Australia news live: luxury car tax change could seal EU trade deal; flights from Dubai land in Sydney and Melbourne

Australia to change luxury car tax to close EU trade deal

Tom McIlroy

Australia looks set to make changes to the luxury car tax as part of concessions to secure a free trade deal with the European Union.

Both sides have been talking up significant progress on the negotiations and a visit to Australia by the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, could be announced within days.

The luxury car tax has been a sticking point and Guardian Australia has been told the current $80,000 threshold could be increased to at least $100,000, in a concession to European manufacturers including BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Cars with a value over the LCT threshold attract an LCT rate of 33%.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, confirmed the government had indicated a willingness to include the luxury car tax thresholds in the FTA discussions.

“We are trying to finalise that EU free trade deal as soon as we can,” he said, paying tribute to the trade minister, Don Farrell, and the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong.

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

Minister says repatriation flights are ‘good news’ for stranded travelers

Federal resources minister Madeleine King is speaking on RN Breakfast this morning about the repatriation flights. She said it is “good news” that more flights are taking place, with four scheduled flights from Dubai and two from Abu Dhabi in the next 24 hours.

King added there’s been chatter that Qatar Airways could soon begin a limited number of relief flights as well.

It’s a long way from home, and there are Australians caught out a long way from home. And the department of foreign affairs is working very hard to make sure every Australian finds their way to a safe place and hopefully home.

Two flights from Dubai land in Sydney and Melbourne

A second commercial flight landed in Sydney last night from Dubai and the first made its way to Melbourne from the Middle Eastern hub.

An Emirates plane touched down just before 11pm in Sydney, with another arriving in Melbourne about 6.20am this morning. A third plane, from Abu Dhabi to Sydney, is set to arrive just after 9.30am.

Australians shared tearful stories on arrival.

“It’s just been so stressful hearing everything, and especially being five months’ pregnant and not knowing what’s happening,” one traveller told the ABC last night.

Emirates and Etihad is still only operating limited flights until further notice, while Qatari airspace around Doha remains closed.

With the limited re‑opening of airspace, Emirates is operating a reduced flight schedule until further notice. Visit https://t.co/A2RdND1Gjr for more information.

These flights are open for booking and we are accommodating customers with earlier bookings as a priority.… pic.twitter.com/a0R100YFUL

— Emirates Support (@EmiratesSupport) March 5, 2026

Good morning, Nick Visser here to take on Friday’s news. Let’s get to it.

Tropical low brings severe weather to far north Queensland coast

Emergency crews are ready and sandbag stations are in place in towns along Queensland’s far north coast, with heavy rain, flooding and damaging winds forecast on Friday as a tropical low tracks north-east of Cairns, AAP reported this morning.

A cyclone watch for the region was cancelled yesterday after the system was considered a very low chance of intensifying before hitting the coast.

The “disconnected” tropical low was likely to reach the coast by this afternoon between Cairns and Townsville before moving south-west into central Queensland at the weekend, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Angus Hines said.

We’ll bring you more updates on this through the day.