Fuel companies will be allowed to co-ordinate on supply but have been warned not to collaborate on prices that disadvantage Australians at the bowser. 

Oil prices have soared and global supplies have been cut after Iran’s de-facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation against US-Israeli strikes.

Rising demand has also placed increasing pressure on fuel supply chains.

Australia’s consumer watchdog has granted an urgent interim authorisation to members of the Australian Institute of Petroleum allowing companies to discuss, exchange information about, and co-ordinate on the supply of fuel without risking a breach of competition laws.

But fuel suppliers are not allowed to share information about or reach an agreement on price.

Allowing major companies to co-ordinate raises a risk of harm to competition which is why the authorisation has strict conditions, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

“We recognise how critical it is that industry is able to quickly and efficiently co-ordinate and respond to the supply chain disruptions we are experiencing,” she said.

Any company that broke the rules would be penalised, Treasurer Jim Chalmers warned on Saturday.

“It’s really important the big players in the fuel markets don’t treat this as a chance to disadvantage the independents who play a vital role including in regional Australia,” he said.

“The government is working with industry and regulators to ensure Australians get a fair go at the pump and in the supply chain and anyone breaking the rules must have the book thrown at them.”

The watchdog has also imposed conditions to the authorisation that aim to maintain independent fuel distribution.

“We note that independent suppliers are part of their local, regional communities and have established relationships in their areas,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

“They are a crucial part of supply chains in this market and need to be part of the solution to the fuel supply issues, including by receiving adequate allocations from the major suppliers.”

CBS News says it is shutting down its United States radio news service after nearly 100 years of operation as part of a round of lay offs, blaming a shift in radio station programming strategies and challenging economic times.

When it went on the air in September 1927, CBS News Radio was the precursor to the entire network, giving a youthful William S Paley a start in the business.

Famed broadcaster Edward R Murrow delivered reports from London during World War II as part of the service.

Today CBS News Radio provides material to an estimated 700 stations across the United States, and is known best for its top-of-the-hour news roundups.

The service will end on May 22, the network said on Friday.

“While this was a necessary decision, it was not an easy one,” CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and president Tom Cibrowski said in a memo to staff on Friday.

Along with newspapers, radio was the dominant force in how people in the US got their news from the 1920s through the 1940s, with many listening to president Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chats” during the Depression, before the format was largely supplanted by television in the 1950s.

Radio is even less a force in modern society, with the world online and on phones.

Those seeking audio often turn to podcasts before radio.

The front page of CBS News’ website did not immediately carry news of the demise.

Weiss is not a stranger to CBS’ storied history.

Addressing her staff in January, three months into her job as CBS News boss, she invoked the network’s newsman Walter Cronkite as a symbol of old thinking and said that if the network continues with its current strategy, “we’re toast”.

Weiss announced the hiring of 18 new contributors and said CBS News needs to do stories that will “surprise and provoke – including inside our own newsroom”.

A one-horse state political battle has captured the national spotlight, in the first major electoral test of One Nation’s surging popularity.

While the Labor Party is expected to easily win the South Australian state election on Saturday, opinion polls show One Nation at 22 to 28 per cent, outpacing the Liberal vote at 14 to 20 per cent. 

Flinders University public policy associate lecturer Josh Sunman said One Nation’s discipline had been the surprise story of the campaign. 

“The fact that we got to the final week and there was only one negative candidate story about One Nation, and that was (candidate Aoi Baxter) was perhaps a fly-in from Sydney, was really instructive to me,” he said.

Hours after he made the comment, the ABC reported a UK court had issued an arrest warrant for Mr Baxter over a charge of sexually touching a woman without consent, and he was swiftly disendorsed by One Nation.

Mr Sunman said One Nation had delivered targeted messaging and candidate discipline, and “I was expecting a lot more candidate scandals and meltdowns”.

The Liberals, meanwhile, had run a pretty dismal campaign, he said.

“They have to balance taking on Labor with One Nation, who are just eating away their primary, but they haven’t been able to advance a coherent campaign narrative,” he said.

However, Liberal leader Ashton Hurn had done an admirable job of trying to present a credible alternative premier, Mr Sunman said.

In the final opinion poll, released on Friday, YouGov forecast a 59-41 win for Labor on a two-party preferred basis against both the Liberals and One Nation, a 4.4 per cent swing in its favour.

