Theme of First Nations connection to country to guide new $5 note design
The new $5 banknote will celebrate First Nations connection to country, replacing a portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
After her death in 2023, the Reserve Bank of Australia revealed King Charles III would not feature on the note, in a move backed by the Australian government.
It brought shock and outrage at the time from the opposition leader and the Australian Monarchist League, who called the decision “neo-communism in action”.
Two years later, the theme has been revealed, to honour “the enduring emotional, spiritual, and physical connection of First Nations peoples to country”.
Assistant governor Michelle McPhee said the theme encompassed the deep connection First Nations peoples have to the land, the waters and the sky.
This inspiring theme will guide the creation of an artwork that will feature on the redesigned banknote. The selection of a theme follows an Australia-wide campaign, which led to more than 2,100 theme nominations from the public.
The $5 Redesign Imagery Selection Panel, which includes First Nations representatives and representatives from the RBA and Note Printing Australia, selected the theme.
The reverse side will continue to feature the Australian parliament, while the new design will reflect the chosen theme and incorporate artwork from a First Nations artist.
Key events
What we learned: Monday 17 March
We will wrap up the live blog here for the night. Here’s what made the news today:
We’ll be back tomorrow with all the latest. Until then, enjoy your evening.
Man charged after pursuit in Sydney’s north-west
A 44-year-old man has been charged after a pursuit and crash into a police station in Sydney’s north-west.
Police allege the pursuit started after 12.10am this morning after officers attempted to stop a sedan being driven dangerously on the Great Western Highway near Colyton.
The sedan allegedly failed to stop, and continued to Railyway Parade, Rooty Hill, where road spikes were deployed. The pursuit allegedly continued through to Luxford Rd, Mount Druitt, where the vehicle allegedly crashed into a carpark gate at Mount Druitt police station.
The driver was arrested after being Tasered by police. Police will allege the sedan was stolen from St Mary’s. After being released from hospital, the man was charged with police pursuit – not stop – drive recklessly, not comply with direction given by police officer, take and drive conveyance without consent of owner, goods in personal custody suspected being stolen (motor vehicle), and hinder or resist police officer in the execution of duty.
He was refused bail to appear before Mt Druitt local court today.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says the government will not be relying on an increase in revenue from iron ore and other industries in the budget, saying they will be “smaller” than in other budgets the government has delivered:
But what really matters when you do get those upward revisions to revenue is this Labor government in a very responsible way has banked most of those upward revisions to revenue. Our predecessors used to spend most of those. That’s the big difference. That’s one of the reasons why we have engineered the biggest improvement to the budget in nominal terms, two surpluses for the first time in two decade, we’re paying down Liberal debt and saving the interest on that debt as a consequence.
He said the government will be delivering an economically responsible budget, and won’t say whether the government will extend the $300 electricity subsidy for a further year.
He said the government will find “an affordable and responsible way to provide some cost-of-living help”.
The budget is really about managing the nation’s books in the most responsible way that we can. So we can provide that cost-of-living relief, invest in building Australia’s future and continue to clean up the mess we inherited from the Liberal and National parties.
Effects of US tariffs ‘manageable,’ says Chalmers
The federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing previewing the budget next week. He repeats earlier news that the budget will be in deficit, but that deficit will be smaller than that inherited by Labor when it came to government.
He says $1.2bn in recovery from Ex-Cyclone Alfred will be in the budget.
Chalmers says he will outline some of the impacts from US tariffs in a speech in Queensland tomorrow, but he says the current direct effects will be manageable:
But what we’ve said before is we have modelled these impacts on the Australian economy, we expect the immediate direct impacts to be relatively manageable, we’ve got wonderful exporters, they’ll diversify, find other markets. The broader consequences will be much more significant. Particularly when you consider the impact of these tariffs on the big economies, the US, China, Canada, Mexico, Europe. We expect the impacts to be much more substantial.
Temperatures set to rise in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia
Showers across eastern Victoria, the NSW coast and Tasmania’s west are set to become more isolated by Monday night, AAP reports.
The heat is on from Tuesday, with above average temperatures forecast in the coming days across South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and southern NSW.
It comes after an “autumn scorcher” across NSW including Sydney on the weekend, with temperatures up to 12 degrees above average recorded before the strong southerly change.
In Queensland, there is more rain forecast for the north as the southeast recovers from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Locally heavy falls may impact communities near Townsville and Cairns, with flooding already present due to weekend rainfall.
