What we learned, Wednesday 25 March
And with that, we’ll wrap up the blog for the day. Have a nice evening. Here were today’s top stories:
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, told her Israeli counterpart that Australia supports Lebanon’s sovereignty, after the Netanyahu government revealed plans to seize parts of the country’s south as a so-called “defensive buffer” against Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, announced Iranian nationals with valid Australian tourist visas will be blocked from entering the country for six months, citing concern some may decide to stay longer than they’re allowed.
The shadow defence spokesperson, James Paterson, said he was still a “big believer” in the Aukus defence pact but cautioned Australia should be realistic that the US may not always come to its aid in the future.
Pauline Hanson spoke at a Minerals Council event, where she said One Nation wants to work with the Liberals and Nationals – including on preferences deals – to defeat Labor, and would guarantee confidence and supply to a potential minority Coalition government.
Climate activist organisation Rising Tide wrote “TAX ME ♡” in chalk on a coal ship on Wednesday morning as part of a call on the federal government to introduce a 78% tax on coal export profits.
As the average price of diesel passed $3 a litre for the first time in every capital city besides Darwin, according to the fuel monitoring website Motormouth, the government introduced a bill to give the consumer watchdog powers to hand out bigger fines for price-gouging.
The Queensland LNP government scrapped the state’s emissions target for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
Tropical Cyclone Narelle was again intensifying into a severe storm off Western Australia’s Kimberley coast.
And more than 2,000 ABC staff around the country walked off the job for a 24-hour strike, forcing ABC services across TV, radio and digital to rely on repeats and BBC News programming.
Updated
Queensland government releases illustrations of new Brisbane Olympic stadium
The Queensland government has released a first look at the new Brisbane Olympic stadium, set to be built in Victoria Park.
Queensland deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie, revealed the location of the stadium at the Queensland Media Club earlier today.
“I can confirm the Brisbane stadium will be located at the Gilchrist Avenue end of Victoria Park, with an east-west orientation”, he said.
Bleijie said “early works” on the stadium will start on 1 June, with a final contract to be signed by the end of the year. The entire park will be fenced off from then, and won’t be accessible to the public, he said.
Updated
Re-elected SA Labor government unveils ministerial portfolios
A minister reprimanded over a campaign gaffe has been handed a “super-portfolio” in South Australian Labor’s new-look cabinet following a thumping state election win, AAP reports.
Chris Picton is no longer SA’s health minister after Labor’s cabinet was revealed by the re-elected premier, Peter Malinauskas, earlier today.
However, the premier, who arrived for the swearing-in with his family in tow, denied Picton had been demoted as he shuffled his team for his second term.
Picton was given a new “economic super-portfolio” which includes digital economy and veterans’ affairs, among others, after the premier admonished him mid-campaign when it was revealed the MP had tried to discredit a widow who claimed the health system failed her partner.
First-time MP Alice Rolls, whose win in Unley was Labor’s first in the seat in 32 years, was handed the challenging portfolios of child protection, and domestic, family and sexual violence.
Blair Boyer is the new health minister, Lucy Hood takes on the education portfolio, Joe Szakacs is the transport and infrastructure minister and Emily Bourke was handed the environment post.
Michael Brown joins cabinet as minister for police, correctional services and consumer and business affairs.
The other new face is Nadia Clancy, who was appointed as minister for small and family business and minister for multicultural affairs.
Clare Scriven retains primary industries, regional development and forest industries, despite her upper-house position being unresolved.
In latest election counting, Labor has 33 seats in the 47-seat parliament, with the Liberals on four seats, One Nation on one and three independents.
Six seats were yet to be called as of this afternoon.
Updated
Iranian nationals with valid tourist visas blocked from entering Australia for six months, Burke says
Tony Burke has announced Iranian nationals with valid Australian tourist visas will be blocked from entering the country for six months, citing concern some may decide to stay longer than they’re allowed.
The home affairs minister said on Wednesday the direction was necessary as there was a risk Iranians on tourist visas visiting Australia may be unable or unlikely to leave when their visa expires.
The order only applies to people with a valid tourist visa outside the country. An order can only last for six months before the minister has to apply for it again.
The government said “sympathetic consideration” would be given to Iranian parents of Australian citizens. It said others on tourist visas needing to travel could apply for a permitted travel certificate.
Burke said:
There are many visitor visas, which were issued before the conflict in Iran which may not have been issued if they were applied for now.
Decisions about permanent stays in Australia should be deliberate decisions of the government, not a random consequence of who had booked a holiday.
The Australian government is closely monitoring global developments and will adjust settings as required to ensure Australia’s migration system remains orderly, fair and sustainable.
Read more:
Updated
Australia may not be able to rely on US in future conflicts, shadow defence spokesperson says
Liberal senator James Paterson says he’s still a “big believer” in the Australia-US alliance but also says Australia needs to prepare for the reality that it may need to look after itself given the unpredictability of the US under Donald Trump.
In a panel discussion this morning at the ANU’s national security college, the shadow defence spokesperson said he still supported the alliance and the Aukus deal, but added:
I’m also a realist, and I can see what you can all see about the behaviour of the Trump administration.
It is unlike any administration which has preceded it, and because it is the Trump administration mark 2, it can’t just be dismissed as an aberration of history and a moment of a single presidency – particularly when it looks like the successors to Trumpism, the inheritors of Trumpism, whether that’s JD Vance or someone else, are just as fervent believers in the Trump doctrine when it comes to foreign policy and national security as he is – maybe [they] even more authentically believe in what he has argued in recent years.
Paterson said Australia must “adjust to the reality of that world” and that:
It’s no longer adequate to just hope that the United States will come to our aid in a time of crisis. We have to both be a better ally for the United States and make a bigger contribution to that alliance by investing more in defence capability, but we also have to prepare for a world where we may have to look after ourselves and fend for ourselves, in a region where we’re clearly not the predominant power.
Paterson said it’s why he strongly believes in drastically increasing defence spending to well above 2% of GDP and that:
If the public knew just how likely conflict was in the next few years in our region – and how actually ill-prepared the ADF is to fight and survive in that conflict if it happens, let alone hopefully prevent it through deterrence – I think there’d be marching in the streets calling for higher defence spending.
Updated
Teenager accused of possessing violent extremist material granted bail
A teenage boy accused of possessing violent extremist material has been granted bail after a magistrate told him his case was “unusual” and serious, AAP reports.
The 15-year-old faced Southport children’s court on Queensland’s Gold Coast today after police laid additional charges against him after searching his electronic devices.
The teen was arrested on 8 September in relation to alleged torture and indecent treatment offences, magistrate Mark Bamberry heard.
Queensland police’s counter-terrorism investigation unit charged the boy on 28 February with one count each of possessing child exploitation material and possessing violent extremist material.
The case was now being handled by a commonwealth prosecutor and Queensland crown prosecutor, both of whom would usually deal with adult defendants, Bamberry told the boy.
Bamberry told the boy the fact his case now had state and federal prosecutors showed “how seriously this is being taken” and that:
It’s a bit unusual for them to be here.
I’ve been a children’s court judge here full-time for the past 18 months or so, and this is the first time I’ve seen someone from the commonwealth director of public prosecutions here.
The boy sat beside his solicitor in court and was supported by his mother.
He did not speak except to say “yes” to Bamberry’s questions.
Details of the nature or political affiliation of the violent extremist material allegedly possessed by the boy were not mentioned in court today.
Prosecutors agreed the boy met the exceptional circumstances required for bail on commonwealth charges and accepted that the defendant’s age was a “very significant factor” in the decision.
It would be best for the boy to remain in the community to continue schooling with the support of his family, the court was told.
The matter was adjourned until 13 May to allow prosecutors to disclose a brief of evidence to the teen’s defence solicitor.
Updated
Rising Tide activists vandalise ship to call for coal tax
Climate activist organisation Rising Tide wrote “TAX ME ♡” in chalk on a coal ship on Wednesday morning as part of a call on the federal government to introduce a 78% tax on coal export profits.
The group said in a statement that the ship it vandalised is called “Climate Respect” and was docked at Newcastle Port while they wrote the sign.
Lindsay Dean, a Maitland resident, said:
We are stunned at the irony in naming a coal ship ‘Climate Respect’ when the burning of coal is the number one driver of dangerous climate change.
As the current war escalation causes everyday Australians to struggle with through-the-roof petrol prices, coal and gas companies are reaping record profits.
That’s not fair to the Australian people and it’s time the Government starts making these greedy corporations pay their fair share in tax.
It comes after it was revealed last week that Anthony Albanese’s department has asked Treasury to model the effects of placing a flat 25% tax on gas exports, and to model possible changes to the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) and corporate income tax.
The move comes as gas profits soar amid the global energy crisis sparked by the war in Iran, and could lead to changes as soon as the May federal budget.
