a supplier proposes a cost price increase to be effective from a certain date and we don’t accept that as a retailer, there’s a risk that … that a supplier will choose not to supply us that product anymore,” he told the court.
The case continues.
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Woolworths gives evidence about price changes in ACCC case
Woolworths planned to increase the shelf price of products in advance so it could later display desired “was/is” price comparisons on their promotional tickets, a court has heard.
The trial involving the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Woolworths continued yesterday in testing allegations the supermarket disguised price increases on hundreds of products between 2021 and 2023.
Stuart Robinson, Woolworths’ category manager for baby products, gave evidence in the federal court in Melbourne where he was asked about Nestlé Cerelac baby rice – one of 12 products the trial is scrutinising in detail.
Woolworths’ long-term shelf price was $5, according to court documents. It then lifted the price to $6.50, for 22 days, then reduced it to a new long-term price of $6.
The supermarket promoted the $6 price as a “Prices Dropped” discount on the item’s ticket, next to the higher “was” price of $6.50.
Robinson admitted in court that the agreed “was” price of $6.50 – to be advertised in store – was higher than Woolworths had ever charged for the product at the time.
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Hackers steal US$2.5m owed to Australia from Sri Lankan finance ministry
Hackers steal US$2.5m owed to Australia from Sri Lankan finance ministry
Cybercriminals have hacked into the Sri Lankan finance ministry’s computer system and siphoned off US$2.5m, Agence France-Presse reports.
It is the most amount of cash ever stolen by hackers from a state institution in the debt-saddled country, which is recovering from a crippling economic crisis in 2022 after Colombo defaulted on its US$46bn external debt.
The money was destined as debt repayment to Australia, the finance ministry secretary, Harshana Suriyapperuma, told reporters in the capital.
Four senior officers at the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) were suspended after the breach, he said.
Authorities were alerted to an attempt to break into the ministry’s email server and investigations showed that a US$2.5m payment owed to Australia had disappeared.
“Criminal investigators are looking into this and we are not in a position to give further details,” Suriyapperuma said, adding that Sri Lankan authorities were seeking help from foreign law enforcement agencies.
Australia’s high commissioner in Sri Lanka, Matthew Duckworth, said Canberra was aware of “irregularities” in payments owed to it.
“Sri Lankan authorities are investigating the matter and are coordinating with Australian officials, who are assisting the investigation,” Duckworth said on X.
“Australia remains committed to supporting Sri Lanka’s return to debt sustainability.”
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Hastie says US alliance has eroded Australia 'sovereign capability'
The Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie says doubling down on the US relationship has eroded Australia’s sovereign capability, including its defence industry, as he warns the country must “get serious” about national security to rebalance the alliance.
In a speech to the Robert Menzies Institute in Melbourne last night, the shadow minister for industry and sovereign capability said the reliance on the US meant “strategic trade-offs” that had hastened the deindustrialisation of Australia and “weakened our hard power”.
He said it had cost Australia “sovereign capabilities like a robust defence industry” and “strategic freedom of action” in ways that were now becoming clear amid the Middle East war.
Hastie said under Donald Trump the US “should not be expected to guarantee much except its own strategic interests”, which meant Australia must “get serious about our own national security” by rebuilding its industrial base and a defence force “with teeth”.
To put it bluntly, if Anzus is going to continue for another 75 years, we need to invest in our industrial base and our defence force.
The former soldier has been an outspoken critic of Trump and his war in Iran, striking a different tone to the opposition leader, Angus Taylor.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories before Nick Visser guides you through to the holiday weekend.
Andrew Hastie says doubling down on the US relationship has eroded Australia’s sovereign capability, including its defence industry, as he warns the country must “get serious” about national security to rebalance the alliance. More follows.
At least two children have been treated in hospital after dingo attacks in recent days at the same remote Western Australian campground. More details coming up.
And hackers have broken into the Sri Lankan finance ministry’s computer system and made off with $2.5m that was destined as a debt repayment to Australia. More on that, too, very soon
