Albanese says Israel’s limiting of aid to Gaza ‘completely unacceptable’
Anthony Albanese has labelled Israel’s limiting of aid into Gaza as “completely unacceptable”.
The prime minister said:
“It is outrageous that there be a blockade of food and supplies to people who are in need in Gaza. We’ve made that very clear by signing up to international statements.”
He added:
“We find Israel’s excuses and explanations completely untenable and without credibility. People are starving, and the idea that a democratic state withholds supply is an outrage. Now, that is my clear position. It’s one I’ve indicated clearly and directly to the Israeli government, it’s one that we’ll continue to be a part of international statements.”
Albanese was asked if he had contacted the UK or Canadian leaders about joining their threat for concrete action against Israel. He replied that that statement was from G7 nations, and reiterated that Australia has instead joined a broader statement from 23 foreign ministers, also issued last week.
Key events
70 defence force personnel to be deployed to flood zones
Anthony Albanese has announced that 70 Australian Defence Force personnel will be on the ground in flood disaster zones in New South Wales from tomorrow.
On Monday morning, the prime minister said the presence of the ADF brings “enormous confidence” to disaster-affected communities.
Defence minister Richard Marles said the 70 ADF personnel would have skills to help with recovery and clean-up, specifically in route clearing. They will also conduct door-knocking, and will provide limited light engineering capability.
Benita Kolovos
More details on Victoria’s machete ban
According to the premier’s media release, retailers will be told to remove machetes from shop shelves at midday on Wednesday and to store the excess stock in a safe location until the amnesty scheme begins on 1 September.
From that date, machetes will be classified as a prohibited weapon in Victoria. Exemptions will be available only for legitimate uses, such as agricultural work.
An amnesty period will run from 1 September to 30 November, allowing Victorians to safely surrender machetes at 40 designated police stations across the state without facing penalties.
After the amnesty ends, anyone found in possession of a machete could face up to two years in prison or fines exceeding $47,000.
Allan is under pressure to explain why she didn’t ban sales of machetes earlier and why Victorians have to wait until 1 September for the ban to come into effect.
She says that in March, police told her a six-month implementation period was required. She goes on:
“In March, we made it absolutely clear that these dangerous weapons had no place on our streets … Moving to introduce that machete ban from the 1st of September was based on the advice from Victoria Police and agencies that that was the quickest way, that was the safest way that we could bring about a ban on these dangerous weapons. And as the minister indicated, it took the United Kingdom 18 months to bring about a ban on machetes – well, we weren’t going to have that time frame. We wanted it done as quickly as possible, as safely as possible.
However, after Sunday’s incident, Allan says she was informed about the powers already available under commonwealth consumer laws:
“When the incident yesterday occurred, and the minister and I had discussions yesterday, and we were briefed that we have these powers to bring about choking the supply immediately, we have moved immediately.
Energy regulator confirms maximum electricity prices for 2025-26
Energy regulators have confirmed their final determinations for the maximums that companies can charge for electricity in 2025-26.
The default market offer, or DMO, is the legislated maximum for electricity prices, and acts as a safety-net price for household and small business customers. While consumers can shop around for cheaper rates, companies cannot charge above the DMO.
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has determined that from 1 July 2025, residential customers on standing offer plans will experience increases of 0.5% to 3.7% in south-east Queensland, 2.3% to 3.2% in SA and 8.3% to 9.7% in New South Wales. Small business customers on standing offer plans will experience increases of 0.8% to 8.5%, depending on the region.
AER chair Clare Savage said it was a difficult decision. “We know this is not welcome news for consumers in the current cost-of-living environment,” she said. “Sustained pressures across almost all components of the DMO have driven these price rises, with wholesale and network costs rising in most jurisdictions between 1% and 11%, and retail costs between 8% and 35% compared with last year.”
In Victoria, the Essential Services Commission has determined that, for domestic customers, changes to annual prices will vary, dropping by $26 in one distribution zone but increasing by between $4 and $90 in others, compared with 2024-25. The average across the five zones is a $20 (1%) increase on last year. For small businesses, the average across the five zones is a $90 (3%) increase on last year.
Benita Kolovos
Interim machete ban to last until 1 September, when law banning sales comes into effect
Some more details on the Victorian machete ban.
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has just announced the government will use extraordinary powers to ban the sale of machetes from Wednesday, following an incident at Northland at the weekend.
The ban will come into effect from 12pm on Wednesday, and uses commonwealth consumer laws, which allow a state minister to introduce an interim ban on the sale of certain goods.