Rising Tide is calling for the 78% tax on coal export profits to fund a community and industrial transition. It pointed out that profits on coal is set to rise off the back of the Iran war.
Updated
25 people now charged after Sydney anti-Herzog protest
New South Wales police have charged a further two people who attended a rally protesting against a visit by the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, outside Sydney town hall in February, bringing the total number of people charged by police to 25.
Police announced earlier today they had charged two women after nine people were charged directly after the rally, and 14 more were charged after police formed Strike Force Laine to investigate protesters.
The police watchdog is investigating police conduct at the rally amid multiple allegations of police brutality, and widely shared videos showing police allegedly punching protesters and dragging Muslim men away while they undertook their sunset prayers.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, and police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, have defended police actions. Minns said in the days after the protest that police were placed in an “impossible situation”.
Police said today that a 31-year-old woman was charged with offensive or indecent behaviour within major event area and affray. She will appear before court on 6 May.
Another 26-year-old woman was charged with assault police officer, resist arrest, and possession of cannabis. She will appear before court on 5 May.
Updated
No rise in Melbourne Myki taps despite petrol prices
Melbourne public transport patronage has not picked up even as petrol prices rise, new data shows.
Preliminary government data shows there were 8.2m Myki taps on weekdays in the last week of February, before the US went to war on Iran. That bounced up to 8.8m in the first week of March, then 8.1m, then 8.8m last week.
The same period last year saw a similar pattern, plus an extra 600,000 taps a week: 8.5m, 9m, 8.3m, 9m.
In Sydney, meanwhile, new data suggests a slight decline in traffic on some key roads. The third week of March 2025 saw traffic pick up on Military, Parramatta, Pennant Hills and Victoria roads.
The same week this year saw only small week-on-week rises on Military and Parramatta roads, while the number of vehicles on Military and Pennant Hills roads slid to their lowest points in a month.
As we reported yesterday, though, the declines are fairly small and Australians appear to have not yet swapped to public transport amid soaring petrol prices.
You can read that story here:
Updated
Queensland scraps emissions target for Brisbane Olympics
The 2032 Brisbane Olympics will be the first since Athens in 2004 to not have any emissions target, with the Queensland deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie, saying “that’s just not our priority”.
When announced in 2021, Brisbane was spruiked as the first “climate positive” Games, but the commitment has since vanished from its International Olympic Committee contract.
At a Queensland Media Club lunch on Wednesday, Bleijie said he opposed having any target at all and that:
Carbon neutral, positive gains, all sorts of things, and the athletes not eating certain foods – that’s not our priority.
Our priority is concrete, building stuff, getting it done and opening it up before 2032.
The Paris Olympics aimed to reduce carbon emissions by over 50% compared to Tokyo, while Los Angeles is aiming for an additional 10% reduction on top of that.
LA is also aiming to deliver a “no car games”, with all spectators to travel to competition venues by public transport.
Beijing, London, Rio de Janeiro, and Paris all had some form of emissions target when they hosted the Olympics.
Bleijie continued:
The minute you put those targets on, you add big percentage to the cost to deliver this stuff.
And our priority – and incidentally, signed by the federal government I might add – was, let’s prioritise getting the infrastructure built, and not necessarily how much carbon is coming out.
Updated
‘Audiences will be impacted when there is not enough money to do the work that we’re doing’: ABC staff
Catherine Zengerer, a radio producer for Late Night Live, was one of many senior ABC staff today who were striking on behalf of their colleagues dealing with precarity.
Zengener has been with the public broadcaster for a decade, predominantly on permanent contracts. But she said she was an exception and that:
A lot of us who are actually out on strike are striking on behalf of colleagues who are on a short-term contracts, who are casuals, who are afraid to join the union, who are afraid to go on strike because they’re afraid that if they make a fuss, if they cause trouble, if they speak up, that they will not get employed again on other contracts.
Zengerer said if the ABC continued on its current trajectory, the quality would go down and dedicated staff would leave. She said she had already watched colleagues exit the ABC “utterly disillusioned” and “burned”.
She continued:
There’s so much knowledge involved in every aspect of the different roles that we do, whether that be in local radio or in radio national or in emergency broadcasting or in news or in digital or in any of the tech, admin and supportive jobs.
It takes time to make quality news. It takes time to make quality radio. You would not believe the intense number of hours that it takes to do the jobs that we do.
None of us get paid overtime in radio. We don’t get time off in lieu. Lots of us are working 10-hour days … The audiences will be impacted when there is not enough money to do the work that we’re doing.
Updated
‘Tough to see a future here’, striking ABC presenter says
Jack James, a breakfast newsreader at Triple J, was among hundreds of ABC staff who walked off the job this morning.
He said said it was a “tough” decision to strike, but for a long time his colleagues had felt like “we’ve all been treading water and trying to stay afloat” and that:
The ABC on the best of days is on skeleton staff. So it feels good to be able to show management that we have power in our numbers and we’re going to keep using it until we get a fair deal.
James said since starting at the ABC eight years ago, his “whole group of friends” had left the organisation, and journalism entirely, because they couldn’t afford to stay.
He said:
It’s tough to see a future here, to be honest. As young people, we’re staring down a really daunting future.
We’ve got AI becoming more prominent and young journalists have to deal with those issues, and to not even have a secure job to be able to confront those issues head on and to be able to communicate them to Australians, it’s really disheartening.
Standing alongside his colleagues, armed with banners and placards, James said it felt like a “powerful moment” and that:
Today feels like a day when we can all finally exhale.
Everyone here works so hard and the only reason why the ABC keeps functioning is because we all work so hard … so having a moment where we can stop that and actually speak up for ourselves without fearing consequences is a big deal for us.
Updated
Hi, I hope you’ve had a great day so far. I’ll take you through the rest of the day’s news.
That’s it from me today, thanks for following along on the blog!
I’ll leave you with the wonderful Catie McLeod for the afternoon and see you back here bright and early tomorrow.
TL,DR: here’s what happened in question time
The opposition stayed on fuel prices and fuel shortages across the country, trying to push the government to take more action.
Chris Bowen provided an update on the number of shut petrol stations, and empty bowsers, while the prime minister announced he will convene another national cabinet meeting.
The energy minister also confirmed that all six fuel shipments that were cancelled have now been replaced.
Independent MP Nicolette Boele asked Anthony Albanese when the government will do more on tackling gambling (the PM didn’t provide a clear answer).
Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh got kicked out of the chamber when trying to hit back against an attack from Bowen.
Updated
Question time ends
After a final dixer to the transport minister, Catherine King, question time ends for another day.
Updated
Bob Katter is back for a second question
The member for Kennedy asks about access to fresh food and seafood in far north Queensland and the effect of diabetes in the area.
Health minister, Mark Butler, says the rise of type 2 diabetes is one of the most pressing public health challenges the country has.
He also says there are concerns around access to food, particularly in First Nations communities in regional areas, which the minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, is looking at.
The member raises the more important questions about how we prevent people going into diabetes in the first place, we have been working very hard, through minister McCarthy in particular, to improve food security in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. And that program, the low cost essential subsidy scheme, is already subsidising the cost of dozens of essential items in grocery stores in remote communities.
Updated
Nationals MP asks aged care minister about essential services
Kevin Hogan, is up next and asks the aged care minister, Sam Rae, how the government will ensure rising fuel costs won’t affect essential aged care services. He says in his electorate of Page in regional NSW, “community transport providers are warning that without urgent fuel cost support, they will have to reduce services to more than 2,000 people.”
Rae says “that fuel stocks continue to arrive on time and in the quantities expected” but that the government is monitoring the effects of fuel price increases on essential services.
He adds there are existing programs provided by the aged care department that aged care services can access for support.
The opposition tries to make a point of order, but gets shut down by the Speaker.
Rae continues:
We stand ready support aged care businesses through our availability support services and department, we have a market adjustment program, dedicated first-nation support programs, first-nation support programs, business and workforce advisory services and continue to support these providers who look after communities.
Updated
ABC lodges application with Fair Work for assistance to resolve dispute
Jumping out of question time for a moment …
The ABC lodged an application with the Fair Work Commission on Tuesday for assistance to resolve bargaining, but a proposed meeting two hours before the strike was to start was rejected by the unions, ABC managing director Hugh Marks said.
FWC responded quickly, proposing a meeting at 9am this morning. The ABC wants to start conciliation immediately to break this dispute. Disappointingly, both unions have said they are unavailable to meet with the FWC this week.
Marks expressed frustration with the bargaining process and claimed there was a lot of “misinformation” about the dispute.
In my view, to date the unions have grossly misrepresented our fair and reasonable offer to its members. And they have not provided me with any confidence that I can rely on what they say would result in a resolution. If we are to find a resolution, trust on both sides must be key.
