Australia’s trade minister says Trump plan to double steel and aluminium tariffs to 50% ‘not the act of a friend’

Don Farrell says US president’s latest tariffs announcement ‘an act of economic self-harm’ and he will continue to advocate for their removal

Australia’s trade minister, Don Farrell, has described Donald Trump’s trade tariffs as “unjustified and not the act of a friend”, after the US president announced he would double import duties on steel and aluminium to 50%.

Trump told a steelworkers rally in Pittsburgh that raising the tariff would “even further secure the steel industry in the United States. Nobody is going to get around that”.

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Gambling company offered Melbourne man $25,000 on condition he withdraw complaint to regulator and be liable for ‘adverse media’

Exclusive: Conditions on settlement negotiations common in many industries but consumer advocates concerned they could be used to ‘silence victims and avoid scrutiny’

A Melbourne man says he was offered $25,000 by a gambling company on the condition that he withdraw a complaint to an industry regulator, agree to confidentiality provisions and indemnify them, including against adverse media coverage.

Gordon Burns, 23, argues his 2022 betting frenzy with two bookmakers showed “consistent patterns of addictive behaviour” and alleges that no one from either company checked on him to minimise gambling harm.

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After a week of spectacular self-sabotage, the Victorian Liberal party’s pain is only just beginning

As John Pesutto scrambles to raise funds to pay $2.3m owed to Moira Deeming, the saga threatens to ‘engulf the entire party’, including its new leader

It was meant to be the Victorian Liberals’ week. Instead, the party – now almost synonymous with political self-sabotage – has imploded once again.

And it’s likely only going to get worse from here as the countdown officially begins for former leader John Pesutto to pay the $2.3m in legal fees he owes Moira Deeming or face bankruptcy after he was found in December to have defamed her.

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This article was amended on 31 May 2025. Jess Wilson challenged for Victorian Liberal leadership, not deputy leadership as stated in an earlier version.

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Australia’s emissions up slightly in 2024 as Labor faces heat over ‘climate-wrecking’ gas project

Greens leader accuses Albanese government of failing two climate tests: pollution on the rise and approving extension for North West Shelf

Australia’s climate-heating emissions increased fractionally last year as pollution from fossil fuel power plants rose for the first time in a decade, and domestic air travel and use of diesel-powered cars and trucks hit record highs.

The jump in emissions was small – just 0.05% – due to falls in pollution from other sectors. But the direction was at odds with the Albanese government’s pledge to cut pollution to reach targets for 2030 and 2050.

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Death of baby in Corowa home is ‘tragic’ but remains a mystery, says coroner

Three-month-old was found dead at his mother’s home in January 2022 but the cause of death is unknown, inquest hears

The circumstances of the death of an apparently “thriving” three-month-old baby remain unknown, an inquest has concluded.

“It is tragic, but we simply don’t know what happened to KP,” NSW deputy state coroner Kasey Pearce said on Friday.

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Family of Warlpiri man who died after being restrained by police in supermarket demand independent inquiry

Exclusive: Lawyer for 24-year-old’s family ask NT police to ‘appoint independent body from another state or territory to undertake investigation’ after Alice Springs death

An independent investigator must be appointed to examine the death of a Warlpiri man in police custody, family members say, while also demanding video footage be released.

The 24-year-old man with disabilities from Yuendemu died on Tuesday afternoon after police restrained him in an Alice Springs supermarket.

Indigenous Australians can call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for information and crisis support; or call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Mensline on 1300 789 978 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

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One Nation picks up four Senate spots, with surprise NSW seat for former British soldier Warwick Stacey

Final Senate result confirms pathway for Labor to pass legislation with either Coalition or Greens support alone, or majority of diverse crossbench

One Nation has gained an unexpected Senate seat in New South Wales, taking Pauline Hanson’s party to four members in the upper house – equalling its best-ever result in a federal election.

Warwick Stacey, a former member of the British army, has snagged the sixth Senate seat in NSW and will join fellow new senator Tyron Whitten who was yesterday elected in Western Australia.

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Lead detective denies police errors in mushroom lunch investigation as Erin Patterson trial continues

Defence argues photos taken by police inside Patterson’s home appear to show computers and a phone that were not seized during search

The detective in charge of the investigation into the deadly beef wellington lunch served by Erin Patterson has denied police made several errors in the case, including failing to seize electronic items during a search of her house and wrongly identifying her son on CCTV footage, a court has heard.

Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to poisoning her four lunch guests – relatives of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson – with a beef wellington served at her house in Leongatha, Victoria on 29 July 2023.

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Man allegedly raped by Gareth Ward quizzed on route he took to NSW MP’s house

Kiama MP allegedly sexually assaulted political staffer after offering him place to stay following mid-week event

A political staffer has accepted he could be confused about his movements before and after he was allegedly sexually assaulted by a state MP who invited him to his house.

Kiama MP Gareth Ward, 44, is on trial in the New South Wales district court after pleading not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent and indecent assault charges.

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Warm winter forecast for Australia as SA and Victoria face unseasonal fire risk

BoM prediction follows much wetter than average autumn for northern and eastern Australia, and much drier one for south

Australia’s winter will be warmer and wetter this year, with higher than average day and night temperatures, and above-average rainfall likely in central and interior parts of the country.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s long-range forecast said parts of the tropical north, south-east and south-west could expect typical winter rainfall, including coastal areas of New South Wales affected by the May floods, and parts of South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania where there have been prolonged dry conditions.

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Heartbroken mother tells inquest she’s ‘lost her way’ after ‘stuff of nightmares’ murders at Bondi Junction

Elizabeth Young, who is mourning her ‘slightly goofy’ daughter Jade, gives emotional evidence that 2024 attack was due to ‘cumulative failures’

The mother of Jade Young, a victim of the Bondi Junction stabbings, has described her daughter’s murder as the “stuff of nightmares” and the result of “years of neglect” within the mental health system.

