What we learned, Sunday 15 March
That’s where we’ll leave you this Sunday. Here’s a snapshot from today:
Home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed three more members of the Iranian women’s football squad have left Australia. The decision means just three squad members will remain in Australia on specially granted protection visas.
Households can expect significant additional cost-of-living pressures because of the war in the Middle East, with Jim Chalmers confirming that the government expects inflation to rise beyond 4.5% in Australia.
The NSW government will introduce new laws this week to force property sellers to publish a price guide on all advertising, and impose a fivefold increase to fines for underquoting real estate agents.
Denmark’s King Frederik and Queen Mary have ended the first leg of their Australian visit with a sunrise trek to a famous Uluru watering hole.
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, has defended his government’s decision to ignore recommendations that the state’s new theatre named after the Aboriginal poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal.
Crisafulli defended new laws banning the “from the river to the sea” protest slogan.
The Liberal party announced Albury councillor Raissa Butkowski as its candidate for the upcoming Farrer byelection.
Updated
Albury councillor named as Liberal candidate for Farrer byelection
Albury city councillor Raissa Butkowski has won Liberal preselection for the Farrer byelection.
Butkowski won a ballot of Sunday against former Sussan Ley staffer Lachlan McIntyre and will fight One Nation’s David Farley, teal independent Michelle Milthrope and the Nationals’ Brad Robertson in the 9 May byelection.
Butkowski is a lawyer with experience representing community interests and disadvantaged people. She is an Albury local.
Ley sparked the byelection by resigning after losing the Liberal leadership to Angus Taylor. The byelection is a key test for Taylor and One Nation.
Taylor will visit the electorate this week to campaign with Butkowski.
Updated
Body found after helicopter crash in northern NSW
NSW police have confirmed that a body has been located following a helicopter crash in the state’s north-west.
Wreckage was spotted by search crews just before 2pm on Saturday in dense bushland north of Drake, a small township near Tenterfield in northern NSW.
NSW police confirmed that a body, believed to be that of the 77-year-old pilot, was located at the site at 1pm today.
The discovery follows a multi-day search for a helicopter that vanished on Friday.
The aircraft had departed the Gold Coast at 9am on Friday and was bound for Mudgee, in the NSW central tablelands, failed to arrive as scheduled.
A recovery operation is under way involving PolAir and Police Rescue.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has taken the lead in investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.
Updated
Missing Burnett Heads man found
Queensland police have confirmed that a 51-year-old man, who sparked a major search after disappearing from a houseboat, has been found safe.
The man was located just after 9am today at a property in Sharon, a rural locality in the Bundaberg region. He has been transported to Bundaberg hospital for assessment.
He was reported missing from a houseboat on the coast of Burnett Heads around 1am on Friday.
A significant multi-agency operation involving emergency services and local volunteers lasted two days.
Updated
Katherine schools to reopen on Monday
All government schools in Katherine will reopen tomorrow, after being closed due to flooding.
MacFarlane Primary School, Casuarina Street Primary School and Katherine High School, which have operated as evacuation shelters during the emergency, will all be open on Monday, according to a NT government statement.
Katherine High School will operate in hybrid mode, serving as both high school and evacuation centre.
Victoria to bring in new powers to shut down illicit tobacco shops
The Victorian government will introduce legislation aimed at dismantling the state’s illicit tobacco trade.
Under the proposed laws, regulator Tobacco Licensing Victoria will be given power to close stores caught selling illegal tobacco.
The new rules would grant inspectors the power to destroy seized illegal tobacco before trial.
Landlords would also be allowed to evict businesses selling illegal tobacco and could be penalised if they are privy to the trade operating in their premises.
The minister for casino, gaming and liquor regulation, Enver Erdogan, said the laws would be introduced this year:
Illegal tobacco is not a victimless crime.
Illicit tobacco fuels organised crime, and we’re shutting down the operators who think they can get away with it.
Anyone caught selling illicit tobacco will face serious consequences.
Updated
'Blue-sky flood' waters in western Queensland reach outskirts of Longreach
The Thomson River at Longreach is now at 6.12 metres and is rising slowly, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
It is likely to peak close to 6.5 metres, with a major flood warning in place.
The peak will most likely occur this afternoon or this evening, though continued small rises are possible overnight into early tomorrow.
Due to the slow swelling of the river, residents will experience a “blue-sky flood”, with sunny weather and tops of 31C.
Keep up to date with latest flood warnings via the BOM’s website.
Updated
Iran’s attacks ‘almost unhinged’, UAE minister says
Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries are “almost unhinged”, UAE minister for international cooperation Reem Al Hashimy has told ABC news.
