A personal view of Australian and International Politics
Contemporary politics,local and international current affairs, science, music and extracts from the Queensland Newspaper "THE WORKER" documenting the proud history of the Labour Movement.
MAHATMA GANDHI ~ Truth never damages a cause that is just.
The
Minns government on Friday announced it had signed a contract with
Snowy Energy to bring all public transport operations in the state under
a single renewable energy agreement for the first time. The seven-year
deal comes into effect from July 2027 and will last until 2034.
The NSW minister for transport, John Graham, said it would reduce costs at a time when fuel uncertainty was seeing more Australians cut back on driving in favour of public transport.
“Cost of living pressures are real for household and government budgets,” he said.
“This
contract reduces costs and moves us towards better environmental
outcomes while we deliver a reliable public transport network.”
The NSW government, which has rejected calls to
follow other states by making public transport free during the fuel
crisis, said savings of $130m on transport power bills would be
reinvested into services.
It
said Snowy Energy, the retail brand of the commonwealth-owed Snowy
Hydro, was awarded the contract after a competitive two-year process.
Prior to the deal, Transport for NSW was already Snowy Energy’s largest customer, contributing more than 10% of its energy sales.
The
Snowy Hydro CEO, Dennis Barnes, said the deal would see public
transport’s consumption of energy matched to wind, solar and
hydroelectric generators in its network through the issue of renewable
energy “certificates”.
“What this deal does is
match the consumption of [Transport for NSW] to the production of
renewable energy somewhere, but it isn’t a physical connection. It’s a
financially traceable connection through certificates.”
He
said in the future this would include assets such as the Snowy Uungala
wind farm, under construction near Dubbo. Snowy Hydro operates three
gas-fired power stations, with fossil fuels contributing 5%-10% of the
power it generates annually.
The state
government has said the deal will lead to “significant emissions
reductions”, avoiding the equivalent of more than 800,000 tonnes of CO2
annually compared with conventional power.
Transport
for NSW, which uses almost as much power as all other NSW public
agencies combined, has a target to reduce operational emissions by 65%
by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2035.
Fossil
fuels are still used on most of the state’s public buses, as well as on
diesel-powered ferries and intercity and regional trains.
The new regional rail fleet, which is bimodal and runs on diesel and electricity, due to replace diesel-powered XPT trains, is several years late. The state government has said electric ferries will fully replace diesel-powered vessels by 2035.
The
government has ordered more than 500 electric buses, of which hundreds
are already in operation, with 7,500 more expected to fully replace the
8,000-strong fleet of diesel-powered vehicles.
Last
month, the NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner found Transport for NSW had
not taken reasonable steps to engage with groups affected by the
potential use of forced labor in Xinjiang in China and the Democratic
Republic of Congo in the supply chains for lithium-ion batteries.
Palestinians sheltering in tent cities in Gaza fear they have been forgotten. (ABC News)
Palestinians
in Gaza fear the world has forgotten them as the war between the US,
Israel and Iran engulfs the broader Middle East.
Six months after the ceasefire in Gaza began, many Palestinians are still living in incredibly difficult conditions.
Heavy
and unseasonably late rains have continued to batter the strip well
into April, inundating tent communities that are home to hundreds of
thousands of people.
Israeli
strikes against claimed Hamas targets have also continued in Gaza in
recent weeks, despite the ceasefire, as the country's military has
attacked Iran and the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Several strikes have hit tent camps in Gaza or their surroundings.
In
the Al-Sit Amira tent camp, south of Deir al-Balah city in central
Gaza, 46-year-old Rana Khdeir was trying to find a new place to stay
after her fragile shelter was all but destroyed in an Israeli bombing.
"This is the biggest proof that the war is not over,"
she said.
Rana Khdeir's fragile shelter was all but destroyed in an Israeli bombing. (ABC News)
Ms
Khdeir and her family were originally from Beit Lahiya in Gaza's north —
an area that was all but levelled as the IDF sought to create a buffer
zone along the border with Israel.
"We
don't know [what to do]. I will go and see a tent of one of my
neighbours, and spend there the night with my husband and children,
until God will make it easier," she said.
"The most important thing we know is that they forgot us."
An Israeli strike hit a nearby area while the ABC was there filming, injuring residents and destroying temporary shelters.
An Israeli strike on a tent city south of Deir al-Balah.
Nearby,
Fatima Hamdona, 55, was mending her tent after the heavy rain. Her
family had been displaced from the Al Bureij camp in central Gaza.
