Australia news as it happened: Albanese could put US cattle back on table; Musk loses $52 billion in one day as Trump feud boils over

Thanks for reading the national news blog. This is where we’ll end today’s coverage.

To conclude, here’s a look back at the day’s major stories:

• Farmers insist that the nation’s strict biosecurity regime must not be watered down to appease Donald Trump, following news the Albanese government will make moves to enable US beef exports into Australia as part of a plan to gain an exemption from the US president’s tariffs.
• Elon Musk’s very public, extremely online feud with Trump sliced into his vaunted status as the world’s richest person, erasing $US34 billion ($52 billion) from his personal net worth in one day.
• Home buyers could be delivered a financial windfall just in time for Christmas as markets and economists grow increasingly confident the Reserve Bank will deliver a string of interest rate cuts to protect the economy.
• The families of six children killed in a primary school jumping castle accident in Tasmania are angry and in disbelief after a court dismissed a workplace safety charge against the castle’s operator.
• Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff has vowed to fight and win a snap election after he lost a no-confidence vote, but speculation is growing his Liberal colleagues will deny him the chance.
• In Queensland, detectives have alleged teenager Pheobe Bishop was murdered by her two housemates and her body was moved more than once.
• In Victoria, state and federal police conducted raids in Melbourne’s north as part of their investigation into last year’s firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue.

Thanks again for joining us. This is Cassandra Morgan, signing off.

The Australian sharemarket closed in the red today as Commonwealth Bank shares retreated from historic highs and the technology sector lost ground, after a plunge in Tesla shares weighed on Wall Street amid an escalating feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

The S&P/ASX200 dropped 23.2 points or 0.3 per cent to 8515.70, with nine of 11 industry sectors in negative territory. Technology and healthcare were the weakest sectors, both falling 0.7 per cent, while financials and consumer discretionary stocks also dropped. The Australian dollar was trading at US64.97¢ in the afternoon.

The ASX closed lower on Friday, as banking giant CBA retreated and technology stocks fell.Credit: Oscar Colman

The decline in the ASX followed a 0.5 per cent slide on Wall Street overnight, with Tesla tumbling 14.3 per cent as Musk and Trump exchanged insults in public.

Click here to read the full five-minute recap of the trading day.

Back to world news, and US President Donald Trump has accepted an invitation to visit Beijing, as he declared a trade deal with China was in good shape after a phone call with President Xi Jinping – their first since Trump returned to power in January.

The long-awaited call between the two leaders included a renewed joint commitment to reaching a deal, a promising sign after a fragile truce struck in Geneva last month appeared on the verge of collapsing after both countries accused each other of not honouring their terms.

US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in Osaka in 2019.Credit: AP

However, there was some divergence in their respective accounts of the call, which, according to Trump, lasted 1½ hours and focused almost entirely on trade issues without addressing the war in Ukraine or concerns about Iran’s nuclear technology.

A meeting between the two leaders is also on the horizon, with Trump saying Xi had invited him and first lady Melania Trump to visit China – an invitation that was confirmed in the Chinese side’s read out of the discussions, though it made no mention of Trump’s reciprocal invite for Xi to visit the US.

Read the full story from Michael Koziol and Lisa Visentin here. 

Home buyers could be delivered a financial windfall just in time for Christmas as markets and economists grow increasingly confident the Reserve Bank will deliver a string of interest rate cuts to protect the economy.

Softer-than-expected growth figures, ongoing signs that inflationary pressures are moderating, and concern over the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariff war have sharply lifted market expectations of a rate cut when the RBA next meets in early July.

Home buyers could have hundreds of dollars extra in their pockets in time for Christmas, amid growing expectations of a string of interest rate cuts.Credit: Eddie Jim

Markets, which have proven more accurate than economists in anticipating the RBA’s changes to rate settings, started the week putting the chance of a quarter percentage point July cut at three-in-four. By the end of the week, expectations were at 95 per cent.

Through the rest of the year, markets and many economists believe the bank will bring the official cash rate down from 3.85 per cent to 3.1 per cent.

Read the full story from Shane Wright here.

The “writing was on the wall” for US President Donald Trump and his self-styled “first buddy” Elon Musk in the first 30 days of the billionaire’s administration.

That’s the verdict from political scientist Simon Jackman, who told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing the pair’s breakdown goes back to a “fight for the soul” of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) ideology.

Tensions between Donald Trump and his former “first buddy” Elon Musk have erupted into open warfare.Credit: Bloomberg

“The writing was on the wall very early on, to be honest, when Trump started making his moves with respect to two policies: tariffs and immigration policy,” Jackman said.

“Early on, Musk was already starting to signal on social media he thought that was bad policy.

“It starts to reflect on what’s really going on here, [which is] a fight for the soul of MAGA between [former Trump chief strategist Steve] Bannon on the one hand – the authentic voice, as he claims … – and Musk and the tech bros from California who have a different version of what America ought to look like.

“At root, I think there’s a real fight going on inside the palace as to who’s got Trump’s ear, who’s got the power behind the presidency?”

Bannon and trade advisor Peter Navarro ultimately won that fight, Jackman said.

“But the first parting was long before this bill ... going right back the first 30 days of the administration around tariffs and immigration policy.”

The family of a young Aboriginal man who died in police custody wants the two officers involved to be stood down now a criminal investigation is under way.