Iran has fired more than 1,800 missiles and drones at the Emirates, more than any other country targeted by Tehran in the conflict, upending its aura of tranquillity despite its air defence intercepting a vast majority of the projectiles.
Al Hashimy called it “unprecedented”.
We’ve borne the brunt of most of the missiles and drone attacks, and it’s really quite surprising for us that Iran has taken such an irrational path to fight the Gulf states and act in this quite unlawful, quite unacceptable manner.”
Updated
Crisafulli defends new laws banning 'from the river to the sea' phrase
On Wednesday an 18-year-old woman was charged under the new laws for wearing a shirt reading “from the river to the sea”. An organiser was charged for allegedly speaking the same phrase.
Asked what harm the arrests prevented, the Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, said:
The laws have been implemented, and police will police them in a fair way. And I think the fact that you can have something like that where people are able to express their views and they can do so, I think, shows that the laws can work.
A journalist then put to him that people weren’t able to express their views without being arrested. He said:
People are able to express their passion about Palestine, about the freedom of that – there’s two things and they’re directly around the eradication of a race of people.
Earlier in the press conference a journalist put it to the premier that the organiser’s speech did not “menace, harass or offend”, as required under the act. He was asked what training police had been given about the laws. He said:
Governments make laws and police implement them, and I have faith in police implementing laws in a calm and measured way.
Updated
Greens urge Chalmers to overrule RBA on interest rates
The Greens have called on the RBA to hold interest rates steady this Tuesday, urging treasurer Jim Chalmers to intervene is another hike is delivered.
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, said inflation was being driven by an “illegal war that Labor is supporting”:
If the RBA decides to lift rates on Tuesday, the Treasurer must overrule the decision.
Greens senator Nick McKim said Chalmers can use section 11 powers of the Reserve Bank Act to overrule the central bank if it chooses to hike rates:
Higher mortgages and higher rents will only punish people who had nothing to do with causing this inflation and have no power to fix it …
If the government is serious about easing pressure on households, it should stop supporting this war instead of forcing Australians to pay the price for it.
Updated
Queensland premier defends rejecting recommendation to name state’s new theatre after Indigenous poet
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, has defended his government’s decision to ignore recommendations that the state’s new theatre be named after Oodgeroo Noonuccal.
Instead it was called the Glasshouse theatre. Crisafulli said the name would “make a remarkable ability to market it”:
The name is fitting of what that facility is. It’s clearly able to be marketed across the globe.
In years to come, when people say the Glasshouse theatre, they will know where it is, what it looks like and its key attributes. There couldn’t be a more appropriate name, which is why Queenslanders backed it.
Guardian Australia exclusively revealed that the arts minister, John-Paul Langbroek, signed off on the change months before holding a vote on the name. The vote didn’t include Oodgeroo’s name as an option.
But the premier said the government was considering naming something else after the Indigenous poet from Minjerribah/North Stradbroke Island:
Regarding honouring that individual, we should find ways to do that; she’s significant and we should.
Updated
You can follow the Guardian’s live blog covering the Middle East crisis here:
How is the disruption in Iran’s strait of Hormuz affecting Australia?
The Middle East conflict is causing huge disruptions to energy supplies, with knock-on effects reaching far beyond petrol prices.
Guardian Australia’s Catie McLeod and Jonathan Barrett have explained five ways the “largest supply disruption in history” in global oil markets is affecting Australia.
From the cost of crucial imported goods to the purchasing decisions made by consumers, read the explainer here:
Updated
Deadly South Australian algal bloom is still spreading one year on
The largest and most destructive algal bloom in Australia’s history is persisting along parts of the South Australian coastline, a year on from when it was detected.
From a distance, it can be hard to grasp just how unusual and devastating the crisis has been.
Most harmful blooms only last a few weeks. This one has been unrelenting.
Since March last year, it has affected 20,000 sq km of coast – an area twice the size of greater Sydney – and ranks among the worst for marine mass mortality globally, killing millions of sea creatures – from tiny shellfish to top predators like white sharks.
Read more here:
Updated
Sunrise visit to waterhole
Denmark’s King Frederik and Queen Mary have ended the first leg of their Australian visit with a sunrise trek to a famous Uluru watering hole, AAP reports.
The royal couple woke before dawn on Sunday to walk to the Muṯitjulu waterhole in Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa national park with traditional owners.
The culturally significant site is one of the few permanent water sources around the sandstone monolith and a regular attraction for visiting dignitaries.