Updated
Ryan asks government about 18 year old recommendation for innovation council
Back to the crossbench, Monique Ryan asks the government about the research development report released last week which recommended the establishment of a national innovation council. She says the recommendation is “spookily similar” to a 2008 report handed to the government which also recommends an innovation council. So will the government finally do it, she asks?
She doesn’t get a clear answer.
Chalmers says that the recommendations of the report are being considered.
We are working through the 20 recommendations. When it comes to the council, that the honourable member refers to, minister Ayres and the other place working with a number of colleagues is working out the best way forward there.
Updated
Leader of the opposition, Angus Taylor, is up again
He asks the same question as his colleagues before him, probing the prime minister on when he will take action to get fuel to the almost 500 service stations that have “run dry”.
Anthony Albanese keeps the answer short, and says that the government has established a fuel supply taskforce, held a National Cabinet meeting, and is “engaging with state and territory governments who are responsible for distribution issues”.
Albanese says:
Right across the country, we are engaging and having constructive conversations.
Updated
Bob Katter has a question on existing Indigenous fuel reserves
The so-called “father of the house”, Bob Katter, who often lobs a curveball question at the government, is on theme today, and asks the treasurer about existing Indigenous fuel reserves that can be accessed without “tapping oil shafts”, using more ethanol in fuel, and why the government won’t recommission closed refineries.
Jim Chalmers says the government is working on a range of fronts to ensure fuel is reaching regional communities, and “making sure that we have the refining capacity that we need”.
On ethanol, Chalmers says that the government is investing in clean fuels.
He’s [Katter’s] right that we don’t have a mandate, but the relevant departments and authorities have been working to see whether we could implement one in the future, making sure that we factor in things like safety and quality and, again national parks’s all about supporting our local fuels industry.
Speaking of ethanol, Guardian Australia has confirmed ministers are considering increasing the amount of ethanol in fuel. You can read about that here.
Updated
Melissa McIntosh gets kicked out of the chamber under 94a
Liberal MP Mary Aldred quotes NSW premier Chris Minns in her question, who said the states told the commonwealth that, “we need to make sure that if there’s going to be demand management measures that are put in place they need to be done on a national level.” Her question to Bowen is the same as Anne Webster and Angie Bell, asking when the minister will take action to ensure fuel gets to where it is needed.
Bowen congratulates Aldred for quoting Minns accurately, after he issued a correction to the chamber after question time yesterday, accusing fellow Liberal Melissa McIntosh for misquoting the NSW premier in her questions.
I thank her [Aldred] for accurately quoting the Premier of New South Wales which is a big step forward after the member for Lindsay completely misquoted and misrepresented the Premier of New South Wales. She just dropped the word “if” which does a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.
McIntosh isn’t happy with the drive by from Bowen, and gets up to make a point of order. But Milton Dick isn’t having the complaint, and says the opposition can’t just stand up when they don’t like an answer, and kicks her out.
Updated
National cabinet to convene next week, prime minister says
Nationals MP, Anne Webster, follows Angie Bell, quoting Victoria’s premier, Jacinta Allen who said “any consideration of supply management should be coordinated at a national level,” and asks again, “when will the minister take action to ensure fuel gets to where it is needed?”
Anthony Albanese says there has been national coordination, including a meeting of national cabinet last week, and a fuel supply coordinator.
Albanese says there will be another meeting:
I intend [on] convening again, the National Cabinet meeting will meet next week to further coordinate the activity that we are taking and indeed, coordinating that activity is important that we have national consistency.
Updated
Opposition wants to see where the fuel is going
Liberal MP Angie Bell is up next and says the Queensland government has called for national plan to increase visibility of where fuel is flowing. She asks, “when will the government take action to get fuel to where it’s needed?”
“This government has been taking action,” says Chris Bowen, who is met with an incredulous expression from Angus Taylor.
Bowen says that some of the 20% of Australia’s minimum stock obligation that has been released has been going to regional areas, including those in Queensland and the NT affected by flooding.
We have arranged for more allocations to support Indigenous communities and get up to Cape York and the farming communities around Cairns and Townsville and prioritise key refuelling sites for long distance freights and families in Queensland.
Milton Dick makes him pause for a minute, and tells the Liberal benches to pipe down, because there’s “too much noise”.
Bowen continues, and takes a stab at the opposition:
One of the towns that has been specifically identified for extra deliveries in Queensland is the town of Texas in Queensland. We are sending fuel to Texas, others had a plan to get fuel from Texas in a crisis.
(He’s referring to a small amount of Australia’s stock that, under the previous Coalition government, was held for less than two years in the US in Texas).
Updated
Crossbench question on gambling
Independent MP Nicolette Boele asks the PM when the government will “finally take real action” on gambling to keep Australians safe.
She tries to play at the PM’s ego, saying “plain packaging, the social media ban, Labor governments have shown us they can get these hard but important things done.”
Anthony Albanese starts off saying that his government has done more than any other on the issue (we’ve heard that one before).
He says the government is focused on three things: minimising children’s exposure to wagering advertising, breaking the connection between wagering and sport, and reducing the saturation of targeting of wagering advertising. (But Labor still hasn’t done anything to stop online gambling advertising).
The PM also notes the damage overseas online gambling websites are doing, as well as the harm of pokies around the country. But he gives no indication of what the government will do to crack down on those. Albanese says:
These issues are not simple but the government is working each and every day to make sure that we continue to make a difference and I will continue to report on further reforms.
Updated
Bowen says stock has been replaced for the six cancelled or deferred ships
During a dixer, the energy minister, Chris Bowen, has confirmed that the government has sorted replacement stock for the six ships of fuel that he announced were cancelled or deferred.
He says in addition, that the government has secured “at least three more cargo deliveries” for April and May, over and above the normal contracted deliveries.
The Liberals and Nationals appear uninterested in the fact that all those six cancellations have you been filled with new alternative orders.
All of them have now been replaced with alternative spot market orders from different locations.
Updated
Dan Tehan, the manager of opposition business is up next and asks “how many service stations have to be out of fuel” before the government will require mandated reporting of service disruption and the immediate redistribution of stock where it is needed.
Bowen maintains that there is no less fuel in Australia than there was before the first strikes on Iran.
But continues to acknowledge that there are very real issues and shortages being faced, particularly in regional and rural Australia.
Bowen then takes a dig at the opposition:
It does strike me that to use those powers [for mandated reporting] we would need to use the legislation that the Treasurer put through the Parliament that the member for Wannon and everyone else over there opposed.
It’s question time!
Angus Taylor starts and asks the prime minister how many service stations around the country have run out of petrol or diesel.
Chris Bowen takes the call and runs through the state-by-state numbers.
New South Wales: 187 with no diesel and 32 without any stock at all, down 19 on yesterday, out of 2,417 service stations.
Queensland: 55 no diesel, and 35 with no regular unleaded
Victoria: 134 with a lack of one or more grades, down 28 on the last report.
South Australia: 49 out of 700 stations
WA: Six with total stock out, four with no diesel out of 771 stations.
Tasmania: One with no diesel and six with no unleaded.
ACT: One station with no diesel.
NT: No shortages, but the energy minister says the territory has been battling natural disaster which is affecting road access.
Updated
Average diesel prices pass $3 a litre in almost every capital
The average price of diesel has passed $3 for the first time in every capital city besides Darwin, according to the fuel monitoring website, Motormouth.
Motorists have been reporting paying more than that at individual service stations, but the new figures confirm that fuel prices continue to make new records as the US-Israel war on Iran grinds on.
Canberra may not be reporting any fuel shortages, but the nation’s capital is showing the highest average diesel price at $3.10 a litre.
All prices are up by between $1.20 and $1.30 since the start of the month.
The exception is Darwin, which has recorded an increase of $1.12 for diesel and has yet to breach the $3 per litre mark.
Here are the average prices for a litre of diesel:
Sydney $3.07
Melbourne $3.04
Brisbane $3.06
Perth $3
Canberra $3.10
Adelaide $3
Hobart $3.05
Darwin $2.95
Updated
Joyce calls on government to trigger liquid fuel emergency act
One Nation MP, Barnaby Joyce, has called on the government to pull the trigger on the liquid fuel emergency act, as he says farmers that have raised concerns that they’re going to have to stop producing food.
Speaking to journalists at Parliament House, Joyce says the crisis is getting worse, and that state premiers are calling for a national emergency response.
This is going to put to bed the financial crisis or the covid crisis, if it continues on this trajectory.
We have the liquid fuel emergency act of 1984, it’s [been] put in place to deal with emergencies such as this. We do not need a bigger emergency.
Pauline Hanson joins Joyce and says she’s not “fear mongering” by joining the call to trigger the emergency act.
The farming sector is very important. If they go under, the whole communities go under.
