New drugs added to PBS; alleged e-scooter bandit arrested – as it happened

With that, we’re wrapping up the blog. Before we go, here are the major stories from Sunday:

• Prime minister Anthony Albanese says Australia is willing to consider forming part of a peacekeeping force to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire;

• Deputy Coalition leader Sussan Ley, meanwhile, has ruled out Australia contributing to such a force under a Dutton government, saying it is a matter for Europe;

• Greens leader Adam Bandt has made a forceful call for Australia to abandon the Aukus arrangement and the subs deal with the US after Trump’s tariffs;

• Bandt also ruled out forming a coalition with the Coalition in the event of a hung party, saying the Greens would prefer to do a deal with Labor;

• Rain has slammed the brake on the Supercars spring in Melbourne.

We’ll pick things up again tomorrow.

Auction activity remains strong with sharp increase on last week

Auction activity has remained stable this weekend with 2,550 auctions to be held.

This is well above the 1,572 held last week, but a fall on the 2,834 auctions that occurred at the same time last year.

Based on results collected so far, CoreLogic’s summary found that the preliminary clearance rate was 69.1% across the country, which is just short of the 69.6% preliminary rate recorded last week but not far above the 66.7% actual rate on final numbers.

Across the capital cities:

• Sydney: 678 of 921 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 71.4%

• Melbourne: 873 of 1,227 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 70.3%

• Brisbane: 105 0f 171 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 59%

• Adelaide: 74 of 126 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 62.2%

• Canberra: 61 of 87 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 57.4%

• Tasmania: Two auctions held.

• Perth: 11 of 16 auctions held with a preliminary clearance rate of 81.8%.

Jobs market appears to hold strong in face of tariff threat

Australia’s unemployment rate is expected to stay remarkably low when jobs data is released on Thursday, as the Reserve Bank considers more rate cuts.

As US tariffs on steel and aluminium threaten to put thousands of Australians out of work, they can at least be encouraged that jobs remain plentiful in a historically strong labour market.

The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 4.1%, well below pre-pandemic levels, when the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases labour force statistics on Thursday.

Market consensus is for 30,000 new jobs to have been added to the economy in February, after an unexpectedly strong 44,000 gain in employment the month before.

The labour market’s persistent strength, which has obliterated all expectations of the Reserve Bank, has been underpinned by growth in the non-market sector.

Health care, education and public administration dominated gains in employment in 2024, the ABS’s labour account figures released earlier in March revealed, although the market sector did show some improvement, including a 3.9 per cent growth in mining jobs over the year.

Anthony Albanese has ruled out imposing reciprocal tariffs on the US, which will limit the immediate price impact on imported goods, while any boost to inflation from a weaker Australian dollar will be offset by weaker economic growth, analysts said.

Tariff announcements last week sparked a global stock market sell-off as traders contemplated the risk of a US recession.

– AAP

Man’s body found near Talegalla Weir

Queensland police are investigating the sudden death of a man near Talegalla Weir, on the Fraser Coast, this morning.

Emergency services were called to Talegalla Road about 7.35am after a member of the public found a dead body.

A crime scene has been set up and investigations into the cause and circumstances of the man’s death are under way.

There is no further information at this time.

Sydney close to record-breaking March weather

Just a note on the hot weather in Sydney to say that if the Sydney Observatory Hill mercury gets above 37.9C, it will be the hottest March day in five years, and if it gets above 38C, it will be Sydney’s hottest March day ever.

This is looking unlikely at this stage, with the temperature only just tipping over 36C – and 2pm is usually the hottest part of the day.

Meanwhile, it is now 14.6C in Melbourne after a balmy maximum of 21.4C at 10am.

Human-caused climate breakdown will continue to drag up temperatures and break records into the future, unless a meaningful effort is made to address the issue.

View image in fullscreen

Search for missing man in Brisbane River

A search and rescue operation is under way to locate a Queensland man reported missing at Jindalee boat ramp this morning.