Oxford Street venues proposed for heritage listing
Three iconic LGBTQ+ venues on Oxford Street are being proposed for heritage listing by the City of Sydney council.
The three venues, Oxford Hotel, Palms and Universal nightclub – formerly the Midnight Shift – have been gay venues since the 70s and 80s, and were endorsed by the council late last year and will go to the NSW government for approval.
Lord mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore said:
It’s wonderful to be able to recognise and share the important role they have played in the lives of our diverse LGBTIQA+ communities for more than 40 years.
If approved, they will join the Darlinghurst police station, the Stonewall hotel and the Mardi Gras parade route as being recognised for their significance.
Asked about the opposition’s call to deregister the CFMEU, the housing minister, Clare O’Neil, said it would be on the table if it was going to help resolve the situation, but said it “absolutely won’t”.
She says some of the footage aired on 60 Minutes last night “absolutely turned my stomach” and she said she is glad it is being taken seriously.
She said the government has taken “the strongest possible action” against the CFMEU by putting it in the hands of an independent administrator, and the government is working with that administrator to ensure he has the powers and resources he needed.
What I just say is that for all the complaining from Peter Dutton, the Coalition sat back and didn’t do anything terribly much about the CFMEU for a decade. When we came to office, we did the toughest thing possible, that’s take the union away from wrong doers and give it to an independent administrator. Some of the allegations, as I understand it, came from the work the administrator has done. We’ll work with the administrator to see if we can do more to support their actions. In the end, this is the way to root out corruption from that union and it’s very good work the government has done.
On the Grattan Institute report recommendation today that there be a 50% increase in rental assistance for singles, the housing minister, Clare O’Neil, says she takes the recommendations seriously, but says the government has increased rent assistance by 45% since coming to power. She said the government is looking at “every possible way” to assist people, and says the former government didn’t increase rent assistance above the legislated CPI increase once.
Labor government plans to build 1.2m houses by 2030, housing minister says
Federal housing minister, Clare O’Neil, is asked on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing about the housing Australia Future fund and when the first home will be built under this project – the government has just acquired existing housing so far.
O’Neil says 400 homes have come online as social and affordable homes, and the tenants living in them now would be otherwise homeless or struggling in the rental market. There are currently 10,000 homes in development or construction and she takes aim at the Liberals, saying the party would abolish the program – including housing under construction, if they win the election.
We’ve got a plan to build 50,000 social and affordable homes and the Liberals have a plan to build precisely zero.
She said the government has signed contracts for 1,400 new social and affordable housing. The Labor government will go into the election with a plan to build 1.2m homes by the end of the decade, and O’Neil says the government is focusing on this target.
The Liberals actually don’t plan to have a target at all. They’ve basically saying let’s go back to business as usual and let the housing crisis go worse. We’re seeing really significant changes in what’s going on in construction and I’m confident in the numbers I see, just to share with you, housing approvals went up 22% in the last numbers over year-to-year, so we’re seeing some good traction here.
‘You are in danger’: residents of WA township urged to flee bushfire
Residents at seaside hamlet Ledge Point in Western Australia have been told it’s too late to leave as an uncontrolled bushfire closes in, forcing them to evacuate, AAP reports.
The small coastal township 105km north of Perth was warned on Monday it was no longer safe for people in the emergency warning area to leave.
“People should shelter in place,” a warning from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said.
“You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive.
“There is a threat to lives and homes.”
An emergency warning was in place for people in the Ledge Point town site, bounded by Old Ledge Point Road to the north.
Residents were urged to travel north to Lancelin and take emergency kits with them.
“If you are not at home, it is too dangerous to return,” the warning said.
An evacuation centre has opened at Lancelin for those fleeing.
Ledge Point is a popular tourist destination.
Joe Hinchliffe
Qld police believe man found dead at Talegalla Weir was hit by car
Queensland police believe a man found lying dead in bushland near a double-barreled shotgun and spent casings was killed after being hit by a car.
Witnesses found the man in his 50s on a back road near Talegalla Weir, between Gympie and Maryborough, about 7.35am on Sunday morning after spotting a four-wheel drive parked by the side of the road and pulling over to investigate.
But police now believe the man was killed after being struck by another vehicle which then fled, detective inspector Craig Mansfield told press on Monday afternoon.
“We don’t know which vehicle has hit him at this point of time as it left the scene,” he said. “We have a number of forensics people at the scene currently who are taking tyre impressions and the like, so hopefully we will have an identity of that vehicle in the near future”.