Spender calls for ‘inclusive patriotism’ and ‘radical openness’
Allegra Spender says “inclusive patriotism” and “radical openness” are the antidote for the rise of political extremism within Australia.
At an ANU national security college conference panel this morning, the independent Wentworth MP noted the college’s recent study indicating 53% of Australians felt the federal government shares too little, or far too little, information about security threats.
Spender said she believed when governments failed to be transparent, trust declined.
Right now, the government is not leading the conversation on issues that are sensitive and matter to people, and that is fuelling lower trust and political extremism.
But she also pointed to an idea described as “inclusive patriotism” - a term she learned reading The Great Experiment by Yascha Mounk.
Patriotism, Mounk writes, is a half-wild beast left to its worst instincts. It becomes a weapon used to exclude, to demean, to define the nation against each other, but cultivated well, it is a powerful force. It is what allows an Anglo-Celtic Australian in regional Queensland to feel genuine concern for a Lebanese Australian family in western Sydney.
Spender concluded:
National security is not only about the capability of our agencies and our alliances, as important as they are, it is fundamentally about whether the Australian people trust their institutions, feel like they have a stake in this country and believe that when things go wrong, the state and their fellow citizens will have their back.
The answer is not to harden our borders around some imaginary pure Australia. The answer is to build a country where economic security is real, where institutions are trustworthy, where we can have hard conversations rather than avoid them, and where we love our country because it’s where we all belong, not because of who we exclude.
ABC union members take over the Landsdowne Hotel in Sydney
More than 100 ABC union members have taken over the Landsdowne Hotel on the edge of Sydney’s CBD after wrapping up a rally outside the Ultimo building earlier this afternoon.
The venue is packed to the gills with staff in union t-shirts reading “we are stronger together” and “press”. There is an understandably long line for rounds of beer that are being put on the union’s tab.
Lara Sonnenschein, a researcher at Four Corners, tells Guardian Australia over the sound of chatter that, since joining the public broadcaster in 2022, she has only just moved to a permanent contract.
The 28-year-old says she’s had to make “really hard choices” about her future to stay at the ABC, including foregoing being able to save for a mortgage and accepting uncertainty in her career to move into different areas.
I feel happy to have secure work now but I know if I want to do something else [at the ABC] I’ll move back to square one ... It’s just so great to see so many people here. We’ve had people on insecure contracts joining [the union], cadets joining, and we’re all standing alongside together.
Updated
In pictures: ABC staff around the country go on strike
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Greens accuse government of ‘misleading’ public on price-gouging bill
The Greens treasury spokesperson, Nick McKim, says the government’s price-gouging bill, that increases penalties the consumer watchdog can throw at petrol companies, won’t do what’s been promised.
Jim Chalmers, at his press conference earlier, said the new penalties available for the ACCC would allow the watchdog to “throw the book” at petrol suppliers and retailers who do the wrong thing.
But McKim says the new legislation will only allow the ACCC to throw the book if petrol companies “lie” about why their prices have increased, or if they collude with another company to raise prices together – which is known as “cartel behaviour”.
The treasurer is misleading the Australian people by claiming this new law will crack down on price gouging when it clearly won’t.
The government’s law doesn’t make price gouging illegal, it just punishes companies that lie about doing it.
Pauline Hanson tells Liberals and Nationals to ‘work with me’ – but won’t form coalition with them
Pauline Hanson says One Nation wants to work with the Liberals and Nationals - including on preferences deals - to defeat Labor and would guarantee confidence and supply to a potential minority Coalition government.
But speaking at a Minerals Council event on Wednesday, Hanson ruled out forming an official coalition with the two conservative parties. She said:
If we do have numbers after the next election, if my numbers will actually give them government (I’m) very happy to do it (give confidence and supply). I will not form a coalition with them, where I will be told what I can say, what I can do, what policies I can put up like they’ve controlled the National Party and shut them down. I will get them supply and I will give them confidence. Don’t ever try and tell me what I can and can’t do.
One Nation could end up with seven seats across both houses of the South Australian parliament after last weekend’s historic state election, where it outpolled the Liberals’ primary vote.
The party refused a preference deal with the Liberals in SA, instead instructing supporters to put One Nation first and number the rest of the ballot paper however they wanted.
Hanson signalled the party would be prepared to do deals in the future, noting One Nation had agreed to preference swaps with the LNP at the 2024 Queensland state election and with the Coalition at the 2025 federal election.
People want to change. They want to get rid of the Labor Party, by all means. So as I said, work with me. They’ve got to get rid of this bloody mindedness, as if I’m taking votes from them, I’m not. People want change, and they want real change.
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‘We need to have some teeth’ against big tech, Husic says
Ed Husic says the government hasn’t gone far enough in setting up some rules for data centre builders in Australia.
Labor earlier this week wrote out some “expectations” that a company wanting to build a data centre here would need to contribute green energy to the grid and minimise water usage.
Husic is a former industry and technology minister who was developing stronger AI guardrails.
Speaking to Sky News, he says the expectations need to be clearer, and not just voluntary.
The idea that we can set expectations voluntarily, I’ll just put it this way, when has a big tech ever done anything voluntarily, if that was the case we wouldn’t need social media laws, media bargaining laws, we need to have some teeth … and that has not been done so far.
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Hastie calls for nation building effort to 'restore our resilience and independence
Andrew Hastie says Australia’s outsourcing of its military obligations to the US, and the decline of its industrial base, has left the country in a vulnerable position amid the global fuel crisis.
At a speech this morning at an ANU National Security College conference, the shadow industry minister said Australians were now “eyes wide open” to the “way the world can threaten us”.
Australia bet long on globalisation and US strategic primacy, accepting that the cold war had brought an end to great power competition. But we failed to anticipate the rise of China, Iran and Russia and their mutual interest in disrupting the peace underwritten by US leadership and hard power.
This led us to outsource our military obligations to the United States, and to offshore our industrial capacity to neighbouring countries in our region. And the trade-off was our security and resilience in a fuel crisis like the one that we are in today. You can trace our shrinking strategic mind in our official policy documents, as we narrowed our field of view to focus on our northern approaches and the Indo-Pacific.
Hastie said it was time for a “fresh vision” and “a new effort of reindustrialisation”.
An effort of nation building that will restore our resilience and our independence, that will give us more control over our circumstances. It will insulate us from the capricious nature of global events and give us more leverage at the table of nations. It also makes us a more reliable partner to our friends and allies.
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Bowen says ethanol fuel changes being discussed
Energy minister Chris Bowen has confirmed his department is looking at options about increasing ethanol supply in petrol, after Guardian Australia revealed this morning that the government was considering how to boost ethanol levels.
In a doorstop interview just now, we asked his thoughts about ethanol, and whether Australia could look at E15 or E20, beyond currently available E10. Bowen wouldn’t reveal any specific details, other than to confirm ethanol was among a number of issues being looked at to help ease fuel supply issues.
Bowen said:
Obviously I’ve made a range of changes, moving fast in a difficult environment. So the sulfur change I’ve made, the [diesel] flash point change I made yesterday. There’s been a bunch of other suggestions made, some of which haven’t worked, made in good faith, but we look at them.
I take everything through the fuel quality committee first, before announcing it. There’s suggestions around ethanol, which we’re looking at, but I’m not in a position to announce them, or indeed say that they might happen, because you’ve got to work these things through carefully. Could it play some potential role? Many things could.”
Bowen said there was “a process to work through” and that the government was “working very quickly”.
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NSW Greens MP ejected from question time after Minns refuses to read protest accounts
The Greens state MP for Newtown, Jenny Leong, has been ejected from the legislative assembly after calling on the premier, Chris Minns, to read eyewitness accounts of alleged police brutality at a Sydney protest.
The independent police watchdog, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (Lecc), is investigating the police response to the protest against the visit by Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, last month. Several protesters have been charged with public order offences, while others have indicated they will launch civil claims against NSW police.
Leong asked if the premier would commit to reading the letter, including 117 “harrowing personal accounts” collected by her office, which include allegations of police brutality.
The premier said he would not commit to reading the letter. Leong, who continued to challenge Minns during his response, was then ejected from the chamber by the speaker.
The premier said he would not front-run the Lecc investigation, but restated his position that police actions were prompted by protesters’ attempting to march in defiance of “major events” and public assembly restriction declarations.
Encrypted messages released under freedom of information laws have since suggested that police also had a plan to disperse protesters once crowds reached 6,000.
ABC staff walk past Sarah Henderson presser
Dipping back to shadow communications minister Sarah Henderson’s doorstop interview earlier, there was an interesting moment where some ABC staff walked past her as she was criticising their decision to go on strike.
