Former ambassador to US says ‘no way’ Australia would put boots on the ground
Amid questions over whether Australia should do more to support its major ally, former Australian ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos says combat troops are not the way forward.
Sinodinos, who served in the role from 2020 to 2023, told AAP after the US strikes on Iran:
There’s no way we would put troops on the ground. I don’t think the government or the political establishment here are suggesting that we just follow whatever the US is going to do.
I’d be very surprised if there’s anybody saying that we, automatically as a result of what the US has done, are now part of that conflict.
Former Australian ambassador to the US, Arthur Sinodinos, seen in 2019. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 00.33 BST
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Lisa Cox
First legal challenge to fracking begins in federal court today
Anti-mining group Lock the Gate has challenged gas company Tamboran’s Shenandoah South pilot project in the Northern Territory – the first legal challenge to fracking under the federal water trigger in the federal court.
The pilot project in the Beetaloo basin is a 15-well exploration project, with the company planning to sell so-called appraisal gas – which is gas extracted during the exploration phase.
Environment groups last year, concerned about the pilot project’s potential impacts on water including nearby Lake Woods, had called for the project to be assessed under the water trigger in Australia’s environmental laws. The federal government expanded the water trigger in 2023 to include all forms of unconventional gas.
Georgina Woods, Lock the Gate Alliance’s head of research and investigations. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP
The Lock the Gate Alliance said the project should be referred to the federal environment minister for assessment and a decision under national environment laws designed to protect water from significant impacts.
Georgina Woods, Lock the Gate’s head of research and investigations, said:
We are pursuing this case because we believe Tamboran’s fracking project is likely to contaminate precious groundwater in the Northern Territory and we want Australia’s national environmental law applied.
We believe the expanded water trigger should be used to assess this fracking project for its impacts on water resources. Since neither Tamboran nor the federal environment minister have chosen to do this we have stepped in to take action ourselves.
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Updated at 01.43 BST
NZ foreign minister looking for evidence that justified US strikes on Iran
Winston Peters, New Zealand’s foreign minister, said this morning he was looking for “evidence to do with” Iran’s nuclear program that was “way outside the negotiated position they’ve been taking all this time” to justify the US strikes on sites across the country. Peters told Radio NZ that Iran had “been marvellously good at negotiating their way out of things and the question is, have they kept to their commitments, have they breached their international obligations”.
New Zealand foreign minister Winston Peters. Photograph: Mark Tantrum/AP
He said the world needed to “find that out before we rush to judgment”.
Yesterday, Peters said he found the strikes “extremely worrying” and said it was “critical” further escalation was avoided. He said:
New Zealand strongly supports efforts towards diplomacy. We urge all parties to return to talks. Diplomacy will deliver a more enduring resolution than further military action.
The NZ prime minister, Chris Luxon, said the right response “cannot be more military action” saying politics needed to take precedent, the AAP reports.
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Updated at 01.29 BST
Petrol prices expected to rise after US bombs Iran
Luca Ittimani
Petrol prices are expected to rise at least 5c a litre after the US bombed Iranian nuclear facilities, with analysts predicting severe retaliation from Iran would see prices spike by a further 20c a litre.
Australian consumers have already been paying more at the bowser since Israel first struck Iran earlier in June. Prices have already climbed 15c/L higher over the last month, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission data shows. Sydney and Melbourne prices barely moving below $1.75/L when they had been bottoming out near $1.60/L in May and similar rises elsewhere.
AMP economist Shane Oliver, speaking before the US strike, said every $US1 change in the international price for a barrel of oil translates to a 1c rise or fall at the bowser. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock
AMP economist Shane Oliver, speaking before the US strike, said every US$1 change in the international price for a barrel of oil translates to a 1c rise or fall at the bowser, so the extra US$5 rise could see peak petrol prices surpass A$2/L in the capital cities.
Oil prices were below US$65 a barrel a month ago but markets now expect they’ll surpass US$80, if you take the Brent oil global price benchmark for Atlantic basin crude oils.
