Australia news LIVE: PM announces $10b fuel security package; RBA hikes interest rates to highest level in almost 18 months

What you need to know By Daniel Lo Surdo Thank you for joining our rolling coverage of breaking news from Australia and around the world. Here’s what you need to know: Thirteen members of the IS-linked Australians in Syria are expected to face arrests and charges following their impending arrival to Australia. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed this morning the group, comprising four Australian women widely referred to as the “IS brides” and their nine children, have cemented plans to return to Australia. The children will undergo community integration programs amid concerns they have been radicalised while in the Middle East. The group could arrive as soon as tomorrow. Donald Trump has announced the pause of a mission to guide stranded vessels from the Strait of Hormuz, as his administration nears a deal with Iran that would mark the end of the war. Trump said the pause was requested by Pakistan, the key mediator in talks between the US and Iran, and “other countries”, as the parties worked to finalise and sign an agreement. The US naval blockade will remain in “full force” while Trump’s “Project Freedom” is paused. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has vowed against “pumping” cost-of-living measures in next week’s budget that could trigger further inflation pain, promising to wind back spending and manage the economy responsibly. It followed a warning from Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock of further inflation challenges should more cost-of-living relief be unveiled next Tuesday, after the RBA lifted interest rates to 4.35 per cent yesterday. The decision pushed rates to their highest level in nearly 18 months. The Spanish Health Ministry has confirmed it will receive the MV Hondius in the Canary Islands “in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles”. Once in the Canary Islands, medical teams will examine and treat all passengers and crew and transfer them to their countries, a ministry statement said. Four Australians are among almost 150 people stranded on the vessel. Latest Posts 1.10pm Chemical tanker second US-flagged vessel to exit strait By The CS Anthem chemical tanker exited the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, its operator said on Tuesday, becoming the second commercial US-flagged vessel known to do so while accompanied by US military assets. Maersk said on Monday that the Alliance Fairfax, a US-flagged vehicle carrier operated by its Farrell Lines subsidiary, had exited the Gulf via the Strait. Crowley-Stena Marine Solutions, which operates the CS Anthem, said in a statement: “The Crowley-managed vessel, CS Anthem, has safely completed its transit through the Strait of Hormuz.” Three other US-flagged ships that have been stuck in the region after the US and Israeli war against Iran began on February 28 remain in the Gulf, the sources said. One of those is the products tanker Stena Imperative, which was hit by two unknown projectiles in the port of Bahrain in early March, causing a fire on board. It is now in dry dock in the Gulf, they said. US forces are helping to restore commercial shipping through the Strait, CENTCOM said on X on Monday. CENTCOM said that US Navy guided-missile destroyers are operating in the Gulf under a directive called “Project Freedom”. The CS Anthem and the Alliance Fairfax were among hundreds of ships stranded in the Gulf with the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz in early March. Maersk said the transit of the Alliance Fairfax was completed without incident and that all crew were safe and unharmed. The sources said that the CS Anthem had changed the original crew weeks ago and the exit occurred without incident. Reuters 12.55pm One Nation candidate dodges media in Farrer By Adam Carey Turning to this weekend’s byelection in Farrer, where One Nation candidate David Farley has dodged TV cameras as he faces questions over his long-term loyalty to Pauline Hanson. Federal political reporters Paul Sakkal and Rob Harris report Nationals leader Matt Canavan has branded Farley “fugitive Farley” after One Nation’s aspirant in the regional NSW seat raised his hand in the direction of local reporters on Tuesday afternoon. One Nation’s candidate for Farrer, David Farley. Jules Boag The front-runner for this weekend’s key byelection, triggered by Sussan Ley’s ousting from the Liberal leadership, made fleeting appearances at polling booths on Tuesday after this masthead reported internal fears about whether he would stick with Hanson should he be elected to parliament. Asked before a candidate’s forum on Monday night if he would stick with One Nation, with whom he has diverged on migration policy, Farley said: “That’s the ultimate question every journalist has been asking me. 12.34pm Three Northern Territory child protection workers stood down By AAP Three child protection workers have been stood down pending an investigation into their handling of the case of a five-year-old girl before she was allegedly murdered near an outback town. Kumanjayi Little Baby, a name used in line with cultural tradition after her death, was reported missing from a home at a town camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs on April 25. Flowers left in tribute at the Old Timers Camp entrance near Alice Springs after the death of Kumanjayi Little Baby. Sam Mooy Her disappearance triggered a massive five-day land and air search until her body was found on April 30. Jefferson Lewis, 47, has been charged with her murder and other offences. 12.09pm Philippines calls for access to jailed Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi By Adam Carey Turning briefly to news from South-East Asia, and the Philippines has called on Myanmar to allow ASEAN’s special envoy to meet with detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi, pressing for greater transparency after authorities allowed her to serve the remainder of her sentence under house arrest. Aung San Suu Kyi, pictured in 2019, previously spent over a decade under house arrest from 1989. AP “We view these developments as vital steps in a sequence of confidence-building measures necessary for long-term national stability in Myanmar,” the Philippines, serving as this year’s chair of ASEAN, said in a statement. The 80-year-old Nobel laureate and former Myanmar leader has been held in detention since she was removed from office in a military coup in 2021. The military leader, Min Aung Hlaing, said last week that Suu Kyi had been moved to house arrest. It is reportedly believed she spent years in prison in the nation’s capital, Nay Pyi Taw, before that. Her son, Kim Aris, has pleaded for proof that his mother is still alive. With Reuters 