Australia politics live: two more Iranians reportedly seek asylum; NSW hospitals see record emergency attendances | Australia news

Bridget McKenzie will put her hat in the ring, alongside Matt Canavan and Kevin Hogan, to replace David Littleproud who announced his resignation from the leadership yesterday afternoon.

Littleproud said he would remain in the party, either on the backbench or in the shadow ministry, but said he was “buggered” and wanted to spend more time with his family.

In a statement on Instagram, McKenzie confirmed her intention, and thanked people for the “wave of support I have received from across the country overnight.”

The Nationals have long been the strong voice of regional Australians and if successful I commit to working every day, using all my experience, energy and drive to secure the future of our great country.

‘There are developments this morning’: Chalmers on Iranian football team

We’re getting a slightly bigger forward sizzle from the treasurer on how many women of the Iranian football team have sought asylum in Australia.

The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, will speak later this morning at about 9am.

Guardian understands seven players have now sought asylum in Australia, including the five granted visas yesterday. It is unclear if the additional two players have been granted visas at this time.

Chalmers confirms that there have been more discussions this morning:

There are developments this morning that I’m reluctant to go into because Tony Burke, the minister, will be up later this morning to give people a proper sense of that … It is a tribute to their bravery and to the work of the officials and the ministers that we’ve been able to issue those five visas already. As I understand it, there are more discussions this morning and Tony Burke will have more to say about that later in the day.

Australian economy not ‘immune’ to global volatility: Chalmers

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says the budget will not be immune to global volatility, but maintains that the economy is well placed to handle the uncertainty.

Speaking to ABC AM this morning, Chalmers is getting ready to hand down a budget in two months and one day (but who’s counting). He says inflation, productivity, and global uncertainty are three things the budget will have to take into account – and two of those things are directly impacted by the war in the Middle East.

We’re seeing a lot of volatility play out on these global markets … We won’t be immune from that. We’re not complacent about it, but we’re also really well placed in Australia to deal with what’s coming at us from around the world.

Clearly, we had an inflation challenge in our economy already and this risks making it worse. That’s clear. And we’ve been upfront about that.

Host, Melissa Clarke, asks Chalmers whether the volatility could also see a rise in Australia’s gas prices, giving the budget a windfall, as occurred after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Chalmers says that “remains to be seen” and will in part depend on how long the conflict goes on.

We wouldn’t necessarily bank a big change in revenue for those companies until we would understand better how long this thing will drag out.

The government is keeping mum on reports of two more women on the Iranian football team seeking asylum in Australia.

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, is doing the media rounds this morning, and tells the Today Show she’ll leave any updates to the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, who will hold a press conference later this morning.

Wong says the women were given the opportunity to speak with department officials alone, without their minders. She describes images of the remainder of the Iranian team getting on the bus to leave as “very confronting”.

Asked whether she’s concerned about their welfare and what will happen to those who are returning to Iran, Wong says:

I am reluctant to add to speculation about the response when they get home, because obviously we I’m concerned for their safety. We know this regime has engaged in brutal treatment of women and girls but of its citizens, and we’ve seen that over the years, which is why the government put so much effort into making sure that people did get given the choice, and as I said, they were offered an opportunity, and had the opportunity, I should say, to talk to Australian officials alone.

Government reassures fuel supply in ‘excess’ in Australia

Labor is facing pressure from the opposition over panic buying and some fuel shortages being felt across the country, while it tries to reassure the public there is enough supply.

The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, and shadow attorney general, Michaelia Cash, were sparring on Sunrise this morning.

O’Neil said Australians should feel confident, and again (for the billionth time) tells everyone to stop panic buying.

We have an excess of fuel in the country that’s in excess of the legal requirement. The reason that we are seeing issues [across the] country is because people are buying more fuel than they need. We are managing this on a daily basis, and people should feel confident in our system of fuel security as a country and buy what they need.

And we will work through these issues with petrol stations around the country.

Cash said it wasn’t good enough to blame families and farmers for the shortages, and said the government should be doing more to address supply shortfalls.

It’s everybody else’s fault. Let’s blame mum and dad Australia, let’s [blame] farmers. Let’s blame the small businesses, let’s blame the truckies. How about the government actually start governing?

