What we learned today, Wednesday 15 April
With that, we will wrap up the blog for the evening. Have a lovely night, we’ll be back first thing tomorrow as the prime minister travels to Malaysia for more petrol and diesel supply talks with his counterpart in Kuala Lumpur.
Until then, here were today’s largest developments:
The Sultan of Brunei welcomed Anthony Albanese to his palace for formal talks on fuel supplies today, telling the prime minister that he considers Australia to be a close friend and trusted partner. The two nations signed a joint statement on energy and food security, with the PM welcoming the “very positive discussions”.
Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has lost its bid to retain royalties from the mammoth Hope Downs iron ore project and will be forced to pay Wright Prospecting half of its royalties from the project. However the company is declaring victory against Rinehart’s children after retaining ownership of a major mine in a landmark court case.
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan has sworn in her new cabinet at Government House in Melbourne after the resignation of three ministers.
Virgin Australia has lifted air fares and reducing flights to offset the high costs of jet fuel caused by the Middle East conflict.
Part of Australia’s east coast has been shaken by an earthquake that could be felt hundred of kilometres away. A 4.5-magnitude quake hit at 8.19pm last night at a depth of 5km about 30km south-west of Orange in central-west NSW.
And Northern Territory police are investigating the death of a 26-year-old man after a violent disturbance in Milingimbi on Tuesday.
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Usman Khawaja condemns 'appalling' immigration comments from Coalition
Still on the opposition’s migration policy, and former Australian test cricketer, Usman Khawaja, has posted a strong rebuke of it on social media, describing comments made by the Coalition as “appalling”.
He wrote on Instagram:
Firstly just come out and say you want to discriminate against those of Islamic faith. Don’t beat around the bush by using words such as ‘extremist, ‘fundamentalist’ and ‘dictators’. Most of the world shares the same values as Australia, presumably the most important in any democracy, respect everyone and don’t break the law.
Don’t judge individuals based on their governments or government representatives. If we did that you wouldn’t be allowed anywhere at this moment.
Khawaja, who was the first Muslim to play for Australia, was not afraid to weigh in on political, social and cultural debates during his time on the squad.
Read more here:
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