Australian news and politics live: Nab drops interest rates, Antoinette Lattouf court case, US tariff reaction
Donald Trump is on a worldwide offensive, Albanese and Dutton continue to square off and Australia is battling a natural disaster.
Stay up to date with all the news in our live blog below.
Key Events
Wong confirms nature positive doesn’t have support and will be parked
Senior cabinet minister Penny Wong has confirmed the controversial nature positive laws have a lack of support and will be parked for this term of parliament.
The idea of a federal environmental protection body was briefly back on the table last week before the PM took them off again.
Senator Wong told ABC News on Monday that the Government was clear the laws “don’t have sufficient support across different stakeholders” and would not be proceeding.
She acknowledged the Government needed to take another look at how it approaches the issues including how it worked with stakeholders.
“We understand the importance of making sure these sorts of reforms are dealt with in a way that engages stakeholders and which some of the misinformation and concerns about them can be dealt with properly,” she said.
Cabinet colleague Murray Watt also said the laws would not happen this term, although he left the door open for Labor trying again should it win the election.
‘As soon as humanly possible’: Government seeks urgent meeting with US on tariffs
Australia is in a strong position to deal with the economic fallout of US President Donald Trump’s steep 25 per cent trade tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products and ten per cent on goods from China, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Monday.
The Albanese Government has stepped up measures to reassure the business community after the tariffs were announced at the weekend, with Trade Minister Don Farrell seeking talks “as soon as it humanly possible” with his US counterpart, the AFR reports.
“We are obviously concerned about this development. Given that Australia is a trading nation, there’s about one in four Australian jobs that depend on trade, and we have a very strong trade relationship with the US that we want to see remain intact,” said Employment Minister Murray Watt.
Trump’s Secretary of State warns Panama over China canal control
Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino has stressed that sovereignty over his nation’s namesake canal is not up for debate, after talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but he outlined the possibility of repatriating more migrants.
The canal has emerged as a flashpoint between the two nations, as US President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted that the United States must retake the waterway key to global trade due to his claims of undue Chinese influence.
“We cannot allow any foreign power - particularly China - to hold that kind of potential control over it that they do,” Rubio said.
“That just can’t continue.”
Netanyahu has left Israel for first Trump meeting
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has left Israel for a meeting with US President Donald Trump and will be the first foreign leader to visit Mr Trump since his inauguration in January.
Netanyahu will look to strengthen the US/Israel ties as the ceasefire in Gaza holds with negotiations aimed at a second phase expected to begin this week.
“The decisions we made in the war have already changed the face of the Middle East,” Mr Netanyahu said at the airport before his departure on Sunday.
“Our decisions and the courage of our soldiers have redrawn the map.
“But I believe that working closely with President Trump, we can redraw it even further and for the better.”
Trump ordered airstrikes kill at least 46 militants in Somalia
At least 46 militants from the Islamic State group were killed in a US air strike on their positions in northern Somalia after Donald Trump ordered the attack.
“Among them are 12 foreign fighters,” said General Mohamed Ahmed, the military spokesman for the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, where the attack took place on Saturday.
“We believe they come mainly from Arab countries.”
US President Donald Trump wrote on Saturday on X that he had ordered the air strikes.
QLD Premier warns residents to prepare for the worst after flood death
An extreme weather system fuelled by two tropical lows has turned deadly after a woman was killed in floodwaters amid emergency warnings and evacuations, with more record rainfalls forecast.
Heavy rain is impacting vast regions of north Queensland extending from Mackay to the south of Cairns.
Emergency warnings are in place for six Townsville suburbs in the locally named “black zone”, where residents have been told to leave.
Premier David Crisafulli warned residents not to be complacent after a 63-year-old woman died when a swift water rescue boat hit a tree on Sunday.
“There is more rain to come, and there is the prospect of record rainfalls … I’m just asking people just take the precautions, prepare for the worst, listen to the advice,” he told reporters on Sunday.
Pressure on Minns to sack Minister over boozy lunch trip
NSW Premier Chris Minns is under pressure to sack his Transport Minister Jo Haylen after details of a long lunch in the Hunter Valley, with transport billed to the taxpayer for a chauffeur-driven van round trip from Sydney to the lower Hunter and Hunter Valley emerged.
Mr Minns has been forced to explain the reasons for Ms Haylen’s decision to order Sydney-based ministerial transport for a group of colleagues and friends to an Australia Day weekend lunch at the Brokenwood Winery.
The driver was engaged for the 446km $750 trip, on January 25 leaving his Rockdale home to pick up Ms Haylen, Housing Minister Rose Jackson, Ms Haylen’s husband Garth Williams, Ms Jackson’s husband Sam Crosby and two other friends at Caves Beach.
Canada, China, Mexico retaliate to Trump’s tariff decision
US President Donald Trump on Saturday imposed long-threatened tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China — and it didn’t take long for the countries to respond.
Trump signed an order slapping 25 per cent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, and a 10 per cent duty on Chinese imports, due to start on Tuesday.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has responded as have China dna Mexico as the trade war escalates.
