As it happened: Labor to unveil budget plan to shockproof economy; Trump officials text journalist secret war details

That’s where we’ll leave today’s national blog. We’re wrapping up early to jump over to our coverage of the Albanese government’s fourth budget.

Head here to read our live federal budget blog.

To close off the national blog, here’s a quick look back at some of the key stories we covered today.

• Ahead of unveiling the federal budget this evening, Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the government is taking a “responsible” approach to cost-of-living relief for Australians.
• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended a lack of means testing for energy rebates, which will wipe $150 from household energy bills, arguing that structurally its only possible to deliver them universally, or only to welfare recipients.
• Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor says the biggest test for the federal budget will be whether it restores Australians’ hope.
• In Brisbane, a new stadium will be built in Victoria Park as the main venue for the 2032 Olympic Games.
• Abroad, some of the most senior members of the Trump administration included an American journalist in an encrypted group chat that debated, planned and shared top-secret details of US military strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

Wellington: A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck off New Zealand’s South Island on Tuesday, authorities said, as the country’s disaster agency assessed if there were any tsunami threats.

Residents of the Southland and Fiordland regions should stay away from beaches and marine areas as strong and unusual currents might present a danger, NZ’s National Emergency Management Agency said.

More than 4700 people felt the quake, government seismic monitor Geonet said, as New Zealand media reported items falling and buildings swaying.

“We had things fall off the shelf. The outdoor wooden table dancing,” a user posted on Facebook, according to the New Zealand Herald newspaper.

Australia’s national weather bureau said there was no tsunami threat to the mainland, islands or territories.

The quake was reported at a depth of 33 kilometres about 160 kilometres north-west of Snares Islands, the northern-most of New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic islands, Geonet said in an alert.

Reuters

A sizeable, steel, sharp-cornered and controversial electric truck will be the drawcard for Melbourne’s first car show in more than a decade as organisers bank on curiosity surrounding the futuristic vehicle.

The Tesla Cybertruck took a spin around the Melbourne Motor Show venue on Tuesday in its latest stop on a tour around Australia.

The Tesla Cybertruck makes its first appearance in Melbourne.Credit: Paul Rovere

Its appearance will come despite a string of recent controversies for the truck and the US brand behind it, including a widespread recall due to stainless steel panels falling off the vehicles.

But organisers say the event, which will be the first of its kind since 2009, will also show off street-legal and more practical vehicles, including 15 new models and cars from 20 manufacturers.

Annual motor shows around Australia shut down in the early 2010s due to low attendance and, according to Melbourne Motor Show organiser Craig Phinn, the withdrawal of big brands from the nation.

“A lot of onshore brands left, like Holden, and stopped manufacturing, and the market was very stagnant for a long time so it was hard to put a show together with nothing new,” he said.

“With all the new manufacturers coming into Australia [now], we used that to get them all together.”

Twenty major vehicle manufacturers have committed to show cars at the Melbourne event, held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on April 5 and 6, he said, in addition to 80 after-market brands, as well as toy makers Hot Wheels and LEGO.

AAP

Two schoolgirls aged 11 and 13 along with an adult were arrested at a regional NSW school after four school staff members and a police officer were allegedly assaulted.

Armidale Secondary College went into lockdown at 10.30am on Tuesday morning when the two girls allegedly attempted to assault a fellow student, before turning on staff who intervened.

Four staff members were treated for non-serious injuries and two were taken to hospital for further treatment. No students were harmed, police said.

Armidale Secondary College.

When police officers arrived to arrest the two girls, the 13-year-old allegedly assaulted an officer. During the commotion, a 34-year-old woman arrived at the school and began allegedly verbally assaulting staff and obstructing police. When the woman failed to comply with move-on directions by officers, she was arrested.

The two girls were released from custody pending further investigations, while the woman was charged with refusing to comply with a direction, hinder or resist a police officer during the execution of duty and intimidate a police officer.

She will appear before Inverell Local Court later today.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says independent Senator Fatima Payman “ratted on the Labor party to sit on the cross-bench”.

Launching his harshest critique against the former Labor senator yet, Albanese said she only received 0.1 per cent of the vote, implying she only received her WA senate seat because of Labor’s backing.

Payman quit the party last year because of Labor’s stance on the conflict in Gaza.

Anthony Albanese and Fatima Payman.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Taking a question from teal independent Zali Steggall on whether Albanese was breaking a 2022 promise to strengthen nature laws, Albanese took the opportunity to criticise independents and Greens.

“We went to the election in 2022 saying we would have a national environmental protection authority. That legislation passed this house and sat over there ... in the Senate for month after month after month,” Albanese said with a raised voice while pointing over to the doors that lead to the Senate chamber.

Albanese accused crossbenchers of trying to “connect it up” to other issues not related to the legislation, before refusing to vote for it.

“Then, when the legislation was eventually before the Senate, the crossbench ... including Fatima Payman, who was elected as a Labor senator but ratted on the Labor Party to sit on the crossbench, made it clear she would not [vote for the protection authority],” he said.