The call comes as rallies continue across the country in a national week of action to demand justice for Kumanjayi White and an independent inquiry into his death.

White, who was mentally disabled, died on May 27, soon after being forcibly restrained by two plain-clothes police officers in a supermarket in Alice Springs.

Police allege the 24-year-old, originally from the outback community of Yuendumu, was shoplifting and had assaulted a security guard who confronted him in the confectionery aisle.

NT Police on Friday confirmed the officers have not been stood down.

The force and NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro have strongly rejected calls for an external investigation, saying police are the right authority to carry it out, coupled with a coronial inquiry.

White’s family said they were angry calls for an independent investigation had been rejected and police alone would determine whether any criminality was involved in his death.

“Now that a criminal investigation is under way, the family call on the NT police officers involved to be stood down immediately,” they said in a statement on Friday.

“This should be an obvious action in any criminal inquiry. Stand down now!”

NT Police has said its investigation would abide by strict protocols with full transparency and be independently reviewed by the coroner.

“We ask the community to allow the investigation to take its course,” Acting Commissioner Martin Dole said in a statement.

“We are committed to a full and fair examination of the facts.”

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A representative for the family of Lamar Ahchee, the 43-year-old Australian man facing a possible death sentence in Indonesia for alleged drug smuggling, has spoken of the family’s deep shock, worry, and “terror” at learning of his arrest last week.

Media consultant John McLeod said the Ahchee family had only found out about the arrest in Bali by phone shortly before he was paraded before the media.

Australian man Lamar Ahchee being paraded before the media.Credit: Amilia Rosa

When asked what the family’s reaction to the phone call was, he said: “Deep shock, worry, terror.”

“I’ve told them not to focus on [the death penalty], to focus on what we are dealing with at the moment ... at the moment, Lamar hasn’t even been charged,” Mcleod said.

“There’s more to this story than meets the eye. There’s no point in focusing on the worst possible outcome when we don’t even know the starting point.”

In a separate statement, the Ahchee family expressed their “sincere appreciation to the Indonesian authorities for their professionalism and impartiality”.

“We are grateful for the fair and respectful treatment [Lamar] has received from law enforcement and legal officials throughout this process”, Ahchee’s sister Stephanie told reporters in Bali.

Erin Patterson hosted a lunch at her home in the Victorian town of Leongatha in July 2023. She invited her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson.

Her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was invited but did not attend the lunch.

Patterson served beef Wellington and within hours of eating together, the four guests became unwell. Don, Gail and Heather died in hospital after consuming what prosecutors allege were death cap mushrooms. Ian survived after spending several weeks in an induced coma.

Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Don, Gail and Heather, and the attempted murder of Ian over the fatal lunch.

Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale is presiding over the trial in Morwell, a town in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. The trial continues.

Click here to see what we have heard so far during the trial. 

Now to Tasmania where embattled Premier Jeremy Rockliff has vowed to fight and win a snap election, but speculation is growing his Liberal colleagues will deny him the chance.

Tasmania’s lower house passed a motion of no-confidence in Rockliff yesterday, just 15 months into his minority government’s four-year term.

Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff, who lost a vote of no-confidence.Credit: Ethan James/AAP

The vote was an episode in spiralling political brinkmanship, with the premier warning Opposition Leader Dean Winter he would advise an early election if the motion succeeded.

The prevailing political wisdom is the Rockliff government will lose an election, with veteran Liberal political operative Brad Stansfield saying it would be “annihilated” by a winter campaign.

However, parliament’s dissolution is not due until after Tuesday, given the need to pass a stop-gap budget bill before any election campaign.

The delay across the King’s Birthday long weekend gives the 17 members of the Liberal party room – including 14 who will put their seats at risk in a campaign – plenty of time to rethink their support for Rockliff.

“It’s probably 70 to 80 per cent likely that either over the weekend or following the appropriation bill going through on Tuesday, Jeremy won’t be leader,” former premier David Bartlett told AAP.

“It won’t be a coup. It will be a smooth transition of power to a new leader and Jeremy will be under all sorts of pressure from internal Liberal party people to make that happen.

“I’m not even convinced Jeremy Rockliff wants to go to another election. He’d probably rather retire to the farm.”

Bartlett, who led a Labor government between 2008 and 2011, said there were no shortage of options for a new leader, who would need to organise support from enough crossbenchers to stave off an election.

AAP has spoken with multiple past and present MPs and advisers, who have confirmed Liberal MPs were privately canvassing options to topple Rockliff and avoid an election.

AAP

Now to world news, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has “activated” some clans of Palestinians in Gaza that are opposed to Hamas, in the first public acknowledgment that Israel is backing armed Palestinian groups in Gaza.

Netanyahu made the comments on social media as the Trump administration said it was imposing sanctions on four judges from the International Criminal Court, including two who issued a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest last year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem last month.Credit: AP

It is not immediately clear what role the Palestinian groups – based around powerful clans or extended families – were playing in Gaza, but one Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Netanyahu was referring to the so-called Popular Forces led by a Rafah clan leader, Yasser Abu Shabab.

That group has said its fighters were helping protect aid shipments to the new Israeli-backed food distribution centres, run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), but some Palestinians say the Abu Shabab group has also been involved in attacking and looting aid convoys.

Read the full story here.