Australia news and politics live: Energy Minister Chris Bowen announces ‘critical’ gas market review

Canada has walked back on its digital services tax “in anticipation” of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States, Ottawa announced Sunday night, just one day before the first tax payments were due.

The move comes after US President Donald Trump announced over the weekend that he will be “terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada” in response to Ottawa’s decision to impose a digital services tax on American tech firms.

“Today’s announcement will support a resumption of negotiations toward the July 21, 2025, timeline set out at this month’s G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in the statement.

The first payments from Canada’s digital services tax, which was enacted last year and applies retroactively to 2022, were initially set to be collected on Monday.

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Energy Minister Chris Bowen says Australia is bidding against Türkiye to host the COP31 climate change summit in partnership with the Pacific in 2026.

The Conference of the Parties is a global summit that sees global leaders come together to discuss climate change matters and solutions.

Mr Bowen says Australia has secured the support of Western Europe to host the summit, which is likely to be held in Adelaide if Australia is to be successful.

He said that Türkiye has suggested it will continue with its bid to host.

“We’ve always been respectful of Türkiye’s bid. I’ve been engaging my Turkish counterpart,” Mr Bowen said while speaking at Parliament House.

“The way these things work is that the Western Europe and others group is the group which chooses the candidate. We have overwhelming support in that group.”

Energy Minister Chris Bowen has announced a new review into gas market regulations, which will take a “comprehensive and methodical look at key measures” introduced by previous governments on energy supply and prices.

The review follows the latest gas inquiry report from the ACCC, which the government said confirms that “short term gas supply is sufficient” but flagged “the need for further investment in the long term”.

“Gas has an important role to play in our energy system as we transition towards 82 per cent renewables. Unlike coal, gas power generators can be turned on and off in a couple of minutes – providing the ultimate backstop in our energy grid,” Mr Bowen said.

“It’s critical that we use this review to get the settings right in our gas market, ensuring we are securing affordable Australian gas for Australian use, while remaining a reliable energy exporter and delivering lasting energy security in our region.”

A minimum wage hike, longer paid leave for parents of 24 weeks and a $10,000 incentive for apprentice tradies in house construction are among the cost-of-living measures due to kick into effect on July 1.

A further $150 in energy bill relief for households and about one million small businesses, and a government subsidy covering about 30 per cent of the cost of installing a battery system alongside solar energy are among a raft of new policies offering hip pocket relief to Australians.

Spruiking the new grant for tradies at the Canberra Institute for Technology on Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it would help boost the supply of homes critical for dealing with housing affordability.

“This $10,000 incentive that begins tomorrow with $2,000 cash payments will make a difference going forward … in sending out that message that the government values your decision if you choose to go into construction,” he said.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is overhauling his communications team following the May 3 federal election and the departure of his senior press secretary, Katharine Murphy.

Ms Murphy, the former Guardian Australia political editor, had been a key figure in the PM’s media strategy, particularly during the election campaign, where she managed the travelling media pack and worked closely with Mr Albanese’s head of communications, Fiona Sugden.

As part of the reshuffle, two new deputy press secretaries will join Sugden’s team. Josh Lloyd, a seasoned press secretary and former union organiser, and Adam Gartrell, a former Sydney Morning Herald journalist who recently served as deputy chief of staff to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, have both been tapped for the roles.

The move signals a recalibration of the Prime Minister’s media strategy heading into a pivotal period of government, with new voices now helping to shape how Mr Albanese communicates with the public and press.

Last year, America ran a budget deficit of 7 per cent of GDP. It may soon be even bigger.

President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, now working its way through Congress, permanently extends tax cuts introduced in 2017, offers more to hospitality workers and old folks, and boosts payments to poor children.

The proposed legislation amounts to trillions of dollars of extra borrowing over the next decade.

Mr Trump’s showmanship attracts attention, but America is not alone. Governments across the rich world are increasingly profligate.

This year, France will run a deficit worth 6 per cent of GDP; Britain’s will be only a little smaller.

The German government will borrow the equivalent of 3 per cent of GDP. Canada’s budget balance is also moving into the red.

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Private health insurer Bupa has been fined $35m after conceding it engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct to talk more than 4000 Australians out of claiming hospital treatments.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a statement on Monday that Bupa admitted to the breaches after telling customers they were not entitled to private health insurance benefits for their claims, even though they were entitled to make a claim.

This left some customers thousands of dollars out of pocket for medical treatments they had to pay for when Bupa should have paid at least part of the bill.

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The public sector corruption watchdog has found a Home Affairs senior executive misused her position to benefit her sister and her sister’s fiancé.

According to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the public servant engaged in corruption on multiple occasions to help them acquire positions in the department.

While taking several actions, including forged signatures, to aid her sister’s fiancé secure a transfer, she deliberately concealed the family relationship from others.

The woman, who hasn’t been named publicly by the Commission, has resigned from the Australian Public Service.

However, the Commission said, had she not left, it would have “recommended that her employment be terminated”.

AUKUS is critical to US and global security, Democratic Senators Chris Coons and Jeanne Shaheen have said.

The comments, made exclusively to The Nightly on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, came as the Pentagon said in new budget documents that it was “demanding regional allies and partners to significantly increase their own level of defence effort” as part of its strategy to deter the Chinese from “seizing control of the Indo Pacific”.

Senator Coons said AUKUS was to be embraced, not scrapped.

“Any time we have a close and trusted ally willing to step forward and spend billions of additional dollars on our shared defence and to work with us on a critical cutting-edge defence technology, I think we should embrace it,” Senator Coons said.

“But especially in one of our Five Eyes Partners like Australia, I plan to travel to Australia later this year to meet with and visit several of the Australian bases and leaders who are critical to this effort.

“Like Senator Shaheen, I can’t imagine that a review would conclude anything other than this is a key to our security and to the future of our partnership in the Indo-Pacific.”

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Anthony Albanese says his government is engaging “with everyone in the United States” in its bid to keep the AUKUS defence pact on track amid a snap review by the Pentagon.

There are fears in some quarters the 30-day AUKUS review, being run by Pentagon official Elbridge Colby, will give the administration leverage to lean even more heavily on Australia to lift spending.

“At every opportunity, Australia raises our points that we have … AUKUS benefits three countries, Australia, the UK and the US, but it does something more than that as well. It benefits the world, because it makes our region and the world more secure,” he said at press conference this morning.

Asked whether that included directly engaging with Mr Colby, the Prime Minister said repeatedly: “We engage with everyone in the United States.”

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