They could rise further beyond $US100 per barrel, adding about another 20c per litre to petrol prices, if Iran disrupts shipping through the strait of Hormuz, Commonwealth Bank analyst Vivek Dhar said on Monday. Dhar wrote:
Iran needs to first consider whether it wants a symbolic or substantial retaliation. … Oil and gas tankers don’t have an alternative to bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
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Updated at 01.22 BST
Dfat updates travel advice for Australians over Israel-Iran conflict
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Smartraveller website has once again updated its guidance for Australians in the Middle East or considering travel to the region, warning the local security situation could “get worse with little notice” after the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday.
Australians are encouraged to stay up to date with advice as flights may be cancelled amid an ongoing risk of reprisal attacks and further escalation across the region. Dfat has also encouraged travellers to see its general advice on staying safe during armed conflict.
The US has conducted strikes on Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan.
There is a risk of reprisal attacks and further escalation across the region.
See our general advice on protecting your safety during an armed conflict https://t.co/UD67CF8UYO (1/2) pic.twitter.com/c9oZXJcL4g
— Smartraveller (@Smartraveller) June 22, 2025Share
Updated at 01.07 BST
Qantas and Virgin Australia partner flights unaffected by Iran conflict so far
Qantas flights to Europe and Virgin Australia wet lease flights with Qatar Airways remain unaffected by the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran. Airspace over the two countries remains closed after the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites yesterday.
Both airlines say they are monitoring airspace around the region closely and will communicate with travellers if any changes are required. Qantas uses a number of flight paths en route to Europe that are reviewed regularly based on weather and security concerns, and they are proactively changed as needed, while Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways also monitor for safe alternatives if needed.
Flight maps show many commercial planes in the sky in the region, although they are flying around Iran, Iraq, Syria and Israel.
Airspace over Iran and Israel remains closed. Photograph: David Gray/ReutersShare
Updated at 00.45 BST
Australia’s Minjee Lee wins historic third major at Women’s PGA Championship
Australian golf superstar Minjee Lee has cemented her greatness, claiming a historic third career major with a steely victory at the big-money Women’s PGA Championship in Texas, AAP reports.
Minjee Lee kisses the trophy after winning the Women’s PGA Championship golf tournament. Photograph: LM Otero/AP
Lee had her four-shot overnight lead slashed in half early in the final round before hanging on, then surging gamely for a three-shot triumph in more extremely trying conditions at PGA Frisco’s windswept Fields Ranch East course.
The 29-year-old bogeyed three of the first six holes in an anxious start before steadying to close with a sufficiently sound two-over-par 74 on championship Sunday (Monday AEST).
She said of her final-round approach:
Just stick to my gameplan. It’s a battle against myself pretty much, especially with how tough the conditions were this whole week.
Read more here:
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Updated at 00.29 BST
Patrick Commins
Australia risks losing ‘war on nicotine’ in same way as war on drugs as illegal tobacco sales explode
Australia is now waging a “de facto war on nicotine” that is doomed to fail in the same way as previous prohibition-style policies, experts say, amid a growing debate about how to respond to an explosion in the illicit tobacco trade.
As health experts warn against changes that would undermine decades of fighting to bring down smoking rates, James Martin, a criminology lecturer at Deakin University, and Edward Jegasothy, an epidemiologist at the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health, have called for a major overhaul in how we tax tobacco and regulate vaping products.
Unaffordable legal cigarettes and an effective ban on retail e-cigarette sales are responsible for the explosion in black-market trade, a new paper argues. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP
They argue that unaffordable legal cigarettes and an effective ban on retail e-cigarette sales are responsible for the explosion in black-market trade for both products. Martin and Jegasothy wrote recently in Harm Reduction Journal:
Australia’s current strategy may be creating more harm than it mitigates, mirroring many of the unintended consequences historically associated with drug prohibition.
Read more here:
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Updated at 00.07 BST
Former ambassador to US says ‘no way’ Australia would put boots on the ground
Amid questions over whether Australia should do more to support its major ally, former Australian ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos says combat troops are not the way forward.
Sinodinos, who served in the role from 2020 to 2023, told AAP after the US strikes on Iran:
There’s no way we would put troops on the ground. I don’t think the government or the political establishment here are suggesting that we just follow whatever the US is going to do.
I’d be very surprised if there’s anybody saying that we, automatically as a result of what the US has done, are now part of that conflict.