Emergency services were called just before 5.40am after reports the man had fallen into the water and has failed to resurface.

Search crews include general duties officers conducting foot patrols, water police, and swift water rescue.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information that may assist is urged to contact police.

At least one home lost in bushfire at Melbourne’s outer east

At least one home has been lost and another partially damaged after a bushfire on the outskirts of Melbourne.

The blaze swept through Montrose on Saturday night, sparking an emergency warning to scores of residents in its path after igniting about 9pm.

Police confirmed the loss of one home on Sunday morning.

Another suffered “partial loss,” the state control centre told AAP.

The emergency warning was downgraded to watch and act alert about 3.30am as more than 100 firefighters, four helicopters and two bulldozers battled the blaze.

The fire, which started in a reserve about a kilometre west of the Mount Dandenong observatory, had burned through 33 hectares by sunrise.

Nearby residents were being warned on Sunday morning that firefighters had been able to slow the spread of fire “but the situation can change at any time.”

A relief centre has been opened at Kilsyth sports centre.

Montrose is one of several suburbs in the foothills of the Dandenong Rangess, Melbourne’s highest point.

– AAP

A 31-year-old Tasmanian man who allegedly targeted e-scooters, e-bikes and bicycles across Hobart has been charged with 19 counts of theft.

The man was arrested by Taskforce Saturate, initially launched in 2018 as a temporary initiative to tackle rising crime rates, after a three-month investigation. He was also charged with multiple breaches of bail and failing to appear in court.

Police said the total value of the property stolen was just under $60,000.

A search carried out as part of the investigation turned up stolen property, and police were making inquiries regarding ownership of the items.

The man was detained and was due to appear in the Hobart magistrates court on Sunday.

View image in fullscreen

Search for missing snorkeler in Western Australia continues

The search for a 6o-year-old Western Australian snorkeler will continue on Sunday.

The man had been snorkelling among the rocks at Greens Pool – William Bay, near Denmark, when he became distressed.

People nearby could not immediately reach the man to assist him.

Rescue efforts have been hampered by weather conditions and poor visibility.

WA police officers including divers, and personnel from Surf Life Saving WA, the Department of Parks and Wildlife and volunteer marine rescue will be assisting with the search today, on the water and along the shore.

The national park remains closed for the rest of the weekend.

The missing man and his family were visiting WA.

NSW police say off-duty officers’ shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar boom’ after dispute with Muslim man were ‘banter between friends’

A NSW police internal investigation has found that off-duty officers who allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar boom” and “Hezbollah” at a Christmas party after a verbal dispute with a Muslim man who lived next door were indulging in “banter between friends”.

The incident allegedly took place on 13 December at Glenmore Park in western Sydney, after the man complained to his neighbours about water from their swimming pool leaking into his property.

In CCTV footage viewed by Guardian Australia, people at the party can be heard shouting “Allahu Akbar” and “Allahu Akbar boom”. More than an hour later, a number of voices chant “Allahu Akbar” in unison, followed by laughter, and a call of “Hezbollah”, followed by laughter.

The party guests who shouted the words cannot be seen in the footage.

For more on this story, read the full report by The Guardian Australia’s Daisy Dumas:

Calls to ban steel-jaw traps after man convicted of animal abuse

Steel-jaw traps used to “inflict terrible injuries and cause enormous suffering” should be consigned to the scrap heap, animal advocates say.

The call comes after a man was convicted in an Adelaide court for using the trap in his back yard to catch his neighbour’s four-year-old cat, Lunar.

The 71-year-old admitted to police he was aware the cat was in the trap for about two hours “but left her meowing in pain”, RSPCA South Australia said in a statement on Sunday. The cat’s toe was crushed by the trap and required amputation.

After the injured cat was freed, an RSPCA inspector and police attended the man’s property to find the steel-jaw trap had been reset. It had been set next to a hole in a fence and surrounded by brickwork to funnel cats entering through the hole directly into the trap.

