Chalmers talks tariffs in US
Jim Chalmers was in Washington DC overnight. The Australian treasurer was there for talks and to hear US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent deliver his first major economic policy address since taking office.
Reuters reports that in the wide-ranging speech at an investment conference hosted by the Australian embassy in Washington, Bessent said his goal was “to re-privatise the economy”.
Bessent said Donald Trump’s planned tariffs were a tool to correct and manage internal imbalances in other economies and deter excess production and supply from other countries, such as China.
In deciding on reciprocal tariff rates, Trump’s administration, including the Treasury, will examine a wide range of factors, including other countries’ tariff rates, non-tariff barriers and currency practices, Bessent said.
Asked about how Australia, which has a US free-trade agreement, was doing in this regard, Bessent said, “So far, so good, but I’m not [US official trade agency] USTR.”
He said he discussed Australia’s request to be exempted from Trump’s restored 25% global steel and aluminium tariffs during a meeting with Chalmers. He added however that that was a matter for the commerce department and USTR to decide.
Key events
Hume defends Dutton as historical shareholdings come under microscope
The shadow finance minister, Jame Hume, has defended opposition leader Peter Dutton after his historical shareholdings came under the microscope.
Labor has raised questions about a number of investments in the big banks disclosed by Dutton between October 2008 and March 2009, including on the day before a $4bn package to assist banks during the global financial crisis was announced by the Rudd government.
Speaking on Sunrise this morning, Hume said Dutton was in opposition at the time and “of course, he wasn’t briefed”.
She described this as “a smear campaign from a desperate government that have run out of ideas and think they are going to lose the election”.
They’ve made these accusations under the shroud of parliamentary privilege from Senate estimates, because they’ve run out of ideas. They’ve run out of excuses. They’ve run out of time.
In a statement yesterday, a spokesperson for Dutton said he “had no access to any sensitive information on these matters, nor was he privy to government briefing on the global financial crisis”.
All updates to Dutton’s register of interests were made at the appropriate time.
Good morning
Emily Wind
Hello, and happy Wednesday – Emily Wind here, signing on for blogging duties. I’ll be bringing you our rolling updates for most of today here on the blog. Thanks to Martin Farrer for kicking things off for us.
You can get in touch with any questions, feedback and tips through email: emily.wind@theguardian.com. Let’s go.
Queensland religious sect members to be sentenced over death of Elizabeth Struhs
Andrew Messenger
Fourteen members of a Queensland religious sect are expected to be sentenced today after being found guilty of the manslaughter of eight-year-old Elizabeth Struhs.
Elizabeth’s parents, Kerrie and Jason Struhs, and brother Zachary Struhs, are among the 14 adult members of the Saints, a Toowoomba religious group which has been likened to a cult, who were convicted of her manslaughter last month.
The group was found to have caused the death of the type 1 diabetic by deliberately denying her insulin for four days from 3 January 2022. They prayed and sang for her to be miraculously healed – and still believe she will be raised from the dead. Elizabeth died of diabetic ketoacidosis by 7 January at her family home in Rangeville, Toowoomba.
Elizabeth’s father Jason Struhs, and sect leader Brendan Stevens, were found not guilty of murder by reckless indifference, and instead found guilty of manslaughter along with the other 12 sect members after a judge-only trial in the Queensland supreme court last year.
Justice Martin Burns is due to begin the sentencing hearing for the 14 sect members at 2.30pm Queensland time. Under Queensland law, the maximum possible sentence for manslaughter is life imprisonment.
Prosecutor Caroline Marco asked for Kerrie and Jason to be given the longest sentences of 15 years’ imprisonment, with a requirement they serve 80% behind bars. Brendan Stevens should serve 12 years, 80% of it behind bars, she argued. All other defendants should serve between seven and eight years, she said, without the same legal requirement.
Josh Taylor
NBN ‘advanced’ in selection process for LEO satellite provider
NBN is “advanced” in its selection process for a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite provider and will announce more soon, the company’s new CEO, Ellie Sweeney, has told Senate estimates.
The two existing Sky Muster satellites are nearing retirement in 2032 and 2033, and customers in regional and remote parts of Australia have been flocking to LEO services provided by Elon Musk’s Starlink to get better speeds than that available on Sky Muster. There are a reported 200,000 Australians using Starlink now.
