Australian news and politics recap March 11: Peter Dutton slams ‘crass’ Tony Burke over caravan plot comments

Former Nomads president Sayed Mohammed Moosawi is among those arrested by police in sweeping raids across Sydney amid investigations into an explosives-laden caravan found dumped in the city’s northwest.

The Australian Federal Police on Monday revealed they believe the caravan, which contained Powergel explosives and anti-Semitic material, was abandoned on the side of Derriwong Rd, in Dural, in January as part of a “fabricated terror plot”.

Police will allege the plot was an “elaborate scheme contrived by organised criminals domestically and offshore” who did not hold anti-Semitic views but were seeking a reduced sentence by tipping off authorities about the caravan.

7NEWS has now revealed Moosawi, 32, who is the former president of the Nomads Parramatta chapter, was transferred from a correctional centre to Burwood Police Station on Monday and charged with knowingly directing activities of criminal group, accessory before the fact to destroy property in company use fire, and accessory before the fact to damage property by fire/explosion.

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Australian shares continue to be pummelled, with falls accelerating in the mid morning. As of 12.00 pm AEDT the All Ordinaries has fallen 1.9 per cent and the ASX200 is down 1.8 per cent to a seven-month low.

The sell off continued from an opening that saw the main index fall 1.4 per cent, driven by US markets that were spooked overnight by fears of a US recession as a result of tariff policies and spending cuts. In US trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.1 per cent, the S&P 500 shed 2.7 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite tracked for its worst day in more than two years, falling 4 per cent.

The Australian selloff has hit all eleven subsectors of the stock exchange and some of the country’s biggest names, including Qantas, down 9 per cent, Xero, down 5.4 per cent and WiseTech, down 4.5 per cent.

Banks have also been sold off, led by CBA which lost 2 per cent and NAB 1.2 per cent.

Miners have also been hit with Fortescue down 2.7 per cent and Mineral Resources down 5 per cent.

The NAB monthly business survey has found business conditions rose marginally in February, however, confidence fell.

Confidence fell by 6 points in the latest data, largely offsetting growth in January.

“The lift in confidence seen last month was not sustained into February and is now well below average again,” NAB Chief Economist Alan Oster said on Tuesday.

“This was despite the improvement seen in Q4 GDP data and the RBA’s first rate cut, which suggests that businesses continue to be cautious about the outlook.”

CommSec says gold stocks dropped as much as 4.5 per cent as the ASX carnage began on Tuesday.

Australia’s largest online stockbroker said that gold stock was “on track for their weakest session since December 19, 2024, tracking a decline in gold prices.”

As US markets tumbled, sparking carnage on the ASX, popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin also suffered major losses.

As Australia went to sleep on Monday, Bitcoin sat around $132,000 at 10pm AEDT.

By 12pm AEDT, just 14 hours on, the cryptocurrency sat around $123,000.

US President Donald Trump has been missing in action as Wall Street suffered major losses, prompting fears of an imminent recession.

During a press conference, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said Mr Trump is going to deliver historic growth in his second term.

“Since President Trump was elected, industry leaders have responded to President Trump’s America First economic agenda of tariffs, deregulation, and the unleashing of American energy with trillions in investment commitments that will create thousands of new jobs,” said in a statement.

“President Trump delivered historic job, wage, and investment growth in his first term, and is set to do so again in his second term.”

The Australian share market plummeted in early trading, shedding more than $US35 billion ($A56 billion) after US markets tanked overnight on recession fears.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was shed more than 100 points, or about 1.26 per cent, to 7862.2, after jumping off a cliff at the start of Tuesday’s session.

The All Ordinaries index was down about 1.4 per cent, or 114.5 points, to 8077.2 points.

On Wall Street, the S&P500 lost 155.21 points, or 2.69 per cent, to end at 5,614.99 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 726.01 points, or 3.99 per cent, to 17,470.21. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 890.63 points, or 2.08 per cent, to 41,911.09.

The tech sell-off impacted the so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks of Amazon, Apple, Meta, Google owner Alphabet, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla, was down 2.7 per cent.

They have a combined valuation of more than $US18 trillion ($A29 trillion), more than any economy other than the US and China, and have played a huge part in growth in US markets in recent years.

All 11 Australian sectors on the local bourse were in the red, led by IT stocks which fell by 4.8 per cent.

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Squatters living in formerly vacant, water-damaged homes will be forcibly evicted as the clean-up begins from the flooding caused by Cyclone Alfred.

NSW Premier Chris Minns vowed to evict “overseas visitors, tourists, backpackers” taking advantage of condemned properties left empty after being included in a state buyback scheme for Lismore homes after the 2022 floods.

“We bought those houses so that we could keep communities safe ... and to have squatters move in off the back of that is completely unacceptable,” he told reporters on Tuesday.”

Read the full story here.

The sea of red ink that flooded the US markets overnight has spilled into today’s share trading.

Our main index - the All Ordinaries - has fallen 1.4 per cent in the first 20 minutes of trading, while financials have fallen even further, off 1.7 per cent.

Last night the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 890 points, or 2.1 per cent. The S&P 500 shed 2.7 per cent.

The Nasdaq Composite tracked for its worst day in more than two years, falling 4 per cent as investors dumped technology stocks.

Major Australian companies have cratered on the open including Qantas, which fell more than 8 per cent, Brickworks, down more than 9 per cent and Xero which fell more than 5 per cent.

Investors have piled into safe haven utility stocks including APA Group and Telstra.

Commonwealth Bank dropped 2.1 per cent, and Macquarie Group dropped 3.7 per cent.

Malcolm Turnbull has made his third anti-Donald Trump foray in 24-hours to press his argument about the president’s character, as Australia tries to clinch an exemption from US trade tariffs.

The ex-Liberal prime minister isn’t backing down and insists Australians shouldn’t be scared of offending Mr Trump’s “huge ego”, despite suggestions his criticism could jeopardise negotiations.

“Surely we should be free to speak the truth,” he told ABC radio on Tuesday.

“Or are we going to muzzle ourselves for fear of offending Mr Trump?

“What every nation needs to do is to stand up to him, because otherwise it’s a slippery slope.”

Read Ellen Ransley’s coverage here.