Australia news live: trade minister demands removal of ‘unjustified’ US tariffs; deadly bird flu detected in Queensland for the first time | Australia news

Aukus construction yards to be ‘pride of the nation’

The defence minister, Richard Marles, is speaking in Adelaide after announcing an extra $4.6 billion for construction yards that will build Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet.

In the coming years as we get to a number of north of 10,000 people, and they are jobs that will be here for generations to come.

This is a hugely significant facility in terms of what our nation’s industrial capacity is.

This will be the highest tech production line in Australia, it will be one of the highest tech production lines in the world.

I really want to thank the more than a thousand workers now, but thousands to come who will be building this facility.

They should be incredibly proud of what they are doing, and the outcome of this will really be the pride of the nation.

Aukus is expected to be discussed at Labor’s national conference on the weekend, following calls to review the plan.

Earlier, Marles said the issue had already been debated at the previous national conference, where iit received “overwhelming support”.

Farrell silent on donations from Chinese billionaire

Don Farrell, the trade minister and special minister of state, has brushed off questions about Anthony Albanese attending a fundraising dinner hosted by the son of a Chinese billionaire under scrutiny from the tax office.

The Australian Financial Review reported this week Albanese attended the event with 25-year-old Felix Lee, whose father, Phillip Dong Fang Lee, has made big donations to the Labor party.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Friday that Phillip Lee has been investigated by the ATO over large sums of money coming from China to Australia.

Other attenders at the fundraiser included the Commonwealth Bank boss, Matt Comyn, former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews, the former Asic chairman James Shipton and former Future Fund boss David Murray.

Asked if the fundraising was appropriate, Farrell said he was “unfamiliar” with the media reports.

All of the issues in relation to donations are matters that are helped with and dealt with by the party administration.

Australia’s largest exports to US exempt from latest tariffs

Australian gold, beef and copper will continue flowing into the US tariff-free, despite Donald Trump’s latest wave of levies.

The trade minister, Don Farrell, said those exports would continue to have a high volume of trade into the US.

The 67% increase in trade has been because those products – the value of those products, and the volume of those products – has been increasing.

I don’t see any reason to think that that’s not going to continue.

I think we will continue to have a high volume of trade into the United States.

But we’re always looking for new markets.

Tariffs on Australian exports ‘completely unjustified’

The trade minister, Don Farrell, is speaking in Adelaide after the US revealed it would slap 12.5% tariffs on Australian goods in a trade move hitting dozens of countries that Donald Trump claims have not done enough to combat forced labour in supply chains.

Farrell said:

We do not believe it was justified.

We believe that – amongst all of the countries in the world -Australia does take the issue of modern slavery seriously, and will continue to do that.

The Albanese government believes that this imposition of higher tariffs on Australia is completely unjustified, and we will continue to lobby the United States trade representative to remove all tariffs on Australian goods.

Relationship between police and Jewish security to be probed as royal commission continues

The relationship between police and Jewish security groups is set to be examined after calls for governments to entirely fund the community’s security needs.

Across a fifth round of hearings in Melbourne this week, the anti-Semitism royal commission has been told the financial burden of Jewish safety in Australia is largely being worn by families, schools, places of worship and community groups, AAP reports.

Liberal MP Julian Leeser, whose persistent lobbying was instrumental to establishing the landmark inquiry, will appear before the commission on Friday to detail the rising tide of hate speech and its impact on the community.

We’ll be bringing you the latest on the blog.

Australia’s hidden pain forces many out of workforce

Millions of Australians living with chronic pain are fighting an invisible battle that extends far beyond health care.

It’s a condition that forces many to leave the workforce, with fresh research revealing that 42% of sufferers have had to stop working due to chronic pain, AAP reports.

The 2026 National Pain Report also revealed that 57% of respondents reported their conditions had affected their ability to work.

Advocate Kellie Jade Ellis told AAP:

I felt like I couldn’t disclose my chronic pain to any employer, there were times I was in a pain zone and I had to go home and I was definitely met with a lot of shame.

Drawing on responses from more than 6,000 Australians, the report also revealed that 72% believed costs have prevented them from accessing the health care they need.

The report argued there is a national pain gap currently existing, with one in five Australians living with chronic pain.

Spotted in the common areas …

There are plenty of references to “comrades” here, and it appears that almost no one gets special treatment or privacy at the ALP national conference – not even cabinet ministers.

Walking into the Adelaide convention centre this morning, we spotted the health minister, Mark Butler, sitting at a public table in the common area of the centre typing on his laptop – perhaps writing up some last minute notes, or editing his address.

Day two of the conference will heavily focus on health measures and the NDIS – Butler’s portfolio – which he’ll introduce to the floor later this morning.

King Charles steps out of a Tardis to open stripped-back Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow opened on Thursday evening (Friday morning AEST) to the surreal sight of King Charles and Queen Camilla stepping out of a Tardis – and a mechanical Loch Ness monster roaring the first few bars of Flower of Scotland.

The Tardis was a nod to the fact that police boxes were designed by the Scottish architect Gilbert MacKenzie Trench.

But the Doctor Who reference proved to be doubly apt given that the Games faced being exterminated until Glasgow stepped in after Victoria pulled out due to financial pressures.

Queensland man charged for creating AI-generated posters depicting eight women as sex workers

A Queensland man has been charged for creating and distributing AI-generated posters falsely depicting local women as sex workers.

