Chalmers says Trump’s F-word reflects ‘gravity’ of the situation in Middle East
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, just spoke to ABC News and said Donald Trump’s F-word directed at Israel and Iran reflected the delicate ceasefire deal struck in the Middle East. Trump told reporters on his way to a Nato summit of the conflict: “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.”
Chalmers told the ABC:
I think it reflects the gravity, the enormity of the situation in the Middle East, and just how important it is that both sides stick to this ceasefire which has been negotiated.
You know, the stakes are very high in the Middle East. The consequences of this ceasefire falling over are pretty grave. And I think the president’s blunt language reflects that.
Key events
Graham Readfearn
Matt Kean to say Australia should reduce emissions at ‘breakneck pace’, window to protect corals closing
The chair of the government’s Climate Change Authority, Matt Kean, will tell an audience of scientists this morning that Australia needs to act to reduce emissions at “breakneck pace” and “with all the vigour we can muster”.
The authority is set to advise the government on a recommended 2035 target to cut emissions. A preliminary assessment released last year by the authority suggested cuts of between 65% to 75% by 2035 from levels in 2005 were achievable. The government has said it will announce the target by September, ahead of the next global climate talks to take place in November in Brazil.
In a speech to the annual conference of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, in Cairns, Kean will say:
When it comes to climate action, forget bottlenecks – we need breakneck pace.
In the speech, Kean will say an upcoming authority report on the Great Barrier Reef will warn the window for avoiding broadscale losses of corals across the ocean icon was closing. He will point to record-breaking ocean temperatures that caused simultaneous bleaching on the Queensland reef and across reefs in the west, where Kean will point to how scientists there have been distraught by widespread coral death.
Caitlin Cassidy
Average family saving $7,000 after cheaper childcare reforms
The average family has saved around $7,000 in out of pocket costs after cheaper childcare reforms were introduced, the federal government says.
Two years in, the education minister, Jason Clare, said more than 1m families had benefited from the changes, which he said had saved families earning $168,000 with one child in care around $7,440, despite concerns over rises in daycare fees. In the same time period, an additional 1,200 early education services had opened, and around 48,000 more early childcare workers had entered the system, Clare said.
He said the government was also delivering a 15% pay rise to expand the early education workforce and would implement the 3 Day Guarantee next year, replacing the current activity test. More than 100,000 families would be entitled to more hours of subsidised education and care under the guarantee, which was expected to save eligible families earning between $50,000 and $100,000 an average of $1,460 per year.
Clare said:
This is a key part of our plans to build a universal early education system.
The findings come following the release of tougher mandatory regulations in the multibillion-dollar industry in response to safety concerns over “shonky and dangerous operators”.
NZ foreign minister says allies will always have ‘times where we do differ’ after US strikes in Iran
Winston Peters, New Zealand’s foreign minister, said the country would collect all the facts on US strikes on Iran before levelling judgment, but said good friendships meant countries could have a difference of opinion. Peters spoke to RN Breakfast about New Zealand’s values and how they align with those of the Trump administration, saying:
We’re always going to have times where we do differ. To say that we all think the same would be terrible. It would mean with a loss of examination, a loss of proper exhaustion of finding out the truth. And this is not to be unexpected.
We’ve found it far better to keep our counsel, find out the facts, and if we have got a difference, to relay it in privacy rather than to try and trumpet it out.
Good friendships mean you can have a difference [of opinion].
Peters went on to say the situation surrounding the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites “can only be examined in the fullness of time as to the veracity behind the facts in which they acted”, adding:
And we haven’t got those facts yet. And so, as you know, our position is: Let’s find out all the facts before we, as so many have done in the past, headlong rush to judgment and find that we were wrong.
Minns, Catley staffers to appear before inquiry into Dural caravan plot on Friday
Anne Davies
Five staffers from the offices of the NSW premier, Chris Minns, and the police minister, Yasmin Catley, have agreed to appear before a parliamentary inquiry into the Dural caravan “fake terrorism plot” after they were threatened with arrest for failing to attend last week.