"We
have been soaked in water, and our mattresses are soaked, our clothes
are soaked, our tent is soaked — we don't have a tent to protect us,"
she said.
Ms Hamdona's husband was killed in the war, and her son was injured. He is currently receiving medical treatment outside Gaza.
"This is not a life. As you see, it seems that Gaza has been forgotten. No-one cares about us,"
she said.
Fatima Hamdona's tent was damaged and inundated by heavy rain. (ABC News)
In
the six months since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was agreed,
765 people have been killed in Israeli strikes and 2,140 injured.
Israel insists it is targeting Hamas militants, although many women, children and the elderly are among the dead.
Iran war worsens humanitarian conditions
Economist
Mohammad Abu-Jiyab, editor of the Gaza newspaper Al-Iqtisadiya, said 90
per cent of Gaza's population was living below the poverty line.
He
said the war had led to the "destruction or crippling" of much of the
strip's economy, including more than 75 per cent of the agricultural
sector.
"The Iranian war comes to add more complexity to this humanitarian reality in Gaza,"
he said.
"There
is a decline … in the level of humanitarian aid, and also in the levels
of commercial goods, and the rise in prices is noticeable in local
markets in Gaza."
Mohammad Abu-Jiyab says most of Gaza's population is poor. (ABC News)
The
Rafah crossing with Egypt, the only border crossing from Gaza that does
not open into Israel, was closed for a fortnight at the start of the
war with Iran.
It had been
closed for nearly two years during the Gaza war, and was only reopened
again a few weeks before the Iran war broke out.
Humanitarian
agencies and health authorities argued that closing the crossing again
put lives at risk, as people in need of medical evacuation from the
strip could not pass through.
"We
have in the Gaza Strip more than 20,000 sick and wounded that are in
need of medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip," said Khalil Dijran, a
spokesperson for the territory's health ministry.
"More
than 1,500 of the sick and wounded have already died because of two
years of waiting, and there are about 4,500 children that are in need
for treatment outside the Gaza Strip."
Khalil Dijran says the situation in the strip is dire. (ABC News)
While
Rafah was closed for a fortnight, some medical evacuations were allowed
through other crossings — specifically Kerem Shalom, which is
controlled by Israel — and medical cases have now recommenced crossing
through the border.
Dr Dijran
feared the situation would only continue to deteriorate, and the need
for medical treatment would increase — putting further pressure on a
crumbling health system.
"The
residents are living in poor conditions, especially as we are in the
winter … the rain has polluted these tents, and the environment has
become fertile for the spread of diseases and epidemics," he said.
"Hospitals are suffering from very bad conditions in light of [a] major lack of medication … medical supplies and equipment."
Israel denies aid difficulties
The
agency within the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responsible for
coordinating services in Gaza, COGAT, has repeatedly rejected claims it
has restricted aid, insisting sufficient supplies are entering the
strip.
It said hundreds of
trucks carrying food and other supplies had been entering, even while
extra restrictions were put in place due to the war with Iran.
"It
should be emphasised that throughout the [Gaza] ceasefire, significant
quantities of humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip, including food in
volumes amounting to four times the estimated needs according to the
UN's methodology," COGAT posted on X on March 30.
Tent cities cover large parts of Gaza's coastline. (ABC News)
While
almost all the supplies entered through the Kerem Shalom crossing in
southern Gaza, COGAT said that deliveries were made through the Zikim
crossing in the north after the ceasefire with Iran.
US
President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, established as part of the
Gaza ceasefire process, has only met once since it was formed — and that
was before the Iran war began.
In
the middle of that conflict, the board's representative for Gaza,
Nickolay Mladenov, told the United Nations Security Council a plan had
been laid out for how the ceasefire could progress — particularly the
disarmament of Hamas.
But he warned the world must not be distracted.
"As
tensions in the region escalate with Israeli and US operations against
the regime in Iran and Israel's operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon,
with continuing drone and rocket attacks by Iran and Gulf countries and
global shipping and energy threatened by Iran's closure of the Strait
of Hormuz, we should not lose sight of the situation in Gaza," he said
in late March.
Pope Leo XIV in Bamenda, Cameroon. (REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane)
In short:
Pope Leo has blasted the "handful of tyrants" spending billions on war during his visit to Cameroon.
The
pontiff did not name any individual but the comments come days after US
President Donald Trump attacked the pope over his stance on the war in
Iran.
