As it happened: Dutton mulls referendum pledge on deporting criminal dual nationals; Israel conducts strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza

And that’s a wrap for Peter Dutton and a wrap for us at the blog. Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow.

Journalist: How are you going to bring down international student numbers?

Dutton: “We’ll have more to say on that closer to the election. The government has bought in about 1.2 million people over the last five years, and they have pulled money out of infrastructure. We need to have a well-managed migration program. The housing crisis Anthony Albanese has created means the housing dream for young Australians has just been lost. And our $5b plan... will go toward making 500,000 new homes available to young Australians.”

Can Australia afford another referendum, Mr Dutton is asked

“My argument is every step should be taken by the federal government... to keep Australia safe. If someone has committed a terrorist attack against Australian citizens... is the PM arguing that person should remain a citizen of our country? I believe we should do everything we can within the law to keep Australians safe. The government has allowed 3000 people in from Gaza on visas that would be issued to a tourist. We will be seeking a mandate from Australians at the next election to keep our country safe.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is up now, speaking in Perth. The first topic he wants to hit is the CFMEU, after our  reporting on the troubled union.

“This is not the first image we’ve seen of union violence, and it’s certainly not the last. For the Prime Minister to not condemn that action... is something the PM needs to explain,” he said.

“The PM has the ability, the power, to stop taking millions of dollars in donations from the CFMEU. When we see the CFMEU in lockstep with outlaw motorcycle gangs you know we have a huge problem. Why are we paying the highest construction costs in the world at the moment? It’s because of the CFMEU. The CFMEU is out of control.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has spoken to the media from Perth this afternoon. You can rewatch the press conference here.

South Australia closed two beaches after dead fish and an unusual off-white foam washed ashore while surfers reported feeling unwell, officials said on Tuesday.

A microalgal bloom created by unusual weather conditions was suspected to have sickened humans and marine life as well as creating the foam that has covered hundreds of meters (yards) of coastline, South Australian Environment Protection Authority principal scientific officer Sam Gaylard said.

“It is very concerning,” Gaylard told the ABC.

“It is unusual at this scale. At this time of year, when the weather conditions allow, we do occasionally get isolated blooms, but something of this scale is definitely a little bit unusual,” Gaylard added.

Waitpinga Beach and neighboring Parsons Beach, both south of the South Australia state capital Adelaide, have been closed to the public since Monday in response to a “fish mortality event in the area,” the Department for Environment and Water said in a statement.

NASA’s two stuck astronauts headed back to Earth with SpaceX on Tuesday to close out a dramatic marathon mission that began with a bungled Boeing test flight more than nine months ago.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams bid farewell to the International Space Station — their home since last spring — departing aboard a SpaceX capsule alongside two other astronauts. The capsule undocked in the wee hours and aimed for a splashdown off the Florida coast by early evening, weather permitting.

NASA astronauts Suni Williams, left, and Butch Wilmore stand together for a photo enroute to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla., for their liftoff on the Boeing Starliner capsule to the international space station.Credit: nna\riwood

The two expected to be gone just a week or so after launching on Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on June 5. So many problems cropped up on the way to the space station that NASA eventually sent Starliner back empty and transferred the test pilots to SpaceX, pushing their homecoming into February. Then SpaceX capsule issues added another month’s delay.

Sunday’s arrival of their relief crew meant Wilmore and Williams could finally leave. NASA cut them loose a little early, given the iffy weather forecast later this week. They checked out with NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov, who arrived in their own SpaceX capsule last fall with two empty seats reserved for the Starliner duo.

“We’ll miss you, but have a great journey home,” NASA’s Anne McClain called out from the space station as the capsule pulled away 260 miles (418 kilometers) above the Pacific.

Donald Trump has done so many things since retaking office it’s hard to keep track of them all - you may have missed that on his second day in office, back in January, he ordered the release of classified documents relating to the 1963 assassination of President John F Kennedy.

Today he provided an update that it will be approximately 80,000 pages of documents he’s releasing, though no extra details on what the files will include.

Stephen Loosely, former Australian Strategic Policy Institute chair, said there are more conspiracies than any other event in modern American history.

Jacqueline Kennedy, her clothing splattered with blood, watches as the body of the dead president is placed in an ambulance.Credit: UPI

He was asked what might be in the documents on Melbourne’s 3AW last hour.

“There will be some unusual observations - there will be some insights that are new from people who have taken up the assassination (as a topic of research). I’m not sure there’s going to be anything of particular moment that will move th dial ont eh assassination itself or the inquiries,” he said.

Loosely suggested it was politically convenient for Trump to make this announcement now, and that it would take media attention away from “certain things the Trump administration is doing or planning to do”.

“Trump himself has not been known to walk past a good conspiracy theory when he saw it humming away e.g. when Barack Obama was not an American citizen. Trump pursued that for weeks, and you have circumstances where parts of the Trump base fasten upon these theories,” he said.

Brett Whiteley paintings, Rolex watches, Cartier jewellery, even a luxury yaght are among the suspected proceeds of crime seized by the Australian Federal Police in a major bust of a Middle Eastern organised crime syndicate.

Here’s a short, to-the-point update from economics reporter Millie Muroi:

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has curtly shut down a question about whether he would like to become Labor leader one day.

“So you don’t have aspirations to become leader one day yourself?” a journalist asked this afternoon during the treasurer’s appearance at the Queensland Media Club.

“No,” Chalmers replied.