A senior staff member for the premier confirmed on Wednesday they had been told by the president of the NSW Legislative Council, Ben Franklin, that he was planning to seek arrest warrants. Franklin had sought legal advice from Bret Walker SC about his powers to seek the warrants after the staffers defied summonses to appear at the upper house inquiry.
They have now “voluntarily” agreed to appear on Friday.
The inquiry – launched with the support of the Coalition, the Greens and crossbench MLCs – is examining the handling of information about the caravan plot amid concerns parliament may have been “misled” before controversial laws aimed at curbing antisemitism were rushed through parliament.
In January, after it was announced that the caravan had been found, Minns said it had the potential to be a “mass casualty event”. But in March, the Australian federal police revealed they believed it was a “con job” by organised crime figures seeking to divert police resources and influence prosecutions.
The premier and the police minister refused to appear at the inquiry before the committee sought the appearance of their staffers.
Greens MP Sue Higginson, who is a member of the inquiry, also confirmed on Wednesday the political staffers would appear to give evidence on Friday. The standoff had been sparked by the refusal of Minns and Catley to appear. Ministers from the lower house cannot be required to appear before an inquiry of the upper house.
Chalmers says Trump’s F-word reflects ‘gravity’ of the situation in Middle East
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, just spoke to ABC News and said Donald Trump’s F-word directed at Israel and Iran reflected the delicate ceasefire deal struck in the Middle East. Trump told reporters on his way to a Nato summit of the conflict: “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.”
Chalmers told the ABC:
I think it reflects the gravity, the enormity of the situation in the Middle East, and just how important it is that both sides stick to this ceasefire which has been negotiated.
You know, the stakes are very high in the Middle East. The consequences of this ceasefire falling over are pretty grave. And I think the president’s blunt language reflects that.
Minister says Australians could soon have more ‘regular ways’ to get out of Israel
Matt Keogh, the minister for defence personnel, said Australians will soon have “more regular ways” to get out of Israel after the country reopened its airspace during a tenuous ceasefire deal with Iran. Keogh said the government was actively monitoring the situation, noting 119 Australians were able to leave on a special Australian Defence Force flight from Tel Aviv late Tuesday night.
Such flights could possibly not be required any more if the ceasefire holds and the conflict between Israel and Iran stabilises, Keogh said. He told RN Breakfast:
Australians that are still looking to leave will be able to find more regular ways of getting out. And as the ceasefire has taken hold and continues that should see a return to more ordinary transport operations.
We’ll obviously keep monitoring the situation to make sure that we’re actually seeing that return to regular transport options, but that’s what we are starting to see progress. And so, if military repatriations aren’t required any more, then we would obviously bring that to an end. But we’re not yet at a stage where we’d be able to do that.
For Australians stranded in Iran, Keogh said the main pathway out remains over land as airspace there is still closed.
Australia’s national mental health plan should be redesigned, report finds
Cait Kelly
The Productivity Commission (PC) has found the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement has made little progress towards improving the lives of people with mental ill health and suicidal ideation. Commissioner Selwyn Button said:
The Agreement comprises a raft of outputs and initiatives that aren’t connected to each other or to an overarching strategy. In its current form, it cannot deliver the systemic, coordinated change it promises.
The consumers, carers and service providers we spoke with told us of ongoing challenges accessing and affording care and of uncoordinated services that do not respond to need.
Issues with the agreement are highlighted by its failure to deliver on a key commitment: developing arrangements to provide psychosocial supports outside the NDIS, commissioner Angela Jackson said:
When the NDIS was introduced, governments withdrew much of the funding for psychosocial supports. This has left 500,000 people living with mental illness without support. Addressing this gap requires exactly the kind of national coordination that the current Agreement has proven unable to provide.
The PC is recommending that the current Agreement be extended to 2027 to allow time for the new agreement to be co-designed with consumers, carers and service providers.
Tom McIlroy
Sussan Ley to urge more inclusive Liberal party in key speech
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, will address the National Press Club in Canberra this afternoon. Her predecessor, Peter Dutton, shunned the club during his three years leading the Liberals, but Ley makes her debut there as leader and is expected to reflect on Labor’s thumping 3 May election victory.
