The sanctioning of two Israeli ministers by Australia has been labelled a “slap on the wrist” by a prominent pro-Palestine advocate.

The federal government has imposed sanctions on Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a co-ordinated move with Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom.

The sanctions were applied for “extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights”, with the pair barred from travelling to Australia and any assets in the country being frozen.

The measures prompted condemnation from the US, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying it would do little to achieve a ceasefire in the conflict.

Australian Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni welcomed the move but said it was too little, too late.

“These sanctions are crumbs, tossed by the Australian government 613 days too late,” he said.

“This is a small step, but Australia must stop pretending that a slap on the wrist for two fascist ministers is justice.”

Mr Mashni said further sanctions, similar to measures imposed against Russian officials for the country’s invasion of Ukraine, need to be applied.

“Australians of good conscience demand real action. That means a full array of sanctions,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has doubled down on the need for the sanctions, despite blowback from Israel and the US.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says the government has overstepped its bounds.

“It is unprecedented to, as a government, take actions, sanctions on members of a democratically elected government,” she told Sky News on Thursday.

“The US has explained that these actions are actually counterproductive to securing that ceasefire and that peace, and the government should be paying attention to that.”

Shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser, who is Jewish, says the style of sanctions imposed by the government was normally reserved for human rights abusers and terrorists.

“The big question here is whether this is a new standard that will be applied to the public comments of officials from other countries,” he told ABC Radio.

“If this is the new standard, it will have serious implications for our international relations.”.

Middle East politics professor at Deakin University Shahram Akbarzadeh said the sanctions were a consequential step.

“It is significant and it sends a signal that Australia is becoming more resolute in pursuing its foreign policy agenda of a two-state solution,” he told AAP.

“Australia would not have done this on its own, but when Australia sees other allied countries taking this move, that allows Australia to feel comfortable in numbers.”

Israel’s ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon said the sanctions were concerning and unacceptable.

“These ministers are part of a government that operates under the principle of collective responsibility, making such measures unreasonable,” he said in a statement.

“The Israeli government will convene early next week to consider and determine our official response to these actions.”

Prof Akbarzadeh said the sanctions imposed by the Western allies would not alter how Israel would conduct itself in the conflict.

“Israel has shown it does not take international opinion seriously, and this move is unlikely to deter the Israeli government in the way they’re prosecuting the war in Gaza,” he said.

The latest eruption of war in Gaza was sparked by militant group Hamas killing about 1200 people and abducting 250 others in Israel on October 7, 2023.

Israel’s military response has since killed almost 55,000 mostly civilian Palestinians in Gaza, local health authorities say.

Australia in July also sanctioned Israelis involved in attacking and killing Palestinians in the West Bank.

Australia has listed Hamas as a terrorist entity since 2001, according to the federal government’s national security website.

Senator Linda Reynolds is “bitterly disappointed” by a watchdog’s finding there was no corruption associated with a $2.4 million compensation payout to former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins.

Ms Higgins reached the agreement with the Commonwealth in December 2022 after her alleged rape in Parliament House in 2019, while she was working in Senator Reynolds’ office.

The settlement was referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission by Senator Reynolds, who questioned the handling of the process by then-attorney-general Mark Dreyfus.

“I am bitterly disappointed by the NACC’s decision not to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Commonwealth’s multi-million dollar settlement with Ms Higgins,” Senator Reynolds said in a statement on Thursday.

The senator claimed she had been given “no opportunity to defend the serious and baseless claims against me” during a mediation process.

“I fail to understand how the Commonwealth and its lawyers could not appreciate the serious and probable consequences of settling such serious allegations on my behalf … and the message that it would send to the public about the truth of those matters,” she said.

Senator Reynolds said it was one of the issues her Federal Court lawsuit against the Commonwealth over the settlement would explore.

The commission found “no corruption issue” with Ms Higgins’ payout following an investigation.

“No corruption issue arises, and so there is no basis for any further action by the commission,” the watchdog said in a statement.

“There was no inappropriate intervention in the process by or on behalf of any minister. 

“The then-attorney-general approved the settlement in accordance with the departmental advice.

“Documents produced showed that decisions made in relation to the settlement were based on advice from independent external solicitors and experienced senior and junior counsel.”

The commission said there was “no material difference” in the legal advice surrounding the payment during the term of the former coalition government and the current Labor government.

The agreement of the settlement amount within one day during mediation was not unusual.

“It was the culmination of a process which took approximately 12 months. None of this is unusual for a non-litigated personal injury claim,” the commission said.