RSPCA SA’s chief inspector, Andrew Baker, said there was no good reason to own a steel-jaw trap and encouraged anyone who owned one to turn it in for scrap metal.

These are barbaric devices that inflict terrible injuries and cause enormous suffering.

It’s tragic to think that some animals could become trapped and never found, leaving them to die in agony.

– AAP

Five Coalition senators billed taxpayers total of $10,000 to attend conservative conference CPAC

Coalition senators who addressed last year’s Australian Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) billed taxpayers thousands of dollars in flights, accommodation and car expenses on the weekend of the event.

Guardian Australia can also reveal the former Labor senator Fatima Payman claimed more than $4,000 on a whirlwind Perth-to-Melbourne trip in which she appeared at a public meeting in solidarity with the embattled CFMEU construction union.

Politicians are permitted to charge taxpayers for travel expenses if the dominant purpose is parliamentary business, which covers a broad range of activities including electorate, party political and official duties.

Shadow ministers Bridget McKenzie and Barnaby Joyce and Coalition backbenchers Alex Antic, Matt Canavan and Keith Pitt were invited to speak at October’s CPAC Australia conference, the annual showcase of rightwing political activism.

Parliamentary expenses figures show the five politicians claimed almost $10,000 between them on the weekend of the event, which was headlined by the former UK prime minister Liz Truss.

For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Dan Jervis-Bardy:

A new oral contraceptive, reproductive health and treatments for endometriosis will be added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from 1 May.

Slinda is currently available privately, with 80,000 women paying $80 for three months’ supply, but the drug will receive wider availability with the subsidy that is expected to lower the price to $7.70 for concession card holders and $31.60 for general payments.

A new treatment option for endometriosis for patients who have experienced moderate to severe pain and cannot get adequate relief from other hormonal treatments and painkillers has also been added to the scheme.

The federal health minister, Mark Butler, said the addition of the treatments to the scheme will give “Australian women more choice, lower costs and better health options”.

Women have asked government to take their health care seriously, and we have listened.

These listings could save women and their families thousands of dollars across their lifetimes.

The new subsidy is in addition to the federal government’s $573m women’s health funding announcement made in early February.

Minister for women, Katy Gallagher, said women often have more expensive and more complex health issues.

This announcement is all about making treatment cheaper and easier, so women can focus on getting the care they need.

Australia is continuing to negotiate with Trump despite the decision to impose tariffs.

Speaking to Sky News on Sunday morning, the trade minister, Don Farrell, said he had spoken to the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, on Friday but stressed the future remained uncertain.

It wasn’t a pessimistic conversation. But he gave no assurances about what might happen in the next round of negotiations.

The trade minister has another talk scheduled with US trade representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday.

We’re going to work out, firstly, what it is that the Americans want out of this arrangement.

It’s still not clear to me what it is that they are seeking, but once we find that out, we’ll work through this issue, and we’ll work through it in Australia’s national interest.

Senator Farrell confirmed Australia had reached out to other nations, such as South Korea, about expanding and diversifying trade relationships.

– AAP

Buster brings cool relief from fierce autumn heatwave

A change is bringing cooler conditions, with residents in three states glad to see the back of a short but sharp autumn heatwave.

A cool change has delivered relief to thousands of Australians forced to hit the beach or camp under air conditioners in two states, but the summer-like heatwave rippling across the nation’s south-east persists in NSW.

The cool change is already on the way with showers, cold winds and thunderstorms to follow.

High and possibly damaging winds are likely in alpine areas of Victoria and NSW into Monday, as is snow across Tasmania’s highlands.

The change will bring relief to fire crews in South Australia and Victoria.

A grassfire propelled by heatwave conditions destroyed one home and damaged another at Montrose on Melbourne’s outskirts on Saturday night.

South Australian firefighters are also battling blazes near Katarapko Island, north-east of Adelaide, and in the state’s lower south-east near Lucindale.

– AAP