What's next?
Experts say Donald Trump's repeated attacks on the pope are losing him favour with Catholics in Italy and around the world.
Pope
Leo XIV has blasted the "tyrants" spending billions on war and
condemned "an endless cycle of destabilisation and death" after his
public spat with US President Donald Trump over the war in Iran.
The
US-born pope made his latest comments during a visit to the African
nation of Cameroon, where he praised peace movements and warned against
allowing religion to enter conflicts.
"Blessed are the peacemakers," he said to crowds who had gathered to meet him.
"But
woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their
own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is
sacred into darkness and filth.
"The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters."
The pontiff did not name any individual as he called for a "decisive change of course" that led away from conflict.
Mr
Trump has hit out at the pope several times this week for opposing the
war on Iran, most recently on Thursday afternoon, local time, when he
told reporters he wanted the pontiff to understand the threat posed by
the Islamic regime.
Earlier this week, the US president wrote on Truth Social that: "Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy."
He later said "Leo should get his act together as Pope" and that he was "very much against what I'm doing with regard to Iran".
Australian
Catholic University's Rome campus director, Dr Claudio Betti, told
ABC's The World the US president had lost favour among Italian Catholics
for this attack.
"Everybody is against what this President Trump has said on the pope,"
he said.
"The pope still counts in Italy, he's still an important figure."
A
recent survey conducted in Italy by the group YouTrend found that 79
per cent of Italians disapproved of Mr Trump's handling of the Iran war.
Ahead
of the temporary ceasefire with Iran implemented last week, Mr Trump
posted on Truth Social that a "whole civilisation would die tonight" if
Iran did not agree to a deal with the United States and open the Strait
of Hormuz.
Dr Betti said that comment was what "sparked the whole issue" with the pope.
"The wording is very bad," he said.
Pope Leo XIV leads a meeting for peace at Saint Joseph's Cathedral in Bamenda, Cameroon. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
But he said the pontiff's comments were merely "part of the Catholic doctrine".
"He just repeated what many others have said before him and, of course, that's what we should have expected," Dr Betti said.
"My feeling is the pope is trying to downplay the issue, he will continue to speak the truth and to speak against war.
"I think that's part of his legacy.
"Now the ball is not in the Pope's field, it's in President Trump's field."
The Archbishop of Canterbury has also come out in solidarity with the pope, calling for peace in the Middle East.
Archbishop
Sarah Mullally, who assumed her role as head of the Church of England
in January, said she stood with the pope in his "courageous call for
peace".
"As innocent people are
killed and displaced, families torn apart, and futures destroyed, the
human cost of war is incalculable," she said in a statement.
"It is the calling of every Christian — and of all people of faith and goodwill — to work and pray for peace."
Though
she didn't mention Mr Trump by name, the Archbishop said that
Christians must "urge all those entrusted with political authority to
pursue every possible peaceful and just means of resolving conflict''.
Earlier
this week, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was one of Mr
Trump's closest allies, also came out in support of the pope.
"I find President Trump's words towards the Holy Father unacceptable," she said.
"The
pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal for
him to call for peace and to condemn every form of war."
Israeli soldiers rest near the Israel-Lebanon border, in Israel. (Reuters: Florion Goga)
G'day, ABC Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran here in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It's
the end of day 48 of the war, day nine of the ceasefire (which for now
includes Lebanon), and day four of the US-declared blockade of the
Strait of Hormuz.
What you need to know:
US President Donald Trump has, once again, announced major news via social media post — saying that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Lebanese President Joseph Aoun have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon. It came into effect at 7am AEST on Friday (midnight
in Lebanon). The latest conflict in Lebanon, which has continued
despite the broader truce between the US, Israel and Iran, has been
between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah, but has claimed the
lives of many Lebanese civilians.
Mr Netanyahu said the Israeli military would remain on Lebanese territory within 10 kilometres of the border during
the ceasefire, calling it a "security zone" that is "stronger, more
powerful, more continuous, and more solid" than before. He said the
peace talks had two fundamental requirements: disarming Hezbollah and a
lasting peace agreement, adding that he did not agree to the two conditions Hezbollah insisted on: Israel's full withdrawal and that the "ceasefire would follow a "quiet-for-quiet formula".
