Taylor welcomes visas for Iranian women’s football players as Coalition backs ADF deployment to UAE
The Liberal leader, Angus Taylor, has welcomed Australia’s involvement in the Middle East, after the government this morning announced it would deploy an E-7A Wedgetail surveillance aircraft and missiles to the United Arab Emirates in a defensive capacity.
Speaking to reporters at Parliament House, Taylor also welcomed the decision to grant five players on the Iranian women’s soccer team humanitarian visas.
Taylor said:
double quotation markWe very much welcome the decision and announcement made by the government to support our allies in their work against this regime.
The shadow defence minister, James Paterson, says he received a briefing from the defence department this morning, and says supporting the UAE and Gulf nations against Iran’s attacks is in Australia’s national interest.
double quotation markWhen your friends ask you for help, if you’re able to help, you should help. And there’s no question that the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states are our friends.
Opposition leader Angus Taylor and Coalition colleagues speak to reporters at Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 23.13 EDT
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‘This is an international crisis … not a political opportunity’: Bowen
The focus is fuel reserves today, and Dan Tehan is up next, asking the government again to say where there are fuel shortages in Australia.
Tehan says industry is required under law to provide the energy department detailed weekly updates on fuel stock levels across the country.
Before Bowen can get a full sentence in, the Speaker Milton Dick calls out Liberal MP Andrew Wallace for interjecting too much. Instead of nodding, Wallace talks back (a big no no for Dick) and is promptly yeeted out.
Now back to Bowen who says acknowledges there are real issues for rural and regional communities across Australia, but that there aren’t supply problems and panic buying is making the situation worse. He warns the Coalition not to politicise the issue.
double quotation markAn agency informed us they have seen demand increase in Mildura, for example, by 100% at their service stations. In the Adelaide Hills and Barossa, by 280%. Now, Mr Speaker, I think most reasonable people would understand that puts pressure on supply chains.
When demand goes up so much, it puts huge pressure on supply chains. But it can also be the case, and it is also the case, that fundamentally Australia’s fuel security is good because of the minimum stock obligations that we have put in place.
This is an international crisis, not an economic opportunity or a political opportunity.
ShareIt’s question time
Angus Taylor begins and asks the prime minister where there are fuel shortages in Australia.
Anthony Albanese quickly turns question time into “quotation time” (not my joke), quoting the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, from a few days ago telling Australians not to panic buy.
He then tries to turn the attention back to the Coalition for not building up Australia’s fuel supplies, and quotes Jonathon Duniam who said, “I will say I do accept that successive governments have let Australians down.”
Unhappy with the answer, Dan Tehan gets up to make a point of order, both for the PM not saying where the shortages may be, and for quoting the opposition.
The PM retorts:
double quotation markI’ll tell you where [the shortages are] not … the four refineries that shut on their watch … They’re not in Texas, which is where they [the Coalition] had their fuel security under this minister [Taylor].
Now, Australia is fuel-secure right now. We have as much fuel coming in through our ports now as we did before the war in the Middle East began.
Updated at 23.11 EDT
Patrick Commins
US-Israel war likely to last for months, not weeks, CBA analyst says
The US-Israel war will last for months, not weeks, says a CBA analyst who predicts the conflict “will continue to escalate from here, despite recent comments” by Donald Trump.
Madison Cartwright, the bank’s senior geoeconomics analyst, said the war was “on an escalatory path” and that the strait of Hormuz “will likely remain functionally closed” as long as the hostilities last.
The global benchmark oil price, Brent crude, was trading at a little over $US70 at the end of February, but spiked as high as US$118 before Trump in the past 24 hours signalled a possible end to the war by saying America’s military objectives were “pretty much complete”.
Oil most recently fetched $US88.68 a barrel, according to Bloomberg.
But Cartwright, while acknowledging the “high uncertainty”, said “we believe the conflict will be measured in months not weeks”.
As motorists face a spike in petrol prices, she warned of a “more pronounced” fallout in global markets and economies from a more protracted war.
double quotation markIran views the conflict as existential and retains enough missile and drone capability to prolong fighting. By contrast, the US and Israel have not achieved their core objectives.
