As it happened: Trump says US would ‘take over’ Gaza; $1.7 billion in new Medicare funding announced

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:

• World news dominated our headlines today, after President Donald Trump declared his intention for the United States to take control of war-torn Gaza and redevelop the land after permanently relocating all Palestinians elsewhere.
• The idea was swiftly rejected by the Arab world and widely described as ethnic cleansing. Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its “firm and unwavering” commitment to a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and said this was a prerequisite for any normalisation of relations with Israel.
• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused to provide a “running commentary” on Trump’s remarks, saying Australia’s position remained the same, and it supported a two-state solution in the Middle East.
• The Coalition also declined to outline its position on Trump’s comments and reaffirmed its commitment to a two-state solution.
• Australia’s public hospitals will get $1.7 billion more from federal coffers in the next year as Labor seeks to prove its commitment to Medicare before the election, while holding out on a fresh five-year deal with states.
• The Opposition used question time to repeatedly question Albanese about when he learned of an alleged “planned mass casualty terror attack against Sydney’s Jewish community”.
• Albanese will miss Thursday’s session of parliament and was due to arrive in Queensland this evening to survey the Townsville floods.
• A study has found the floods in Queensland were mainly driven by human-caused climate change, which intensified the meteorological conditions that led to the event.
• In NSW, Premier Chris Minns spoke for the first time since the resignation of Transport Minister Jo Haylen on Tuesday. He heaped praise on Haylen, saying while her decisions didn’t show great judgment, he wanted to defend her character amid the scandal.
• In culture news, veteran journalist Liz Hayes announced her departure from Nine after a 44-year career with the broadcaster.
• It was day three of journalist Antoinette Lattouf’s unlawful termination case against the ABC in the Federal Court.

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

Now to the Australian sharemarket, which bounced back today thanks to miners, tech and energy stocks, following in the footsteps of Wall Street, which calmed as US tech stocks climbed higher.

The S&P/ASX 200 finished the session 42.9 points or 0.5 per cent higher at 8416.9 points, as investors rushed back to the sectors initially smashed by Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.

Wall Street advanced across the board.Credit: Reuters

The winner of the day was wealth manager Insignia Financial, which finished 6.9 per cent higher after global asset management firm Brookfield offered to match the takeover bids of Bain Capital and CC Capital Partners at $4.60 per share, which values the company at $3.1 billion.

BWP Trust closed 4.9 per cent higher after the real estate investment trust reported double-digit total income growth and a 195 per cent jump in net profit for the first half. Neuren Pharmaceuticals rose 4.4 per cent.

The big miners were sharply higher, with BHP (up 1.5 per cent), Rio Tinto (up 2.1 per cent) and Fortescue (up 2 per cent) all solidly in the green.

The big four banks also advanced, led by NAB (up 0.7 per cent). CBA lifted 0.6 per cent, Westpac finished 0.5 per cent higher and ANZ added 0.1 per cent.

Read our full five-minute recap of the trading day here.

Reactions to United States President Donald Trump’s radical Gaza takeover plan are pouring in from around the globe, and more will roll in as cities wake up.

For now, here are some quotes from prominent figures, organisations and world leaders.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri

“Trump’s remarks about his desire to control Gaza are ridiculous and absurd, and any ideas of this kind are capable of igniting the region.”

Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman

A statement from Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said the country rejected any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land. It added its stance towards the Palestinians was not negotiable. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has affirmed the kingdom’s position in “a clear and explicit manner” that does not allow for any interpretation under any circumstances, the statement said.

Democratic and Palestinian-American US representative Rashida Tlaib

“Palestinians aren’t going anywhere. This president can only spew this fanatical bullshit because of bipartisan support in Congress for funding genocide and ethnic cleansing. It’s time for my two-state solution colleagues to speak up.”

Democratic US Senator Chris Van Hollen

“Trump’s proposal to push 2 million Palestinians out of Gaza and take ‘ownership’ by force, if necessary, is simply ethnic cleansing by another name.”

US Muslim advocacy group Council on American Islamic Relations

“Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people, not the United States, and President Trump’s call to expel Palestinians from their land is an absolute non-starter.”

Amnesty International USA executive director Paul O’Brien

“Removing all Palestinians from Gaza is tantamount to destroying them as a people. Gaza is their home. Gaza’s death and destruction is a result of the government of Israel killing civilians by the thousands, often with US bombs.”