She will also present some markers for the Liberal party to focus on as it starts the rebuilding effort and outline some policy priority areas for the term ahead.
Extracts of the speech show she will speak about what modern Australia looks like in 2025 and how the Liberals must strive to represent Australia’s diverse population, and its young people, working families and elderly people.
When I say the Liberal party must respect, reflect and represent modern Australia, people have understandably asked: what do we mean by that? Modern Australia is diverse, dynamic and ambitious. It is made up of people from every corner of the world. It is families raising children in the suburbs.
It is young people building careers, renting whilst chasing the home ownership dream, and studying for futures that look very different to the past. It is older Australians who helped build this country, who still have so much wisdom to offer, with a strong stake in our nation’s future.
It is professionals, small business owners, community volunteers, entrepreneurs and everyday workers who deserve to be recognised, not overlooked. Modern Australia is not just one story. It’s all of them. And our party must be big enough to represent that shared experience.
Marles confirms 119 Australians evacuated from Tel Aviv
Returning to repatriation from Israel, the defence minister, Richard Marles, has confirmed 119 passengers left Tel Aviv in the early hours of Wednesday. He made the comments to reporters in The Hague, where he is attending a Nato summit.
“So I can confirm that there was an assisted departure that left Tel Aviv in the last few hours,” he said.
“We were very pleased to be able to provide that flight, and they’ve now been relocated to a place within the region, which is obviously outside of the danger zone.
“We continue to have (military) assets in the region ready to be able to provide assistance.”
Mr Marles also said the government had chartered civilian aircraft for future departures “in certain circumstances”.
The evacuees were taken out in a KC-30 RAAF jet.
– AAP
Gout Gout wins first international race
Australian teenage sprinter Gout Gout crushed the 200 metres field in his first senior race abroad on Tuesday, bettering his own national record by two hundredths of a second to finish in 20.02 seconds at the Ostrava Golden Spike.
The 17-year-old ran a textbook race in his European debut at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event in the Czech Republic, crossing the line 0.17 seconds ahead of Cuban Reynier Mena, while Briton Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (20.60) was third.
Gout has drawn comparisons to Jamaican great Usain Bolt and he made headlines in December when he broke Peter Norman’s national record that had stood for 56 years.
The teenager was confirmed in April for Australia’s team for the world championships in Tokyo in September.
– Reuters
NSW Greens refer Labor deal with Shooters party for parliamentary inquiry
The NSW Greens says the party has referred Chris Minns’s “sweetheart deal” on hunting rights with the Shooters party for a parliamentary inquiry after the Legislative Council declined to rush the laws through.
The Greens’ spokesperson for agriculture and the environment, Sue Higginson, said the party had acted after an “outcry of concern” from voters about the deal which would enshrine a “right to hunt” in NSW, provide “resources and power to a statutory body stacked by the gun lobby”, and pave the way for a minister for hunting.
She said:
This bill from the gun lobby seemed to come out of thin air, and it’s no coincidence that the premier Chris Minns and his Labor government immediately supported it just when they were hoping to buy votes for their changes to the workers compensation scheme.
If passed, these laws would have a massive impact on the resources of local councils with all crown land managers having to consider shooting on public lands in their communities. Despite the massive impact that these laws would have, no one was consulted with on these changes before Chris Minns made his captain’s call to back the Shooters.
Patrick Commins
Leigh backs ‘productivity-enhancing’ AI technology
Andrew Leigh, the assistant minister for productivity, has backed a light-touch approach to regulating artificial intelligence, amid an ongoing debate over how best to manage the risks of the potentially transformative technology.
While most Australians accept the potential benefits from AI, surveys show that only one in three agree we have adequate guardrails in place to ensure the safe rollout of the technology.
Leigh, in a speech to the McKell Institute later today, will say Australia should only consider “AI-specific” rules once all existing regulatory options had been exhausted.
The goal is to protect the public while allowing productivity-enhancing innovation to flourish.