Hezbollah urged people to "remain patient and endure" and not return to their homes in areas targeted by Israel "until the course of events becomes fully clear" because Israel had "a history of violating pledges". Earlier Hezbollah MP Ibrahim al-Moussawi told AFP the group would "cautiously adhere" to the deal if Israel stops all attacks and not use the ceasefire "to carry out any assassinations".
The
Israeli security cabinet convened a meeting on Thursday night, local
time, to agree to the ceasefire. Israel's public broadcaster KAN was
already characterising it as Donald Trump "forcing" a ceasefire on
Israel, in a bid to shore up his negotiations with Iran. Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the announcement of
the truce, and said it was what his government had been pushing for
since talks between Israeli and Lebanese Ambassadors to the US were held
in Washington earlier this week. Mr Trump said he would invite the pair to the White House for more "meaningful talks".
Earlier
in the day, the prospect of a phone call between Mr Netanyahu and Mr
Aoun set off fevered speculation. Again, Mr Trump posted on Truth Social
that it would be the first discussion between the leaders of Israel and
Lebanon in more than three decades, but Lebanese network LBCI reported
that president Aoun told the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio he wouldn't take a call from Mr Netanyahu in the near future.
Before the ceasefire development, Israel destroyed the last bridge connecting southern Lebanon
with the rest of the country, as it continued its bombardment of
claimed Hezbollah targets. The Israeli campaign over the past six weeks,
including the invasion of southern Lebanon, has killed almost 2,200
people, including many civilians, and forcibly displaced more than one million Lebanese.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, referred to by the Trump administration as the Secretary of War, says Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamanei is wounded but is believed to be alive.
In a press briefing at the Pentagon, Mr Hegseth said the US military
was "locked and loaded" to restart strikes against Iran if a deal was
not struck to end the war.
And what does it all mean?
It
has seemed for the past few days that a ceasefire in Lebanon, more than
a week after the pause in hostilities elsewhere in the region, was
imminent.
Although reaching that deal was always going to be tricky.
Talks
between the ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon to the US earlier in the
week, however separate they were from the negotiations between the US
and Iran about the future of the broader war, were a sign the White
House was trying to pull every string possible.
And it appeared those talks only happened as a result of pressure from the US for Israel to change course.
It
was worried that the IDF's intense bombardment of Lebanon, including
last Wednesday when more than 300 were killed in the course of just 10
minutes, was harming the prospects of a deal with the Iranian regime to
open the Strait of Hormuz and curtail its nuclear ambitions.
Tehran,
backed in by mediator Pakistan, had been clear that it believed Lebanon
was always included in the regional ceasefire. Israel, backed by the
US, had insisted it wasn't.
After
the Trump Truth Social announcement, the initial lack of public backing
for the ceasefire in Lebanon from the Israeli government suggested it
had been dragged to this point.
Israel's public broadcaster KAN was already characterising it as Mr Trump "forcing" a ceasefire on Israel.
Avigdor Liberman, one of Mr Netanyahu's political opponents and a former defence minister, said it was a "betrayal of the residents of the north" who had come under intense Hezbollah rocket fire for the past six weeks.
Hezbollah
politician Hassan Fadlallah was reported in Iranian state media as
saying Tehran's "efforts have borne fruit in imposing a comprehensive
ceasefire in Lebanon".
It all appeals to Donald Trump's desire to be seen as the world's great deal-maker.
But the devil will be in the detail here. Or, more accurately, the enforcement.
The last ceasefire in Lebanon, between Israel and Hezbollah in late 2024, was far from an end to the fighting.
Israel
was accused of almost daily breaches of the deal, launching strikes
deep into Lebanese territory when it perceived a threat from Hezbollah.
Recent history in Gaza also points to Israel's willingness to continue attacks, even when a deal is on the table.
And Israel is not going to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon immediately.
It's
why some got into a lather earlier in the day, when news filtered
through that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Aoun might talk by phone.
The deep and long-held enmity between Lebanon and Israel goes back decades. These are two countries that have technically been at war for almost 80 years, since the creation of the state of Israel.
And
each chapter of the conflict has been marked by intense suffering,
particularly as the Israeli military launched operations such as its
invasion of southern Lebanon — which ran from 1982 to 2000.
This invasion has brought back some of that trauma for the Lebanese with memories of that period.
It's one thing for the Israeli and Lebanese envoys in Washington to sit in the same room.
It's another thing entirely for leader-to-leader talks,
however informal they may be, with the sound of explosions in the
background of any phone call, not least because of how that would be
received by a war-weary public.