“A critical consideration during the settlement process was avoiding ongoing trauma to Ms Higgins.”

Ms Higgins alleged she was raped by Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann in a Parliament House office in 2019.

Lehrmann has always denied the allegations.

Charges were brought against Lehrmann in a criminal trial in 2022, but were abandoned after juror misconduct.

A retrial was ruled out because of the potential effect on the mental health of Ms Higgins.

A defamation trial brought on by Lehrmann found that on the balance of probabilities he had raped Ms Higgins.

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Australia could be forced to re-pitch its case for the AUKUS security pact to the US as critics seize on the Trump administration’s month-long review to call for the plan to be dumped.

The Pentagon will examine whether the pact is in line with US President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy amid concerns in Washington the deal could leave the nation short of submarines.

Under the agreement, Australia will acquire three nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines from the US in the early 2030s before a new fleet of boats is built for delivery from the 2040s for $368 billion.

The three-nation deal was signed between the US, Australia and the UK in 2021 under former prime minister Scott Morrison and the Biden administration.

Mr Morrison said the US defence department was “well within its remit” to launch the review and it was not unlike a UK assessment after the election of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“Now is the time for Australia to make the case again,” he said.

“We have a good case to make in both our own interests and those of our AUKUS partners, especially in the US.”

Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed the government had known of the review for weeks and he was confident the AUKUS agreement would proceed under the Trump administration.

Asked if there was a “plan B” in case the agreement was torn up, he said Australia needed to stick with the existing deal to acquire nuclear submarines.

“Chopping and changing guarantees you will never have the capability … there is a plan here, we are sticking to it and we’re going to deliver it,” Mr Marles told ABC Radio.

Critics of AUKUS point to the lagging production of boats in the US and have warned the deal might jeopardise the US Navy’s capabilities.

Australia handed over almost $800 million to the US in February – the first of a number of payments – to help boost its submarine production.

The 2025 Lowy Institute Poll, to be released in full on Monday, found two-thirds of Australians either somewhat or strongly backed acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.

Executive director Michael Fullilove said the government needed to ensure the Trump administration understood the agreement was also in America’s national interest.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is yet to confirm a meeting with Mr Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada.

Australian National University naval studies expert Jennifer Parker said the nation should be using the opportunity to restate its position.

“It would be hard to make an argument that it is in the US interest to fundamentally change or cancel AUKUS,” she said.

“Our think-tank ecosystem and media can be quite alarmist on this issue … we have agency, we have autonomy, we’re a player in this and we need to continue to highlight how important we are to them.”

But former Labor prime minister Paul Keating, a strong AUKUS critic, said the review might be the moment “Washington saves Australia from itself”.

Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who has also criticised the agreement, said Australia should follow in the footsteps of the UK and US and conduct a review.

Co-Chair of the Friends of Australia Caucus, US Congressman Joe Courtney, said walking away from Australia and the UK would have “far-reaching ramifications on our trustworthiness on the global stage”.

Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor said if AUKUS fell over, all nations would pay a heavy price.

“The coalition stands ready to work with Labor to make sure that AUKUS is a success,” he said.

Greens defence spokesman David Shoebridge said it was time for the government to open an inquiry into the “dud deal”.

The corporate regulator has revealed the next steps in its push to fix systemic failings in the superannuation sector’s handling of death benefit payments.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will examine how super trustees address complaints data after it found excessive delays in death benefit payments, causing “significant distress” for grieving family members.

Rising complaint numbers should have served as an early warning sign for trustees to address the issues themselves, preventing the need for the watchdog to intervene, ASIC chair Joe Longo told an American Chamber of Commerce event on Thursday.

“But sadly, our work across the sector has exposed its shortcomings and blind spots,” he said.

Death benefits refer to the superannuation balance left in a member’s account after they die, as well as payments from disability and income protection insurance, which a beneficiary – usually a family member – is entitled to be paid as soon as practicable.

Of 10 super funds reviewed by ASIC, none of them processed more than half their death benefits claims within three months, with the slowest processing just eight per cent in that time.

“Many trustees didn’t even monitor how long their open death benefit claims had been going – was a claim 90 days old or 500 days old? If the trustees had done this – as we did – they would have found that claims went unresolved for months and sometimes years,” Mr Longo said.

“If trustees had acted on this data – as we did – they may not be facing enforcement action.”

As part of ASIC’s multi-year project to wake superannuation boards out of their torpor, the regulator will begin gathering information from selected entities about their complaints handling processes in the second half of 2025.