NBN is planning to replace Sky Muster with a LEO option, which will offer higher speeds.
NBN’s chief network officer, Dion Ljubanovic, said, however, services like Starlink would never replace the fibre portions of the NBN network:
That upgradeability [of fibre] and the cost to upgrade in future decades is much cheaper compared to, obviously, the lifecycle of global satellites, and what that could look like too. So we do see LEOs as an important advance in low-density populated areas [but] when we think about medium density and high-density areas, fiber is the choice for the future.
Search for missing fisherman suspended
Police in New South Wales said last night that the search for a man missing from a recreational fishing vessel has been suspended.
Police were alerted on Sunday afternoon that Paul Barning had fallen overboard during a fishing competition off the coast of Port Stephens.
Crews from the NSW police marine command, PolAir, Marine Rescue NSW and Westpac rescue helicopter responded to the area, about 55km off the coast.
The search for the 58-year-old continued during daylight hours on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday but he has not been found. The search was suspended at 5pm yesterday and will not resume today.
‘Jobs-ready’ graduates scheme is ‘self-defeating’, UA chief warns
Caitlin Cassidy
Universities are receiving almost $1bn less for student places a year under the controversial jobs-ready graduates scheme, a new report has found.
The package, which hiked the costs of arts degrees to fund an expansion of places for “in-demand degrees”, was introduced by the Coalition in 2021.
The education minister has deferred reforms to higher education to the yet-to-be-established Australian Tertiary Education Commission (Atec), due to operate in an interim capacity from July.
Addressing the National Press Club today, the chief executive of Universities Australia, Luke Sheehy, will say the scheme has cost almost $1bn annually, the equivalent of 33,000 fewer places per year.
The report also warns government investment in research has never been lower and most universities are in deficit, with “once reliable” international student enrolments now trending downwards due to federal government reforms.
Sheehy will call jobs-ready “epically self-defeating”, urging the next federal government to scrap the package and set new funding rates that are fairer for students.
My question today to the prime minister and the leader of the opposition is simple. If getting our universities match fit isn’t a first-order national priority, how are we going to deliver all our other national priorities?
Our universities have everything to do with building Australia’s future – they are an essential ingredient and should be treated as such.
Chalmers talks tariffs in US
Jim Chalmers was in Washington DC overnight. The Australian treasurer was there for talks and to hear US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent deliver his first major economic policy address since taking office.
Reuters reports that in the wide-ranging speech at an investment conference hosted by the Australian embassy in Washington, Bessent said his goal was “to re-privatise the economy”.
Bessent said Donald Trump’s planned tariffs were a tool to correct and manage internal imbalances in other economies and deter excess production and supply from other countries, such as China.
In deciding on reciprocal tariff rates, Trump’s administration, including the Treasury, will examine a wide range of factors, including other countries’ tariff rates, non-tariff barriers and currency practices, Bessent said.
Asked about how Australia, which has a US free-trade agreement, was doing in this regard, Bessent said, “So far, so good, but I’m not [US official trade agency] USTR.”
He said he discussed Australia’s request to be exempted from Trump’s restored 25% global steel and aluminium tariffs during a meeting with Chalmers. He added however that that was a matter for the commerce department and USTR to decide.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the top overnight stories before Emily Wind takes you through the day.
The boss of Creative Australia has conceded at a late-night Senate estimates hearing that the Australian Pavilion at next year’s Venice Biennale may remain empty following its decision to rescind the contracts of the artist and curator it chose to represent the country. But Adrian Collette and the chair Robert Morgan told to Senate estimates last night they would not resign over the fiasco. More coming up.
The chief executive of Universities Australia will warn in an address to the National Press Club today that Labor’s ‘“jobs-ready” graduate scheme is self-defeating on an epic scale. Luke Sheehy says the scheme has cost almost $1bn annually, the equivalent of 33,000 fewer places per year, and will use his speech to urge Labor to scrap the program introduced by the Coalition in 2021. More details coming up.
Fourteen members of “the Saints” religious group will be sentenced today over the manslaughter of eight-year-old diabetic, Elizabeth Struhs. She died after the cult members, including her two parents and brother, withheld her insulin treatment. More coming up.
And the treasurer was in Washington DC overnight, arguing for an exemption to the US’s broad new tariffs on steel and aluminium. Did he succeed? We’ll soon find out.
