PM accuses Dutton of pulling Liberals further to the right; jail sentence for second Blockade Australia protester – as it happened

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Married couple allegedly intended to hand defence force material to Russia, AFP chief says

Reece Kershaw says the AFP arrested the pair – a married couple – yesterday morning at their Everton Park home in Brisbane.

The counter foreign interference taskforce, which includes AFP, Asio and other commonwealth partners, has dedicated significant resources and capability to Operation Bergazada.

The AFP will allege the individuals worked together to access Australian defence force material that related to Australia’s national security interests.

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Documents reveal why Australia voted yes in key UN motion on Palestinian membership

Exclusive: Internal advice shows Australia never seriously considered voting against resolution to boost status of Palestinian mission, despite positions of US and Israel

It’s an issue that has sparked domestic and international debate and helped fuel the defection of Fatima Payman from the Labor party.

Now, newly obtained internal documents shed light on the Australian government’s conditions for recognising the state of Palestine – and the factors it weighed up before voting “yes” in a highly anticipated UN vote on 10 May.

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Australia news live: religious sect allegedly thought 8-year-old diabetic ‘should not use insulin’, court told; Alice Springs curfew won’t continue

The curfew declaration will conclude at 12.55pm today, local time. Follow the day’s news live

The mayor of Alice Springs, Matt Paterson, spoke to ABC News Breakfast just earlier as authorities meet to determine whether a three-day curfew on the central Australian town will be extended.

He is “still waiting to hear” whether the curfew will be extended – a decision for the police commissioner. Asked whether he believes it should be extended, Paterson says:

It’s obviously worked in the CBD, but we are hearing that it is pushing crime out into the suburbs. So we’ll wait to see what happens. Ultimately, the community gets to have a breath while there’s extra resources and police in town, so we’ll just wait to see what’s decided …

The curfew is a reaction to events over the past week or so, and we can’t continue to put these in. We need to think about the long-term solutions.

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Chinese navy destroyer and helicopter shadowed Australian warship during high-profile standoff, documents show

Exclusive: Australian helicopter was outside Chinese territorial waters when forced to manoeuvre to avoid fighter jet flares in ‘unsafe’ operation

An Australian helicopter was flying south-east of China’s Shandong peninsula but outside its territorial waters when a Chinese fighter aircraft released flares in its path, new documents show.

Guardian Australia can reveal that Australia’s HMAS Hobart warship was also being shadowed by a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) navy destroyer and another Chinese helicopter at the time of the 4 May standoff.

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Greens and academics criticise appointment of antisemitism envoy – as it happened

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Flights have been cancelled or delayed out of Brisbane airport this morning as thick smoke blankets the city.

According to the Brisbane airport website, nine domestic flights and two international flights have been cancelled. On social media, the airport wrote that widespread fog across Brisbane was “slowing movements on ground and limiting visibility.”

Flights are still departing but there are delays due to the reduced visibility.

Participants will be able to check accessible scorecards that will show what services DES providers offer and how they rate for quality and effectiveness, helping them make an informed choice when selecting their provider.

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Former defence chief’s report into Zomi Frankcom killing handed to Albanese government

Humanitarian worker was among seven killed in drone strikes carried out by the Israeli Defense Force in Gaza on 1 April

The Australian government has received a highly anticipated report from former defence force chief Mark Binskin on the killing of Australian humanitarian worker Zomi Frankcom and her colleagues in Israeli military drone strikes in Gaza.

Guardian Australia understands the government has received the report regarding the 1 April incident and is now working with Binskin to “action” his recommendations.

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Fatima Payman’s exit reveals ‘chasm’ between Labor and traditional base over Palestine, party insiders say

Exclusive: Senator’s resignation disappointing to ‘thousands of rank-and-file ALP and union members and Labor supporters’

Labor’s Friends of Palestine group has warned of “a chasm” between the Albanese government and “huge swathes of the party’s traditional base” as it described Fatima Payman’s resignation as a symptom of a bigger problem.

A day after the first-term senator quit Labor, to remain in the upper house as an independent, pro-Palestine campaigners complained that Payman had been placed “in an untenable position” by the federal leadership team.

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Fatima Payman’s decision to quit Labor party will ‘empower opponents on far right’, Wayne Swan says

Government MPs express disappointment over WA senator’s decision as Greens and crossbench praise move

Fatima Payman says she is “grieving” after deciding to quit Labor to sit as an independent, a move the party’s president, Wayne Swan, claims will “empower Labor’s opponents on the far right”.