Read more about the royal visit here:
Updated
Listen: Paul Daley on Australia’s appeasement of Trump and his war on Iran
As Australia risks becoming entangled in Trump and Netanyahu’s war on Iran, Guardian Australia columnist Paul Daley questions whether appeasing the White House at all costs indulges a US-Australia relationship that no longer exists.
Listen to the latest episode of Full Story’s Sunday read series for more:
Updated
‘Not a building’ in Daly River not under water, NT chief minister says
Authorities say little can be done to salvage flooded homes along the Top End’s swollen Daly River, AAP reports.
Everyone in the affected area, including the community of Daly River, has been safely evacuated north to Darwin but their homes are inundated.
The Northern Territory chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro, told reporters yesterday:
There is not a building in Daly River that is not under water, many of which are under water to the roof.
We have to let that river go down before we can take any further steps.
Guardian Australia highlighted the scale of northern Australia’s record-breaking floods revealed in data and maps.
Read more here:
Updated
F1 cancels Bahrain and Saudi Arabia grands prix
Formula One has cancelled the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia grands prix because of the war in the Middle East.
The races were due to take place on 12 April in Bahrain and 19 April in Saudi Arabia but the sport was approaching the point at which a decision on cancellation needed to be made to prevent more freight being sent to Bahrain.
The sport’s governing body, the FIA, and F1 conceded it had been left with no choice but to cancel the races for the safety of everyone involved.
Read more here:
Updated
Danish royals Frederik and Mary begin Australia tour in red centre
King Frederik and Queen Mary of Denmark have kicked off their first trip to Australia since taking the throne, AAP reports.
The six-day state tour, which includes visits to Canberra, Melbourne and Hobart, aims to deepen trade ties between Queen Mary’s adopted and home countries.
The royal couple exchanged handshakes with Aṉangu traditional owners at Uluru Kata Tjuṯa Cultural Centre after touching down late yesterday.
The normally arid desert region was a sea of green after weeks of heavy rain soaked the outback tourist site, sending waterfalls cascading down the rock.
Read more here:
Updated
Joyce says he disagrees with Hanson's inflammatory comments about Muslim Australians
Barnaby Joyce says he disagrees with his leader, Pauline Hanson, over inflammatory comments about Muslims but says parties criticising her haven’t learned the lesson of One Nation’s rise.
Hanson was censured in the Senate this month for suggesting there are no “good” Muslims.
During an interview about the return of Australian women and children linked to Islamic State militants, she told Sky News: “You say, ‘Well, there’s good Muslims out there.’ How can you tell me there are good Muslims?”
On ABC TV on Sunday, Joyce, who quit the Nationals to join Hanson’s party last year, said there were good Muslims:
I don’t want to give pastoral care, but I think attacking Pauline today does not work like people thought it might have worked 15 years ago.
[People] see Pauline as having the courage to stand behind her convictions on certain issues.
“On Muslims?” host David Speers pushed back.
“Nuancing what she said might have been better,” Joyce acknowledged:
I’ll make it very clear, I do know people of the Islamic faith who are good people, without a shadow of a doubt.
He went on to cite verses of the Qur’an and argued complete and literal belief with some religious texts were incompatible with living in modern Australia:
There are people of Islamic faith who are good. And she was referring to … trying to, how do you determine people who come from an area there where there’s jihad, whether they’re a good or bad? I don’t know. Maybe you can do it by talking to them. I can’t.
Updated
Barnaby Joyce says Australia should assist in securing Gulf fuel supplies
Nationals turned One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce says Australia should join countries moving to shore up international fuel supplies by sending a navy ship to the Middle East.
The US president, Donald Trump, has urged countries to send warships to defend the strait of Hormuz after US strikes on Kharg Island, Iran’s largest export terminal for oil.
About 90% of the country’s oil passes through the hub.
Speaking on ABC TV on Sunday, Joyce said any assistance from Australia should be about firming up fuel supply:
You have to be part of a global effort. If you are part of a beneficiary of it being resolved, you got to do something for it.
We’ve been asked in the past to put a frigate into the Red Sea, but Australia was unable to do it.
In the past, we weren’t able to get the one frigate into the Red Sea, and now we don’t know whether we’ve got the capacity to support the United States of America. However, in the future, we’ll be running to them straight away if we need their help.
Updated
NSW government to introduce penalty hike for property underquoting
The Minns government will introduce legislation this week to crack down on real estate underquoting, significantly hiking penalties.
Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading Anoulack Chanthivong said:
We are ensuring misconduct can no longer be written off as a cost of doing business.
Under the proposed laws, maximum fines for agents will rise from $22,000 to $110,000 – or three times the commission earned. “Dummy bidding” penalties will also double.