Henderson held her standup right outside the ABC’s office in the Parliament House press gallery, just moments before the staff were due to leave at 11am. She described their decision to take industrial action as a “disgrace”, noting that audiences deserved to see ABC coverage of the fuel crisis and natural disasters - but asked whether that very importance of ABC coverage being a vital factor in those staff requesting pay rises, she maintained that a strike was “improper”.
A small number of ABC staff walked past the back of Henderson’s doorstop, moving to an elevator off to the side.
The vast majority of staff walked the other way down the corridor, where there are more elevators. A group of other journalists in the press gallery applauded as staff walked off the job.
Henderson claimed ABC management’s pay rise offer was “fair and reasonable”.
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Government ‘constantly monitoring and analysing’ fuel crisis, Chalmers says
My colleague, Tom McIlroy, asks the treasure to respond to concerns from fuel analysts that Australia will struggle to import fuel from Asia after mid-April.
The treasurer says the government is working around the clock to deal with those issues.
Jim Chalmers says he asked Treasury to model different scenarios last week, and has asked them again to model some more challenging scenarios.
We are constantly monitoring and analysing the consequences and potential consequences for Australia.
I said, in Melbourne last week, we asked the Treasury to model a couple of scenarios which look pretty conservative now. One scenario was global oil at 100 bucks a barrel for a shorter period, another 100 bucks a barrel for a longer period and we’ve asked for some more challenging circumstances to be modelled.
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Chalmers pleased to see inflation ease in February but says ‘don’t get carried away’
Jim Chalmers says it’s good to see inflation coming off before the war in the Middle East pushes it higher.
Inflation eased to 3.7% in the year to February, from 3.8% the month before, according to official figures that pre-date the Iran war and associated fuel price spike.
Speaking to reporters in Parliament House, Chalmers says the numbers show a number of temporary factors like the end of energy rebates as well as other more persistent factors.
It’s pleasing to see inflation come off a bit in February, but we don’t get carried away by that, because we understand that the inflationary pressures from the war in the Middle East are very substantial, and we expect to see the consequences of that war push up inflation higher for longer in our economy.
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Wong tells Israeli foreign minister, ‘we do not want to see occupation of southern Lebanon’
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, has spoken to her Israeli counterpart and said the government does not want to see occupation of southern Lebanon by Israel.
Wong spoke with minister Gideon Sa’ar last night, and also condemned attacks by Iran and its proxies across the region.
Israel said on Tuesday this week, it would seize parts of southern Lebanon to create what it called a “defensive buffer”.
Wong raised concerns over the expansion of conflict in Lebanon and comments made by Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has called for the occupation of southern Lebanon.
In a statement, Wong said:
Australia is gravely concerned at the expansion of the conflict in Lebanon, the loss of life and displacement of more than one million civilians …
Australia supports Lebanon’s sovereignty – so we do not want to see occupation of southern Lebanon by Israel.
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Bowen accuses Coalition of ‘data harvesting’ with fuel shortage website
Jumping back to Chris Bowen’s interview on Sky News, the energy minister has rubbished a website set up by the Coalition that calls for people to log fuel shortages.
He says Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said that the results won’t be published, so the public won’t be able to see where those outages are being logged.
Ms McKenzie says, no, this information will not be published, so it’s only for their own use. So you report something they’re not going to publish. It’s not for community benefit.
Not only that, he says that there’s a note at the bottom of the website declaring that by putting in your information, you consent to receive communications from the National party, Liberal party and LNP.
This is data harvesting people’s email address to send them political propaganda. It is nothing more or nothing less.
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‘We have to stand up for our rights’ actor tells ABC Melbourne rally
Actor Nadine Garner has been speaking at the ABC Melbourne strike rally. She’s also the vice-president of the actors equity section of MEAA.
She gives a short, rousing speech about the difficulty of “precarious” work:
We are all part of a gig economy that has become more and more precarious, and we have to stand up for our rights.
ABC workers work tirelessly to uphold the values of a free and just society. In fact, we look to them on a daily basis for truth and integrity. They are a workforce who think and feel deeply about the state of the world, and they strive to shed light and truth. They deserve some security in their workplace. They deserve some proper policy to be written for AI protection.
The CPSU delegates also take the mic briefly after her, urging ABC management to engage in productive discussion with staff.
The speeches wrap up quickly after that. There’s a big group photo, and then the line for sausages quickly grows.
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Inflation eases ahead of fuel price shock
Inflation eased to 3.7% in the year to February, from 3.8% the month before, according to official figures that pre-date the Iran war and associated fuel price spike.
The end of power bill rebates has left electricity prices 37% higher than a year earlier, contributing to the high overall headline inflation number. But even excluding the impact of subsidies, power prices were up 4.9% through the year.
Removing some of the most volatile price moves showed underlying consumer price growth also ticked lower to 3.3%, from 3.4%, which at least suggests that inflationary pressures were not unexpectedly accelerating ahead of the global energy shock.
That will provide some comfort to the Reserve Bank, which many economists tip will hike rates for a third time this year when they next meet in early May.
Fuel prices were 7.2% lower in February versus a year earlier, and were down 3.4% in the month.
Petrol prices at the pump are already about 40% higher in March, according to Motormouth data.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics report also showed that rental price growth ran at 3.8% in the year to February.
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Fuel rationing ‘not on the agenda’: Bowen
Energy and climate change minister, Chris Bowen says measures like fuel rationing are not on being considered by the government right now.
Speaking to Sky News, he maintains that there is as much fuel now as “we had the day that Iran was [struck]”, and that demand has spiked, leading to shortages.
Bowen says the government isn’t at the point of asking households to volunteer to cut their fuel supplies – but Labor has been telling people not to buy more than they need
Rationing would be the absolute, you know, worst case planning purpose. So it’s not on the agenda.
We’ve already said to people, don’t buy more. Please just buy the normal amount of fuel that you normally buy in the past.
Diesel supply issues in metropolitan Sydney outpace regional shortages
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has provided the second update on fuel shortages in the state today.
At question time a short while ago, Minns said there were 32 stations without any fuel, down from 51, but there were now 187 stations without diesel, up from 164. He said:
The split of regional and metro stations are 78 stations in regional NSW and 109 in metropolitan Sydney. So whereas earlier in the crisis, we saw more regional stations having a lack of diesel, now we’re seeing more Sydney stations ... But also, there’s other commercial and retail options for motorists in the city that they simply don’t have in many regional and remote regional towns. I can also report the to the house that of the stations that are without fuel, there is an alternative service station with fuel within 30 kilometres, which is good news.
As we reported earlier, the government has used one of its emergency powers under the Energy and Utilities Administration Act, issuing an information notice to the major fuel companies about where they are directing fuel supplies released from federal reserves. Minns said this did not mean the government would introduce “Covid-style emergency measures” including home schooling or lockdowns. He said:
The key metric that we are watching from the commonwealth government is the number of inbound fuel ships to Australia, if the number of those ships that are projected to arrive every month, and there’s 80 per month ... If that number starts to fall, Mr. Speaker, then we have to take emergency measures on a graduated basis as that number declines.
Victorian government writes to fuel distributors to ensure smaller service stations don’t miss out on supply
The energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, added that she has written to the fuel distributors to ensure smaller service stations don’t miss out on supplies. She said:
Small distributors of fuel, that typically buy the fuel from the spot market, they are not necessarily at the top of the queue. What I’ve done is written to the liquid fuel distributors, to get assurances from them that at least with the additional supplies of fuel that the commonwealth have made available, that it’s actually going to where the intended gaps are.
She said she would also be meeting with distributors tomorrow to stress this. D’Ambrosio added:
We can’t afford for there to be gaps in particular areas and for certain communities to be punished when it comes to a national problem. We’re all trying to work together to ensure that there is fairness in where the fuel goes. And not just fairness in where it goes, but those who can access it, needs to also be fair. So that is a priority for us.
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Victorian premier says fuel response should be coordinated at national level
The premier and energy minister have also provided an update on fuel availability across Victoria.
Jacinta Allan said as at 5pm Tuesday, there were 115 service stations that were without petrol (61 in metro areas, 54 in regional and rural Victoria) and 92 without diesel (48 in the metropolitan area and 44 in the regions).
This data is not just collected, we are then working with fuel retailers and suppliers, understanding where there might be localised demand pressures, localised supply shortages, to get those service stations restocked as quickly as possible. This is particularly important for me, for rural and regional communities.
Allan said she wanted to see “peace come to the Middle East” and fuel shipments resume via the strait of Hormuz. However, she added that if this does not happen, a national-level plan should be put in place:
I emphasise the advice from the federal government is the expected supply is coming into the country, but should that not occur? My very strong view that I took to national cabinet last week is that any consideration of supply management should be coordinated at a national level.