Arab American Institute

“If the president was truly interested in bringing an era of peace to the Middle East, he would support self-determination for the Palestinian people on their historic land and in accordance with international law – not talk of illegal forced transfer.”

With Reuters

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should “haul in” the Australian Federal Police commissioner and demand to know why he was not briefed about a caravan loaded with explosives, Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie suggests.

The opposition repeatedly pressed Albanese during question time today about when he first became aware of the alleged “planned terror attack against Sydney’s Jewish community”.

The location on Derriwong Road in Dural where the caravan was found.Credit: Kate Geraghty

The line of questioning led to frustration, with Albanese telling the chamber: “Those opposite, on the day in which we have announced $1.7 billion of additional health funding, they can’t ask any questions about health. They can’t ask any questions about education or TAFE, on a day in which the parliament has passed free TAFE.

“They can’t ask any questions about cost of living, even though they say that’s the number one priority because they only policy they have is free lunches.

“That is why they’re reduced to criticising and undermining the work of our police and our security agencies.”

McKenzie, speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, said “none of us would know” the prime minister was not briefed – although “it is clear that he was not across the detail” – and they found out about the claims through media reports.

“It is the prime minister’s evasiveness since that announcement and that story came to light that has led us here,” McKenzie said.

“Something of this seriousness, the prime minister needs to know. If I were the prime minister, I would be hauling the AFP commissioner in to ask why did I not know about this joint task force.”

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler has followed in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s stead, refusing to provide a detailed comment about US President Donald Trump’s plan to take possession of Gaza.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Health Minister Mark Butler on Wednesday. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“The prime minister has responded to the comment in these past few hours and made it clear he won’t provide a running commentary,” Butler told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.

“Our position is clear, consistently articulated by the [prime minister] and the foreign minister. We remain [committed] to the long-standing commitment of Australian governments of both political persuasions to pursue a two-state solution with Palestinians and Israelis living in peace alongside each other.”

Given Albanese was not going to provide a “running commentary” on the issue, Butler as health minister certainly would not, he said.

“You’re not going to get the health minister to step in,” Butler said.

Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie later also reiterated the Coalition stood firm in wanting a two-state solution.

“You saw the president of the US bring a dealmaker’s playbook to the crisis in the Middle East. You can see he’s very much standing with the state of Israel in his hour of [leadership] but also articulated his concern about the 2 million people who live in Gaza who have been under the rule of Hamas since 2007. He wants to see that change,” McKenzie said.

“He’s put an idea out there on the table, which I think, you know, people are going to have to consider.”

United States President Donald Trump’s plan to take possession of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it is a “silly idea from a very unserious man”, an American Middle East analyst and negotiator says.

Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Aaron David Miller theorised Trump was working up to today’s radical announcement over the past several days.

United States President Donald Trump takes questions during a press conference with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Credit: AP

The announcement was “typical Trump”, and an embarrassing performance that hurt American credibility along with the US’ Arab partners, Miller said.

The plan would require a commitment of American resources, Israeli support, and “fundamentally undermined” the notion of “America first” by which Trump lives, Miller said.

“It is not nation-building because Trump wants to empty Gaza of Palestinians; there will be no nation there,” Miller said.

“I just think that it is a silly idea from a very unserious man.

“Egyptians could decide that, since geography is destiny and they share a border with Israel and Gaza, they could decide essentially to block … the exit of any Palestinians out, [and] that raises the extraordinary prospect of putting Palestinians on buses and routing them through Israel?

“The Jordanians would close their borders, the Egyptians would close their borders.

“As a human right, ethical [and] moral proposition, it is close to what you could call forced transfer, or what Palestinians already believe Israelis are engaged in, ethnic cleansing. It is just wrong for so many reasons.

“Head-exploding [is how] I would describe it.”

Miller worked at the United States’ State Department between 1978 and 2003 as a historian, analyst, negotiator, and advisor to secretaries of state. He served as senior advisor for Arab-Israeli negotiations, and as deputy special Middle East coordinator for Arab-Israeli negotiations, among other roles.

Circling back now to Canberra’s celebrations for UN International Women’s Day, where Opposition Leader Peter Dutton pledged to do more to protect girls’ online safety.

Giving a speech after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Dutton referred to his time as home affairs minister.

We know [through] that investment, which I was proud to make as home affairs minister, about $8 million, that we’ve been able to rescue more than 1500 children, mostly girls, from desperate situations here in South-East Asia and across the world.

