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TRANSCRIPT:
- Australia secures 100 million litres of additional diesel imports
- Richard Marles announces a $14 billion increase in defence spending
- Shepparton is set to host two rounds of the BMX Racing World Cup
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced that Australia has secured 100 million litres of additional diesel imports.
Mr Albanese is in Kuala Lumpur for formal talks with Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, to ensuring energy supplies are maintained between both nations during the oil crisis.
He says - the two new shipments secured by Viva Energy with the assistance of the federal government - will come via new shipments from Brunei and from South Korea under new export finance regulations.
"This is the first of many expected shipments under the governments new strategic reserve powers with the support of export finance Australia. That is very important the purchase of more than 570,000 of additional diesel."
In a joint statement, both leaders agreed to exchange views on energy trade-related matters on a ‘no surprises’ basis.
Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim affirms that his country will always be a reliable partner to Australia - saying they will be mates through thick and thin.
Defence Minister Richard Marles has defended Australia's alliance with the United States, as he announced a $53 billion increase in Australia's defence spending over the next decade.
The government's National Defence Strategy 2026 contains an increase in defence spending of $14 billion over the forward estimates, which Mr Marles says will be contained in next month's Federal Budget.
He says the strategy is a clear-eyed assessment of a more dangerous and uncertain world, and a confident response to it.
Mr Marles maintains the Australia-US alliance is vital to Indo-Pacific security, in response to questions around whether the Trump administration has damaged global perceptions of the United States' leadership.
"There is no world in which you create a balance of power within the Indo-Pacific without a continued American presence. We are deeply engaged with the United States defence forces. And that relationship which is at the heart of the alliance is fundamental to Australia's own national security and national defence."
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Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows unemployment has held steady at 4.3 per cent and employment rose to include just under 14.78 million people [[14,762,800]] in line with widely-held forecasts by local economists.
It is the first economic data to be released since the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed by the war in the Middle East, but analysts say it is too soon to see the full picture of the economic fallout of the conflict.
The Reserve Bank will be looking closely at these numbers as part of the picture when it considers whether to raise interest rates when it meets next on the 4th and 5th of May.
RBA Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser has hinted toward another rate rise, in line with economists' forecasts, saying they will have to lift to a level that brings inflation back to target.
The latest ABS report released in March revealed the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, rose 3.7 per cent.
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New South Wales nurses and midwives have received a historic pay deal after years of negotiation.
The Industrial Relations Commission has decided to award a 16 per cent pay rise for registered nurses and midwives, an 18 per cent rise for enrolled nurses, and 28 per cent for assistants in nursing over three years.
New South Wales nursing and midwifery union general secretary Michael Whaites says registered nurses who make up the majority of the workforce are still under-compensated relative to those in other states and territories.
"For enrolled nurses and assistants in nursing, this is a great outcome. It recognises the under valuation of the work they do and sees a good reward for that work. But we know there is more work to be done."
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In sport ...
Shepparton in regional Victoria is set to host two rounds of the BMX Racing World Cup in 2028.
The regional city will host the third and fourth rounds of the global competition, in February.
AusCycling says it'll make Shepparton a critical stop on the international calendar, ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
The Shepparton BMX Track last hosted international racing in 2020 and was upgraded last year.
Two thousand of Australia's best BMX athletes are currently competing at the track in the national championships.