Payman said on Thursday she felt she had no choice but to quit Labor after her advocacy for the Australian government to recognise a Palestinian state. She claimed voters were “frustrated” at Labor’s position on the war in Gaza, and that she was displaying “Labor values” in the positions she had taken.

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Fatima Payman admits she ‘upset a few colleagues’ by crossing the floor – as it happened

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Housing minister Julie Collins is speaking to the ABC RN about Labor’s build-to-rent bill which was knocked back in the Senate yesterday, with the Greens and the Coalition combining to delay it:

What we want to do is get this done. We’ve already been consulting, we announced it in the previous budget. Any delays will actually stop the pipeline of construction and the certainty for the sector.

What we want to do is get more affordable homes and more homes of every type on the ground as quickly as we can.

We’re saying they have to have a minimum of 10% to be eligible for the tax concessions that we’re talking about for each development.

That’s what our consultations and our discussions with the sector have done and, as I said, this is not the only thing we’re doing for affordable homes … My point here is that they continually delay and block housing up every time by coming together and having this unholy alliance between the Liberals and the Greens in the Senate, because they’re more interested in votes than they are about people.

We’re not open to negotiation and we want to get this done.

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Shorten says NDIS ‘too important for political games’ after bill blocked – as it happened

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Wong rejects Birmingham’s criticism, says US alliance ‘deep and strong’

Asked about her Liberal counterpart Simon Birmingham’s criticism of Anthony Albanese’s phone call with Julian Assange and his claims that the deal to release Assange has “damaged” the US-Australian alliance, Penny Wong says:

That’s not not correct and disappointing that Simon would go to the alliance. He would know that our relationship with the United States is deep and strong.

And that is why we were able to advocate in the way we did. And ultimately, the pathway to resolving this, … had to be through the resolution of the legal process.

Dr Yang remains a priority for our government. We continue to raise his case with the Chinese authorities at all appropriate levels and we will continue to do so. It was obviously raised, as you know, when Premier Li was here.

What I would say is today I am very pleased to see Mr Assange reunited with his family in Australia.

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Coalition would not copy Morrison government’s approach to China diplomacy, says Simon Birmingham

Shadow foreign minister says blasting Beijing in public had negative consequences and a future government would do things differently

The shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, has suggested the Morrison government’s megaphone diplomacy with China was counterproductive and a future Coalition government would approach the relationship differently.

In an interview for Guardian Australia’s Australian Politics podcast, Birmingham conceded that blasting China in public had had negative consequences.

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Australia news live: Indigenous leader Rev Dr D Gondarra dies; mass cull ordered to stop NSW bird flu outbreak

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Albanese calls Coalition nuclear policy a ‘fantasy’

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has slammed the Coalition’s nuclear power policy, calling it a “fantasy” and saying it was “Peter Dutton and the Seven nuclear reactors.”

What you have here is something that I’ve never seen before. I mean, this is just a fantasy, instead of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs this is Peter Dutton and the seven nuclear reactors.

This is just absurd, to have a big buildup for an announcement and then say we won’t give you the details. I’ll make this prediction. All the details won’t be out there before the election. It will be just “trust me”, just the same as Peter Dutton said that [for the] 2030 target when it comes to emissions reduction, “I will let you know all of that after the election.”

Well, our energy policy will and is absolutely focused on driving down prices as we did in government at … this is the important point. And that is because of a range of technologies, not one, nuclear needs to be part of that mix. You need to have every horse in this race. This is a hard race to win. And we want to have every horse in the race. Nuclear is an important one, gas is an important one.

Everyone wants to sort of say there’s one technology this the answer to everything. No. I’m just wondering. It’s a balance of technologies and right now, what is clear is Chris Bowen’s strategy is not getting us to where we need to go.

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Australia news live: Dutton announces Coalition’s nuclear policy and proposed sites, but no costs

Sites named at Collie, Mt Piper, Callide, Tarong, Liddell, Northern energy in South Australia and Loy Yang. Follow the day’s news live

Sussan Ley says Coalition nuclear policy will be a ‘sensible proposition’

I just wanted to return to Sussan Ley’s appearance on Sky News this morning, where she was asked how a potential future Coalition nuclear policy would circumvent nuclear bans:

We’ll work through all that. We have a sensible proposition to put to the Australian people and I know that when we talk about nuclear people are starting to tune in, understanding that if 19 of the 20 biggest economies in the world are using nuclear, if it makes sense for cleaner baseload power, because it’s zero emissions, if it helps us get to 2050 net zero, if it does all of the things that we want it to do in terms of emissions, and in terms of securing affordable cheaper power for Australians … why would people not consider it? And I believe they will.