YouGov’s Paul Smith said Labor was set to secure its largest two-party preferred vote in SA history, while the Liberals were on track for 19 per cent, their worst result in any state or federal election since the coalition was formed.

“One Nation’s surge to 22 per cent places them second in the state for the first time, with particularly strong support in regional areas,” he said.

Federal leader Pauline Hanson said the major parties were worried about the One Nation factor and agreed the election would be a barometer of the party’s popularity. 

“I’ve been here for the last week, and at a polling booth now … the on-the-ground feeling is extremely strong,” she told radio 2GB on Friday, as someone yelled at her “Pauline Hanson, you’re not welcome here”.

Adelaide University emeritus professor of politics Clem Macintyre said the rise and rise of One Nation had the potential to create a watershed moment in Australian politics, and the end of two-party politics at a federal level.

“If they do make a breakthrough, they’re going to have to work hard to be a more serious and viable alternative government,” he said.

“It’s more frustration with the major parties … I think we can still say One Nation is a party of disaffected voters.”

Mr Sunman said Mr Malinauskas was a dependable performer throughout the campaign, but there were warning signs for Labor. 

“Maybe he just comes off as a bit too arrogant sometimes, and there are echoes of the previous (Mike) Rann era.”

Mortgage holders could face as many as three interest rate hikes by Christmas, according to money markets, as concerns mount over the Iran war’s impact on inflation.

Rates traders upped their predictions on Friday, pricing in almost 75 more basis points of hikes by the Reserve Bank by the year’s end, after hawkish overnight meetings by global central banks.

Coinciding with more attacks on liquefied natural gas infrastructure in the Middle East, pessimistic commentary from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England heightened fears the conflict would compound Australia’s inflation problem.

If money market predictions are borne out, the Reserve Bank’s cash rate would end 2026 at an 18-year high of 4.85 per cent, adding to the misery of mortgage holders.

On Thursday, markets had been pricing in closer to two hikes in 2026.

IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said as well as a May hike, chances of follow-up rate rises in September and December were high if the war dragged on.

In addition to the primary impact on fuel prices, rising energy costs are contributing to so-called second-order effects as inflation ripples across the broader economy.

A project manager at one major Australian construction company said he had received about 25 emails since the start of the conflict from contractors notifying they would be raising prices due to higher fuel costs.

“Already got approached by our civil contractor, and he reckons he’s spending $7000 more per week already on his plant,” the project manager, who was not authorised to speak publicly, told AAP on Friday.

“That was at the start of the week, so probably more now.”

An email from another contractor, seen by AAP, said all new contracts for transportation of rental equipment would incur a 20 per cent fuel surcharge.

“The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is impacting global fuel supplies and driving up market prices,” the email read.

“These actions are essential to ensure we continue delivering reliable service and maintain our operations despite the current market pressures.”

Construction costs were already concerning the Reserve Bank before the outbreak of hostilities.

Annual growth in new dwelling prices jumped from three to 3.5 per cent in January as project home builders began to pass through higher labour and material costs.

Commonwealth Bank’s head of Australian economics Belinda Allen said her team had heard similar feedback on rising costs being passed through in meetings with businesses in industries such as mining and construction.

“Anyone that’s shipping things into Australia at the moment, particularly materials, are facing higher costs,” she told AAP.

“The challenge, of course, this time around for Australia is we were already facing high costs and stronger demand already, so we’re just adding to that pressure.”

Because fuel is an economy-wide input, rising prices translate through the entire economy, from transport costs to groceries, Mr Sycamore said.

“It’s the butterfly flapping its wings,” he said.

“It starts in the Middle East and it spreads across the globe. Our economy is no different.”

In a statement on Friday, Coles said oil prices were putting “significant cost pressure” on transport providers.

The supermarket giant said it would review the fuel component of its freight rates more frequently and reduce payment terms for smaller providers to help transport contractors manage rising fuel costs.

A US arts commission has approved the final design for a 24-carat gold commemorative coin bearing President Donald Trump’s image to help celebrate America’s 250th birthday on July 4.

The vote by the US Commission of Fine Arts, whose members are supporters of the Republican president and were appointed by him earlier in 2026, was without objection.

It clears the way for the US mint to begin production on the coin, whose size and denomination are still under discussion.

“As we approach our 250th birthday, we are thrilled to prepare coins that represent the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, and there is no profile more emblematic for the front of such coins than that of our serving President, Donald J Trump,” US Treasurer Brandon Beach said in a statement.

