Australian news and politics live: Canavan criticises Labor's net zero target amid soaring electricity bills
Liberal senator Dave Sharma has expressed support for NSW Premier Chris Minns' decision to block a march by pro-Palestine activists across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday afternoon.
Mr Minns has refused appeals to facilitate the protest on the Harbour Bridge, instead directing police to assist organisers in finding an alternative route for the rally.
However, activists have pledged a legal challenge to secure permission to march across the bridge.
'They're planning to disrupt Sydney's major piece of infrastructure causing inconvenience to tens of thousands of people. Right time, right place, this is not appropriate,' Mr Sharma said.
'Taking over the Harbour Bridge to protest about a foreign conflict I think is incredibly disproportionate, and the premier is right to be opposed to it.'
US President Donald Trump says many people are starving in the Gaza Strip and has suggested Israel could do more on humanitarian access, as Palestinians struggled to feed their children a day after Israel declared steps to improve supplies.
As the death toll from two years of war in the enclave nears 60,000, a growing number of people are dying from starvation and malnutrition, Gazan health authorities say, with images of starving children shocking the world and fuelling international criticism of Israel over sharply worsening conditions.
Describing starvation in the Gaza Strip as real, Mr Trump's assessment put him at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Sunday 'there is no starvation in Gaza' and vowed to fight on against the Palestinian militant group Hamas - a statement he reposted on X on Monday.
Mr Trump, speaking during a visit to Scotland, said Israel has a lot of responsibility for aid flows and that a lot of people could be saved.
'You have a lot of starving people,' he said.
'We're going to set up food centres,' with no fences or boundaries to ease access, Mr Trump said.
Read the full story.
US President Donald Trump has warned that the minimum tariff the United States imposes on its trading partners, including Australia—could soon double.
Speaking at a press conference in Scotland, Mr Trump said he was planning a new universal tariff 'for the world.'
Asked just how high it would go, he replied: 'I would say it'll be somewhere in the 15 to 20 per cent range. I just want to be nice. Probably one of those two numbers.'
Currently, most US trading partners, Australia included, face America's 10 per cent 'baseline' tariff.
Read more.
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan has criticised the Labor government over soaring electricity bills, accusing it of failing to deliver on promises to reduce energy costs after committing to the 2050 net zero emissions target.
Mr Canavan said the government had focused too much on attacking the Coalition instead of addressing energy policy.
'It seems like the Labor Party has only one thing to talk about the last fortnight, and that's us, the Liberal and Nationals party,' he told Sky News, speaking alongside Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce in support of a bill to scrap the net zero goal.
'If they were actually doing a good job on energy policy, they'd be spruiking that, but the fact that they can't do that speaks volumes.
'They promised when they signed up to net zero that they'd lower your energy bills. It hasn't happened.'
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- ABC News
Palestinian Awdah Hathaleen who helped make Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land killed in West Bank
A prominent Palestinian activist who worked on an Oscar-winning documentary about Israel's occupation of the West Bank has allegedly been shot dead by a Jewish settler. Awdah Hathaleen, one of the activists from the village of Masafer Yatta near Hebron featured in the film No Other Land, was killed near the southern West Bank village of Umm al Khair on Monday. Witnesses said he was shot by a Jewish settler during a confrontation near the Carmel settlement next to the village. Awdah Hathaleen was 31 and had three children. "I can hardly believe it. My dear friend Awdah was slaughtered this evening," No Other Land co-director Basel Adra said on social media. The witnesses identified the settler responsible as Yinon Levi, who had previously been sanctioned by the United States for using violence to displace Palestinians. Video shows him firing a gun and yelling at a group of Palestinians, who village residents said were trying to stop an excavator driving onto Palestinian land. Israeli media reported that Mr Levi was arrested but the Jerusalem Magistrates Court allowed him to return home on remand while the case is investigated. Police reportedly told the court Palestinians were throwing stones at Yinon Levi and another settler, a child, and "it appeared their lives were in danger". Prominent Palestinian activist Issa Amro, from Hebron, told the ABC the loss of his friend was devastating. "His killing was really a shock for me but to be honest it was not a surprise. We all think that one day we might be killed by the Israeli violent settlers who do everything without any accountability," he said. "He was one of the best activists for Palestine, for peace, for non-violent resistance." On Tuesday, Israeli soldiers ejected mourners from a tent set up in Umm al Kheir and fired stun grenades at people who had gathered to pay condolences to Awdah Hathaleen's family. Israeli members of parliament and the Carmel settlement have expressed support for his alleged killer, Yinon Levi, describing him as a "pioneer". The Carmel settlement reportedly said of the killing that its residents: "will not accept a reality in which a Jew is attacked, and definitely not on the property of the settlement." In 2024 the US State Department sanctioned Mr Levi, saying: "(He) regularly led groups of violent extremists who engaged in actions creating an atmosphere of fear in the West Bank. His groups assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, threatened them with additional violence if they did not leave their homes, burned their fields, and destroyed their property. Levi and other extremists have repeatedly attacked multiple communities within the West Bank." But the Trump administration removed the sanctions and those placed on other settlers after taking office this year.