Now, the government says it’s renewables only. We can see that that’s actually not going to happen. The government talks about hydrogen, it’s not at scale. It’s not even something they can demonstrate works in that short timeframe and they talk about batteries that aren’t going to provide the storage for their renewables.

So, they are in a complete mess over this, and they need to be put on the sticky paper and asked what they are going to do for families, households and manufacturing businesses.

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RBA governor says inflation still above target; Matt Kean to retire from politics – as it happened

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Liberals criticise treatment of journalist by Chinese officials at press conference

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham has condemned the treatment of journalist Cheng Lei at federal parliament yesterday.

This was an entirely counterproductive and inappropriate act by Chinese officials that should have been called out by our prime minister and government officials.

It is a reminder that we have two very different systems, the Chinese system and the Australian system, different systems of government, of course as a democracy, different respect when it comes to media, to freedom of speech, but this visit is taking place in Australia.

It is concerning, I think a lot of this comes from so many Australians genuinely doing a tough at the moment, having to make really tough decisions, from telling their kids that they can no longer play basketball or be part of the scouts group because they can’t afford the … 500 bucks a year that costs, to other Australians who are deciding between going to see the GP or fulfilling a script and putting food on the table.

People are doing it tough and so when they hear politicians talk about these targets in the future … I think Peter Dutton use this to whip up fear.

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Government could repatriate Australian women and children from Syrian detention camps if it had ‘political will’, court says

The federal court dismissed the case brought by Save the Children and ruled that the government had no legal obligation to bring them home

If the federal government had “the political will” to repatriate Australian women and children from Syrian detention camps “it would be a relatively straightforward exercise”, the full bench of the federal court has said in a judgment.

But there is no legal obligation on the government to bring its citizens back to Australia, the court ruled.

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Chinese premier Li Qiang’s Australia visit overshadowed by officials’ apparent attempt to block Cheng Lei’s view at event

The first visit to Australia by a Chinese premier in seven years was marked by anti-China groups protesting China’s disregard for human rights

The Australian government has rolled out the welcome mat as China’s premier, Li Qiang, visited Canberra, but his trip may have been overshadowed by an apparent attempt by Chinese officials to block the view of the formerly detained Australian journalist Cheng Lei during a signing ceremony.

The first trip to Australia by a Chinese premier in seven years is the most striking symbol yet of the easing of tensions in a previously turbulent relationship.

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Virgin Australia plane makes emergency landing – as it happened

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Ex-Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann arrives at a Toowoomba court

Bruce Lehrmann arrives at a Toowoomba court for a committal hearing into allegations he raped a woman in 2021.

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Labor urged to put human rights record before trade as Chinese premier visits Canberra

Anthony Albanese should seek commitments for concrete action in his talks with Li Qiang, campaigners say

Human rights advocates have called on Anthony Albanese to place China’s human rights record ahead of economic and trade discussions in his meeting with China’s second most powerful leader on Monday.

They said it was time for Australia’s Labor government to demand concrete action from China in addressing human rights complaints against it as “statements of concern” were not achieving results.

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China’s panda promise to Adelaide put in black and white as human rights protesters bear witness

Wang Wang and Fu Ni have lived at the city’s zoo for 15 years but are due to head home by the end of 2024

Li Qiang has announced a panda swap for Adelaide zoo, a diplomatic move long anticipated but timed to coincide with the first visit of a Chinese premier to Australia since 2017.

Making the announcement at the zoo, Li said two new giant pandas would replace Wang Wang and Fu Ni, who have lived at the zoo for 15 years as the only specimens of their kind in the southern hemisphere.

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Australia news live: Minns ‘really sorry’ final Vivid drone show cancelled with 20 minutes notice; Malinauskas welcomes ‘exciting’ panda news

The current pair, Wang Wang and Fu Ni, will return to China this year. Follow the day’s news headlines

Labor ‘continuing to consult’ on Makarrata commission, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese says he will attend Arnhem Land’s Garma festival in August to “talk about a way forward” on Indigenous policy after the defeat of the voice referendum, keeping open the prospect of setting up a Makarrata commission to advance truth and treaty processes.

Treaty process is undergoing at the various states and that’s appropriate. With regard to Makarrata, we’re continuing to consult on those issues. said.

Indigenous leaders, of course, were very disappointed by the referendum result. I’ll attend Garma once again this year and sit down with people and talk about a way forward.

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