Asked whether she would introduce free public transport to help ease the pressure, she says the government has already “slashed regional fares” and introduce free public transport for children and free public transport for seniors and careers on weekends. She went on:
In that broader landscape, we are considering what more needs to be done to support households and families. Because I hear this now more than ever before – households and working people, they’re looking to their governments around the country and also at a state level, to help them to do more to help free up space in the household budget so that they can pay their bills, they can pay the mortgage, they can make that rent payments.
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Fran Kelly says she’s seen colleagues leave the ABC ‘because they had to’
Broadcasting great Fran Kelly, who was at the ABC during the last strike 20 years ago, has just taken the microphone wearing an MEAA T-shirt to massive cheers.
She says:
I’ve stayed because I love it, I’m committed to public broadcasting, which is why you’re all here.
Kelly says some of her producers live in Wollongong or Newcastle because they can’t afford to live in Sydney, and have been on the same pay bracket for almost a decade.
I’ve seen too many sensational journalists, sensational producers, leave, not because they want to, but because they had to … it’s not acceptable that you get stuck on a pay level you’re not able to live on.
Meanwhile, the Parramatta colleagues are on the bus to Ultimo, where they will join union members before hitting the pub.
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First major ABC strike for two decades is ‘long overdue’, says federal president of MEAA
Federal president of the MEAA and ABC environment reporter Michael Slezak is addressing the crowd outside Ultimo’s office.
Staff in the crowd hold signs reading “fair pay, it’s as easy as ABC” and “insecure work is breaking news”.
He says:
Welcome to the first major strike at the ABC for two decades. It’s long overdue, we should have done this a long time ago but we’re here today.
His speech is being recorded by 7, 10, 9 and Sky, but not the ABC.
Slezak says union members have “drawn a line in the sand and not to allow the ABC to be run by ideological corporate managers who refuse to listen to the staff”.
We’re here because we love the ABC. Because we believe in what public broadcasting is supposed to be.
He says that standing outside the ABC offices, and adds that walking off the job is the “only honest response” to the offer they have been faced with.
Journalism without fear does not flourish when you are fearing for your own job … Hugh Marks says he doesn’t control inflation. Well, neither do we.
This line is met with calls of “shame”.
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‘It ultimately saves everyone’: Victorian premier on plan for three hours of free power a day
Back to the Victorian government press conference earlier today, where the premier, Jacinta Allan, announced a plan for three hours of free power a day. She says this will occur in the “middle of the day” because that is when there is capacity in the system:
Because we’ve made those long-term investments in renewable energy, it means there’s capacity at that time of the day. Encouraging people to make the switch to turn on their appliances during that time of the day, knowing that it’s free means that it does free up capacity for those busier end of the day peak periods, which is good for everyone, because it helps assist with supply and reliability.
She said it was also good for people who work from home:
But it ultimately saves everyone, the whole system, money and every Victorian household money off their energy bills.
The energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said it was very similar to the federal government’s Solar Sharer scheme, which will begin for consumers in default market offer regions like NSW, south-east Queensland and South Australia from July.
She said both schemes were opt-in:
We’re actually shifting the energy use from those peak periods later in the day, when most people come home, they switch on their washing machine or their dryer, they start the cooking, what have you, and peak demand goes up. So if we can smooth that out by shifting that use to the middle of the day where we’ve got greater capacity and more abundant electricity, that makes sense for everyone.
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Queenslanders have a ‘human right to fuel supply’, says deputy premier
Queenslanders “should have a human right to fuel supply” according to the state’s deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie.
And it is the federal government that has not been transparent, has not kept information flowing and has not kept fuel flowing to regional Queensland, where they need it most.
A journalist told Bleijie the remote community of Doomadgee in the Gulf of Carpenteria had run out of fuel.
Bleijie said the state was “doing everything we can” to resolve shortages. The government has asked the federal government to act, and appointed cross border commissioner Bob Gee as a point of contact for the commonwealth, he said.
Our priority as a state is making sure the federal government do what they need to do. It’s their responsibility.
Pressed for specific things the commonwealth should do, he said it should “ensure the fuel supply and get it out to the regions as quickly as they can”.
Bleijie also announced the start of geotechnical drilling at a new arena, to be built in Wooloongabba next to a new railway station. The live venue will be funded and built by the private sector, along with a new housing development on the site of the Brisbane cricket ground.
Bleijie said the arena would be finished by 2031, in time for the Olympics.
He is scheduled to give an update on Olympics venue construction at the Queensland media club later today.
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ABC response to workers’ claims described as ‘underwhelming’ in first speeches at Melbourne demonstration
Speeches have started at the ABC Melbourne strike demonstration.
ABC journalist and union delegate Dan Ziffer, who was ringing the strike bell on exiting the building, has been speaking to the crowd.
This is the first time we’ve done this in decades. We don’t do it lightly. We didn’t choose to do this, but we do this so that we can get a better outcome.
Ziffer says ABC management has tried to “weaponise tough economic conditions to grind [staff] down to accept a sub-par offer”.
MEAA’s deputy chief executive, Adam Portelli, also addressed the crowd, describing the ABC’s response to workers’ claims as “underwhelming”, saying:
And those of you who heard the remarks of Hugh Marks this morning know that the company has not treated any of you with anything close to respect.
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ABC strike takes hold as media union members exit building to huge cheers
Hundreds of Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance members are exiting the ABC to huge cheers, some carrying signs and flags and wearing union T-shirts. They are led by Michael Slezak, the ABC’s federal president of the MEAA.
Among them is radio presenter David Marr, former Saturday Paper editor Maddison Connaughton, presenter Fran Kelly and chief elections analyst Casey Briggs.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) have just arrived in their full red and blue outfits, complete with berets, while members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) are also here.
A number of babies in prams and toddlers observe from the sidelines.
Melissa Donnelly, national secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), who are participating in today’s strikes, says it’s always a “big decision” for workers to take industrial action. But she says it’s also “exciting to see ABC workers taking a stand against management’s offer and really fighting for a better deal”.
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ABC staff walk out of Melbourne bureau to chants of ‘union power’
Around a hundred staff at ABC’s Melbourne bureau have walked out on strike, wearing union T-shirts and filling the small park directly in front of the ABC entrance on Southbank Boulevard.
Supporters began gathering out the front of the glass-fronted Southbank building from about 10.30am, with workers coming out in dribs and drabs until a large contingent walked off the job as a collective, exiting the building to cheers and chants of “union power” from a supporters’ guard of honour, at 11.13am.
Thunderstorms were forecast for Melbourne today, and fat drops of rain began falling just after 11am. They will be hoping the rain holds off long enough for the sausages on the barbecue that has been set up in the park to be cooked.
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ABC radio broadcasts left Waiting for a Star to Fall
In Sydney, the local 702 radio station also went with Boy Meets Girl to begin its strike cover broadcast, followed by Conversations.
Just before the cutoff, host Hamish Macdonald gave the last word of his shift to his boss, with a clip from an earlier interview with ABC managing director Hugh Marks saying he was “very” sorry about the strike and its effect on listeners.
“We’ll be back Friday morning,” Macdonald concluded, before Boy Meets Girl warbled, “I hear your name whispered on the wind / it’s a sound that makes me cry”.
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ABC bulletins begin replacing news with pop and classical music
Presenters have begun to tell audiences that programming will be disrupted due to the strike.
ABC Radio Melbourne has joined the strike, with Mornings host Raf Epstein announcing just before 11am that staff were striking.
He said:
We’re all going out on strike because it’s an argument over how best to provide sustainable, secure work. Staff and management really do agree on you being the priority and providing you with some quality programming. Staff and management disagree on how we get those sustainable and secure jobs. That’s the reason for the strike. We don’t like not talking to you and being with you, but I’ll be back on your radio on Friday morning.
Then it went into the 1988 hit Waiting for a Star to Fall by Boy Meets Girl.
Over on Radio National at 11am, Hilary Harper on the program Critics Corner said:
Things will look a bit different from now on. My colleagues and I are on strike. Normal programming will resume at 11am tomorrow.
RN switched to music, playing Air on the G String by Johann Sebastian Bach, then switching to a pre-recorded episode of The Law Report.
Shortly before 11am, Triple J hosts said that automated messaging would be aired during the strike.
At 11am, the song Monsoon by Emma Louise & Flume began, soon cutting to NWA’s Express Yourself – the song that was played 82 times in a row on the same station during ABC industrial action in 1990.
Listeners were told:
Due to industrial action, we can’t bring you your usual programme.
The automated message including an apology for the interruption to services.
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Staff are filtering out of the ABC’s back exit in small groups, some raising their fists in defiance. Each time a new group emerges, the crowd of about 100 supporters and union members cheer and clap.
ABC staff begin strike
More than 2,000 ABC staff around the country have walked off the job for a 24-hour strike, forcing ABC services across TV, radio and digital to use BBC World Service and repeat programming.
Staff are protesting what they say is a low pay offer from the ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, as well as work conditions and the broadcaster’s refusal to rule out replacing journalists with artificial intelligence.
