Australia news live: ‘still not clear what US wants’ from tariffs, trade minister says; Sydney to swelter before cool change
Trade minister ‘still not clear’ what US wants from tariff decision
Australia is continuing to negotiate with Trump despite the decision to impose tariffs.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday morning, the trade minister, Don Farrell, said he had spoken to the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, on Friday but stressed the future remained uncertain.
It wasn’t a pessimistic conversation. But he gave no assurances about what might happen in the next round of negotiations.
The trade minister has another talk scheduled with US trade representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday.
We’re going to work out, firstly, what it is that the Americans want out of this arrangement.
It’s still not clear to me what it is that they are seeking, but once we find that out, we’ll work through this issue, and we’ll work through it in Australia’s national interest.
Senator Farrell confirmed Australia had reached out to other nations, such as South Korea, about expanding and diversifying trade relationships.
– AAP
Key events
Five Coalition senators billed taxpayers total of $10,000 to attend conservative conference CPAC
Coalition senators who addressed last year’s Australian Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) billed taxpayers thousands of dollars in flights, accommodation and car expenses on the weekend of the event.
Guardian Australia can also reveal the former Labor senator Fatima Payman claimed more than $4,000 on a whirlwind Perth-to-Melbourne trip in which she appeared at a public meeting in solidarity with the embattled CFMEU construction union.
Politicians are permitted to charge taxpayers for travel expenses if the dominant purpose is parliamentary business, which covers a broad range of activities including electorate, party political and official duties.
Shadow ministers Bridget McKenzie and Barnaby Joyce and Coalition backbenchers Alex Antic, Matt Canavan and Keith Pitt were invited to speak at October’s CPAC Australia conference, the annual showcase of rightwing political activism.
Parliamentary expenses figures show the five politicians claimed almost $10,000 between them on the weekend of the event, which was headlined by the former UK prime minister Liz Truss.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Dan Jervis-Bardy:
New IVF, contraception and endometriosis drugs added to PBS
A new oral contraceptive, reproductive health and treatments for endometriosis will be added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from 1 May.
Slinda is currently available privately, with 80,000 women paying $80 for three months’ supply, but the drug will receive wider availability with the subsidy that is expected to lower the price to $7.70 for concession card holders and $31.60 for general payments.
A new treatment option for endometriosis for patients who have experienced moderate to severe pain and cannot get adequate relief from other hormonal treatments and painkillers has also been added to the scheme.
The federal health minister, Mark Butler, said the addition of the treatments to the scheme will give “Australian women more choice, lower costs and better health options”.
Women have asked government to take their health care seriously, and we have listened.
These listings could save women and their families thousands of dollars across their lifetimes.
The new subsidy is in addition to the federal government’s $573m women’s health funding announcement made in early February.
Minister for women, Katy Gallagher, said women often have more expensive and more complex health issues.
This announcement is all about making treatment cheaper and easier, so women can focus on getting the care they need.
Trade minister ‘still not clear’ what US wants from tariff decision
Australia is continuing to negotiate with Trump despite the decision to impose tariffs.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday morning, the trade minister, Don Farrell, said he had spoken to the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, on Friday but stressed the future remained uncertain.
It wasn’t a pessimistic conversation. But he gave no assurances about what might happen in the next round of negotiations.
The trade minister has another talk scheduled with US trade representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday.
We’re going to work out, firstly, what it is that the Americans want out of this arrangement.
It’s still not clear to me what it is that they are seeking, but once we find that out, we’ll work through this issue, and we’ll work through it in Australia’s national interest.
Senator Farrell confirmed Australia had reached out to other nations, such as South Korea, about expanding and diversifying trade relationships.
– AAP
Buster brings cool relief from fierce autumn heatwave
A change is bringing cooler conditions, with residents in three states glad to see the back of a short but sharp autumn heatwave.
A cool change has delivered relief to thousands of Australians forced to hit the beach or camp under air conditioners in two states, but the summer-like heatwave rippling across the nation’s south-east persists in NSW.
The cool change is already on the way with showers, cold winds and thunderstorms to follow.
High and possibly damaging winds are likely in alpine areas of Victoria and NSW into Monday, as is snow across Tasmania’s highlands.