Ignorance is no excuse for super funds failing their customers Mr Longo warned, reminding trustees that it is already an enforceable requirement to regularly analyse complaints data to identify systemic issues.

“So a failure of data, systems, and processes doesn’t just let their members down – it means trustees are failing to comply with their obligations,” he said.

“And, where appropriate, ASIC will pursue enforcement action in response to that failure.”

Peak super body, the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, has apologised for the death benefits failings and said improvements were already underway.

“The superannuation sector knows we have let down some of our members and their families at a time when they needed us, and we are sorry,” said ASFA CEO Mary Delahunty.

“While the majority of our members and their families have a seamless experience with death benefits claims, we know we need to do better to make sure this is the experience of as many people as possible.”

The federal anti-corruption watchdog has found that a $2.4 million compensation payout made to former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins had “no corruption issue”.

Ms Higgins reached the compensation agreement with the Commonwealth in December 2022 after her alleged rape in Parliament House in 2019.

The settlement was referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission by outgoing Liberal senator Linda Reynolds, who questioned then-attorney-general Mark Dreyfus’s handling of the process.

But the commission said it had found “no corruption issue” following an investigation.

“No corruption issue arises, and so there is no basis for any further action by the commission,” the watchdog said in a statement.

“There was no inappropriate intervention in the process by or on behalf of any minister.

“The then-attorney-general approved the settlement in accordance with the departmental advice.

“Documents produced showed that decisions made in relation to the settlement were based on advice from independent external solicitors and experienced senior and junior counsel.”

The commission said there was “no material difference” in the legal advice surrounding the payment during the term of the former coalition government and the current Labor government.

The agreement of the settlement amount within one day during mediation was not unusual.

“It was the culmination of a process which took approximately 12 months. None of this is unusual for a non-litigated personal injury claim,” the commission said.

“A critical consideration during the settlement process was avoiding ongoing trauma to Ms Higgins.”

Ms Higgins alleged she was raped by Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann in a Parliament House office in 2019.

Mr Lehrmann has always denied the allegations.

Charges were brought against Mr Lehrmann in a criminal trial in 2022, but were abandoned after juror misconduct.

A retrial was ruled out because of the potential effect on the mental health of Ms Higgins.

A defamation trial brought on by Mr Lehrmann found that on the balance of probabilities he had raped Ms Higgins.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028

Defence Minister Richard Marles has warned Australia can’t keep jumping between submarine deals as the US reviews the AUKUS security pact.

Under the agreement, Australia will acquire three Virginia-class submarines from the US in the early 2030s before a new fleet of boats is built for delivery from the 2040s for a cost of $368 billion.

The three-nation partnership between the US, Australia, and the UK was signed in 2021 under former Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison and the Biden administration.

The Pentagon is now considering whether the pact is in line with US President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy.

Mr Marles confirmed the US had advised Australia and the UK of the review.

While he did not guarantee Australia would receive the nuclear-powered boats from the US, he stressed he was confident.

Asked about contingency plans, should the deal sink, the defence minister indicated there were none.

“Chopping and changing guarantees, you will never have the capability … There is a plan here, we are sticking to it, and we’re going to deliver it,” he told ABC radio on Thursday.

In an earlier statement, Mr Marles said it was “natural” that the Trump administration would want to examine such a major undertaking. 

He also pointed to the UK’s recently completed AUKUS review, which reaffirmed its support.

Critics of AUKUS point to the lagging production of boats in the US and have warned that the deal might jeopardise the US Navy’s capabilities.

Australia handed over almost $800 million to the US in February – the first of a number of payments – to help boost the US submarine industrial base.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told Mr Marles during a meeting in Singapore this month that Australia should lift its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product, or output.

Australia’s defence spending is on track to hit around 2.3 per cent of GDP by 2033/34.

Co-Chair of the Friends of Australia Caucus, US Congressman Joe Courtney, on Thursday warned against dumping the AUKUS deal.

“To walk away from all the sunk costs invested by our two closest allies – Australia and the United Kingdom – will have far-reaching ramifications on our trustworthiness on the global stage,” he said.

Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who’s a critic of AUKUS, questioned why Australia wasn’t conducting its own review given it had the most at stake.

“Our Parliament to date has been the least curious and least informed,” he posted on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

“Time to wake up?”

Greens defence spokesman David Shoebridge said it was time for the government to open an inquiry into the “dud deal”.