That population will be hoping for a quiet night tonight. How long it lasts in this unpredictable war is anyone's guess.
And here's how to stay up to date:
You can keep track of the latest updates from Iran, Lebanon and around the world throughout the day via our live blog.
Thanks for joining me. I'll see you at the same time tomorrow.
There are always historical precedents, even for
secular rulers attacking Christian popes. Indeed, the date itself, April
13, should remind us. For it is on April 13 that we celebrate the feast
of Pope St Martin, and it is also the date on which in Australia we
became aware of Donald Trump’s ill-mannered criticisms of Pope Leo.
Pope Martin was the last pope to be martyred. It was at the behest of
a secular ruler like Donald Trump, the Byzantine emperor Constans II.
It was as a precocious ten-year-old that Constans II acceded to the
co-emperorship of the Roman-Byzantine Empire in 641. The Empire was
constantly under attack from external forces, both Arab and Muslim, and
many of its richest provinces were surrendered to the enemy. Internally,
too, the Empire was racked by divisions, surprisingly by disputes of a
theological character.
The Council of Chalcedon had defined in 451 that there were two
natures in the one person of Jesus Christ: a divine nature and a human
nature. This was anathema to many Eastern theologians who espoused
Monophysitism, that there was only one nature in Christ, the divine. A
compromise theological position, Monothelitism, that there was only one
will in Christ, the divine will, was sponsored by the long-serving
Eastern emperor Heraclius in an attempt to reconcile the warring
factions. Pope Honorius and the four patriarchs of the East —
Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem — all supported
Heraclius’s Monothelitic compromise, but the divisions were not healed.
So, in 648, the Emperor Constans II issued an imperial edict, the
Tupos, which made it illegal even to discuss the topic of whether Christ
had one or two wills. While the Tupos professed to maintain an
impartial stance between orthodox Chalcedonianism and Monothelitism, it
was perceived by Rome to favour the Monothelites by recognising their
doctrine as a possible alternative for Christians. In response, Pope
Martin I in 649 summoned 105 Western bishops to Rome and, in the Lateran
Council’s twenty canons, censured Monothelitism, its authors, and its
writings. It condemned not only the Tupos of Constans II but also the
Ecthesis of a former patriarch of Constantinople, for which the revered
emperor Heraclius had stood sponsor.
“Martin was the last pope
to be martyred under a secular ruler. He was certainly not the last pope
to come under attack for proclaiming orthodox Christian doctrine in the
face of secular power.”
The reaction of Constans II was swift and decisive. He instructed his
exarch in Italy to arrest the pope and to convey him to Constantinople
for trial. It took three years before the exarch could carry out these
orders, but in 653 Martin was arrested, tried, and condemned in
Constantinople, and only saved from execution through the intercession
of the patriarch of Constantinople. Instead, he was exiled to the Crimea
where, enduring torture and starvation, he died in 655.
Martin was the last pope to be martyred under a secular ruler. He was
certainly not the last pope to come under attack for proclaiming
orthodox Christian doctrine in the face of secular power.
In the light of recent events, we do not have to look far to identify
a contemporary parallel, even if it took April 13, the feast of St
Martin, to remind us not only of the seventh-century precedent to
President Trump’s remarks, but also that only too often the ways of
politicians and secular rulers — “the end justifies the means” — are at a
remove, sometimes scandalously so, from the principles of popes.
Bill Uren, SJ, AO, is a Scholar-in-residence at Newman
College at the University of Melbourne. A former Provincial Superior of
the Australian and New Zealand Jesuits, he has lectured in moral
philosophy and bioethics in universities in Melbourne, Brisbane and
Perth and has served on the Australian Health Ethics Committee and many
clinical and human research ethics committees in universities, hospitals
and research centres.
Displaced people stand outside tents used as shelter in Beirut. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Hello, ABC Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran here in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It's
the end of day 47 of the war, day eight of the ceasefire (except in
Lebanon) and day three of the US-declared blockade of the Strait of
Hormuz.
Here's what you need to know today:
A Hezbollah-affiliated news network in Lebanon said a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group would be announced on Wednesday night,
local time. Al Mayadeen reported the ceasefire would last for one week —
the remainder of the broader truce between the US, Israel and Iran,
which was agreed to a week ago. The Netanyahu government's security
cabinet will meet on Wednesday night to consider the issue, but in a
video from the Israeli Prime Minister released after the meeting, no truce was announced.
