Australia news live: Chalmers warns of ‘global dislocation’ as Treasury reveals biggest threats to economy
Key events
The U.N. aviation council on Monday ruled that Russia was responsible for the downing of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine in 2014 with the deaths of 298 passengers and crew, including 38 Australian citizens.
In a statement, it said the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation would consider what form of reparation was in order in the coming weeks. It’s understood Australia will be asking for an order that Russia negotiate over reparations.
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 departed from Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, and was shot down over eastern Ukraine as fighting raged between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces.
In November 2022, Dutch judges convicted two Russian men and a Ukrainian man in absentia of murder for their role in the attack. Moscow called the ruling “scandalous” and said it would not extradite its citizens.
The ICAO, which is based in Montreal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. The case was launched in 2022 by Australia and the Netherlands.
– With Reuters
Australia’s housing market has surged in the immediate aftermath of Labor’s emphatic election victory, preliminary data shows, while analysts say an anticipated string of rate cuts may see the trend continue.
Auction clearance rates rose to 70% in the week following the election, according to preliminary Cotality data, from 60% in the middle of last month. An auction clearance rate of 70% or above typically indicates sellers are in control of the market.
Read the whole story from Luca Ittimani here:
What does Albanese’s cabinet picks tell us about his next steps?
Anthony Albanese’s reshuffle contains four important elements, according to our chief political correspondent, Tom McIlroy.
First, the big six portfolios remained unchanged, while the major changes come in the second rank – with Michelle Rowland, for example, moving from communications to attorney general.
There’s the introduction of new blood – such as the Yale-educated economist Daniel Mulino appointed as assistant treasurer – and then there’s bigger political shifts, including Tanya Plibersek making way for Murray Watt in the tricky role of environment minister. All of which, Tom argues, shows it’s still safety first for Albanese.
Read his piece here:
Liberals expect to confirm hold on Monash
Catie McLeod
The Liberals are expected to have fended off a strong challenge from Labor to retain the Victorian seat of Monash, according to the ABC’s projections.
The ABC called Monash for the Liberal party last night, more than a week after the federal election was held.
As of 8pm last night, and with 88.7% of the vote counted, the Liberal candidate, Mary Aldred, was leading Labor’s Tully Fletcher by 8,397 votes.
The seat, which covers part of Victoria’s Gippsland region, had been held by Russell Broadbent for the Liberal party since 2004. Broadbent, who resigned from the Liberal party in 2023 after losing preselection to Aldred, contested the seat as an independent but secured only 10.3% primary votes compared with Aldred’s 32.1%.
Patrick Commins
Chalmers says ‘managing global uncertainty is the necessary precondition’ for economic management
As economists and business leaders call for a bolder reform agenda to lift the country’s flagging productivity, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, also flagged the Albanese government will also have to navigate the reshaping of the global economic order as a result of Trump’s protectionist trade policies and general disregard for longstanding international norms and institutions.
“Managing global uncertainty is the necessary precondition for everything else we want to do to strengthen our economy and make it more productive, competitive and dynamic over time,” he said.
After every election each department prepares two “incoming government briefs”, commonly referred to as the red book (for a Labor government) and the blue book (for a Coalition government).
The International Monetary Fund recently slashed its growth forecasts for the Australian economy in 2025 from 2.1% to 1.6%, citing the impact of Trump’s trade war.
Treasury’s forecasts have not as yet factored in such a large hit to growth – and todays’ news of Trump backing down on his trade war with China adds another twist.
Brace for global dislocation, Chalmers warns
Patrick Commins
The start of the 148th federal parliament coincides with the world “entering a period of global dislocation not seen” since the second world war, Jim Chalmers has warned.
The offshore threats to Australia’s economy over the coming three years loomed large in treasury’s post-election briefing to Chalmers, which he said warned of the “damaging” effects of Donald Trump’s trade war.
Chalmers met with the treasury secretary, Steven Kennedy, early on the Sunday morning directly after the Saturday 2 May election which handed an unexpectedly big win to the incumbent Albanese government.
“We know the job isn’t finished and we know we will be faced with more global economic volatility and unpredictability over the next three years, not less,” Chalmers said in a statement last night. “It’s one of the reasons why Australians voted so emphatically for stability in uncertain times.”
Truck driver ambushed and shot in Sydney overnight
A truck driver was ambushed and shot in Sydney’s south west overnight.
About 11.20pm yesterday, emergency services were called to Yennora after reports of a shooting, police said in a statement.
Officers were told a 29-year-old man had been driving a truck on Donald Street when a vehicle stopped in front of him. A man allegedly exited the vehicle and fired several shots at the truck before getting back into the vehicle and leaving the scene.
The truck driver was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics for gunshot wounds to his wrist and abdomen and taken to Liverpool hospital in a stable condition.
Police were investigating a link to two subsequent car fires: a black Lexus sedan alight in South Granville, and a second vehicle alight in Chester Hill.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the top overnight stories and then Cait Kelly will take the controls.
All eyes will be on the Liberal party room in Canberra today as Sussan Ley and Angus Taylor vie for the leadership. We’ll bring you the latest from Canberra as it happens. Whoever wins, it’s going to be a tough task to mount an opposition to Anthony Albanese with a diminished crop of MPs and an electoral mountain to climb in three years.
Our latest polling shows a surge in support for Albanese’s leadership – combined with calls for him to get on with reforms on housing, health and energy. Housing is not getting any easier, though, with new figures showing Labor’s election win has already given a boost to the property market. More coming up.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has warned Australians to brace for economic turbulence as Donald Trump’s trade tariffs threaten to endanger the nation’s “soft landing” from high inflation. Although the US president offered hope to markets overnight with the prospect of a “total reset” on trade with China, Chalmers said Australia was entering “a period of global dislocation” not seen since the second world war. More on that, too, soon
