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TRANSCRIPT:
- The Coalition calls for a halving of the fuel excise for three months;
- New Zealand outlines a four-phase plan for fuel shortages;
- Australia's Olympic team organisers welcome a ban on trans athletes in female competition.
Tropical Cyclone Narelle has made landfall near Exmouth in Western Australia.
It's the first time a cyclone has hit Queensland, the Northern Territory and WA since Ingrid made three crossings in 2005.
Exmouth Shire president Matthew Niikkula says the town's emergency centre has received a big influx of people after roofs began lifting off houses amid winds of up to 260 kilometres per hour.
Western Australia Premier Roger Cook is urging people to take the necessary steps to protect themselves.
"Our thoughts are with you all. It must be a very confronting situation for residents and personnel in that area. It may take some time for the extent of the damage to be known but in the meantime I urge those in the regions to follow the advice, monitor the situation through Emergency WA and stay safe."
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Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says there is a need for renewable energy sources to be pursued as a matter of national security.
Mr Turnbull is currently hosting a Sovereignty and Security forum with Professor David Kilcullen, who is a strategy and politics expert at the University of New South Wales.
The former Prime Minister says investment in domestic energy sources is critical in events such as the current fuel crisis.
"We are more secure when we are less dependant on imported fossil fuels. And the way we do that is with electrification. As many people have said, there is no strait which can be blocked to stop the sunshine or the wind."
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The Coalition is calling for a halving of the fuel excise for three months.
Nationals Leader Matt Canavan says the $1.5 billion dollar proposal would be funded by axing the tax exemption for electric vehicles, pausing home-battery subsidies, and cutting government subsidies for green hydrogen - measures he estimates would cut the price of petrol by 26 cents a litre.
"This will mean that for the average family, filling up, they'll save around $50 dollars a week by having this reduction in excise and that will at least provide some sort of relief."
The Prime Minister says fuel supplies are secure in the near-term.
Anthony Albanese says he'll convene the National Cabinet on Monday which will consider a number of measures to address the crisis alongside the recently appointed national coordinator.
"A global crisis needs a national response and that is what we are doing. One of the lessons of the COVID pandemic is that we made a number of decisions as a nation that could have been made better if there were proper consideration."
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The New Zealand government has outlined a four-phase plan to deal with potential fuel shortages.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis says releasing the plan is designed to assure the public that New Zealand is well positioned to respond whatever the global environment brings.
She says the country is currently in phase one with no restrictions in place, while phase two would involve homes and businesses being encouraged to conserve fuel.
"It could also be necessary in this phase to introduce temporary purchase limits to help keep fuel available for everyone. This step would be regulated by government but implemented by industry. That is because industry know their customers and supply and delivery structures best."
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Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife have appeared in a New York courtroom as they seek to have their drug trafficking indictments thrown out over a geopolitical dispute over legal fees.
Maduro’s lawyer has argued that the U.S. is violating the deposed leader’s constitutional rights by blocking Venezuelan government funds from being used to pay his legal costs.
The hearing is the first time Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have appeared in court since their January arraignment.
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A new government is forming in Nepal with the rapper turned politician Balendra ‘Balen’ Shah taking the oath of the prime minister today.
Voters have been keen for stability in a nation that has seen 32 different governments in the last 35 years, battering investors' confidence while crippling economic and jobs growth.
Prasida Tuladhar is a member of the Nepali community in Australia and has told SBS Nepali the country needs structural change.
"That change has to be such that it changes everything from the root. So all the structures, the roles, all parts of the country, it has to change."
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To sport,
The Australian Olympic Committee says it supports a decision by the Games' international organisers to effectively ban transgender athletes from female competition.
The Australian Olympic Team's chief of mission Anna Meares says she believes the new rules will allow all athletes to participate with confidence.
But LGBTIQ+ organisation Pride Cup says the framework is inappropriate, and likely in breach of Australian state and federal anti-discrimination laws.
Monash University law professor Paula Gerber says the blanket exclusion and genetic testing of transgender athletes is a blunt response that is not supported by science.