“Having received under about 0.1 per cent of the vote, said she would oppose that legislation along with other crossbench members ... so be careful what you vote for when you vote independent, because you never know what you will get.”

And that brings an end to the first of three question time sessions this week.

Opposition frontbencher James Paterson has declared he will stand by his assessments of underworld figure Mick Gatto and his conduct in the construction industry.

Gatto has featured repeatedly in reporting by this masthead and 60 Minutes as part of the Building Bad investigation into the CFMEU and the building sector.

On Monday, Gatto issued a statement saying he denied all accusations made against him, calling them “baseless, sensationalised and damaging to my reputation and personal life”.

“I have always conducted my business and personal affairs with integrity,” he said. “I will not allow these falsehoods to tarnish my name.”

As well as the media outlets, Gatto called out Paterson and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in his demands for retractions and apologies.

Speaking in the Senate on Monday, Paterson said he would not resile from any earlier statements as he blamed the government’s abolishment of the Australian Building and Construction Commission for the issues exposed in the Building Bad investigation.

“I note in the last 24 hours that Mr Gatto has had a few things to say about me and the leader of the opposition,” he said.

“All I would say in response to that is that I am not intimidated by Mr Gatto, I will not be retracting any statements I have made about him and I am more determined than ever before to help clean up the building industry and crack down on this criminal enterprise that is the modern CFMEU.”

Paterson also blasted independent MPs including Monique Ryan and Zoe Daniel for voting with the government to scrap the ABCC.

“The government was warned that if they voted to abolish the [ABCC] that they would let the CFMEU off the leash, that they would allow the CFMEU to return to and expand their criminal ways and that is exactly what has happened,” he said.

“The member for Kooyong Monique Ryan … the member for Goldstein Zoe Daniel, they voted with the Labor Party to abolish the ABCC and to let the CFMEU off the leash, and the consequences of those votes and the consequences of those decisions were put to air for all Australians to see.”

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli is holding a media conference with a number of key 2032 Olympic Games stakeholders in Brisbane, after the confirmation that his government will build a new stadium for the games.

You can watch the press conference live below:

The Coalition is being especially dogged on relevance today, interrupting Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek for the second time to argue she isn’t directly answering questions.

The question is about Woodside’s expansion of the North West Shelf gas project, which is currently before federal authorities after an extended delay in receiving approval from the WA government.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has pledged to expedite the approval process if he wins government, and the Coalition stand up in question time to ask when Plibersek will approve it.

She says she has consistently refused to comment on the decision because of the legal risk of prejudicing the approval process.

“I can say very clearly that our broad approach will always be to follow the law and to follow the science,” before calling Dutton’s announcement “reckless”.

This is when manager of opposition business Michael Sukkar gets up to argue that Plibersek’s answer isn’t relevant.

She gets to continue, adding that it would be “very dangerous” for her to make a prejudgement about a project.

When the Coalition interrupts again, Speaker Milton Dick tells Sukkar that Plibersek is being relevant and that he “cannot make her answer the way you would like her to”.

“She may not give you the answer of the timing she is explaining why that is the case.”

Newly-elected Liberal leader Basil Zempilas has begun his time at the helm by of the WA Liberals by lavishing predecessor Libby Mettam with praise, hailing her efforts as “incredibly stoic” and expressing appreciation for her standing alongside him as part of the leadership team.

Fronting the media outside Parliament House following a meeting where he was rubber-stamped as leader, the former Seven West Media personality said Mettam had been an inspiration, especially for candidates at the poll in which he was elected to the seat of Churchlands.

Basil Zempilas is the new opposition leader in WA.Credit: Hamish Hastie

“We are so pleased you are part of the leadership team as the reset of the Liberal Party begins,” Zempilas said.

“The road to 2029 begins today.”

The former lord mayor of Perth vowed to lead a party that would put the interests of Western Australians first, champion integrity in parliament, target “wasteful” government spending and improve housing affordability.

Zempilas’ appointment comes just days after Mettam resigned following the party’s second-worst election result.

While many thought this parliament would never meet for question time again, here we are in the House of Representatives, and lo and behold, they’re talking about the Greens’ 2009 decision to oppose the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (also known as the emissions trading scheme) ... again.

Greens leader Adam Bandt gets up to ask the prime minister about the approval of 30 new coal and gas projects during his term in government and accuses him of weakening environment protection laws and driving iconic species to extinction.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

When Albanese gets up, he falls back on the CPRS argument, telling Bandt that the Greens’ decision in 2009 to block that legislation stopped climate action and paved the path for Tony Abbott’s prime ministership.

The PM then reels off the investment in renewables and environmental reforms as proof of his credentials on the environment.

“Across the board, my government is one that has led on climate and the environment, not just here but in the work we’re doing globally as well. Australia is now out of the naughty table, acting on climate change as part of global efforts in acting on the environment.”