Elizabeth Young told the New South Wales coroner’s court on Thursday that her words were “both a distillation and a manifestation of anguish”.

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Australia news live: McCormack says ‘never say never’ on Nationals leadership after ‘madness’ of Coalition’s brief breakup

Nationals backbencher says we ‘weren’t told everything that went on between Sussan Ley’ and David Littleproud. Follow today’s news live

McCormack says he expects Nationals to revisit net zero position eventually

McCormack expects the Nationals to revisit net zero by 2050:

I think we need to have a very serious discussion about that. When I go to places such as Crookwell, and others, where they have got huge wind towers, they have done their heft lift as far as making sure they put these massive turbines up, the solar … that are popping up all over, taking up arable country, farmland, you know.

I think regional Australia has done its fair share and we need to revisit that, given the fact the world, indeed America and other countries and other political parties in other nations, have really revisited this net zero. I think the Nationals will do the same.

Look, you never say never. I’m not going to draw a line through my name because that would be silly, but, look, it’s up to the party room. It’s the gift of the party room. I have always accepted that.

I had the great honour of leading the party for three and a bit years and being the deputy prime minister at the same time. [A] truly great honour. One that I’ll cherish. But if it comes to pass that the party decides that I’m the one to lead them again in the future so be it.

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‘Genocide’: Patrick Dodson condemns Australia’s Aboriginal youth incarceration rates

Former Labor senator also says child removals are a way to ‘eradicate a people from the landscape’

Former Labor senator Patrick Dodson has condemned the country’s Aboriginal youth incarceration rates and child removals as an ongoing genocide against First Peoples and an “embarrassing sore” on the nation.

“It’s an assault on the Aboriginal people. I don’t say that lightly [but] if you want to eradicate a people from the landscape, you start taking them away, you start destroying the landscape of their cultural heritage, you attack their children or remove their children,” Dodson said.

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No one committed to Paris goals can seriously argue Woodside’s LNG project should operate until 2070

Forty-year extension of North West Shelf gas project granted by environment minister Murray Watt will result in huge greenhouse gas emissions, putting the already degraded Indigenous rock art at risk

We don’t know all the evidence that the new environment minister, Murray Watt, had before him when he decided to approve a 40-year life extension to one of Australia’s biggest fossil fuel developments so that it could run until 2070.

But we do know this. The decision largely turned on whether the North West Shelf liquefied natural gas (LNG) development on the Pilbara’s Burrup Hub can coexist for decades into the future with an incredible collection of ancient Murujuga rock art, some of it nearly 50,000 years old and unlike anything else on the planet.

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Australia news live: Ley to unveil shadow ministry after deal done to reunite Coalition; Labor seizes third Senate spot in Victoria

Liberal leader begins contacting MPs to inform them of their roles in her new frontbench. Follow today’s news live

Nationals frontbencher Bridget McKenzie has insisted her party never made free votes for cabinet members a condition of returning to Coalition with the Liberals, as the two parties draw closer to a deal.

McKenzie also took a shot at Liberal MPs who were giving her and her colleagues free advice. She told Channel Seven’s Sunrise:

There are many Liberal MPs who want to give us gratuitous advice about how to run our party room. I’m happy to give them membership forms if they’d like to join it. But a coalition works best when everybody respects the independence of both parties.

That wasn’t put to the room.

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Erin Patterson murder trial live: police informant to continue evidence on day 21 of mushroom case

Australian woman, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder after a mushroom lunch at her house in regional Victoria in 2023. Follow live updates

Defendent’s daughter remembers visiting Asian grocer after rewatching video evidence

Prosecutor Jane Warren asks Eppingstall about evidence by Patterson’s daughter given during a pre-recorded police interview that was played to the court earlier in the trial.

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Geelong overtakes Sunshine Coast as top tree- and sea-change destination

Rate of people moving to Australia’s regions increases by more than 10% in March quarter

While the Geelong Cats are fifth on the AFL ladder, their home city is the reigning champion.

The Victorian region has become the most popular place for people escaping capital cities to settle, with its picturesque coastline and thriving industry making it an ideal sea-change destination.

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‘Let’s see you dance on the table’: Fatima Payman reports senior male parliamentary colleague over comments

Senator makes complaint about colleague’s behaviour at function, which she alleges was sexual and racial in nature

Senator Fatima Payman has reported a male parliamentary colleague to the parliament’s workplace complaints service, after claiming she was subjected to inappropriate comments at a function.

The ABC’s Triple J Hack program reported on Wednesday that Payman, the former Labor senator who now sits as an independent, had made a complaint about a senior colleague who “had had too many drinks” and made comments such as “let’s get some wine into you and see you dance on the table”.

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Tesla wins council approval for new factory in South Australia despite vocal anti-Musk sentiment

Marion council votes to seek state government approval for battery factory in Adelaide despite hundreds of submissions opposing it

Elon Musk’s Tesla is one step closer to opening a factory in an Adelaide suburb despite overwhelming community opposition from “anti-Tesla and anti-Elon Musk sentiment”.

On Tuesday night the City of Marion council voted to seek state government approval to sell the site to a developer who will build the factory.

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NSW MP Gareth Ward allegedly raped political staffer after Parliament House event, trial hears

Independent MP for Kiama has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting a 24-year-old in 2015 and an 18-year-old in 2013

New South Wales independent MP Gareth Ward allegedly raped a political staffer in his home in 2015 after he invited the man to stay over following an event at Parliament House, a court has heard.

Ward, who at the time of the alleged offending was the Liberal MP for Kiama, is facing an expected four-week trial at Sydney’s Downing Centre after being charged with five criminal offences.

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