Mansfield said police believed the man died during the night or early morning before he was found and appealed for witnesses to help narrow the time frame.
The detective inspector said police believed the man lived in the local area but were still in the process of formally identifying him. His body had been transferred to Brisbane for a postmortem.
Oxfam calls for fossil fuel companies to pay for damage caused in climate-related disasters
Oxfam Australia has said coal, oil and gas companies should pay compensation for damage caused from disasters such as that following Ex-Cyclone Alfred.
The charity commissioned polling by YouGov showing 64% of Australian voters support big polluting companies paying for climate damage in Australia and the Pacific.
Oxfam Australia policy and advocacy lead Josie Lee said:
It’s not fair that communities are bearing the cost of climate pollution and more extreme storms, while coal, oil and gas corporations, who are the biggest contributors to the climate change crisis, are getting off scot-free for the harm they are causing. The climate crisis is driving genuine hardship and in many cases leaving people with huge costs that they struggle to meet along with their regular everyday expenses.
Oxfam has said funds raised from the companies should go into a fund to support communities in Australia and our region experiencing the destructive impacts of climate change, and have called for an end to all new fossil fuel projects and subsidies, and a plan to phase out fossil fuels in Australia.
Brazilian man charged over alleged attempt to import cocaine on cruise ship
The Australian federal police have charged a Brazilian man, 48, over an alleged failed plan to import about 10kg of cocaine into Australia on a cruise ship from Argentina.
The man is due to appear in Downing centre local court in Sydney today charged with importing and possessing border controlled drugs.
Australian border force officers allegedly found 28 individually wrapped packages of cocaine hidden in the ceiling cavity of the man’s cabin when they searched a cruise ship on Saturday after it had docked in Sydney harbour.
The packages were allegedly found with body packing material that ABF alleges is used by drug couriers to try to carry drugs across borders without detection.
The AFP reviewed the man’s phone and allegedly found evidence relating to the drug trafficking.
The offences the man has been charged with carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Anti-salmon industry protest in Tasmania after mass fish deaths
On Sunday at Verona Sands, a remote beach about one hour south of Hobart, about 2,000 people voiced their disdain with the offshore salmon farm industry, AAP reports.
Atlantic salmon farms in Tasmania’s south-east are experiencing mass mortality, which in February resulted in 5,500 tonnes of fish being sent to waste dumps.
The state’s environmental regulator has labelled the deaths unprecedented and is investigating farms and waste facilities for potential non-compliance with regulations.
Vision of Huon Aquaculture workers sealing live fish in tubs has also prompted the RSPCA to investigate and suspend its certification of the company.
Huon and industry body Salmon Tasmania have apologised for the incident, saying it does not represent best practice.
The industry has also pledged to implement “changes” as a result of the mass deaths.
The deaths are because of the disease Piscirickettsia salmonis, which scientists say isn’t harmful to humans, as well as warmer-than-usual waters.
Author Richard Flanagan urged people to make their thoughts known at the ballot box.
“We want to make this a federal election issue. You can’t be anti-salmon and vote Liberal or Labor,” he told the protest.
Tasmania’s governing Liberals and Labor opposition support the salmon industry, which the government says directly employs about 2,000 people.
Both parties at federal level have said they want it to continue in Macquarie harbour.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said he believed a “great majority” of Tasmanians supported the industry.
With that, I will hand over to Josh Taylor. Thanks so much for reading.
Greens welcome key industry groups’ support for packaging scheme
The Greens have welcomed a breakthrough for management of packaging waste and recycling, following today’s release of a joint statement from key industry groups in support of a mandatory product stewardship scheme for packaging by next year.
Greens spokesperson for waste and recycling, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, said Australia had missed plastic and waste reduction targets for decades because our self-regulated or voluntary system of reducing plastics “simply does not work”.
Agreement between industry and environment groups for binding regulations on reducing packaging waste is an important and historic moment. Having the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) sign-on is especially significant.
Successive governments have spent decades delaying action on legislating legally binding packaging reduction regulations, in the hope that big corporations will miraculously pick up their game. The polluters have had their chance to clean up their act and they haven’t.
Tanya Plibersek threatened multiple times in this parliament that she would step in and regulate polluters if they couldn’t get their act together, but she has never followed through. In the dying days of this parliament there is an opportunity here for her to win some credibility back by finally introducing a mandated product stewardship scheme for packaging and soft plastics.