This allowed us to play a leading role in the world in the fight against abuse, sexual abuse [and the] physical abuse of young women online.

I want to make sure that we can work together on this issue as well. There’s no doubt about that. When I speak to my colleagues, [Senator] Jane Hume and others, this is a particular passion for us, and there should be a great focus across our society on this incredibly important issue.

I also want to acknowledge many women within the Jewish community in Australia today who are the subject of violence, of discrimination, racism and of hatred. It has no place in [our] country whatsoever.”

Police have charged two men over antisemitic graffiti sprayed across the Perth suburbs of Nedlands, Dianella and Dalkeith at the weekend.

A swastika and a series of slurs were spray-painted on homes, bus stops and signs in the suburbs to the west and north of the city between 6.30pm on Saturday and 7.30am on Sunday.

Antisemitic graffiti in the Perth suburb of Dalkeith is covered up on Sunday.Credit: 9News Perth

WA Police set up a taskforce, led by the State Security Investigation Group, and searched two homes in Dianella and Beechboro, leading to the arrest of two 27-year-old men.

Both men have been charged with criminal damage in circumstances of racial aggravation and were set to appear in the Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

A WA Police spokeswoman said the force would not allow “vile acts of hatred and racism to go unchecked”, and dedicated patrols had targeted prominent locations visited by members of Perth’s Jewish community since December.

“This swift outcome should send a clear message to anyone engaging in this kind of behaviour. We will find you, and you will be put before the courts to face the consequences of your actions,” the spokeswoman said.

Speaking at a press conference earlier today, Premier Roger Cook said the WA government condemned the antisemitic attacks and vowed to hold to account anyone involved in the “cowardly acts”, which he said were designed to sow division, hatred and fear in the community.

“We will not stand by and allow this corrosive behaviour to undermine people’s sense of peace and security in Western Australia,” Cook said.

Good afternoon, and thanks for reading the national news blog.

I’m Cassandra Morgan, taking over from Josefine Ganko. If you’re just joining us, here’s a look at what we’ve been covering today.

• World news has dominated our headlines, with US President Donald Trump saying he wants the United States to take possession of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it into a home for people from all over the world after Palestinians are permanently resettled elsewhere.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Trump is “the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House”.
• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would not say if he supports Trump’s announcement that he wants the US to take over Gaza to redevelop the area, but Australia’s position remained the same and it supported a two-state solution in the Middle East.
• The Coalition also declined to outline its position on Trump’s comments.
• Albanese has announced $1.7 billion in funding for public hospitals and health services, an increase of 12 per cent on the federal government’s overall contribution to state-run health systems.
• In NSW, Premier Chris Minns spoke for the first time since the resignation of transport minister Jo Haylen on Tuesday. He heaped praise on Haylen, saying while her decisions didn’t show great judgment, he wanted to defend her character amid the scandal.
• In Queensland, a study has found floods in the state this month were mainly driven by human-caused climate change, which intensified the meteorological conditions that led to the event.
• In culture news, veteran journalist Liz Hayes has announced her departure from Nine.
• Our coverage of freelance journalist Antoinette Lattouf’s unlawful termination case against the ABC also continues, with media reporter Calum Jaspan blogging live from day three of the trial, currently under way in the Federal Court.

Keep following the national news blog with us into this evening!

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of being “embarrassed because he was not advised by the police” about the caravan filled with explosives as the police were “worried about him leaking the information”.

Question time became heated as Dutton prompted outrage from members of the government for his question.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton during question time on Tuesday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Dutton said: “The prime minister has been embarrassed because he was not advised by the police because they were worried about him leaking the information ahead of any action by the police.”

Leader of the House Tony Burke interjected, arguing the whole question by Dutton should be ruled out of order as it was disorderly.

But Dutton doubled down: “The statement I have made is a statement of fact. It is a statement of fact that it is the reason that the prime minister keeps [dodging].”

Eventually, Dutton rephrased his question to allow question time to continue, asking why the prime minister could not be honest with the Australian people.

Albanese said: “There are two choices you can make here. One – to prioritise getting to the bottom of what is happening here, supporting the police and intelligence agencies, or you can choose to play politics and play these games.

“The idea that that is not the priority and that that should be not my focus is quite frankly absurd. Absurd and irresponsible. There are other members on that side who know how irresponsible it is.”