The change will bring relief to fire crews in South Australia and Victoria.
A grassfire propelled by heatwave conditions destroyed one home and damaged another at Montrose on Melbourne’s outskirts on Saturday night.
South Australian firefighters are also battling blazes near Katarapko Island, north-east of Adelaide, and in the state’s lower south-east near Lucindale.
– AAP
Rain slams brakes on Supercars sprint in Melbourne
Heavy rain has forced Supercars officials to call off Sunday’s 14-lap sprint race at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
Triple Eight young gun Broc Feeney was primed to claim his second win of the season from pole position at Albert Park before officials canned the race due to unsafe track conditions.
The 30-minute session on Sunday had started under a safety car and was eventually suspended under a red flag after three laps.
It was vastly different track conditions for the 24-strong Supercars grid, who battled through sweltering heat on Saturday.
Conditions are expected to clear for the season-opening Formula One race at 3pm AEDT.
– AAP
From sterilising baby bottles to charging laptops, some Australians powered through Cyclone Alfred using EV batteries
When Kat Hickey and her husband talked about what they would do if Tropical Cyclone Alfred knocked out the power in their north Brisbane home, they were more concerned than most.
The pair have a nine-month-old daughter and a three-year-old son – having a reliable way to sterilise bottles and boil water for formula was critical.
They knew the battery from their white BYD Atto 3 could power their home using the vehicle-to-load system (V2L) – a backup power system that allows the car battery to power appliances – but neither had actually hooked it up. They wondered how much it could handle.
When Alfred made landfall and they were among 450,000 homes to lose power, Hickey figured she had nothing to lose. She set to work snaking extension cords through the house as her husband baby-proofed the setup.
Together the couple hooked up a fridge, kettle, toaster, phone chargers, a laptop charger and a lamp – and then, she says, there was light.
We called the lamp our canary. It’s this little lamp that normally sits out of the way, we hardly ever use it. During the storm, it became essential. Whenever we were putting too much stress on the system, it would flicker or turn off completely.
Afterwards, we had to thank it for its service, put it back in the corner, and it hasn’t been used since.
For more on this story, read the full weekend feature:
A few photos of the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, at the Fuldol celebration in Kemps Creek in Sydney.
NSW Labor divided over Chris Minns’ plan to extend controversial youth bail laws
The New South Wales premier is facing growing internal dissent over his plan to extend controversial youth bail laws, with one MP telling caucus the laws had put the government on a “slippery slope”.
Sources say Labor MLC Stephen Lawrence – a former barrister and one-time mayor of Dubbo – argued during a February meeting that the government was on a path whereby it could adopt further punitive approaches because the laws introduced a year ago weren’t working.
If crime wasn’t going down there could be calls for even tougher measures, leading to a dangerous downward spiral, Lawrence suggested.
The reforms are aimed at repeat young offenders. They make it harder for 14- to 18-year-olds charged with serious break-and-enter and motor vehicle theft offences while on bail to get bail again.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Jordyn Beazley:
Henry Belot
Rishworth defends PM over refusal to attend rally
The Labor frontbencher Amanda Rishworth has defended the prime minister’s decision not to attend rallies calling for an end to male violence against women.
Anthony Albanese was invited to attend one of several rallies on Saturday but declined to attend. Several other politicians across major parties were also invited.
Organiser Sherele Moody told a rally in Melbourne she was disappointed many invited politicians had failed to attend:
Leaders were invited, especially Albanese … There’s been no presence from him. There’s no one turning up for the rallies in WA, no one bothering to turn up the huge rally in Alice Springs, Brisbane, Canberra, they’re just, it’s like they don’t care. Heading into the national election … people need to vote for the parties that give a shit about women.
In response to Moody’s criticism, the social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, defended the government’s track record on addressing domestic violence:
The Albanese government has made ending family, domestic and sexual violence a national priority from day one. It is something as minister for social services I have thought about, and worked on, every day since taking on this portfolio and this work will continue. I have attended rallies, community events and regularly engage with and listen to women’s safety leaders and organisations to better understand and address community needs.
Albanese travelled from Perth to Melbourne on Saturday before attending a Holi celebration in regional Victoria and discussing a possible peacekeeping deployment to Ukraine with European leaders.
