Albanese and Wong welcome US-Iran agreement, calling for ‘continued restraint’
Krishani Dhanji
The prime minister and foreign minister have issued a lengthier statement welcoming the agreement made by the US and Iran, and called for continued restraint to avoid further escalation.
President Donald Trump made the announcement he had signed a deal this morning, saying the strait of Hormuz would be reopened.
Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong said a full recovery from the impact of the closure to date will take time, and that the government will continue to “do all we can to shield Australians from the worst impacts of this conflict”.
They said Australia has more fuel in its reserves than ever.
Continued restraint and constructive engagement will be essential to prevent further escalation and secure a lasting agreement. We are pleased the agreement between the US and Iran includes steps to reopening the Strait of Hormuz …
We encourage all parties to use this opportunity to pursue a durable and lasting peace through dialogue and diplomacy. Iran must address longstanding concerns about its nuclear program and the threat it poses to international security.
The terms of the deal remain unknown. Read more here.
Key events
Patrick Commins
Budget’s tax reform measures will deliver small boost to productivity
The proposed changes to the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing will push productivity in the right direction, but won’t meaningfully shift the dial, experts say.
Back to the Senate committee hearing into the budget’s tax reform measures, and ANU tax economist Peter Varela said there was a benefit from taxing different assets, like shares and property, in the same way.
“Tax neutrality will always get you more productivity,” Varela said, as that way investors make decisions based on the underlying fundamentals of the investment.
Michael Brennan, the head of the e61 Institute and a former boss of the Productivity Commission, agreed with that in principle, but said the proposed reforms were “not economy changing”.
“I wouldn’t want to overstate the overall productivity gain,” he said, noting that the higher overall capital gains tax would offset the benefits.
In a bit of silliness, someone briefly revised the Wikipedia page for the Australian defence minister last night to show the position filled with a new representative: Socceroos star Harry Souttar.
The page didn’t last long, but in an alternate universe…
Drones given short-term approval to fly at Coogee beach after shark attack
Drones have been approved to circle above a popular city beach where a woman was mauled by a shark despite its proximity to an airport.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has given a temporary exemption for aerial surveillance of Coogee Beach after the woman, in her 30s, was critically injured by a shark on Saturday.
Surf Lifesaving NSW’s public safety manager, Brent Manieri, confirmed the CASA ban was lifted to allow drones to fly across several beaches for the rest of the week.
“We will be operating … to ensure there’s a level of aerial surveillance that the community can feel safe and assured in when they want to come back down and have a swim,” he told ABC on Monday.
BHP hits record high $332bn as Australian share market bounces
Luca Ittimani
The Australian share market has added $40bn in value after Iran announced an “immediate and permanent” peace with the US and Israel.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index, worth $2.7tn, has jumped 1.45% to 8,931 points this morning.
BHP, the Anglo-Australian mining company, briefly hit a record high share price this morning of $65.44, with a market value of over $332bn for the first time. It’s now sitting at $65.13.
The big four banks have all added at least $1bn in market value in early trading.
But today’s ASX bounce is smaller than the one observed the prior trading day, Friday, which was in response to Trump cancelling scheduled strikes on Iran. By comparison, Japan’s Nikkei is up 4.3%.
Australian traders seem to be more sanguine in the face of good news and more scared of bad news so far, suggesting Donald Trump’s threats are more trusted than his promises.
Patrick Commins
Big capital gains will be taxed more under budget reforms
The proposed changes to the taxation of capital gains “isn’t going to shift the dial very much” in terms of average tax rates here versus comparable countries, unless you are an investor who is betting on very high returns, an expert says.
A Senate committee hearing is asking tax experts about whether foreign investors will see Australia as a less attractive place to put their money, should Labor’s reforms go through.
Matt Nolan, a senior research manager at the e61 Institute, said Australia will remain in the “middle to lower-middle of the pack” when it comes to average tax rates.
But the switch from a flat 50% CGT discount to an inflation-adjusted approach will have different impacts depending on your rate of return.
“Once real rates of return go over about 15% we start looking similar to [high taxing] Denmark,” Nolan said.
This [inflation-adjusted] system will tax low returns less heavily, so if things go wrong, you don’t get as punished. But when things go really right, society shares in that a bit more.
So the overall effect on taxes might be minimal, but individuals who anticipate quite substantial gains might see Australia as relatively higher tax.
Who is donating to One Nation? – Back to Back Barries podcast
Tony Barry and Barrie Cassidy discuss One Nation’s successful fundraising drive. They look at how the major parties are handling the rise of the rightwing party and where they agree the prime minister made a missstep.