She said these three objectives were: “a permanent eradication of Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities; Iranian commitment to zero nuclear enrichment; and the end of the current regime in Tehran.”
double quotation markThe strait will unlikely fully reopen without a ceasefire, a surrender of Iran, or a mutual agreement between the warring parties. All are unlikely at this point.
Updated at 22.57 EDT
Duniam ‘confident’ on migration bill
Jumping back to the Coalition’s press conference, the shadow home affairs spokesperson, Jonathon Duniam, says he’s comfortable with the government’s process, having received a verbal briefing from minister Tony Burke earlier today.
His language is a little stronger than Ted O’Brien’s to the chamber earlier.
Duniam says while there will be an internal process and Senate inquiry hearing tonight before forming a formal position on the bill, he says it’s a “straightforward” piece of legislation.
double quotation markI’m comfortable with the process, the tests that apply, the thresholds, the exclusions and exceptions that exist to provide safety for those who need it. I feel confident, of course, we’ve got an internal process to go through, and we’ll go through that, including the Senate inquiry, but it is a relatively straightforward piece of legislation.
If enacted and the minister makes a determination to revoke a visa, they are only temporary revocations. It can only be up to six months.
Updated at 22.54 EDT
Benita Kolovos
Victorian anti-price-gouging laws will not extend to limiting fuel prices, Allan says
Leaving federal parliament for a moment, as we flagged earlier, the Victorian government’s fuel price cap takes effect today.
Under the state government’s anti-price-gouging laws, retailers must set their fuel price at 2pm for the following day. This price is then published on the government’s Servo Saver page within the Service Victoria app at 4pm. The price will apply for 24 hours from 6am the next day.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, told reporters earlier today:
double quotation markEveryone has had that experience of driving past a petrol station in the morning and seeing the price at one level [then] going back in the afternoon and the price having jumped quite significantly.
With the global uncertainty having the potential of putting further pressure and price rises on the cost of fuel, we have been looking at real, meaningful, practical ways that we can provide support to families, to save hundreds of dollars a year and put information into the hands of motorists across Victoria.
Asked whether the government would be able to limit how high fuel prices could rise, Allan responded:
double quotation markNo. I understand what’s behind that question, because I think all of us are not just watching the ongoing conflict in the Middle East with concern about the conflict itself, but a keen understanding of what that can impact in terms of global supply chains and the potential for price spikes in the area of fuel.
What the Servo Saver app does is it puts the information in the hands of motorists.
The consumer affairs minister, Nick Staikos, said petrol stations that fail to register or report their prices now face fines of more than $3,000 for each breach, or up to $25,000 if taken to court.
Updated at 22.58 EDT
Migration laws to block people on temporary visas ‘make sense’: opposition
The shadow home affairs minister, Jonathon Duniam, says the government’s migration laws, introduced to parliament a short time ago, “make sense”.
The Coalition said earlier that it backs in-principle the migration laws that would give the government powers to block people on temporary visas amid conflict in the Middle East.
Asked whether there’s a double standard in supporting the five Iranian women on the national soccer team to get humanitarian visas while potentially banning other Iranian people from arriving in Australia, Taylor said there’s “no inconsistency” because the Iranian women’s team are “already here”.
Duniam says:
double quotation markWe’re talking about 20 female sports players who may potentially all seek asylum, who knows, five have been granted, and then many, many, many, many more that could potentially take advantage of a weakness in our system if people want to apply for asylum from outside of Australia.
Updated at 22.53 EDT
Taylor welcomes visas for Iranian women’s football players as Coalition backs ADF deployment to UAE
The Liberal leader, Angus Taylor, has welcomed Australia’s involvement in the Middle East, after the government this morning announced it would deploy an E-7A Wedgetail surveillance aircraft and missiles to the United Arab Emirates in a defensive capacity.
Speaking to reporters at Parliament House, Taylor also welcomed the decision to grant five players on the Iranian women’s soccer team humanitarian visas.
Taylor said:
double quotation markWe very much welcome the decision and announcement made by the government to support our allies in their work against this regime.