Al Mayadeen was citing a senior Iranian official saying the ceasefire was a result of pressure from Tehran during negotiations with the United States. Israel's public broadcaster KAN was reporting that it's being considered at the request of the United States. Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had instructed the IDF to continue reinforcing the "security zone" it's created in southern Lebanon — an area where hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have been forcibly displaced from.
US President Donald Trump has said the war with Iran could "end soon",
telling the world to watch out for an "amazing two days." The president
has spoken to two US networks, ABC and Fox Business, saying he did not
think the temporary ceasefire would need to be extended beyond next
week, and the White House rejected reports the US had asked for an
extension.
There are signs that there will be another round of talks between the US and Iran in the next few days, with the Pakistani Army chief arriving in Tehran with a message from the US.
The US said its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz had been successful in stopping a number of ships passing through.
The Wall Street Journal reported that eight Iranian-linked oil tankers
had been stopped by the US Navy, while Iran's Fars news agency said one
tanker had crossed through. Mr Trump says China is "very happy" the US
is trying to reopen the strait, and claimed President Xi Jinping would
give him a "big fat hug" when they meet in a few weeks' time.
Here's what all that means
For the past week, since it halted its attacks on Iran, Israel has focused its firepower on Lebanon.
It says it's been attacking claimed Hezbollah targets across southern Lebanon and the capital, Beirut.
But those attacks over the past eight days, as they have done through the past six weeks of the war, have killed scores of civilians.
Lebanon's health ministry said the death toll was now 2,167, with 7,061 people injured.
260 women have been killed, and 1,150 have been injured. 172 children have been killed, and 656 have been injured.
On
one day, the first day of the ceasefire between the US, Israel and
Iran, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) killed more than 300 people, many
of them women and children — an attack the Lebanese government has
complained to the United Nations about.
Those
incredibly shocking figures had rattled the White House. Mr Trump had
said he had told Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rein it
in.
Now, it appears that pressure may be tipping the balance in favour of a pause in the bloodshed in Lebanon — but it doesn't appear such a deal has been reached just yet.
Hezbollah had continued to attack Israel, in response to its strikes.
There was a barrage of 40 rockets fired into northern Israel on
Wednesday morning local time alone, according to Israeli authorities.
Hezbollah-affiliated
media was saying the prospect of a ceasefire was due to pressure from
Tehran. Israeli media was saying it's pressure from Washington.
Either way, it could be a brief respite for the population living in a state of chaos.
We'll
wait to see how it plays out in the coming hours — but the early
reporting in the Lebanese media that a deal was imminent seemed to be
dashed by Mr Netanyahu.
His
office released a video roughly an hour after the Israeli security
cabinet was due to meet, where he said he'd instructed the IDF to "strengthen" its so-called "security zone" in southern Lebanon.
He said Israeli forces were about to "overwhelm" the town of Bint Jbeil, a "great stronghold of Hezbollah".
They're certainly not the words of a man about to press pause on fighting. But that doesn't mean such an announcement isn't coming soon.
Israel's Channel 12 cited a senior Israeli political source as saying "within a few days, we will have no choice but to fully cease fire in Lebanon".
And
while Mr Netanyahu's great friend, Mr Trump suggested the broader
ceasefire would hold, the Israeli prime minister sounded more cautious.
"In the face of the possibility that fighting will resume, we are prepared for any scenario."
And this is the impact on Australia
ABC News Verify:
As global oil issues worsen due to the war in Iran, several AI-enhanced
platforms claiming to be independently monitoring Australia's fuel
supply have appeared online. These fuel supply dashboards claim to know
what's really going on. Can you trust them?here's how to stay up to date:
You can keep track of the latest updates from Iran and around the world throughout the day via our live blog.
Thanks for joining me. I'll see you at the same time tomorrow.
After
initially supporting the US and Israeli strikes against Iran, the prime
minister and foreign minister have spent the past few weeks calling for
"de-escalation". (ABC News: Stuart Carnegie )
Fuel prices and inflation aren't the only metrics climbing as the Strait of Hormuz remains shut.
The Albanese government's level of frustration is rising just as fast.
Whether
it's Donald Trump threatening to wipe out an entire civilisation,
posting a Jesus-like image of himself or taking pot-shots at the Pope,
there's daily disbelief at what's coming out of the White House.
This
general sense of dismay wasn't helped by Trump's Treasury Secretary
Scott Bessent's tone-deaf response yesterday to the International
Monetary Fund's warnings of economic doom.
