PM: ‘People don’t want a meeting, they want action’ after latest synagogue fire
The PM, Anthony Albanese, was speaking live from Hobart a short while ago.
Asked if he will convene national cabinet following the Melbourne synagogue fire, Albanese said “people don’t want a meeting, they want action”.
A 34-year-old man from New South Wales appeared in court, charged over allegedly entering the grounds of the East Melbourne Hebrew congregation on Albert Street at about 8pm on Friday, pouring a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and setting it on fire.
Asked if he would consider a taskforce, the prime minister said “we have a taskforce”:
What we do is take on security issues. We take advice from security agencies. That’s precisely what we have done.
Pushed on whether he would provide more money for CCTV and guards outside Jewish schools and places of worship, the prime minister said:
I spoke with Jewish community leaders on Saturday. Every time there has been a request, it has been met, expeditiously.
On Saturday, one of the reasons why this gentleman has been caught so quickly is because the CCTV that was in place there was as a direct result of commonwealth government funding. In addition to that, the reinforcement of the door of the synagogue was done with that commonwealth security funding.
We will respond. We will respond to any request constructively. That is what we have done.
Key events
Cait Kelly
Greens call for full implementation of Robodebt royal commission recommendations
The Greens have called on Labor to fully implement the Robodebt commission recommendations, after calls from Australia’s peak welfare organisations.
Recommendations from the royal commission that the government have failed to implement include a statute of limitations on the recovery of old debts, establishing a duty of care for the department and automatically protecting people experiencing hardship from receiving compliance notices.
The Green’s spokesperson on social services, Senator Penny Allman-Payne, said:
Robodebt lives on today. It’s been two years since the royal commission and still Labor have refused to act on the commission’s recommendations to protect income recipients.
Labor continues to aggressively target income support recipients using questionable and potentially unlawful automated debt collection practices that can see people lose access to income support payments that are already below the poverty line.
We know people are still being flogged with ridiculous debt notices for supposed issues dating back to the 1970s, and the government still has no protections in place to prevent individuals already experiencing severe hardship from being further punished.
PM: ‘People don’t want a meeting, they want action’ after latest synagogue fire
The PM, Anthony Albanese, was speaking live from Hobart a short while ago.
Asked if he will convene national cabinet following the Melbourne synagogue fire, Albanese said “people don’t want a meeting, they want action”.
A 34-year-old man from New South Wales appeared in court, charged over allegedly entering the grounds of the East Melbourne Hebrew congregation on Albert Street at about 8pm on Friday, pouring a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and setting it on fire.
Asked if he would consider a taskforce, the prime minister said “we have a taskforce”:
What we do is take on security issues. We take advice from security agencies. That’s precisely what we have done.
Pushed on whether he would provide more money for CCTV and guards outside Jewish schools and places of worship, the prime minister said:
I spoke with Jewish community leaders on Saturday. Every time there has been a request, it has been met, expeditiously.
On Saturday, one of the reasons why this gentleman has been caught so quickly is because the CCTV that was in place there was as a direct result of commonwealth government funding. In addition to that, the reinforcement of the door of the synagogue was done with that commonwealth security funding.
We will respond. We will respond to any request constructively. That is what we have done.
63-year-old dies after paragliding incident
A 63-year-old man has died after a paragliding incident at Mena Creek yesterday.
Emergency services were called to Polich Road just before 5.40pm after reports the Utchee Creek man sustained injuries in a paragliding incident, Queensland police said in a statement.
The man sustained serious injuries and was airlifted to Cairns hospital, but died in transit.
Investigations are under way and a report will be prepared for the Coroner.
PM will continue to put case to US that tariffs on Australian goods should be zero
Anthony Albanese says Australia is not done negotiating for US tariffs lower than 10%.
Speaking live from Hobart, the prime minister was asked about America putting higher tariffs on Japan and South Korea. He says he is not concerned:
Tariffs are a penalty on the country that is imposing them. Because what they require is for goods to be purchased with a tax on top. And the US has made that decision.
Australia has a tariff rate of 10%, which is at least as low as any country in the world. No country has a better deal than Australia. And we’ll continue to put our case that tariffs are an act of economic self-harm and that we should be entitled to reciprocal tariffs, which is zero. We’ll continue to put that case.
But the US administration has a view that they’re engaged with other countries on as well. It varies, the tariff, from country to country. But no country has secured an exemption from the US administration.
Severe weather warnings issued across SA, Victoria and NSW
Severe weather warnings are current for damaging winds in elevated and coastal parts of South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, with gusts that of 90-110km/hr.
“These winds could bring down trees, damage property, and cause power outages,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s senior meteorologist, Dean Narramore, said.
A cold front is moving across south-eastern Australia today, bringing strong to damaging winds, showers, patchy rain, isolated thunderstorms, and snow to alpine areas later today, he said.
Cape Willoughby, SA, has seen wind gusts of 102km/h today. Gusts have hit 102km/h at Mt William, and 98km/h at Edithburgh
In NSW, wind gusts of 104km/h have hit Thredbo.