“We need an independent defence and foreign policy, that does not require us to bend our will and shovel wealth to an increasingly erratic and reckless Trump USA,” he said.

Opposition frontbencher Bridget McKenzie said the US review was a “deeply concerning development” ahead of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s departure for the G7 summit in Canada on Sunday.

Mr Albanese hopes to have a meeting with Mr Trump on the sidelines of the gathering in Alberta.

“Any undermining of this serious and substantial alliance between our two countries should be of grave concern to all of us,” Senator McKenzie told Nine’s Today show.

A deal getting the fragile truce in the US-China trade war back on track is done, US President Donald Trump says after negotiators from the United States and China agreed on a framework covering tariff rates.

The deal also removes Chinese export restrictions on rare earth minerals and allows Chinese students access to US universities.

Trump took to his social media platform to offer some of the first details to emerge from two days of marathon talks held in London that had, in the words of US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, put “meat on the bones” of an agreement reached last month in Geneva to ease bilateral retaliatory tariffs that had reached crushing triple-digit levels.

“Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President Xi (Jinping) and me,” Trump said on the Truth Social platform.

“Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China. Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities (which has always been good with me!). We are getting a total of 55 per cent tariffs, China is getting 10 per cent.”

A White House official said the 55 per cent represents the sum of a baseline 10 per cent “reciprocal” tariff Trump has imposed on goods imported from nearly all US trading partners; 20 per cent on all Chinese imports because of punitive measures Trump has imposed on China, Mexico and Canada associated with his accusation that the three facilitate the flow of the opioid fentanyl into the US; and finally pre-existing 25 per cent levies on imports from China that were put in place during Trump’s first term in the White House.

Lutnick said the 55 per cent rate for Chinese imports is now fixed and unalterable.

Asked on Wednesday on CNBC if the tariff levels on China would not change, he said: “You can definitely say that.”

Still, many specifics of the deal and details for how it would be implemented remain unclear.

Officials from the two superpowers had gathered at a rushed meeting in London starting on Monday following a call last week between Trump and Chinese leader Xi that broke a stand-off that had developed just weeks after a preliminary deal reached in Geneva that had defused their trade row.

The Geneva deal had faltered over China’s continued curbs on critical minerals exports, prompting the Trump administration to respond with export controls preventing shipments of semiconductor design software, aircraft and other goods to China.

Lutnick said the agreement reached in London would remove restrictions on Chinese exports of rare earth minerals and magnets and some of the recent US export restrictions “in a balanced way” but did not provide details after the talks concluded around midnight London time.

“We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus and the call between the two presidents,” Lutnick said, adding that both sides will now return to present the framework to their respective presidents for approvals.

“And if that is approved, we will then implement the framework,” he said.

In a separate briefing, China’s Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang also said a trade framework had been reached in principle that would be taken back to US and Chinese leaders.

The US government is reportedly reviewing the AUKUS trilateral defence agreement between Australia, the UK and the US.

The decision to conduct a review has been reported by multiple news outlets including Reuters, which cited US defence officials without giving further details.

The review will reportedly examine whether the pact is in line with US President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ policy, according to the ABC which also cited a Pentagon source.

AUKUS is a three-nation security alliance between Australia, the UK and the US agreed in 2021 under the prime ministership of ex-Liberal leader Scott Morrison.

It was formed to counter China’s strategic moves in the Pacific arena and was underpinned by an agreement between the US and the UK to provide Australia with access to nuclear-powered submarine technology, to eventually replace its aging Collins-class boats.

The deal is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, although the first submarine is not expected to join the Australian fleet for years.

Australia, which in February made the first of six $US500 million (about $800 million) payments to the US for the boats, is expected to initially buy between three and five off-the-shelf Virginia-class boats.

At the time, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Mr Trump was supportive of the AUKUS deal.

“The president is very aware, supportive of AUKUS,” Mr Hegseth said after a meeting with Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles.

“(He) recognises the importance of the defence industrial base.”

Mr Marles responded that the pair had discussed how the US and Australia could advance their longstanding diplomatic relationship in terms of national security, including AUKUS.

Australia’s military budget is expected to rise to 2.3 per cent of gross domestic product, or output, by 2034.

The US regime has already called for Australia to increase that spending to around 3.5 per cent.

Australia tore up its $90 billion diesel-powered submarine deal with France to sign on to AUKUS and is contracted to buy several off-the-shelf submarines costing about $US4 billion each, before making its own.

The first Australian-made boats are not due to be operational until the 2040s.

