Tony Burke due to speak in Brisbane
Donald Trump’s dramatic announcement about the granting by Australia of asylum to five Iranian women footballers was the big breaking news of the night.
Trump said he had spoken to Anthony Albanese who had told him the news but added that other members of the team felt they had to return home.
We are expecting Tony Burke, the home affairs minister, to give a statement about the women shortly in Brisbane, when we can hope that he will clarify the situation.
In the meantime, here’s our news story:
Key events
‘Joy and relief’: Burke describes meeting the five Iranian women
Burke says there was joy and relief when he spoke to the five women last night to organise their humanitarian visas.
He confirms that the women have been moved from the hotel where they stayed in Brisbane to a safe location by the federal police. He adds that he spoke with the Asio director general, Mike Burgess, and AFP commissioner, Krissy Barrett.
I don’t want to begin to imagine how difficult that decision is for each of the individual women, but certainly last night, it was joy, it was relief, and people were very excited about embarking on your life in Australia.
I made final confirmation with the director general of ASIO Mike Burgess to make sure that he was completely comfortable in terms of security clearances for the people who I was about to make the offer to.
Burke thanks the media for exercising restraint, saying “reporting of different stories could have had an impact on the capacity of the women to be able to make requests.” He also thanks his caucus colleagues and the shadow home affairs minister, Jonathon Duniam.
The opposition has been calling on the government in recent days to provide asylum to the women.
Burke confirms Australia has provided humanitarian visas to five Iranian soccer players
Tony Burke has called a press conference in Brisbane this morning to confirm that the government has offered humanitarian visas to five Iranian soccer players who have been in Australia for the Asian Cup.
The home affairs minister says in the early hours of yesterday morning the conversations with the women began in “earnest” as the government looked for the “maximum number of opportunities” to support the group in Australia.
Burke says the other women on the team who have not sought asylum will still have the opportunity to do so.
Burke says it was “such a privilege” to meet with the women.
They are welcome to stay in Australia, that they are safe here, and they should feel at home here.
I signed off last night for their applications to go on to humanitarian visas. And a little bit after 1:30am this morning, the processing was completed by the Department of Home Affairs, I say to the other members of the team, the same opportunity is there Australia has taken the Iranian women’s soccer team into our past. These women are tremendously popular in Australia, but we realised they are in a terribly difficult situation with the decisions that they’re making.
Petrol jerry cans sell out amid fears of price spike and stockpiling
Luca Ittimani
Jerry cans are out of stock at shops around Australia as consumers rush to stock up on petrol, fearing a price spike.
Petrol prices are averaging close to 220 cents per litre in Australia’s biggest cities and have skyrocketed in the smaller capitals as the US war on Iran sends oil prices surging. The Albanese government has urged consumers not to panic-buy petrol but some shoppers have scoured shelves for jerry cans, which can be used to store extra fuel.
Supercheap Auto’s 20-litre jerry cans were sold out at all Sydney and Melbourne stores while Costco’s diesel yellow jerry cans were sold out online on Monday afternoon.
The most-searched term on the Bunnings website on Monday afternoon was “jerry can fuel”. A Bunnings spokesperson said:
We are seeing increased demand for fuel containers in our stores across the country. Our teams are working hard to ensure product is still available for our customers, with more coming to stores this week.
Just one Bunnings across the 60-odd warehouse in Sydney, Newcastle and the NSW south coast had Bunnings’ most popular jerry can in stock, according to the company’s website. A handful of stores in the Melbourne-Geelong area had that 20-litre AdVenture jerry can in stock.
Krishani Dhanji
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji with you here, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, will speak in a moment from Brisbane, after travelling to meet the Iranian women’s soccer team. The prime minister is also due to speak a little later this morning after Donald Trump sensationally suggested Australia was granting asylum to five of the players.
And in Parliament House, the Greens will greenlight the government’s bill to increase tax on superannuation accounts above $3m, ending a three-year stoush on the policy.