11.47am Regional dismay over Inland Rail’s indefinite shelving By Adam Carey Farmers, regional leaders and the federal opposition have reacted with dismay after the final stages of the Inland Rail project between Melbourne and Brisbane were cancelled. As this masthead reported late yesterday , the incomplete stages of the botched Inland Rail freight link from Parkes in NSW to near Brisbane have been shelved indefinitely after warnings that the cost of the entire 1700-kilometre line would blow out to well over $45 billion and take until at least 2036 to complete. The cost of completing the entire Inland Rail project is now forecast at more than $45 billion. The latest forecast cost to construct the entire line from Melbourne to south of Brisbane is three times the $14.5 billion budgeted for the project. The $45 billion price tag is also more than five times the cost estimate made almost a decade ago by the Turnbull government. Part of the reason the Albanese government has put the proposed northern sections on ice is due to serious doubts about whether the entire line could even be delivered for $45 billion and fears the final bill would be considerably higher. 11.19am Couple who donated frozen embryos sue Monash IVF over baby bungle By Grant McArthur A West Australian couple who donated their frozen embryos so a Queensland woman could have a baby say they suffered psychiatric injury and grief after discovering an IVF bungle meant the child wasn’t theirs. Details of the shocking Brisbane embryo mix-up have emerged in a Supreme Court writ filed against Monash IVF by the donors, who were left out of a multimillion-dollar confidential settlement reached with the other families involved. The negligence claim follows revelations in February 2025 that an error at Monash IVF’s Brisbane clinic – which the court documents claim was in its first day of operation – resulted in the Queensland woman giving birth to a stranger’s baby. The court documents claim Monash was negligent in not having a safe system for the identification of embryos to be used in a transfer, did not correctly identify the embryo to be used, did not transfer the correct embryo to the recipient mother, and did not conduct a post-transfer audit of the embryos used. Read Grant McArthur’s full story here . 11.03am Iran war a cue for Australia to wean itself off fossil fuels: Forrest By Nick O'Malley The Strait of Hormuz has been “weaponised and commercialised” and would not return to being a free laneway of international trade once the American and Israeli war on Iran is resolved, Fortescue mining executive chairman Andrew Forrest has warned. Forrest told an audience at the Smart Energy Council’s annual conference in Sydney that the only rational response the Australian government could take to address the new reality was to rapidly decrease Australia’s dependence on fossil fuels, particularly diesel, the cost of which is likely to remain high. Fortescue executive chairman Andrew Forrest has said it is “insane” to subsidise fossil fuels. Tony McDonough He said the government’s fossil fuel rebate was an “insane policy” and again called for the government to ditch the fuel subsidy for the largest fuel users in the mining sector, while carving out an exemption for those businesses that claim less than $50 million a year from the scheme. He said the $11 billion the government spent on the tax break to the major miners could be better spent on budget repair and public services, and that the money served as a handbrake on innovation in renewable energy technology in the mining sector, which pocketed the payment as pure profit. The Minerals Council of Australia has long opposed calls to end the rebate, saying mining vehicles operate on private sites and should not be forced to pay to maintain public roads they do not use. 10.38am First look at Australian artist’s Venice Biennale works By David Crowe Australia has opened its pavilion at the world’s biggest art festival in Venice after a political firestorm over the artist chosen to represent the country – and the result is a mesmerising work about acceptance. Visitors entered the darkened pavilion at the Venice Biennale to encounter a multimedia installation of vivid colours inspired by the poetry of a Sufi mystic. Khaled Sabsabi’s installation in the Australian pavilion at the Venice Biennale. David Crowe The artist, Khaled Sabsabi, is describing the work as a search for the “innermost part of the heart” using images that slowly appear across eight screens beneath a bright white light. While the Australian pavilion is funded by the federal government, this year’s exhibition was also backed by private donors led by investor and philanthropist Simon Mordant and a long list of benefactors including the Turnbull Foundation, set up by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and former Sydney Lord Mayor Lucy Turnbull. The nation’s peak arts body, Creative Australia, chose Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostini to represent the country early last year but revoked the decision within days of the announcement after a media storm over a work Sabsabi created almost two decades ago. Read Europe correspondent David Crowe ’s full story here . 10.23am Eight killed in fire at shopping centre west of Tehran, Iranian media say By At least eight people died and 36 were hurt after a fire broke out in a shopping centre west of Tehran, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reports. The local fire department said the cladding of the building was flammable and this contributed to a rapid spread of flames, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported. Iranian media, including Mizan, showed video of a plume of heavy smoke rising from the site. Reuters was able to verify the location by the buildings, utility poles, trees and road layout that matched archive and satellite imagery of the area. The fire broke out on Tuesday (Iran time) as a fragile ceasefire between Iran and the US is under renewed pressure following an exchange of fire between the two sides on Monday. Reuters 9.56am Taylor questions return of IS-linked Australians By Brittany Busch Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says government had failed in stopping the IS-linked women and children seeking repatriation from Syria from returning to Australia. He said the question now was how their return would be managed. Opposition Leader Angus Taylor in Canberra on Tuesday. Alex Ellinghausen “What’s going to happen when these people arrive? What’s it going to cost Australian taxpayers?” Taylor told reporters in Melbourne. “I think it’s time for the government to be upfront and clear with the Australian people about how this is going to work. I wrote to the prime minister some time back and asked him these questions. I had no response.” 1 of 4