Aussie music lovers feel a sense of pride when they hear Australian music, but their playlists are actually dominated by pop from the US and Britain.

While 71 per cent of listeners love to hear Australian tunes, and two thirds want to hear more, only one in three music fans make an effort to seek out new Australian music.

It’s a big contradiction revealed in landmark research by Music Australia, the federal government’s music development and funding body.

A massive 98 per cent of local listeners discover musicians via streaming, but more than half (51 per cent) don’t think about whether an artist is Australian when they are looking for new tunes.

Of the top 10,000 artists streamed in Australia during 2024, just eight per cent were Australian, while more than half were from the US, according to entertainment analytics firm Luminate.

It seems the sheer convenience of personalised playlists delivered via an algorithm might be stopping music fans discovering Australian artists – and that’s a problem for musicians like Sara Storer.

The ARIA-award winning country musician is releasing her eighth solo album titled Worth Your Love, and says the music industry has completely transformed since her first release back in 2001.

“For a young person, especially a young Aussie artist trying to get out there, I’d be terrified. Where do you start?” she said.

Despite building an inter-generational audience over decades, the Darwin-based musician can no longer rely on album sales, and even solid streaming figures don’t add up to a viable income.

“There’s no income from streaming. It looks good on paper and you think, well, I should be making a few bucks, but you don’t see anything,” said Storer. 

“All my money is made through live performance. I rely heavily on ticket sales, which is like a roller coaster.”

The contradiction between listener sentiment and behaviour could be the basis of a campaign for actively discovering local music – a bit like the ‘Life. Be in it’ health campaign of the 1980s – suggested Music Australia director Millie Millgate.

“We can remind Australian audiences what these bands are doing overseas and encourage them not to miss out – like, don’t miss out on your own party,” said Millgate.

“There’s no one single bullet, but if audiences can be mobilised to do their part and really seek out Australian new music, it would go an incredible way.”

And the Music Australia research suggests we could potentially Aussify Spotify: listeners like the idea of a dedicated Australian music streamer, with 42 per cent saying it’s something they would pay for.

Melbourne rock band Amyl and the Sniffers are one act making it big on the global stage, and when the band appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon recently, singer Amy Taylor’s top was made from two classic Aussie thongs.

It’s a big effort to demonstrate a sense of national pride – but it seems many Aussie musos are actually getting more love overseas, with more than 80 per cent of royalties for local musicians coming from international listeners in 2024, according to figures from Spotify.

The research also found radio still plays a role. A quarter of music fans still tune in to discover new music, with ABC station triple j a popular source.

An economic snapshot of the local sector showing a direct contribution of almost $3 billion to the national economy was part of three industry research reports released on Thursday.

The sanctioning of two Israeli ministers signals Australia will be more assertive in pushing for a two-state solution in the Middle East, an expert says.

The federal government applied sanctions against Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a co-ordinated move with allies Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom.

The sanctions were applied for “extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights”, with the pair barred from travelling to Australia and any assets in the country being frozen.

The measures prompted condemnation from the US with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying it would do little to achieve a ceasefire in the conflict.

But Middle East politics professor at Deakin University Shahram Akbarzadeh said the sanctions were a consequential step.

“It is significant and it sends a signal that Australia is becoming more resolute in pursuing its foreign policy agenda of a two-state solution,” he told AAP.

“Australia would not have done this on its own, but when Australia sees other allied countries taking this move, that allows Australia to feel comfortable in numbers.”

Israel’s ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon said the sanctions were concerning and unacceptable.

“These ministers are part of a government that operates under the principle of collective responsibility, making such measures unreasonable,” he said in a statement.

“The Israeli government will convene early next week to consider and determine our official response to these actions.”

Prof Akbarzadeh said the sanctions imposed by the western allies would not alter how Israel would conduct itself in the conflict.

“Israel has shown it does not take international opinion seriously, and this move is unlikely to deter the Israeli government in the way they’re prosecuting the war in Gaza,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese doubled down on the need for the sanctions, despite the reaction from Israel and the US.

“Sometimes friends have to be clear with each other,” he told reporters in Sydney.

“We support Israel’s right to live and to exist in secure borders, but we also support the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians.”

Israel’s violence in Gaza restarted after Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation, invaded the nation and killed about 1200 people and abducted 250 others on October 7, 2023.

Israel’s bombardment, aid blockages and military action in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 people and left many more on the brink of starvation.

Australia in July also sanctioned Israelis involved in attacking and killing Palestinians in the West Bank.