Key Points
- Anthony Albanese's green power push
- Man shot dead by police after siege
- Ben O'Connor to make Tour de France history tomorrow
TRANSCRIPT
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has outlined his economic agenda, drawing comparisons with the Trump Administration as he calls for Australia to become a green energy superpower.
Speaking at News Corp’s Economic Outlook, the Prime Minister is warning against following in the footsteps of President Trump and says Australia must empower local industries, while maintaining positive trade relationships.
"Our nation does not need to go looking overseas for an economic model to copy. There is nothing for us to gain from a race to the bottom on wages and conditions. Or the economic self-harm of tariffs. We want to do this the Australian way. Not talking Australia down. Holding true to our values of fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all. Investing in our people, their ability to adapt to new technology and to develop it. And drawing out the potential of our whole country."
It comes as tariffs placed on U-S imports are expected to resume next week, with Australia yet to lock in a highly sought exemption from the 10 per cent baseline tariffs on Australian goods.
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Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, has unveiled a $432 million investment plan – for green hydrogen production near Newcastle, New South Wales.
The project in the Hunter Valley will feature a 50 Megawatt electrolyser, powered by renewable energy to produce about 4,700 tonnes of green hydrogen each year.
That volume of hydrogen will secure the future of green ammonia production for use in mining, agriculture, and manufacturing, on Kooragand Island just north of Newcastle.
The minister says partnership between the federal government and private corporations makes this kind of innovation possible.
"And there is plenty of people who say green hydrogen is too hard. There's p[lenty of them in politics, there's plenty of them in the media. Siting like Stadtler and Waldorf watching the muppets and criticising everything. Well, green hydrogen is hard. But not impossible. And it can only be done in partnership."
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Police say a man holed up in a shed for hours with a suspected homemade shotgun, claimed he had a bomb before he was shot dead by police.
A seven-hour siege at a rural property in Daisy Hill in Victoria, was allegedly triggered by a 39-year-old firing a gun at an older man and narrowly missing him.
Victoria Police's Critical Incident Response Team, Special Operations Group and Dog Squad had been called, but Assistant Commissioner Michael Grainger says the stand-off could not be resolved peacefully.
"The man hid inside the shed when police attended, making threats to shoot those police and also indicating that he had a knife and bomb / explosives at his disposal, and he wasn't keen at all on engaging with police who'd attempted to negotiate with him. The male exited the shed and shot at police. Sadly, they were forced to respond, exchanged gunfire with him, and at this time he is deceased."
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Jurors on the trial of accused "mushroom murderer" Erin Patterson are still deliberating, in one of the most famous trials in Australian history.
The jury has been locked up since Monday, weighing the testimony of more than 50 witnesses over the last two months.
Dozens of true-crime enthusiasts and media outlets from around Australia and the world have attended the Latrobe Valley court in Victoria.
The defendant, Erin Patterson, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder.
She is accused of poisoning four former in-laws with a beef Wellington served for lunch at her house in regional Victoria on 29 July 2023.
She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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A childcare operator is urgently checking its records, amid fears that an accused child sex offender may have been employed longer than previously thought.
Joshua Dale Brown has been charged with more than 70 sex offences after allegedly abusing eight children aged under two, at a Point Cook facility in Melbourne's southwest.
Victoria Police are also examining evidence of alleged offending at a centre in Essendon.
A list of the 20 centres he worked at since 2017 has already been made public.
The parents of 1200 children have been told to get them tested for sexually transmitted infections as a precaution.
The government is now seeking new powers to allow for random spot checks at childcare centres and the ability to strip centres of funding if shown to not be keeping children safe.
Education Minister Jason Clare tells Sky News there's no single solution, but things must change immediately.
"If they're not meeting those standards that we expect, then we should have the power to pull that funding off them. The truth is there's no silver bullet here, there's a whole bunch of things that we need to do and this work will never end."
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To cycling, Aussie Ben O'Connor will make history tomorrow night [[Saturday]], when the Tour de France begins.
The 29-year-old is part of the Jayco Alula team - and his entry marks the first time an Australian tour de France team includes an overall race contender.
O'Connor finished in the top four of major tours, the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana and previous Tour de France.
He is hoping to achieve a big result at the most famous stage on the cycling calendar.
Lining up in Lille this weekend in north-east France, the favourite overall winners are defending champion, Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar and Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard.
