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TRANSCRIPT:
- Australia to join an emergency summit on the Strait of Hormuz as the US blockade continues;
- Critics condemn the Coalition's migration policy proposal;
- A tornado alert hits the travelling Wallaroos in the US.
Australia will be among dozens of countries to attend talks on a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy has confirmed Australia is sending a representative to the emergency summit in Paris to be co-chaired by the UK and France.
Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency has declared it's ready to approve a second release of global oil reserves, with OPEC reporting a drop in oil production in March and more than 80 oil and gas facilities across the Middle East sustaining damage.
Agency head Faith Birrol has told an Atlantic Council event a long-term solution needs to be found to end what he says is the worst ever energy crisis the world has seen.
"This is not a solution. This is just reducing the pain, even though it was the biggest oil stock release that I announced 11th of March... I very much hope we don't need to do it. But if it is needed, we are ready to act immediately."
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Qantas says it will cut some domestic flights as the energy crisis continues to bite.
The cost of jet fuel has more than doubled since US-Israeli strikes on Iran began in late February, with the airline now expecting to spend $3.3 billion on jet fuel in the first half of its financial year.
It says reductions will mostly happen on key Qantas and Jetstar domestic routes between capital cities where they fly larger aircraft at higher frequencies.
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Firefighters in Victoria says the increased cost of fuel is forcing crews to spend their own money on vehicles to keep fire stations open.
The United Firefighters Union branch secretary, Peter Marshall, says requests so far from the state government to increase the fuel allowance have not been supported.
He says the union is now filing an application with the Fair Work Commission.
"They're expecting firefighters not to have a pay increase for five years and on top of that they have another hit into the family budget. And that is now the increase with fuel - that is around 60 per cent. The allowance they did get, which hasn't been increased for a substantial period of time has been cut by half. That is so morally wrong."
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The Coalition's hardline plan for migration policy, unveiled this morning by Opposition Leader Angus Taylor, has been almost universally condemned by the government and crossbench.
The opposition leader says the Coalition wants to place greater scrutiny on people attempting to come to Australia from countries that are not Western liberal democracies.
But Labor frontbencher Pat Conroy has called the speech an act of dog-whistling to appeal to voters who are increasingly deserting the Coalition for One Nation, while Independent M-P Zali Steggall says it could fuel hateful and divisive narratives.
Greens immigration spokesperson David Shoebridge says it shows an opposition captured by extremists.
"The coalition think that reintroducing elements of the White Australia Policy is the way forward for Australia in 2026... That is not the way forward for Australia. Australia gains so much from immigration: the breadth of talent, the breadth of experience, the diversity that immigration has brought to Australia makes us a strong and proud nation."
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Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has named four new ministers after the exodus of four senior members of the party ahead of the November state election.
After factional negotiations, Luba Grigorovitch, Paul Edbrooke, Michaela Settle and Paul Hamer have been elected unopposed to replace the retiring ministers Mary-Anne Thomas, Danny Pearson, Gayle Tierney and Natalie Hutchins.
Labor has never won a fourth successive term in Victoria, but the government says it managed an exodus of senior ministers ahead of the 2022 election - and still won resoundingly.
The Premier says the government will make the case they are still the best option for voters.
"When Victorians can look to my united Labor team who share this singular focus, they can also see that our Liberal opponents with their junior National Party partner do not stand for these things."
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A new art exhibit called Ngura Pulka - or Epic Country - has finally opened at the National Gallery of Australia.
The exhibit was supposed to open in 2023 - but was put on hold after allegations were made in the media that non-Indigenous people were helping paint artwork in the A-P-Y lands.
An investigation by the National Gallery found the 30 works are authentic.
Artist Sandra Pumani has told NITV they feature stories about the land, law and ceremony.
"It's about my home, I talk about my home where I grew up. Now I look back it was really precious that I've, you know, experienced so much in that life growing up, in beautiful place."
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To sport,
The Australian women's rugby union team have been caught up in an unfolding weather event in the United States.
The Wallaroos are in Kansas City, Missouri, ahead of Saturday's match against the US as part of the Pacific Four Series with Canada and New Zealand.
But a tornado alert has forced them to seek shelter in the hallway of their team hotel.