Take a listen:
Patrick Commins
Tax experts back budget tax reforms, but bill not ‘perfect’
The two-day senate committee hearing into the budget tax reform started this morning, with tax experts and economists backing the broad direction of the changes to the capital gains tax discount.
But there is room for improvement, said Michael Brennan, the head of the e61 Institute. Brennan says an inflation-adjusted capital gains tax treatment, as proposed in the budget, is an improvement, saying there is a “fundamental weakness in any fixed discount relative to an inflation discount”.
He said the 50% discount “taxes high returns pretty lightly, and taxes low returns very heavily”.
Brennan disagreed with some arguments that the changes should be restricted to housing, saying that was a poor approach as a matter of first principles in tax design – which says all assets should be treated commonly.
But he says just as real gains should be taxed, losses should also be adjusted by inflation. And the minimum 30% tax rate for capital gains as proposed should be replaced with averaging of the gains over five years.
Peter Varela, a tax economist at the ANU’s Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, agreed the reforms were a “step in the right direction”, although “the bill is not perfect”.
Like Brennan, Varela said “we want tax neutrality across different types of savings investments”.
Woman injured in shark attack remains in critical but stable condition
The 35-year-old woman injured by a shark at Sydney’s Coogee beach yesterday remains in hospital in critical but stable condition, a spokesperson for St Vincent’s hospital confirmed this morning.
You can read more here:
Albanese and Wong welcome US-Iran agreement, calling for ‘continued restraint’
Krishani Dhanji
The prime minister and foreign minister have issued a lengthier statement welcoming the agreement made by the US and Iran, and called for continued restraint to avoid further escalation.
President Donald Trump made the announcement he had signed a deal this morning, saying the strait of Hormuz would be reopened.
Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong said a full recovery from the impact of the closure to date will take time, and that the government will continue to “do all we can to shield Australians from the worst impacts of this conflict”.
They said Australia has more fuel in its reserves than ever.
Continued restraint and constructive engagement will be essential to prevent further escalation and secure a lasting agreement. We are pleased the agreement between the US and Iran includes steps to reopening the Strait of Hormuz …
We encourage all parties to use this opportunity to pursue a durable and lasting peace through dialogue and diplomacy. Iran must address longstanding concerns about its nuclear program and the threat it poses to international security.
The terms of the deal remain unknown. Read more here.
University students report ‘serious’ free speech problem in new survey
At least one-in-five students at every public university in Australia don’t feel free to express their views on campus, according to a new analysis of government survey data.
AAP reports the findings come from a report by the Liberal-aligned Menzies Research Centre, based on responses to the federal government’s annual Student Experiences Survey.
The survey has asked higher education students about freedom of expression since 2021 but university-level results have not previously been released.
The report says the trend has worsened in recent years and universities should be held accountable for how free students feel in expressing themselves.
In 2024, 28.3% of domestic undergraduate students did not agree that they were free to express their views at university. Among postgraduates, 32.5% reported the same.
This is up from 24% among undergraduates and 28% among postgraduates in 2021.
Penny Wong welcomes US-Iran peace deal
Dan Jervis-Bardy
The Australian government has welcomed the announcement of a peace deal to end the US and Iran conflict and reopen the strait of Hormuz.
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, said:
We welcome President Trump and Pakistan’s announcement of an agreement, including to reopen the strait of Hormuz. Australia has long called for de-escalation and an end to the conflict, including in Lebanon. As we have said, the longer this war goes on, the greater the impact will be.
Read the latest on what we know so far about the pending deal here:
Andrew Messenger
Seven arrests at Brisbane Palestine rally, including flotilla participant
Seven protesters, including a participant in last month’s Global Sumud Flotilla, were arrested at a Justice for Palestine rally yesterday.
All seven were arrested for allegedly saying the phrase “from the river to the sea” or for holding a sign bearing the expression.
Spokesperson Remah Naji said a mooted lawsuit by Justice for Palestine was intended to test whether police would still enforce a ban on saying the phrase passed into law earlier this year. She said many people displayed or said the banned phrases at a rally the weekend before without being arrested.
“Today we’re going to test these laws again. We have people who are willing to challenge the laws with the banned expressions, because we understand our responsibility here as people with freedoms and the right and the duty to speak out against those crimes (of Israel),” she said.
Flotilla participant Sam Watson was the first arrested, after a brief speech.
Naji said the mooted high court challenge against the laws was still on foot, and is expected to be filed mid-July.
A spokesperson for the Queensland police said about 300 people attended the rally in King George Square.
“The QPS acknowledges the overall peaceful behaviour of protesters in Brisbane City today, 14 June,” the spokesperson said.