Last year, the prime minister brushed off claims from an organiser of similar rallies that he lied about being asked not to speak, blaming it on an “emotional” day and issue.
This year’s events were organised and funded by the Australian Femicide Watch and the Red Heart Campaign.
Australian participation in Ukraine peacekeeping force ‘would be a small contribution’: PM
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has been in Melbourne this morning where he spoke about the prospect of Australia contributing to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine.
Well, first of all, you need peace, of course, to have a peacekeeping force, and the participants last night were all committed to peace in Ukraine.
In order to achieve that, Russia must agree to a ceasefire, firstly, but it must also agree to stop its aggression against Ukraine, and so it is premature to talk about that detail.
But Australia has a proud record, over 80 years, of participating in peacekeeping missions, including in Africa, in Cyprus, in a range of countries around the world.
It would be a small contribution if we chose to do so, but what we want to see is peace so that we can have peacekeeping.
The prime minister reiterated Australia’s support for Ukraine in a meeting with the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, and other European leaders overnight, as he committed Australia to joining a “coalition of the willing” of countries willing to support Ukraine even if the US steps away.
Ley attempts to clear up confusion on Coalition insurance policy
Earlier we reported that Sussan Ley spoke to Sky News on Sunday morning where she discussed Ukraine. She was also asked about the mixed message the Coalition was sending on whether or not it will intervene to break up insurance companies if re-elected.
Asked about the contradicting messages between Coalition MPs and the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, in recent weeks – described by her interviewer as “amateur hour” – Ley insisted “there hasn’t been any difference in our positions and our statements” on insurance.
Let me step it out for you like this: what Peter said front and centre was: we’ll always be on the side of consumers.
Now, back to divestiture. When we were in government, of course, we enacted divestiture around the energy sector. In opposition, we’ve said that our policy on divestiture would encompass already supermarkets and hardware stores.
And then we said, both Peter Dutton and I and others, that if we get to government and there is evidence of concentration of market power in the insurance sector, and the insurance industry is doing the wrong thing, what you just heard Peter Dutton refer to, then we won’t hesitate to step in.
Ley was then challenged by the host, who said it was not what she had said during a previous appearance on Sky, to which she responded that she had been selectively quoted.
I don’t think you’ve played my full quote.
For more on this, read our previous warning here:
‘I want to see Peter Dutton kept as far away from the Lodge as possible’: Bandt rules out backing Coalition
Bandt rules out supporting Peter Dutton and the Coalition in the event of a hung parliament at the next election saying “I want to see Peter Dutton kept as far away from the Lodge as possible”:
His Trump-style politics of division have no place in Australia and this has to be the election that we will say, we will not import that here into this country. He punches down. He emulates himself on Trump.
Bandt says the Greens “preference is to work with Labor and to have an understanding”, but he is opened minded about whether there might be a formal agreement or another arrangement.
In a situation where at the moment, less than a third of the country votes for the government, a bit more than a third votes for the opposition, and about a third of the country votes for someone else – what people are wanting is more voices at the table to push Labor to act on some of these things that they’ve been ignoring.
And the flipside is that when you have greater representation in parliament, we have all got to work together and cooperate to get outcomes with people, and that would be the spirit that we would go into it with.
And that’s a wrap.
Bandt is asked about a proposal by the Greens to “Dutton-proof” certain policies by legislating policies to lock them in and ensure they are delivered regardless of the outcome of the election.
These include a promise to reduce student debt by a fifth, and to triple the bulk billing incentive. Bandt says the Greens would like to see dental and mental health get into Medicare and more affordable homes built.
Asked about internal politics within the Greens – the suspension of Queensland Greens co-founder Drew Hutton over social media posts in 2022 that were allegedly transphobic – Bandt says internal party process within the Queensland Greens are being followed.
There’s a process that is going through. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on that.
There is no need to continue delivering gas to people’s homes, Bandt says.
Because gas is as dirty as coal and we’ve just seen communities smashed by a cyclone. We’ve got people still dealing with the aftermath of floods. And we know these extreme weather events are being fuelled by coal and gas. Now, we should be having a discussion at the moment about how to take real climate action and stop opening coal and gas mines.