9 News
an hour ago
- 9 News
Trump caps his Scottish visit by opening a new golf course and promoting his family brand
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here Golf and Scotland are close to US President Donald Trump 's heart, and both were in play on Tuesday (Wednesday morning AEST) as he opened a new eponymous course in the land of his mother's birth, capping a five-day trip that was largely about promoting his family's luxury properties. Dressed for golf and sporting a white cap that said "USA", Trump appeared to be in such a jolly mood that he even lavished rare praise - instead of the usual insults - on the contingent of journalists who had gathered to cover the event. "Today they're not fake news," Trump said. "Today they're wonderful news." 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US President Donald Trump cuts the ribbon, standing between Donald Trump Jr., left, and Eric Trump, during an opening ceremony for the Trump International Golf Links golf course, near Aberdeen, Scotland, Tuesday, July 29, 2025 (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) US President Donald Trump, left, watches fireworks as he attends the opening ceremony for Trump International Golf Links near Aberdeen, Scotland Tuesday, July 29, 2025 (AP Photo/Alastair Grant) Immediately afterward, Trump, Eric Trump and two professional golfers teed off on the first hole with plans to play a full 18 before the president returns to Washington on Tuesday night. Trump rarely allows the news media to watch his golf game, though video journalists and photographers often find him along the course whenever he plays. Trump's shot had a solid sound and soared straight, high and relatively far. Clearly pleased, he turned to the cameras and did an almost half bow. "He likes the course, ladies and gentlemen" Eric Trump said. 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US President Donald Trump arrives, followed by a bagpiper band, at the opening ceremony for the Trump International Golf Links golf course, near Aberdeen, Scotland, Tuesday, July 29, 2025 (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Perhaps the only mood-buster for Trump are the wind turbines that are part of a nearby windfarm and can be seen from around the new course. Trump, who often speaks about his hatred of windmills, sued in 2013 to block construction of the wind farm but lost the case and was eventually ordered to pay legal costs for filing the lawsuit – a matter that still enrages him more than a decade later. Trump said on a new episode of the New York Post 's Pod Force One podcast that the "ugly windmills" are a "shame" and are "really hurting" Scotland. The interview was conducted over the weekend and released on Tuesday. "It kills the birds, ruins the look. They're noisy," he said, asserting that the value of real estate around them also plummets. "I think it's a very bad thing. 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West Australian
2 hours ago
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UK could recognise Palestinian state in September: PM
Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the United Kingdom is prepared to recognise a Palestinian state in September at the United Nations General Assembly unless Israel takes a number of steps to improve life for Palestinians. Starmer said the UK would make the move unless Israel took substantive steps to allow more aid to enter the Gaza Strip, made clear there will be no annexation of the West Bank and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a "two-state solution" - a Palestinian state co-existing in peace alongside Israel. "The Palestinian people have endured terrible suffering," Starmer told reporters. "Now, in Gaza, because of a catastrophic failure of aid, we see starving babies, children too weak to stand, images that will stay with us for a lifetime. The suffering must end." Starmer said his government would make an assessment in September on "how far the parties have met these steps" but that no one would have a veto over the decision. He took the decision after recalling his cabinet during the summer holidays on Tuesday to discuss a new proposed peace plan being worked on with other European leaders and how to deliver more humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip's 2.2 million people, a government statement said. "He reiterated that there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas and that our demands on Hamas remain that they must release all the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, accept that they will play no role in the government of Gaza and disarm." Successive UK governments have said they will formally recognise a Palestinian state when the time is right, without ever setting a timetable or specifying the necessary conditions. A growing numbers of MPs in Starmer's Labour Party have asked him to recognise a Palestinian state to push Israel towards action. Pressure to formally recognise Palestinian statehood has mounted since French President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country will recognise a Palestinian state in September. Meanwhile, Germany sent two military transport aircraft to Jordan to assist in airdrops of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said. "This work may only make a small humanitarian contribution but it is an important signal: we are there, we are in the region, we are helping," Merz said. The planes are to be refuelled, filled up and equipped in Jordan before flying over the Gaza Strip, possibly as early as Wednesday, and by the weekend at the latest, Merz said. Planes from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates dropped another 52 pallets of food over the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said on Tuesday. Egyptian planes also took part in the airdrops for the first time since Sunday, when Israel began allowing increased aid into the sealed-off Palestinian territory after months of restrictions, the military said. The Israeli military on Sunday announced it was implementing daily "humanitarian" pauses in fighting to allow for new aid to be safely distributed in the embattled strip amid increased international pressure over warners of imminent famine. The military said Egypt, Jordan and the UAE were co-ordinating the airdrops with Israel. Aid organisations including Doctors Without Borders have criticised the method as ineffective and expensive compared to lorry aid deliveries. They also note the danger posed to waiting civilians by the dropping pallets, which are attached to parachutes. Scores of Palestinians in the Gazan town of Zawaida swam into the sea to retrieve what they could from airdrops of aid on Tuesday. Kamel Qoraan returned to shore with a soaked bag of tea powder, saying that airdropping aid is "humiliating" and calling for the opening of border crossings for trucks. Some people seemed relieved to get anything. One boy smiled as he clutched a small sack of flour. One man had a can of beans. Momen Abu Etayya said his son urged him to chase the airdrops, and dashed into the sea. "I was only able to bring him three biscuits," he said. with AP and DPA