Former Australian ambassador to the US, Arthur Sinodinos, seen in 2019. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 00.33 BST
Wong says US has not asked Australia to get involved in Iran attacks
Penny Wong was on every major network this morning to address the US strikes in Iran. On Channel 9, the foreign minister was asked how Australia would respond if the US asked the country to get more involved in the Middle East conflict. She said the White House had made “no such request”, but added she wouldn’t speculate about what could happen in the future.
I again would say we are concerned, as are so many people around the world, about continued escalation. No one wants to see full-scale war in the Middle East.
Australia runs a joint intelligence surveillance base with the US at Pine Gap in the Northern Territory. Wong did not say if that facility played any role this weekend when asked, although she noted the US made “clear” this was a unilateral strike.
Wong said she wouldn’t comment on intelligence matters when asked about the joint US-Australia facility in the NT. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare
Updated at 23.42 BST
NSW budget to include $80m to jump start new investment and innovation
The Minns government will allocate nearly $80m in the upcoming NSW budget to a new investment and innovation authority meant to accelerate approvals for major projects across industry. The program, called the Investment Delivery Authority, is modelled after a similar effort for housing and is expected to assist about 30 large projects each year that could result in billions worth of investment in the state each year.
NSW premier Chris Minns said ‘our state is open for business and this change will encourage more people to bring their best ideas to life’. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP
The authority will be tasked with identifying reforms to “remove hurdles for private investment” and offer government support if a project is chosen for assistance. The body will accept expressions of interest from projects valued over $1bn from all sectors, coming into effect in the 2025-26 financial year.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said in a statement:
The fact is major projects from the private sector are getting bogged down in red tape, which is making it harder to do business in NSW when we should be doing everything we can to get things moving.
Our state is open for business and this change will encourage more people to bring their best ideas to life in NSW, all backed by our government.
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Updated at 23.31 BST
More than two-thirds of Tasmanians want government to rip up AFL stadium deal, survey finds
A new poll of Tasmanian voters reveals more than two-thirds of respondents believe the state’s stadium deal with the AFL is unfair and should be renegotiated. The poll, conducted by YouGov for the Australia Institute, found 69% of those questioned agreed that the AFL was “treating Tasmania unfairly” in the deal, and the same percentage found the state’s parliament should “renegotiate with the AFL to avoid building a new stadium”.
The proposed stadium at Hobart’s Macquarie Point has become a sticking point for some in the AFL’s expansion into Tasmania. Photograph: Cox Architecture
Leanne Minshull, strategy director for the Australia Institute, said in a statement:
This state deserves to have a team in the AFL, but Tassie taxpayers don’t want to be on the hook for a billion-dollar indoor stadium they don’t want.
Read more about the stadium deal here:
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Updated at 00.25 BST
About 1,300 Australians looking to leave Israel, 2,900 in Iran
Penny Wong said earlier there are more than 4,000 people registered with the Australian government as wanting to leave the Middle East: 1,300 in Israel and 2,900 in Iran.
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Hastie says Coalition supports strikes, but want a ‘peaceful settlement from here’
The acting shadow foreign affairs minister, Andrew Hastie, reiterated this morning the Coalition supported the US strikes on Iran, but called for diplomacy moving forward. He told RN Breakfast:
I’m glad to see that Penny Wong has essentially endorsed our position and I’m glad we have bipartisanship on this, that the world, as she said, has agreed Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon. …
We support those strikes, and now we want to see dialogue and diplomacy. We want to see a peaceful settlement from here. And I’m just not going to speculate on what steps might be taken next.
Andrew Hastie said of the strikes: ‘What’s happened has happened, and the question is: do we support the US in their strikes? Yes, we do.’ Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
RN Breakfast host Sally Sara pressed Hastie on the legality of the strikes and if there was any concern there. Hastie said those things would be debated in the coming days, but added:
What’s happened has happened, and the question is: Do we support the US in their strikes? Yes, we do. Why? Because we don’t want to see Iran getting a nuclear weapon.
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Updated at 22.55 BST
Nearly 70% of renters fear asking for repairs, study finds
Almost seven in 10 renters worry about asking for repairs in case it prompts a rent increase, AAP reports. A survey of more than 1,000 renters across Australia has also found a third would be unable to afford a 5% increase on what they’re currently paying.