Leigh’s comments are further evidence that Labor has cooled on the idea of implementing a European-style stand-alone AI act, which is one of the options being considered as part of a government review.
Such high-risk applications could include predicting a person’s suitability for a job, likelihood of recidivism, or to enable self-driving cars.
Rather than destroying jobs, Leigh quotes overseas research showing that firms which adopted AI tools were more likely to grow their workforces.
In fact, the biggest employment risk from AI may not be job displacement – it may be working for a business that doesn’t adopt it and falls behind or fails entirely. Think of it as the equivalent of working for a boss who insists that the fax machine will make a comeback.
Marles plays down chances of Trump meeting at Nato summit
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, has said he wouldn’t want to “overstate” the chance of him crossing paths with US president Donald Trump at the Nato summit which started in The Hague overnight.
“Look, I wouldn’t want to overstate that,” he told ABC’s 7.30 last night.
There’s a lot of people at the Nato summit. There’s a lot of people in the rooms that we’ll all be in. And in gatherings such as this, the meetings that you have end up being pretty fluid.
Marles, who is also the minister of defence, said Australia “very much” called on Iran to stick to the ceasefire and exercise restraint.
“What we want to see now is de-escalation. Our concern throughout this has been the potential for escalation, and where this might ultimately lead,” he said, speaking after Israel accused Iran of launching missiles at Israel following Trump’s ceasefire announcement. Iran denied launching missiles.
When asked whether Australia would always back the US’s use of force, Marles said:
What we’ve done in this instance and what we do in every instance is to speak in accordance with what is Australia’s national interest. It’s not in Australia’s national interest to see Iran acquire a nuclear weapon.
The defence minister side-stepped the question of whether the US followed a rules-based order, saying “what America has done in the strikes that it has undertaken is to significantly stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and we have made clear that that represented a threat to the international order.”
Marles said more than 4,000 Australian citizens across Israel and Iran had indicated they wanted help to leave.
Australians stranded in Israel on their way home on special ADF flight
A special Australian Defence Force flight has left Tel Aviv with 119 Australians and their family members on board after they became stranded by the suspension of flights out of Israel amid its conflict with Iran.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said late on Tuesday night that Australian defence personnel and diplomats “have supported an Australian Defence Force assisted departure flight” out of the Israeli city.
Photographs posted on social media by the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, showed people being taken by bus to the airport.
An Australian Government assisted-departure flight has safely transported 119 Australians and family members from Tel Aviv.
Commercial flights from Israel have resumed with some restrictions.
DFAT officers remain at the Iran-Azerbaijan border to help Australians to leave Iran. pic.twitter.com/1VD0lnAbcU
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) June 24, 2025
Dfat added that commercial flights out of Israel resumed last night with some restrictions after a ceasefire was agreed between Israel and Iran.
A Dfat statement said:
Israeli commercial airlines have resumed operation for anyone wanting to leave Israel. Limitations and restrictions apply.
Travellers with existing tickets for cancelled flights are encouraged to keep speaking with airlines. This may be the fastest way for travellers to reach their final destination.
We will continue to communicate directly with registered Australians who wish to depart Israel about any further plans for assisted departures.
Consular officers remain positioned at the Iran-Azerbaijan border to assist departing Australians.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.
Richard Marles has joined Nato leaders at their summit in The Hague where the main discussion will focus on European nations increasing their defence spending and how the west can help Ukraine to repel Russia. Donald Trump has landed in the Netherlands but Marles has played down the idea that he might have a meeting with the US president to discuss the Aukus submarine pact. More details soon.
The judgment in Antoinette Lattouf’s unlawful dismissal case against the ABC is expected this morning at 11.30am at the federal court in Sydney. Justice Darryl Rangiah will hand down his ruling in the highly charged case which centres around whether the ABC acted unlawfully when the casual radio presenter Antoinette Lattouf was abruptly taken off air in December 2023. More coming up.
A special Australian Defence Force flight is on its way back to Australia from Tel Aviv with 119 Australians and their family members on board after they became stranded by the suspension of flights out of Israel amid its conflict with Iran. The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, revealed the news last night. More details coming up.