The strike begins at 11am on Wednesday and ends at 11am on Thursday meaning the 7pm news bulletins and ABC TV’s 7.30 with Sarah Ferguson will be cancelled tonight.
ABC News Breakfast will not air on Thursday morning as journalists, studio crew and directors go on strike.
ABC staff at Sydney’s Ultimo office walked off the job for the first major strike in 20 years.
Representatives from the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) are preparing a barbecue for hundreds of striking staff, cooking up snags and buttering loaves of bread.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), representing technical, operations and studio crew, is also taking part in the strike.
“Stronger Together,” a CPSU banner reads.
Staff at the ABC’s Parramatta office will also congregate at Ultimo via a convoy.
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‘Shame on ABC staff’ striking, says shadow communications minister
The shadow communications minister, Sarah Henderson, has attacked ABC staff and journalists who will be going on strike shortly.
Staff are protesting what they say is a low pay offer from the ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, as well as work conditions and the broadcaster’s refusal to rule out replacing journalists with artificial intelligence.
It’s the first time in 20 years that staff at the public broadcaster have gone on strike.
Speaking to journalists at Parliament House, Henderson says the current offer of a 10% increase in salary over three years and an upfront $1,000 bonus is “a pretty good deal”.
There has never been a more important time in this country when we need ABC journalists and other content makers out in the field.
I say shame on ABC staff who have made this decision. Australians deserve much better than this.
Henderson says he’s “incredibly concerned” ABC presenters are “hijacking news programs” to prosecute their case, but doesn’t provide examples.
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ABC staff prepare to walk out
ABC staff at Sydney’s Ultimo office are about to walk off the job this morning in their first major strike in 20 years.
Representatives from the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) are preparing a barbecue for hundreds, cooking up snags and buttering loaves of bread in anticipation for the walk-off.
There are a number of affiliate unions who have also gathered to show their support for ABC union members.
“Stronger Together,” a CPSU banner reads.
Staff at the ABC’s Parramatta office will also congregate at Ultimo via a convoy.
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Government should use gas ‘leverage’ in Asia to secure fuel, says Tehan
The shadow energy minister, Dan Tehan, says the government does have leverage over its coal and gas exports and should use that to guarantee supply.
Australia imports oil from Asian nations including Singapore (which released a joint statement with Australia on fuel supply), South Korea and Malaysia.
Tehan tells Sky News there is more anxiety that come mid-to late April, the fuel won’t be arriving in Australia.
What we need to be doing is sitting down and saying to them, that secure supply will continue and we would like you to offer us similar reassurance.
What we need to be doing is to get from them, assurances that what supply they do have that they’re willing to export that, they would look to us first … absolutely we want to be made a priority.
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Government needs to ‘come clean’ on fuel shortages, says Hume
Jane Hume says the government needs to tell Australians where fuel shortages are being experienced and where petrol bowsers are being closed, rather than relying on the states.
In question time this week, Chris Bowen has provided numbers on how many bowsers are running empty and service stations closed, when asked.
But Hume says the details should be more granular so people know where to go, and where not to, with the deputy opposition leader telling Sky News:
The government needs to come clean on it exactly where fuel is and where fuel isn’t around all of the states. We can’t simply rely on these daily updates from different premiers. There has to be a central location when we understand where fuel is, where fuel isn’t.
The opposition has created a website where users can log fuel shortages (but it hasn’t yet collated the information so you can’t see what people have submitted).
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NSW government to compel oil companies to explain where extra fuel being sent
The NSW government will compel major fuel companies to explain how they will distribute extra fuel released from federal reserves in the first use of emergency powers in the state to address shortages.
Chris Minns announced the measure at a press conference this morning, which follows an earlier “please explain” issued to fuel providers on Friday. But the premier downplayed it was prompted by any suggestions of wrongdoing. He said:
Quite understandably, those major oil companies are dealing with compliance requests from the federal government, from states and from other jurisdictions as well, and in those circumstances, we’ve got incomplete information, which has prompted us to say, look, we understand you’re under the pump, so to speak. We know that you’ve got obligations to your customers and the stock market. We need to have eyes on this information too. Now we’re not going to come in heavy handed, although this is a legal demand, but we’re not doing it in an adversarial way.
The premier says 51 petrol stations are without fuel in the state, while 164 are without diesel, the same numbers as yesterday, but he said that some of the individual stations have changed, with some coming back online as others went offline.
So that would imply that the major oil companies are able to get at least some fuel to stations that have run short.
Minns said 80 of the stations without diesel are in regional NSW, while 84 are in metropolitan Sydney.
The government has also announced the establishment of a fuel emergency operations centre which the premier said would “inform the oil companies about where shortages are today and where they’re likely to be tomorrow, and if necessary, to deploy our extraordinary emergency powers if the need arises in our community”.
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Victorian government announces plan for three hours of free power a day
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, and energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, are holding a press conference this morning to announce a plan to give households three hours of free power in the middle of the day.
Dubbed the “Midday Power Saver,” the government says it will require energy retailers to offer households a discounted tariff for three hours during the middle of the day.
More details, including the time period, will be released in May before it commences in October. People will have to opt-in to the plan via their energy provider.
The government says the free power is only possible thanks to investment in renewable energy, which has meant the state produces more electricity than needed during the day.
It says it will particularly benefit households who can shift their electricity use to the middle of the day but will also reduce peak demand as a result.
Allan said:
This could save families up to $300 per year off their energy bills – more if they have solar and batteries.
We’ll bring you more from the press conference later this morning.
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Australians return home on direct flights from Middle East
There are now 8,144 Australians and permanent residents who have returned to Australia from the Middle East on 76 direct flights.
This morning a flight from Dubai to Melbourne arrived with 75 Australians.
There are three more flights scheduled to arrive to Australia today – one from Dubai to Perth, another from Dubai to Sydney, and a third from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne.
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Chalmers introduces anti-fuel price-gouging bill
As promised by Chris Bowen yesterday, the treasurer is introducing a bill to give the consumer watchdog powers to hand out bigger fines for price-gouging.
Fines for misconduct under the new legislation will be doubled from $50m to $100m.
Late last week the ACCC had received more than 500 reports of possible price-gouging at petrol stations since the war broke out in Iran.
Introducing the bill, Jim Chalmers says it will:
[Outlaw] false or misleading representation including lying about the reason for price increases, price fixing, colluding on prices and other cartel behaviour.
What we are introducing will empower the ACCC to throw the book at any companies who illegally and unfairly increase their prices since the start of the war.
Chalmers says the bill will also penalise fuel companies refusing to sell to independent retailers.
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Government introducing bill to close loophole for child sexual abusers
The government will today introduce legislation that will help close a loophole to stop convicted child sexual abusers from hiding their assets in superannuation and avoid paying compensation to their victims.
The survivors law will allow survivors of child sexual abuse to apply for a court order to access “additional personal or salary sacrifice superannuation contributions” made by the offender if court ordered compensation is unpaid for more than 12 months.
The government says the legislation will also take effect on unfulfilled historical compensation orders if they remain legally enforceable and were awarded in relation to a criminal conviction or finding of guilt for child sexual abuse.
The attorney-general, Michelle Rowland, says:
There can be no opportunity for criminals who are convicted of child sexual abuse to avoid paying compensation to their victims, and I look forward to this vital legislation delivering exactly that.
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ABC staff set to strike at 11am
ABC journalists and staff across the country will go on strike today from 11am as they push for better pay and better conditions. That includes many of our ABC colleagues who sit in the office next to ours in the press gallery corridor at Parliament House.
It means things will look and sound a little different this afternoon and tomorrow morning.
Staff are protesting what they say is a low pay offer from the ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, as well as work conditions and the broadcaster’s refusal to rule out replacing journalists with artificial intelligence.
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Where did the $40 fuel cap idea come from?
The government has this morning shut down an idea that motorists could be limited to filling their tanks up to just $40 under a fuel rationing plan.
But where did this suggestion come from?
Former South Australian senator, Rex Patrick, received the government document which includes several possible responses to emergency fuel shortages, through a freedom of information request.
The plan was actually last updated in 2019 (before the Albanese government was elected), even though Patrick received the document in 2024.
This morning, Murray Watt said he’d “knock that one on the head” and confirmed the idea isn’t being considered by Labor.
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Shadow foreign minister accuses government of being ‘ill-prepared’ on fuel crisis
The shadow foreign minister, Ted O’Brien, says the government has gone into the fuel crisis “completely ill-prepared”.
Speaking to Sky News, O’Brien says the government’s move to increasing the share of renewables in the grid has worsened the response to the crisis, and accused the energy minister, Chris Bowen, of trying to “outsource responsibility to state governments”.