It’s going to be a big day – I’ve got my coffee, I hope you’ve got yours – let’s get cracking!
‘Significant risk’ of RBA interest rate hike next week, economists warn
Luca Ittimani
Surging oil prices have raised the risk of the Reserve Bank hiking interest rates in a week’s time, economists have warned.
Traders bet heavily on interest rate rises on Monday after oil prices surged to US$115 a barrel. Markets expect rates will now stay higher for longer, with one indicator, Australian three-year bond yields, rising to a new record high for the decade.
The next rise could come as soon as March because of the inflationary lift in petrol prices, combined with recent data suggesting the economy is running hot, UBS economists said on Monday. It had been more likely the RBA would wait until May, they wrote in a note, but:
The data … as well as now higher energy prices, means there is still a significant risk of an earlier hike.
The rate-setting board will make a decision next Tuesday, 17 March. Fears of a rate rise have risen since the RBA governor, Michele Bullock, last Tuesday said every meeting was “live”. Her remarks showed the bank was ready to lift rates again, Warren Hogan, economic adviser at Judo Bank, told Guardian Australia:
Her tone had shifted radically … The oil price response [and] the risk that it opened up in their thinking was quite severe.
However, NAB’s chief economist, Sally Auld, said it was “too early” for the RBA to know whether a rate hike was needed, so markets had “over-priced” a March rate hike. In a worst-case scenario, the RBA may even have to cut rates, Auld said, pointing to the prospect of a global recession caused by a prolonged conflict and high oil prices.
Australia should ‘consider’ requests from Gulf nations for military assistance, shadow defence minister says
Caitlin Cassidy
The shadow defence minister, James Patterson, says joining the ongoing war in the Middle East “would have to meet an incredibly high bar” but Australia should “consider” any requests from Gulf countries for military assistance.
Cabinet’s national security committee met yesterday to consider requests for Australia to provide help to countries feeling the brunt of Tehran’s missile attack, sparked by bombings ordered by the US president and Israel. Appearing on ABC’s 7.30 program last night, Patterson said he had requested to be briefed on the meeting.
He said Australia “should consider” the Gulf countries’ request but also ensure it didn’t interfere with national interests.
Australia’s core national interest is decided in the Indo-Pacific … This by the sound of it … [is] a friendly nation to Australia, perhaps a Gulf state, that has been on the receiving end of some of the indiscriminate rocket fire from Iran … has asked for our assistance.
I think we should consider that request, although we have to carefully consider whether or not we have the capabilities available to contribute and that it would not in any way detract from our own national interests.
Patterson also called for defence spending to be increased from the 2% of GDP it was increased to by the former Coalition government. The US president, Donald Trump, has pushed Australia to ramp up spending to 3.5%, which it has so far resisted.
Tony Burke due to speak in Brisbane
Donald Trump’s dramatic announcement about the granting by Australia of asylum to five Iranian women footballers was the big breaking news of the night.
Trump said he had spoken to Anthony Albanese who had told him the news but added that other members of the team felt they had to return home.
We are expecting Tony Burke, the home affairs minister, to give a statement about the women shortly in Brisbane, when we can hope that he will clarify the situation.
In the meantime, here’s our news story:
EU to sign defence partnerships with Australia and others, Kallas says
The European Union will sign defence partnerships with Australia, Iceland and Ghana in the coming days, Reuters has reported EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas saying on Monday.
“There are many other interested countries knocking at our door,” Kallas added in a speech in Brussels.
You can read more about the EU’s shift to, in the words of the EU chief, Ursula von der Leyen, “a more realistic and interest-driven foreign policy” here:
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer, with the top overnight stories before Krishani Dhanji takes up the running.
Donald Trump’s dramatic announcement about the granting by Australia of asylum to five Iranian women footballers was the big breaking news of the night. We’ll have the latest in a moment.
The ASX share market is expected to open down another 0.5% this morning after a fall in stocks in Europe and the US overnight on the back of continued war in the Middle East and surging oil prices.
More coming up, including the threat of higher interest rates.