The unprecedented move marks yet another example of Trump and his allies circumventing conventional past presidential practices – and even the law – to get what he wants.

It’s the latest instance of Trump putting his name and likeness in the historical archive, following his renaming of the US Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Centre performing arts venue and a new class of battleships, among other tributes.

Federal law says no living president can appear on US currency. But Megan Sullivan, the acting chief of the Office of Design Management at the Mint, said the Treasury secretary has authority to authorise the minting and issuance of new 24-carat gold coins, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has used to get around that prohibition.

Sullivan presented the coin’s final design at the commission’s March meeting on Thursday, US time, and said Trump had approved it.

“It is my understanding that the secretary of the Treasury presented this design, as well as others, to the president and these were his selection,” Sullivan said.

The front of the coin features an image of Trump in a suit and tie and with a stern look on his face.

His fists rest on top of what is supposed to be a desk as he leans forward. Lettering on the top half of the coin spells “LIBERTY” in a slight arc.

Directly underneath that are the dates 1776-2026. The words “IN GOD WE TRUST” are at the bottom, with seven stars on one side of the coin and six stars on the other side.

The reverse side depicts a bald eagle mid-flight with “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and US motto “E PLURIBUS UNUM”, meaning “out of many, one” in Latin.

The coin will be part of a very limited production run, Sullivan said, but the number has not been determined.

The size and denomination of the coin also have not yet been decided, she said. Some commissioners noted Trump’s fondness for big things as they advocated for the largest size coin.

European Union leaders have called for a moratorium on military strikes on energy and water ‌facilities in the Middle East, amid growing concerns about the ‌impact of the Iran war on the global economy.

“The European Council calls for de-escalation and maximum restraint, the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure and full respect of international ‌law by ‌all parties,” ⁠the leaders of the EU’s 27 ​nations said in written conclusions of a summit in Brussels.

“In this regard, it calls for a moratorium on strikes against energy and water facilities,” they said.

The leaders called for ⁠reinforcing the bloc’s ‌existing ​Red Sea naval mission Aspides and counter-piracy naval mission Atalanta in ​the Horn ‌of Africa “with more assets, in line with their respective mandates”.

US ​President Donald Trump has lashed out at allies who have responded cautiously to his demands that ​they ​help secure the Strait ​of Hormuz, the conduit for ‌about a fifth of the world’s oil.

In their statement, the European leaders welcomed “the increased efforts announced by Member States, including through strengthened coordination with partners in the region, ​to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of ​Hormuz, once ⁠the conditions are met”.

Natural gas prices in Europe surged as much as 35 per cent on Thursday as Iranian and Israeli strikes targeted some of the Middle East’s most important gas infrastructure, ‌doing damage that will likely take years to repair.

The strikes on energy facilities since the onset of the US and Israeli war on Iran have brought to life some of the energy industry’s worst fears – that a conflict in the region ‌will leave long-term damage and shortages in global energy supplies.

“We are now well on the road to the doomsday gas-crisis scenario,” said Saul Kavonic, an energy analyst at MST Financial. “Even once the war ends, the disruption to LNG supply could last for months or even ‌years.”

Iran on Thursday struck the Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas facility in Qatar, the world’s largest LNG complex, a day after Israel attacked Iran’s huge South Pars gas facilities.

The hit on Ras Laffan destroyed two LNG trains that could cause a reduction of around 17 per cent of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas exports for between three and five years.

“I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that Qatar would be – Qatar and the region – in such an attack, especially from a brotherly Muslim country in the month of Ramadan, attacking us in this way,” QatarEnergy chief executive Saad al-Kaabi told Reuters.

Aerial attacks by Iran have already targeted a refinery in Saudi Arabia, forced the United Arab Emirates to shut gas facilities, and started fires at two Kuwaiti refineries. US President Donald Trump threatened retaliation if they persisted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a call that he would not attack any more Iranian energy facilities, Trump said on Thursday.

Netanyahu confirmed at a press conference the US president had asked him to hold off on further such attacks.

The prime minister has been booed and heckled at Australia’s biggest mosque on one of the most important dates on the Islamic calendar, with police dealing with one protester.

Thousands of people lined the streets surrounding Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s west on Friday morning as they took part in morning prayers ahead of Eid al-Fitr celebrations.

Anthony Albanese was invited to meet with community leaders, but his arrival quickly drew condemnation from locals.