The interim ban will include machetes, which are broadly described as a cutting edge knife with a blade of more than 20cm. The interim sale ban does not include knives primarily used in kitchens.
It will end on 1 September, when the government’s laws banning machete sales comes into effect.
Allan says:
“The community shouldn’t have to deal with these weapons in their shopping centres. Neither should our police.”
Victoria to ban machete sales from Wednesday
Victorian premier Jacinta Allan has announced the snap enforcement of a previously flagged ban on machete sales in the state, after the Northland shopping centre went into lockdown on Sunday after a fight allegedly involving “rival groups” and a machete.
On Monday morning, Allan said the ban, first announced in March as part of work to provide Victoria police with expanded knife-search powers, would be swiftly brought into effect from midday on Wednesday.
Allan said:
“Those knives are dangerous weapons. They have no place on our streets anywhere and that is why I will introduce as many laws to get these dangerous knives off the streets.”
She added:
“Under consumer powers, using these powers, Victoria will be banning machetes from being sold anywhere in the state. We can do this now. We can move to bring about this ban on the sale of machetes as we move quickly and safely with Victoria Police on bringing about that Australian-first machete ban.”
Poll suggests Australians want more action on Israel
Australians want the government to do more to pressure Israel into delivering more aid to Gaza, polling from Oxfam suggests.
In the poll, conducted by YouGov, 82% of respondents felt that “the prevention of food, medicine and water reaching civilians in Gaza is unjustified”, while 67% believed that “the Australian government should do more to support civilians being able to access food, water and medicine in Gaza”.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has intensified in recent weeks since Israel announced a halt to aid, with only a trickle of trucks carrying food allowed to enter the territory in the past week.
While Oxfam Australia and other groups who commissioned the polling welcomed foreign minister Penny Wong’s presence on a joint statement of 22 other countries last week calling on Israel to return to full levels of aid into Gaza, the charity believes more pressure is needed. Chrisanta Muli, Oxfam Australia’s acting chief executive, said
With a massive amount of lifesaving aid still stalled at Gaza’s gates, the tiny flow we’ve seen so far represents a drop in an ocean of need. Australians want their Government to take a stronger stance to halt the devastating destruction of Gaza and its people. They are clearly saying, ‘The status quo is untenable’.
You can read more about concerns for famine in Gaza here:
Sydney trains fare-free day commences after chaotic week
Train users in Sydney will enjoy a welcome difference in their morning commute this morning, with a fare-free day in place as a gesture from the government to apologise after several days of chaos across the network last week.
Opal card readers will be switched off for all train and metro services – including airport link trains – and commuters will not need to tap on. The fare-free day does not extend to regional travel services, nor buses, light rail, ferries within Sydney.
The fare-free day was announced last week after a live wire with enough voltage to instantly kill a human fell on the top of a train on Tuesday, trapping 300 passengers on board and grinding all heavy rail lines, bar one, to a halt.
Due to a central vulnerability in Sydney’s rail network, the incident led to almost 48 hours of widespread outages and delays, with workers advised to work from home to alleviate pressure on the network.
You can read more about the incident and the vulnerability of Sydney’s rail network here:
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Elias Visontay here bringing you news updates from overnight and this morning.
The New South Wales police minister, Yasmin Catley, is “horrified by the level of violence” seen on Sydney streets after a double shooting in the heart of Parramatta on Sunday evening. Officers were called to the incident at about 5.10pm, where they found two men with multiple gunshot wounds, near two others who were uninjured. The injured men were taken to hospital.
Police were then called to a street about 4.7km from the shooting scene after receiving reports of a car fire and arrived to find a vehicle and a nearby tree alight. Investigations are under way into whether the two incidents are linked.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Meteorology has issued broad warnings for damaging winds across swathes of southern Australia. In Victoria, the Bureau has warned that north-westerly winds are strengthening ahead of a cold front bringing damaging to winds about elevated parts of the state on Monday morning. The risk of damaging winds is expected to become more widespread in western and central parts of the state during the day today, particularly with showers and thunderstorms. The warning follows a 122km/h wind gust being detected at Mount William at 11:58 pm last night.
Authorities are also warning of “damaging, possibly destructive winds” developing over South Australia. A vigorous cold front is crossing central parts of the South Australian coast and will move over eastern inland areas during the morning, the Bureau said, with north-westerly winds to then strengthen ahead of the front before shifting more westerly behind it. Destructive winds are classified as those measured above 125km/h.