The reforms mandate price guides on all property ads and prohibit agents from advertising prices lower than any previously rejected written offer.
NSW Fair Trading will gain expanded powers to force agents to disclose breaches or undergo independent verification of their price estimates.
Updated
Defence to help with Top End flood clean-up
The federal minister for emergency management, Kristy McBain, says the government has approved a request from the Northern Territory for Australian defence force personnel to assist in the recovery from serious flooding.
Crews will be on the ground from tomorrow, helping with clean-up and recovery efforts around the Katherine.
McBain told ABC radio:
Those logistics are being worked out, but they’ll be there to assist for the next 10 to 14 days, depending on what is required in that clean-up process.
A number of those ADF personnel have already been assisting in their own capacities.
Updated
Fuel excise should be cut due to Middle East oil crisis, Canavan says
Matt Canavan tells Sky he believes there is sufficient fuel supply in Australia, despite the growing Middle East war:
The government has to provide confidence and assurance to people that they’ve got this in hand.
What the government should be doing is getting a lot more information on where things are at and doing what they can to deliver things.
He says the federal government should consider a cut to the fuel excise to help households with the cost of living:
I think that has to be very carefully considered.
Updated
Labor to blame for inflation problem, Canavan says
The new Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, says Treasury forecasts suggesting inflation could reach as high as 4.5% this year prove Labor has not done enough to carefully manage the economy.
Canavan told Sky on Sunday government spending had made the situation worse, even before the outbreak of war in the Middle East:
This government, because they couldn’t control their own budget, has put Australia in a much weaker position to withstand the shocks of these kind of crises.
The government has not been saving for a rainy day, and a rainy day has arrived, and we don’t really have a roof over our head.
Canavan says Australia should do whatever it can to help bring about peace, including through support to the United States.
Updated
Chalmers: inflation could reach ‘high fours’
Jim Chalmers has confirmed Treasury modelling suggests the war and other economic conditions could push inflation in Australia to the “mid- to high fours”.
Labor has been battling sticking inflation, but economic shocks from the Middle East will make the task much harder, putting extra pressure on the Reserve Bank to lift interest rates.
Inflation is now at 3.8%.
Private forecasts already suggest inflation will be in the high 4% range. Chalmers says:
We’ve run a couple of scenarios which make it clear on some realistic assumptions about global oil prices and how that would potentially flow through to inflation, and for how long you know, if we were putting pencils down on those forecasts today, we’d have inflation peaking somewhere between the mid- to high fours.
The treasurer says the 12 May budget will be “difficult” but will include reforms, likely to include changes to the capital gains tax discount and other tax settings.
Updated
Fuel shortages not expected, Chalmers says
Jim Chalmers has told Sky the government does not expect Australia to run out of fuel due to the war in Iran. About a fifth of the world’s oil supplies travel through the strait of Hormuz and the growing conflict has played havoc with international prices:
We’ve got big stockpiles of fuel, whether it’s petrol or diesel or jet fuel, and we work around the clock to make sure that Australia doesn’t run out. We’re certainly not expecting that we will.
Asked if petrol prices could go beyond $3 a litre in Australia, Chalmers says it depends on the scale of the war:
We don’t have a model that has petrol prices going that high, but there’s a lot of volatility and a lot of unpredictability in the global oil market.
Chalmers says the government is working with the competition watchdog to make sure retailers are not price gouging.
Updated
Treasurer praises officials involved with Iranian footballers
Jim Chalmers has praised officials who assisted members of the Iranian women’s football team as they considered asylum requests in Australia.
The government confirmed on Sunday that three more members of the squad had decided to return to Iran after initially seeking protection here.
Chalmers told Sky that officials from the Department of Home Affairs had worked to assist the team in extraordinarily difficult conditions:
They are absolutely top shelf, and they’ve been working around the clock on these issues.
The way these things unfold is ultimately a matter for those officials to determine they’ve done the absolute best they can by these Iranian women under extreme and extraordinary pressure, and often that requires some pretty dramatic and unusual steps, like those which you’ve described.
Updated
Good morning
Welcome to Guardian Australia’s Sunday live news blog. My name is Ima Caldwell, I’ll be bringing you the latest news today.
First up this morning, the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed three more members of the Iranian women’s football squad have left Australia. The decision means just three of the seven squad members will remain in Australia on specially granted protection visas.
In NSW, the Minns government is introducing legislation to combat property underquoting by significantly increasing penalties. More on that soon.
And on the federal politics front, we’re expecting to hear from Jim Chalmers and Barnaby Joyce on TV interviews this morning.
Stay tuned for all of that and more.