Seven people were charged with recital, distribution, publication or display of prohibited expressions.
Andrew Messenger
Lyle Shelton loses challenge against vilification ruling
Conservative commentator Lyle Shelton has lost a legal challenge against a six-year old vilification ruling.
The case dates to a January 2020 blog post by Shelton about two Drag Queen story time performers from Brisbane.
“Have we learned nothing from creeps like Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew?” he blogged.
The performers complained to the state’s human rights commission that the posts amounted to vilification under the state’s anti-discrimination act.
The Queensland Civil and Administrative tribunal dismissed their complaint in 2023 partly on the basis that transphobia and homophobia “lives in the past” meaning “any such incitement it could not be vilification” under the act. That judgement was set aside earlier this year by the same court.
Shelton challenged the latter decision in a judicial review at the Supreme Court, but on Friday the court ruled against him. The case will now return to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Little evidence that shark culls improve beach safety, experts say
Experts warn there is little evidence shark culls keep ocean-goers safer following the latest shocking encounter at a busy city beach, AAP reports.
A woman, 35, was swimming about 30 meters offshore at Coogee beach in Sydney when she was bitten by a shark on Saturday. She remained in critical but stable condition on Sunday.
A great white shark, which is a protected species, is thought to have been responsible. It follows a cluster of attacks nationwide, including several bull shark bites in Sydney Harbour.
The latest incident has reignited calls for culls to protect swimmers, which NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty has not expressly ruled out.
Adelaide University program director of environmental science Brianna Le Brusque said harmful encounters with the predators were tragic and cull discussions an understandable response.
But she said there was no science on how many animals would need to be removed to keep swimmers safe nor evidence it would meaningfully improve community safety.
Surveillance methods to alert swimmers were more effective, though complicated by a flight path keeping drones out of the air around Coogee.
Nearly $200m given to industry in zero-interest government loans amid Middle East conflict
Sarah Basford Canales
The federal government’s Economic Resilience Program has provided nearly $200m in zero-interest loans since its announcement last month.
The program offers $1bn in zero-interest loans for industrial manufacturing and critical supply chains impacted by market disruptions caused by the conflict in the Middle East.
In an update provided on Monday, more than 200 businesses have signed up for the zero-interest loans, totalling almost $195m.
The industry and innovation minister, Tim Ayres, said more than three-quarters of the loans have been for under $1m.
Ayres said:
Firms in crucial sectors like freight and logistics, fuel, plastics and fertiliser are receiving vital support from the National Reconstruction Fund in partnership with Australian banks.
Barnaby Joyce says One Nation’s fundraised money to go towards ad campaign
One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce is speaking now, saying the millions in fundraising the party has raised in recent days will go towards “the removal of the Labor party because they have not been good for Australia”.
Joyce spoke to RN, saying the money would largely go to an advertising campaign in the lead up to the next election.
He said the party would not get “carried away”, saying he’s “very aware of hubris” and would solely focus on the “here and now”:
The election is still somewhere away, and polls are indicators, not votes.
Assistant treasurer says One Nation’s rise reflects ‘frustration’ of many people
Daniel Mulino, the assistant treasurer, said One Nation’s rise began “well before” the latest federal budget and reflected a “frustration on the part of many people” at the way the system is working for them.
Mulino spoke to RN Breakfast this morning as Pauline Hanson’s party continues to surge in the polls. He said:
I think it, for me, reflects a frustration on the part of many people at the way the system is working for them and the fact that they’re feeling pressures on a number of fronts: pressures from cost of living, pressures from Increasingly uncertain global economy and political situation.
What I’d say about One Nation is that they are very good at identifying grievances. They’re not very good at solutions. And in fact, Pauline Hanson’s voting record over recent years has often been to the detriment of people seeking pay rises, to the detriment of workers’ rights. And so that’s something which, as that comes to light more, I think people will judge that in due course.
Good morning
Good morning, Nick Visser here once again as we start a new week. Here’s what’s on deck:
Experts say there is little evidence for a shark cull after an attack at one of Sydney’s most popular beaches this weekend. They say there is no science on how many animals would need to be removed to keep swimmers safe, nor evidence it would meaningfully improve safety.
At least one in five students at Australian public universities don’t feel free to express their views on campus, according to a new analysis. The survey asked students about free speech on campuses, but found the trend has worsened in recent years and advised universities should be held accountable for how students feel in expressing themselves.
The federal government has provided almost $200m in no-interest loans to help support manufacturing supply chains since disruptions in the Middle East began. More than 200 businesses have signed up for the program.
Stick with us.
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