The shadow defence minister, James Paterson, says he received a briefing from the defence department this morning, and says supporting the UAE and Gulf nations against Iran’s attacks is in Australia’s national interest.
double quotation markWhen your friends ask you for help, if you’re able to help, you should help. And there’s no question that the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states are our friends.
Opposition leader Angus Taylor and Coalition colleagues speak to reporters at Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 23.13 EDT
Greens call migration bill to block temporary visa holders from the Middle East a ‘new low’
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, says Australians will be “appalled” that after the government granted humanitarian visas for five of the Iranian women’s soccer players, they moved on the same day to “shut the door” on thousands of others.
The Greens are holding a press conference at Parliament House, and Waters says that Labor has a “terrible track record” on refugee rights but calls this a new low.
double quotation markWhat a new low from this Labor government, what an appalling act of cruelty – from backing and resourcing an illegal war, raining down bombs on civilians, to then shutting the door on those same civilians who have the legal right to enter our country.
You cannot get more morally bankrupt or hypocritical than that.
Greens senator David Shoebridge says that the bill shows “deep cruelty”:
double quotation markLet’s see the truth being exposed here, the war parties create refugees, and then today they’re coming together to shut the door on them. It’s obscene.
Updated at 22.28 EDT
Penry Buckley
Minns unsure if he’ll be premier when Sydney motorway is completed
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, says he does not know if he will still be premier by the time the troubled construction of the M6 motorway is completed.
As we reported earlier, the NSW government has issued the consortium building the M6, CGU, with a notice forcing it to continue construction or face possible legal consequences, two years after large sinkholes opened above the site of the $3.1bn motorway tunnel.
Asked at a press conference today if the M6, a state-owned toll road originally scheduled to be completed by late 2025, will open during his premiership, Minns says:
double quotation markI don’t know, but I’m very pleased to say that the surface works are completed. I know the area well because I live in the suburb, and look it would be nice to have, but I don’t think what people are saying Sydney needs is another toll road.
The premier has been forced to downplay rumours of his retirement, after he told a press conference this month about the completion of tunnelling on the Metro West project that he would not be premier by the time the metro was finished. It is expected to open in 2032, but Minns told budget estimates last month this did not mean he was planning to step down if he is reelected as premier in March next year.
Greens push Labor to pull Australian troops out of US military
The bells have been ringing almost non-stop in the Senate this morning – there’s been a few things going on, so let’s catch you up.
The government has guillotined debate for its superannuation bill so it can pass the parliament tonight.
Labor secured agreement from the Greens (with no amendments), so between the two parties, they agreed for the bill to be voted on by 7:30pm tonight. That cuts down debate time for the Coalition and the independents.
But while the Greens teamed up with the government on that motion, the minor party has slammed the decision to commit military assets to the Middle East, and put forward a separate motion calling on the government to withdraw Australian troops from the US military and note that the Australian public don’t support joining “another US-led forever war”.
The trade minister, Don Farrell, deflected the criticism from the Greens and said:
double quotation markThe Albanese government has been clear that we are not taking offensive action against Iran. And we have been clear that we are not deploying Australian troops on the ground in Iran.
The Greens motion doesn’t have support from the government or Coalition so it doesn’t go anywhere.
Updated at 22.06 EDT
Total value of Australian homes passes $12tnPatrick Commins
The combined value of Australia’s overly inflated residential property market passed $12tn for the first time at the end of last year, new Australian Bureau of Statistics data has revealed.
The total worth of dwellings has now climbed for 13 straight quarters, or for more than three years, with the combined value of homes up by 26% since September 2022.
The average home price climbed by 2.7% through the final three months of 2025 to $1.07m, with the highest average home price in NSW at $1.3m.
Western Australia became the third state after NSW and Queensland to achieve the dubious honour of recording an average home price of more than $1m, after values boomed by 16.8% in 2025.
There were also rapid increases in average home values in the Northern Territory (up 15.1% last year to $580,000) and in Queensland (up 13.9% to $1.07m).
The average dwelling price in South Australia climbed by 10.6% in 2025 to $938,100, the ABS data showed, while the average home value in NSW, Victoria and the ACT were up by a more sedate 3-3.6%.
Updated at 21.58 EDT