"A small bit of economic pain" is worth it, Bessent insisted, to deprive Iran of a nuclear weapon.
Nearly
seven weeks since the war began, the extent of Iran's nuclear threat
and whether indeed it will be completely removed, is just one of the
known unknowns.
As is the prospect of a return to free passage through the Strait of Hormuz any time soon.
Whether
it's Donald Trump threatening to wipe out an entire civilisation,
posting a Jesus-like image of himself or taking pot-shots at the Pope,
there's daily disbelief at what's coming out of the White House. (Reuters: Jonathan Ernst)
Australians paying price for war
After
initially supporting the US and Israeli strikes against Iran in the
hopes this would be a short, sharp operation, the prime minister and
foreign minister have spent the past few weeks calling for
"de-escalation".
In a coordinated move, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has gone even further this week. He's bluntly calling on Trump to end this war.
"Australians
didn't choose the circumstances of the war," Chalmers pointed out
before boarding a plane to the United States yesterday, "but they are
paying a very hefty price for it".
He
certainly doesn't see this as a "small bit" of pain as he faces the
difficulty of putting together next month's budget with competing
demands for serious reform, spending cuts, and enough support for an
unknown but potentially disastrous economic future.
The Treasurer is not alone in trying to dial up the diplomatic pressure for peace.
Chalmers,
who joins his counterparts and central bank governors for a lightning
round of G20, IMF and World Bank meetings in Washington later today,
made his top priority for the visit clear: "The purpose of this trip is
to join with other countries continuing to call for an end to this war
in the Middle East."
This
collective call from stressed finance ministers flying into Washington
may be unlikely to sway Trump, but it underscores the mounting strain
this war continues to place on US alliances.
Jim Chalmers says it's a 'dangerous and serious time' for the global economy
A blockade no-one wants to join
The naval blockade of Iran is the latest flash point of disagreement.
The president initially said "other countries" would join his blockade, but NATO allies were quick to say no thanks.
The Australian government also appeared to rule out any involvement before any request had even been received.
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy told Afternoon Briefing on Monday, "we're not considering joining the blockade".
In
the days since then, he and other ministers have been less emphatic,
leaving some room for consideration, depending on where this
unpredictable situation goes.
Strategic
analysts are somewhat divided on Trump's latest move. Even critics of
the president's war strategy (or lack thereof) like Joe Biden's former
national security advisor John Kirby argues the blockade "might be
helpful" as a diplomatic tactic.
The signals from the opposition are also somewhat mixed.
Shadow
defence minister James Paterson, a whole-hearted supporter of the US
alliance, described joining this blockade as "a very grave decision to
make".
"I am very cautious and
frankly sceptical about whether… it is in our national interest or
whether it's within our capability, to join a blockade on Iran," he told
7:30.
"That would be crossing a very significant threshold to effectively be participating in offensive operations against Iran."
His
leader Angus Taylor, by contrast, expressed fewer concerns, arguing:
"Australia should be providing whatever support we reasonably can to
make sure we get the Strait of Hormuz opened up."
China,
which took 90 per cent of Iran's oil exports before the war began, has
branded the US blockade as "dangerous and irresponsible", sharpening
fears about where this conflict heads next.
A boost for defence
Defence
Minister Richard Marles has a chance today to explain how the
government is navigating the strategic bind this war has created.
He
will front the National Press Club to launch the government's latest
National Defence Strategy, which includes an extra $14 billion in
spending over the next 4 years and $53 billion over the decade.
If
Australia were to use the same metrics adopted by NATO, he will argue,
this would lift defence spending to approximately 3 per cent of GDP by
2033, a minimum benchmark Trump has demanded of US allies.
The
extra spending on drones and other automated systems will improve
Australia's readiness for what lies ahead, Marles will argue.
The harder question is whether it can keep pace with a strategic environment worsening by the month.
The
defence minister will note "international norms that once constrained
the use of force and military coercion continue to erode". He doesn't
mention Trump in this context. He doesn't have to.
Polls
show support for the US alliance has slipped in Australia since the war
began. This will only make the government's task of maintaining support
for AUKUS even harder.
From
immediate financial concerns to longer-term strategic challenges, it's
little wonder that ministers' frustration is increasing every week this
conflict drags on, even when a ceasefire is meant to be in place.
David Speers is national political lead and host of Insiders, which airs on ABC TV at 9am on Sunday or on iview.
