What we learned: Thursday, 26 June
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. Thanks so much for reading along, we’ll be back first thing tomorrow for all the latest.
Here were today’s major developments:
The federal government has imposed sanctions on a further 37 Russians and seven groups in response to the war in Ukraine. Australia will also send 100 defence force personnel to Europe to assist Ukraine, helping deliver humanitarian and military assistance from the United Kingdom.
Fire ants have been found in a shipping container that had arrived in Perth, the government agency in charge of eradicating the invasive species has said.
The senior Liberal frontbencher Angus Taylor said he didn’t support gender quotas as a mechanism to grow the number of women in its ranks, after Sussan Ley put all options on the table to lift the party’s female representation. Meanwhile, Ley said the Liberal party did not “meet modern Australians where they are” at the last election.
Three men found guilty of the “horrific” murder of two people who drowned in a toolbox have been given a 30-year life sentence.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, lashed the former Labor figure turned One Nation turned independent, Mark Latham, in NSW parliament’s question time, calling him one of the “most bigoted MPs in the country”.
And David McBride will take his case to the high court in an attempt to challenge his conviction and reduce his five-year, eight-month prison sentence.
Updated
Chalmers to take Chinese-linked company to court over critical minerals stake
Jim Chalmers will take a Chinese-linked company to the federal court for an alleged breach of foreign investment laws over its stakes in a critical minerals company.
In June 2024, the treasurer ordered five foreign investors, including the Indian Ocean International Shipping and Service Company Ltd, to sell their shares in Northern Minerals Limited to people not associated with them, saying their links to the critical mineral exploration company were not in Australia’s national interest.
On Thursday afternoon, Chalmers announced he would take the Indian Ocean International Shipping and Service Company to federal court over an alleged breach of the foreign investment laws. It’s understood the company failed to sell off its shares to an unassociated person or company.
The case will mark an important test for Australia’s foreign investment framework as nations around the world bid for influence and access to critical mineral resources.
In June 2024, Chalmers told Bloomberg that Australia’s critical minerals were the “opportunity of a century”.
There’s a lot of interest from around the world, not just from China, in our critical minerals, and that’s because they are such a crucial part of the future economy ... we want to make Australia an indispensable part of the global shift to net zero, this big energy transformation that’s happening around the world, and critical minerals are an important part of that.
Updated