Liberal senator says PM should be forming ‘personal relationship’ with Trump to get US tariffs on Australian goods to zero
James Paterson says the only fair tariff on Australia is zero.
The Liberal senator spoke on Nine’s Today show earlier this morning, as the world braces to see what Trump will do with tariffs. He said:
The only fair tariff on Australia [would] be 0%. And I hope that’s what we get.
But we haven’t given ourselves the best chance of securing that from the Trump administration, because the prime minister has not even met president Trump. Now, seven months after he was elected.
In stark contrast to other world leaders like the UK prime minister Keir Starmer, who did secure an exemption from steel and aluminium tariffs for the UK because of the personal relationship that he formed with president Trump. I really hope the prime minister doesn’t leave it any longer before he forms that relationship and argues for the best case possible for our country.
Freight train separated from its wagons for 8 minutes in Sydney
A Sydney freight train’s locomotive became separated from its wagons for eight minutes on Sunday morning, with a pblockenger train 15 minutes away.
The incident occurred near Eastwood at 4:33am on Sunday, with the train coming to a stop near Meadowbank at 4:41am.
Sydney Trains was notified by the driver of the QUBE freight, Transport for NSW said in a statement:
Emergency protocols were immediately put in place by Sydney Trains, including all signals in the area being put at stop.
At the time, the nearest pblockenger train was at least 15 minutes away allowing the situation to be managed without further emergency intervention. If necessary, Sydney Trains could have derailed the wagons using their emergency protocols.
No infrastructure was damaged, and investigations are under way by the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator and the Office of Transport Safety Investigations.
Tom McIlroy
Australia waits on US Aukus review
Labor – and everyone else in Canberra – is waiting on the outcome of Donald Trump’s snap review of the Aukus nuclear submarine agreement.
In early June, the US Department of Defense announced a 30-day review of the Australia-US-UK technology sharing deal with the aim of ensuring the deal signed by the Biden administration “is aligned with the president’s ‘America first’ agenda”. It will also determine if the US defence industrial base is meeting the country’s needs.
Overseen by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s undersecretary of defense for policy – a known Aukus sceptic – the review could become a critical factor in Trump’s relationship with the Albanese government and significant in the ongoing US-Australia alliance.
The start date of the review is unclear, but this Friday will be 30 days since it was publicly announced. A Pentagon spokesperson told Guardian Australia overnight there is no news on the timeline just yet.
Anthony Albanese is expected to have his first face-to-face talks with Trump later this year, possibly in September after the United Nations general blockembly or at the Quad summit in India.
Indigenous business must be ‘backed’ to Close the Gap
A landmark report from Supply Nation found Indigenous businesses create $42.6 bn of social value each year and allow First Nations people more freedom to live on their own terms.
Successful businesses lead to better mental health outcomes, more pride among communities and a better connection to culture and Country, the report found.
Supply Nation, which provides Australia’s biggest database of Indigenous businesses, said “social value” included things such as agency over life, expanded aspirations, financial security and physical and mental health.
Approximately $16.2bn of the social value created was experienced by Indigenous employees, the report said. Supply Nation’s chief executive, Kate Russell, launched the Sleeping Giant Rises report at a Business Sydney event on Monday coinciding with Naidoc Week. She told AAP:
By lifting up our Indigenous communities … that is saving government money in terms of welfare payments … but it’s also lifting a sense of pride, aspiration, happiness and wellbeing in those communities.
Governments must consider giving Indigenous entrepreneurs or indigenous businesses a seat at the table when they’re making broader policies like Closing the Gap. They deserve to be backed.
Nearly 66,000 First Nations people are employed by Indigenous businesses, and 84% of owners said those employees were better able to support families and feel positive about life.
– Australian Associated Press
Bright spots in agriculture amid market volatility
With droughts on one side of the country, floods on the other, and political volatility overseas, Australia’s agriculture industry has been right in the thick of it.
But there is reason for “cautious optimism” in the $90.7bn sector as uncertain conditions create both threats and opportunities for the nation’s producers, according to Bendigo Bank’s mid-year agriculture outlook.
Cropping, horticulture and cattle were forecast to be on the up in the second half of 2025, while prices for sheep and wool would remain stable, today’s report claims.
Aussie beef will continue to be on the menu in the US, where herd numbers are in decline due to drought and increased costs of agricultural inputs
Weather conditions have both helped and hindered production, as rainfall in NSW and Queensland improved soil moisture, boosted summer crop yields and gave winter sowing a strong start.
However, heavy rainfall and flooding in both states has damaged farm infrastructure and reduced livestock numbers in some regions. At the same time, severe drought in parts of South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria has stifled production, upped the cost of feed and created a poor cropping outlook.
With varying long-term rainfall forecasts across the nation, weather will be key to performance in the final half of the year, the report said.
The season so far underscores the growing unpredictability of Australia’s agricultural climate, demanding resilience and adaptability across the sector from producers and the broader supply chain.
– Australian Associated Press