One man was dragged out by police after booing Mr Albanese, but was released without charge after being given a move-on direction.

Others were heard yelling phrases including “disgrace”, “shame” and “genocide supporters”, though the prime minister remained calm and sat listening as Lebanese Muslim Association secretary Gamel Kheir read out a statement panning Australia’s involvement in the Middle East war and the impacts it has had on the Muslim community.

Mr Albanese then left via a side exit, side-stepping a large crowd waiting for him on the Mosque’s steps.

For Mr Kheir, it was important the prime ministerial visit not be used as a mere photo opportunity.

“This is a time to call him out and to say to him vividly what is happening to this community, and the pressure that it’s under cannot be sustained anymore,” he told AAP.

Showgrounds and mosques across Australia will be packed for the weekend as Muslims celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Friday marks Eid al-Fitr, the end of the month-long observance of the Islamic event marked by prayers and daily fasting.

While Ramadan is noted for its importance in spiritual reflection, Eid represents a chance for the community to celebrate with food, music and family reunions.

The Eid Show, at Bankstown Showground in southwest Sydney, is expecting thousands of attendees this weekend and has grown massively in its 17-year history.

The event is expected to be even more significant this year with the spectre of conflict in the Middle East looming over much of the Australian Muslim community.

“It means happiness, celebration. It also means hope and looking forward to something in grim times,” organiser Radwan Dadoun told AAP.

There are estimated to be about one million Muslims living in Australia, according to Mehmet Ozalp, head of the Centre of Islamic Studies at Charles Sturt University.

While many of them will choose to spend much of the weekend at celebrations like The Eid Show, mosques are also expecting a cast of thousands to mark the important religious occasion.

“We do have a big gathering (on Friday), we’re going to have a congregation of four sessions,” secretary of the Melbourne Grand Mosque Imran Khan Mohammed told AAP.

“We’re going to have 15 to 18,000 coming from all over Melbourne.”

For the mosque, Eid al-Fitr is the biggest day of the year for attendance.

Sharing food and love among families and those less fortunate forms a vital aspect of the celebration.

The homeless, single parents and others feeling financial stress benefit from the sharing of incomes and food at Eid, Mr Mohammed said.

Both mosques and shows are open to non-Muslims who want to celebrate with their friends and neighbours, with Mr Dadoun having just one piece of advice for the uninitiated.

“Come hungry and come with the beautiful smiles that you have,” he said.

The energy minister has not ruled out fresh taxes being imposed on the profits of gas companies due to the Middle East conflict. 

Chris Bowen has kept the possibility open for a windfall tax on gas companies in the upcoming federal budget, following reports the prime minister’s department requested Treasury modelling on the measure.

Treasury was asked to model new levy options, as well as reforms to the petroleum resources rent tax (PRRT), the ABC reported.

Mr Bowen said any decisions on taxes in May’s federal budget rested with Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

“The treasurer’s made clear that tax reform is on the government’s agenda, and he’s considering the way to maximise the efficient collection of tax in Australia,” Mr Bowen told ABC Radio on Friday.

“The budget’s in May, not in March, and is released by the treasurer, not the energy minister.”

The Greens had called for the government to impose a 25 per cent levy on gas company profits as energy costs surge following the war in the Middle East.

Recent Israeli strikes hit the South Pars gas field in Iran, the largest in the world.

In response, Iran hit the world’s largest LNG plant in nearby Qatar.

Greens leader Larissa Waters wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday offering to help pass laws in the upcoming parliamentary sitting fortnight in March to impose the levy on gas companies.

“Even if the war ended tomorrow, the restoration of these production facilities will take months to years,” Senator Waters wrote.

“While this supply shock will hit consumers and businesses right around the world, it will produce a deep and sustained financial windfall to Australian LNG exporters.”

Independent MP Allegra Spender wanted the government to impose a 50 per cent tax on windfall profits, with energy analysts warning prices could reach record highs.

Qatar is the world’s largest liquefied natural gas exporter, and about 20 per cent of global gas supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, largely closed by Iran during the conflict.

The PRRT, which is designed to capture above-normal profits from gas and oil companies, has only raised $1.4 billion per year between 2019 and 2015.

That’s due to generous uplift factors that allow companies to roll forward losses.

Superpower Institute chair Rod Sims has called for a Norway-style levy of 40 per cent on the cashflow of Australian gas producers, which he says would raise about $27 billion per year if gas prices approached the peak of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The owner of key retail brands Peter Alexander and Smiggle has weathered a profit fall, after sales dipped in a market marked by cost-of-living pressures.