The man is accused of generating the posters since February 2021 but police only became aware after one was posted at a public venue in Gatton in May this year.

Queensland police allege the posters featured victims’ faces superimposed on to the bodies of women depicted performing explicit sexual acts.

The victims’ full names, social media usernames and employment details were also included alongside false claims identifying them as sex workers, police say.

A 52-year-old Cleveland man has been charged with 43 offences including 27 counts of distributing intimate images, six counts of unlawful stalking, four counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, four counts of using a postal service to menace, harass or cause offence and one count each of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence and authority required to possess explosives.

He has been remanded in custody to appear before Brisbane magistrates court on 19 August.

To date, detectives have identified eight alleged victims, according to Queensland police.

More detail on first suspected H5 bird flu case reported in Queensland

Queensland has reported its first suspected case of the deadly H5 bird flu, after a deceased petrel discovered on the eastern side of Moreton Island tested positive to the virus.

The chief veterinary officer, Allison Crook, said the bird had been discovered on the beach and had likely washed ashore.

We have had an enhanced surveillance program in place for bird flu for quite a while now, and this program becomes even more important following this detection.

Biosecurity agencies had moved from a “lean forward incident management arrangement” to a full stand-up, she said.

The agriculture minister, Tony Perrett, urged vigilance from the community and poultry producers but said there is still a low risk to human health and it is still safe to continue to eat chicken meat or eggs and there is no cause for panic buying.

He said stopping an outbreak was a major challenge, due to the risk that migratory birds could bring the virus into the state.

It’s a great tragedy that we’re seeing this in the wild bird population and the migratory birds. Thankfully, there’s been no detections, obviously, in the native wild bird population in this state. Something that concerns us all, particularly the vulnerability that sits around that.

So that’s why we’ve got to do our absolute best, that’s why we’ve been preparing, particularly across agencies within government, to make certain.

Queensland has returned the state’s first suspected positive case of deadly H5 bird flu

A strain of bird flu with the potential to devastate poultry and native animal populations has been reported in Queensland.

H5 bird flu had previously been confirmed in migratory wild birds in other states, including NSW and Western Australia.

On Friday, the Queensland government revealed a suspected positive result had been returned after a dead petrel was found washed up on Moreton Island.

Samples from the animal are now undergoing further testing.

Results of the CSIRO’s testing will be communicated by the federal government.

There have been no detections in native birds, poultry, nor evidence of large-scale deaths in any animals in Queensland.

We’ve just got a statement from Australia’s trade minister, Don Farrell, in response to the 12.5% tariffs to be levelled by the United States.

These tariffs are unjustified, inconsistent with our free trade agreement, and should be removed.

Australia’s measures to combat forced labour and modern slavery are among the strongest in the world, and we are recognised globally, including in the US, for our leadership.

Australian goods subject to US tariffs from today

The US trade action sets out that virtually all goods from Australia will be subject to the 12.5% tariffs, and that it will apply almost immediately.

The document says it will apply to goods entering from 12.01am US eastern time on 24 July – less than six hours from now – except for goods that had been loaded on to a vessel before that time and which enter before 12.01am eastern on 28 July.

The action, as it pertains to Australia specifically, states that after an investigation “the Trade Representative has determined to impose 12.5 percent tariffs on products of Australia” except for a limited number of exemptions.

“The Trade Representative has determined, in accordance with the specific direction of the President, that the tariff rate to be applied, and the scope of tariffs and exemptions are appropriate to obtain the elimination of the acts, policies, and practices determined to be actionable in the investigation” – that is, the claims of not doing enough to deal with forced labour.

More detail on US tariffs as Australian exports in firing line

In some breaking news, the United States has announced it will hit Australian exports with a 12.5% tariff, in its latest trade move hitting dozens of countries that Donald Trump claims have not done enough to combat forced labour in supply chains.

We’ve contacted the trade minister, Don Farrell, for comment.

In a statement this morning, the US trade department claimed Australia was on a list of 54 economies it deemed as having “failed to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor”.

Other countries facing a 12.5% tariff include Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

Other destinations on a separate list – including Canada, the European Union and Mexico – will be subject to a 10% tariff, after the US claimed they had only failed to “enforce” forced labour prohibitions.

In total the tariffs apply “to the top 60 U.S. trade partners covering 99.4% of U.S. imports”, according to a trade department statement.

The United States is the only country in the world to adopt, and effectively enforce, a ban on imports made with forced labor.

President Trump is asking all trading partners to join the United States in eliminating forced labor from global supply chains.

‘The comments are wrong’: Hanson’s statements on domestic violence decried

Comments made by Pauline Hanson on domestic violence have been condemned by the deputy opposition leader.

The One Nation leader faced swift backlash earlier this week after she called domestic violence a “two-way street”, described paid leave for those experiencing family and domestic violence as “ridiculous”, and suggested the issue is taking police away from “real crime”.

The deputy opposition leader, Jane Hume, continued to decry the comments on ABC radio:

The comments are wrong.

I think it demonstrates just how out of touch on this issue they really are.

Domestic violence is a scourge, it’s a national disgrace, it’s a serious crime and in an ideal world we’d like to see domestic violence not be a problem at all in society.

But I certainly don’t think we’re going to fix it by going on a podcast and calling domestic violence leave a holiday.