More than 3,000 Australians return from Middle East

As of this morning, 3,003 Australians have arrived back home from the Middle East on 21 flights since 4 March.

There are currently two flights on en route to Melbourne and Sydney and there are three additional flights scheduled to depart from the region today:

• EK406 from Dubai to Melbourne

• EK412 from Dubai to Sydney

• QR988 From Doha to Melbourne

Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you ahead of another big sitting day, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.

As conflict in the Middle East and members of the Iranian women’s football team seeking asylum in Australia remain the focus of the morning, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will be doing the media rounds.

The government says more than 3,000 Australians have now arrived back home from the Middle East as limited flights – we’ll bring you more on that shortly.

I’ve got my coffee, I hope you’ve got yours, let’s get cracking!

Around 1.4m students are set to sit down for Naplan tests today, the annual national assessment loved by statisticians and loathed by many education experts

Naplan measures how students in years 3, 5, 6 and 9 are progressing in literacy and numeracy, with this year marking the second cycle since the test was brought forward from May to March with new proficiency levels.

The head of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (Acara), Stephen Gniel, said his organisation had worked with the Islamic Schools Association of Australia, as the test window coincides with Ramadan, to help schools and teachers support affected students.

We’re encouraging schools to schedule their tests as soon as possible in the test window and to run Naplan tests first thing in the morning to ensure fasting students’ energy levels are at their highest.

Gniel assured students that there was no need to study for the tests.

The best preparation that kids can do is make sure they go to school regularly … This is about knowing where each student is up to.

Schools and education authorities will receive preliminary results early in term 2, with full results to be published in early August.

Two more Iranians seek asylum in Australia after football team flies out – reports

Two more members of the Iranian women’s football team have reportedly sought asylum in Australia after competing in the Women’s Asian Cup tournament.

According to multiple reports, a plane left Sydney airport on Tuesday night local time for Malaysia with players and staff, ending a dramatic two days during which five players were granted asylum after refusing to return home.

That number rose to seven on Tuesday night, according to several media outlets, when two more members of the group decided to remain in Australia.

Reports said the squad left Sydney at 10.43pm local time on Malaysia Airlines flight MH140 bound for Kulala Lumpur but it was not clear what route they would take back to Iran after that because the country’s airspace is closed due to the Middle East conflict.

Full story here:

NSW public hospital and ambulance services saw “record numbers” of emergency department attendances, admitted patient episodes and ambulance responses, latest government data shows.

The Bureau of Health Information (BHI) today released its latest quarterly report for public health services in NSW from October to December 2025. The numbers showed despite this unprecedented demand across the system, “performance remained stable in key areas”, according to BHI chief executive, adjunct Prof Heiko Spallek said.

The 820,009 attendances at emergency departments was the highest since BHI began reporting in 2010, with an increase in presentations for more urgent conditions and fewer patients presenting with less urgent conditions.

The percentage of patients starting their treatment on time (66.3%) was relatively stable compared with the same quarter a year earlier, the report found.

A record number of patients (79,004) left emergency departments without, or before completing, treatment – up by 10,846 (15.9%) from the same quarter a year earlier.

Ambulance services also saw the highest number of calls and incidents since 2010, and while the number of ambulance responses was relatively stable (up 0.6%) compared with the same quarter a year earlier, it was also a record high, the BHI found.

The number of patients admitted during the quarter (518,436) was the highest of any October to December quarter since 2010.

The average length of stay for overnight non-acute episodes (such as rehabilitation, geriatric evaluation and management) was 19.3 days – the highest of any October to December quarter.

The number of elective surgeries (58,922) was up 7.2%, with more surgeries performed across all urgency categories.

At the end of December 2025, there were 92,812 patients on the waiting list, down 7.4% from the same time a year earlier. Of those patients, 3,845 had waited longer than clinically recommended, down 43.8% from the same time in 2024.

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with breaking overnight stories and then Krishani Dhanji will be steering the news ship.

It looks like another busy start for Tony Burke this morning amid reports that two more Iranian female footballers sought asylum in Australia last night rather than fly home with the rest of the squad. More coming up.

And public hospital and ambulance services in New South Wales saw “record numbers” of emergency department attendances, admitted patient episodes and ambulance responses in the last quarter of last year, figures show. More details shortly.