Premier Investments made a bottom-line net profit of $101.7 million for the six months ended January 24, down 13.1 per cent on the prior corresponding first half.

Overall sales dipped 0.5 per cent to $452.8 million, despite the sleepwear group Peter Alexander performing well, with its sales rising by almost five per cent to $312.3 million.

Sales for kids’ stationery network Smiggle fell 10.7 per cent to $140.5 million, after store numbers were reduced across the country as Premier continues to reset the business.

“Peter Alexander performed strongly again … and continues to consolidate its position as the country’s leading sleepwear and gifting brand,” Premier chairman Solomon Lew said on Friday.

On Smiggle, Mr Lew said Premier was still working on simplifying the business with a view to taking it back to growth in fiscal 2027.

Group Underlying earnings, before interest and tax came to $119.3 million, in line with the previous first half.

Overall, Mr Lew said Premier was a leaner business than it was two years ago.

“In a challenging discretionary retail environment, with consumers continuing to face increased cost of living pressures, the group’s strategy remains anchored on delivering value for customers in our products and shopping experience,” Premier said.

Apart from Peter Alexander and Smiggle, it also owns about 25 per cent of appliances maker Breville.

Premier is forecasting underlying earnings of around $183 million for the 2026 financial year, which would be down from $195.4 million in the previous year.

The group declared an interim dividend of 45 cents per share, after paying no dividend in the previous first half.

US President Donald Trump says he has told Israel not to repeat its attacks on Iranian natural gas infrastructure as tit-for-tat strikes on energy plants send oil prices spiralling, sharply escalating the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Energy prices have jumped after Iran responded to an Israeli attack on a major gas field by hitting ‌Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, which processes around a fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas, causing damage that will take years to repair.

Saudi Arabia’s main port on the Red Sea, where it has been able to divert some exports to avoid Iran’s closure of the Gulf’s exit ‌point, the Strait of Hormuz, was also attacked.

US President Donald Trump said he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to repeat the attack on energy infrastructure.

“I told him, ‘Don’t do that’, and he won’t do that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, where he met Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

A US official and three other ‌people familiar with the planning ‌told Reuters that Trump was considering sending thousands ⁠more troops to the Middle East. But at his meeting with Takaichi, Trump said he had no plans to deploy ground forces.

“I’m not putting troops ​anywhere,” he said.

Three Israeli officials said Israel’s bombing of Iran’s South Pars gas field had taken place in consultation with the United States, but was unlikely to be repeated. Trump said the US had not known about it.

Netanyahu, in a press conference later, said Israel acted alone in the bombing of the South Pars gas field and confirmed Trump asked Israel to hold ​off on such attacks.

Iran is being “decimated” and no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles after 20 days of US-Israeli air attacks, but a revolution in the country would not come from the air and would require a “ground component”, he said, without elaborating.

Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan issued a joint statement expressing “our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait”.

They also promised “other steps to stabilise energy markets, including working with certain producing nations to increase output”.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reiterated that any contribution to securing the strait would come only after hostilities ended.

Earlier, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told a briefing that American objectives in the war, ‌which has so far killed more than 2000 people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, were “unchanged, on target and on plan”.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told a US congressional committee that American and Israeli goals differed.

The Israeli government had been focused on disabling the Iranian leadership, Gabbard said.

“The president has stated that his objectives are to destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles launching capability, their ballistic missile production capability, and their navy.”

The Trump administration is requesting $US200 billion ($A282 billion) of additional funding for the war, a US official confirmed on Thursday, but the request faces stiff opposition in Congress, which must approve the funds.

Iran’s military said strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure had led to “a new stage in the war” in which it had attacked energy facilities linked to the United States.

“If strikes (on Iran’s energy facilities) happen again, further attacks on your energy infrastructure and ​that ​of your allies will not stop until it is completely destroyed,” spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari said, according to state ​media.

Israeli media reported an Iranian strike hit oil facilities in Israel’s port of Haifa, causing damage but no casualties.

Since Wednesday, Iranian attacks have also forced the UAE to shut its Habshan gas facility and set off fires at two Kuwaiti oil refineries.

Brent crude oil futures were up nearly three per cent at $US110.35, having surged up to 10 per cent before the joint statement from European nations and Japan.