They went into this crisis completely ill-prepared, and then they found themselves in a state of denial … Now this is the same energy minister who has been on the world stage calling for an end to all fossil fuels. That’s what Chris Bowen has been calling for. Now, of course, we find ourselves in a state of crisis and he is quickly saying, well, what we need more of is fossil fuels.
This is why we’re so ill prepared. We have a government which is driven by ideology and it has left us completely exposed.
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Rio Tinto aluminium smelter gets $2bn taxpayer subsidy to remain viable
The government has announced the federal and Queensland governments will each chip in $1bn to Rio Tinto’s Boyne aluminium smelter in central Queensland, to keep it viable into the future.
The government says the move, which will include Rio “underwriting significant investment in energy and transmission”, will unlock almost $7.5bn in investment in Queensland.
The smelter employs about 1,000 people and has been among several metals processing facilities in Australia struggling to remain financially viable.
Rio has been pushing the government to support its Tomago aluminium smelter, the biggest in the country, based in the Hunter region of New South Wales. Late last year, Rio said that it had failed to lock down a “commercially viable” energy contract beyond 2028, which could force it to shut its doors.
The industry minister, Tim Ayres – who will be speaking later this morning – says the support for the Boyne smelter is part of the government’s Future Made in Australia program.
With a considerable public investment, we are catalysing a fourfold private investment that will build out the renewable energy grid and keep thousands of good regional jobs in central Queensland.
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‘We need serious solutions, not fake politicians’: Watt throws shade on Canavan
Murray Watt has shut down suggestions from the Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, that the government should allow oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight, calling it a “fake idea from a fake politician”.
The environment minister spoke to journalists in the press gallery earlier this morning, and said exploration of the area had been abandoned by companies for a reason.
In 2020, for example, Norwegian company Equinor abandoned plans to drill for oil because it wasn’t commercially viable, and faced major public backlash.
Watt says:
What he has suggested in drilling the Great Australian Bight was something that failed when he was the minister for resources in the former government … This is a serious challenge that Australians are facing right now and we need serious solutions, not fake ideas from fake politicians like Matt Canavan.
We’re not going to try to hoodwink Australians to think there are simple solutions by drilling in the Great Australian Bight when we know those companies walked away from those proposals only a few years ago.
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Farrell defends EU free trade agreement
Don Farrell says the agriculture industry has “overwhelmingly” supported the free trade agreement made with the EU yesterday, and asks the cattle industry to “come onboard”.
The government has called the agreement, greenlit yesterday during a visit from European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, a “win-win”.
The trade minister has faced criticism that the deal agreed to yesterday is too similar to the one given to the government in 2023, which it had rejected. The cattle industry has also claimed they weren’t made aware of the final cattle export numbers in the deal until yesterday morning.
Speaking to ABC’s RN Breakfast, Farrell rejects the assertions and says that if the Europeans had come to him with the same offer in the past, then he would have agreed.
He also says he’s been open with the cattle industry all the way through.
Overwhelmingly, agriculture in this country has come out in support of the agreement. With the cattle producers, we’ve got an 800% increase in our access to the European market as a result of this agreement. And if the Europeans had made this offer to me in the last time we had formal negotiations, then we would have accepted it.
We finally negotiated the agreement in Sydney on Monday, and we told them at the earliest opportunity on Tuesday. So I don’t think that’s a fair criticism at all. And we’ve been briefing their associations all the way along the line.
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Government ‘not considering’ $40 fuel price caps
The environment minister, Murray Watt, has dismissed suggestions the government could impose a $40 price cap for motorists trying to fill up their tanks, saying the idea isn’t being considered.
There were reports this morning of an idea that petrol pumps could be cut off automatically when motorists buy up to $40 of fuel, but Watt told journalists in the Parliament House corridor that it’s not happening.
We’re not considering this idea of a $40 price cap, that comes from a document that was released by the then government in 2019 and the situation has obviously changed between 2019 and 2026 …
We will continue to consider what options might be necessary in the future but I can knock that one on the head.
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‘Way too soon’ to talk about fuel rationing, says Labor minister
The education minister, Jason Clare, says it’s too soon to be talking about fuel rationing in Australia, while the crisis in the Middle East deepens.
The government has pulled a range of levers to increase fuel supply, so far lowering standards for petrol and diesel.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast this morning, Clare says:
They’re the sorts of measures that we’re taking to make sure that people have got petrol to put in the tank and diesel for farm equipment, as well as for vehicles in the cities. But any talk of rationing, I think it’s way too soon to be talking about that.
Labor could also consider increasing ethanol supply in fuel – a move backed by the NRMA.
Asked whether more Australians should be working from home to save fuel, Clare says there’s a range of households already doing that, and that it’s “become part of life already.”
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Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
The government continues to face pressure over rising petrol prices and fuel shortages around the country as it keeps pulling more levers to increase supply.
And the reaction to yesterday’s agreement on the free trade deal with the European Union continues – we’ll bring you all that as it comes.
There’s plenty to get through today, let’s get stuck in!
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‘Broader than usual’ range of reforms being considered amid inflation storm, says Chalmers
The government is weighing up a broader range of reform options than usual in the lead up to the budget as the treasurer braces for worsening inflation data later today, Australian Associated Press reports.
Jim Chalmers has expanded on recent comments framing the upcoming May budget as his most ambitious yet, telling a Business Council dinner last night he was confident of landing “something meaningful” with the business community’s help.
The government’s influential expenditure review committee, which is responsible for deciding what’s in and what’s out of the federal budget and includes finance minister Katy Gallagher, met for hours yesterday and will meet again today.
“We are absolutely full tilt now working through a broader than usual range of options,” Chalmers said.
Treasury has been drawing up a number of reforms that align with the treasurer’s stated principles of improving intergenerational equity, encouraging investment and simplifying the tax system.
Reported options include cutting property-investor tax concessions, beefing up the levy on windfall gas profits, and axing an expensive tax break for electric vehicles.
Rather than a choice between resilience or reform, Chalmers said the budget will be about both resilience and reform.
Australia was well prepared for the inflation and growth challenges the war in the Middle East would throw up, he said.
“But we will be buffeted.”
Headline inflation was already running at 3.8% over the year to January and is expected to climb even further from the Reserve Bank’s 2-3% target band, as soaring oil costs result in second order price increases across the economy.
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Radicalisation now more likely to come ‘across a browser’ than a border, home affairs minister says
Tony Burke says it would be “reckless” and “ignorance in the extreme” for Australia to pretend that immigration is the solution to preventing violent extremism on our shores.
In a speech last night, the home affairs minister said it was very important Australia was careful about who it let in.
But Burke cautioned:
It would be ignorance in the extreme for us to pretend that that is the fix. It would be reckless in the extreme for us to pretend that immigration is the solution. It is something that is one of our tools, but the only way we deliver national security is to deal with facts and risks as they present themselves, not as you might want them to be.
Burke outlined four attempted or realised terrorist attacks in recent years, adding that all of those jailed for them were Australian. The attacks included the massacre at a mosque in Christchurch, an alleged attempted bombing of an Invasion Day rally in Perth, a foiled plot in Perth to attack mosques and the Bondi shooting in December.
Burke added that radicalisation now more commonly occured online, rather than being imported. He said:
Where we once only had to look at radicalisation potentially being something that might come across our border, it now comes across a browser. Where radicalisation used to involve – that you might have to go to a training camp in Afghanistan – it now comes to you in an algorithm.
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'So lucky' that Invasion Day rally bomb did not go off, says Burke
Tony Burke considers Australia “so lucky” that an alleged attempted terrorist attack against Indigenous Australians on 26 January did no harm.
In an address at an ANU National Security College dinner last night, the home affairs minister discussed the incident at this year’s Invasion Day rally in Perth attended by more than 2,500 people.
Western Australian police allege a 31-year-old man threw a homemade fragment bomb containing screws and ball-bearings surrounded by explosive liquid. The device did not detonate.
In Canberra, Burke told the audience:
The Australia Day arrest in Perth, for a number of reasons, it didn’t receive the publicity that it really should have. But can I just say – we got so lucky. We got so lucky.
This was not a stunt. The person who threw the pipe bomb into the middle of a crowd of First Nations protesters believed that – if you look at what it was – this was something where there was a reasonable expectation it would have gone off, and the number of people who then would have been killed. The fact that that didn’t happen is not through any planning. We just got lucky.
Read more:
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog as the federal parliament sitting week continues. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Krishani Dhanji will bring you the news as it happens.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, has said Australia was “so lucky” that an alleged attempted terrorist attack against Indigenous Australians on 26 January did no harm.
Meanwhile Burke’s cabinet colleague Jim Chalmers has warned the economy will be “buffeted” by the Middle East crisis and that his Treasury team is working “full tilt” through a broader than usual range of options for May’s budget.
More coming up.
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