Half the respondents lived in homes that need repairs and one in 10 needed them carried out urgently. The survey found 31% of rental homes have cockroach, ant or other pest problems, almost a quarter are leaky and one in five have issues with hot water, while almost as many feature mouldy bathrooms.
Researchers found 68% of tenants fear asking their landlord to repair their residence would mean upping the rent Photograph: Diego Fedele/AAP
Rents, meanwhile, have surged a staggering 47% in the past five years amid calls for nationwide rental increase limits.
Researchers found 68% of tenants feared asking their landlord to repair their residence would mean upping the rent, 56% suspected it would get them evicted and 52% worried that they would be placed on a blacklist stopping them renting another property.
The study was conducted by the Australian Council of Social Security, University of NSW, Sydney-led Poverty and Inequality Partnership, National Shelter and the National Association of Renter Organisations.
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Updated at 22.50 BST
Wong says it is ‘right’ to call for diplomacy and de-escalation now
Wong also spoke to ABC News this morning, saying:
It is right to call for diplomacy and de-escalation at this point because we do not want to see escalation and a full-scale war in the Middle East. That would be devastating for the people of the region and it would be a bad thing, it would be obviously highly disruptive to global stability.
The foreign minister said Iran had long flouted its obligations when it came to nuclear material, adding:
I think it is important to remember that the facilities that were struck only existed for the purpose of Iran’s nuclear program. That’s what we are talking about.
The world has long agreed Iran is not in compliance with its international obligations when it comes to nuclear material and the world long agreed it’s not in the interests of collective peace and security for Iran to gain access to a nuclear weapon.
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Updated at 22.47 BST
Wong says government remains focused on supporting Australians in Middle East
Wong said the government remains “very focused” on doing “whatever we can” to support Australians in Iran, but called the situation there “extremely difficult”. She said:
The airspace remains closed in both countries we have deployed Australian officials to the border with Azerbaijan so if people are able to make their way to that which is a obviously highly people have to make a judgment about how risky that is but we urge them to move if they believe they can do so safely.
Wong said airspace in Israel also remained closed and represented a complex situation, too.
There is some prospect of a window of airspace opening [in Israel]. Obviously, that is highly dependent on the situation on the ground, and we are seeking to try and arrange a facilitated flight in the event that the airspace opens.
People take shelter in an underground metro station as air raid sirens warn of incoming strikes in Tel Aviv, Israel on 22 June. Photograph: Ohad Zwigenberg/APShare
Penny Wong says Albanese government supports US strikes on Iran
Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong said the government supported the US strikes against Iranian nuclear targets yesterday, but remained deeply concerned about what happens next, calling for diplomacy and de-escalation in the Middle East. Wong spoke to RN Breakfast this morning, saying:
We have all agreed, the world has agreed, Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon. So, yes, we support action to prevent that, and that is what this is. But I would make this point: the big question is now what? We do not want escalation in a full-scale war and we continue to call for dialogue and diplomacy. …
We’re deeply concerned about continued escalation in a full-scale war with all of the consequences, not just for Australians in the region, but all the peoples of the region and the risk to global instability.
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Updated at 23.17 BST
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Nick Visser. Here’s what we’ll be looking at this morning.
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The Australian government is calling for a “de-escalation” after the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites yesterday, with almost 4,000 Australian citizens attempting to flee the conflict zone. The federal Coalition backed the attacks and have accused Labor of being “too ambiguous” in its response, while the Greens called the strikes a “blatant breach of international law” and urged Australia to distance itself from the US. The Albanese government has maintained the Iranian nuclear program threatens the “stability of the world”.
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Australia risks losing a “war on nicotine” as illegal tobacco sales explode. Experts have warned against changes that could undermine decades of fighting to bring down smoking rates, with some calling for a major overhaul in how we tax tobacco and regulate vaping products.
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Nearly seven in 10 renters say they are fearful of asking for repairs out of fear they could face a rent increase, according to a new survey of more than 1,000 people across the country. The survey also found one-third of respondents would not be able to afford a 5% increase on their current rent.
Stick with us.
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Updated at 22.39 BST