An environmental group “very concerned” about the impact of fracking on water has launched the first test of recently expanded national laws. 

A plan to frack 15 gas wells in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin is being challenged by Lock The Gate Alliance in the Federal Court on Monday.

The group is asking the court to grant an injunction and to compel the federal government to assess the project under the water trigger provisions of federal environmental laws. 

Lock The Gate Alliance research and investigations head Georgina Woods said their legal challenge was significant because work is already underway on the Shenandoah fracking pilot.

“We are very concerned about the potential of the project to significantly impact groundwater resources through contamination,” she said. 

“The whole of the Northern Territory relies on groundwater. Water is life up there.”

Fracking involves injecting a combination of water, chemicals and sand into deep shale layers underground at high pressure to extract gas. 

“It is an inherently risky activity and does carry the risk of contamination of groundwater sources and that’s why we’ve taken this case,” Ms Woods said. 

The federal water trigger legislation was expanded by federal parliament in 2023 to require the assessment of the impact of large coal mining and coal seam gas projects on water resources.

However, the natural gas company defending the court challenge on Monday – Tamboran B2 – has not referred itself to the national regulator and the government hasn’t selected the project for consideration. 

Parent company Tamboran is the largest acreage holder and operator in the Beetaloo basin, with about 770,000 net prospective hectares.

Anti-fossil fuel activists gathered outside the courthouse in Sydney on Monday morning to show their support for Lock the Gate, holding signs declaring “No water, no life” and “Cry me a river”.

The Federal Court case will be the first legal challenge launched against fracking under the water trigger and is expected to run for several days.

Tesla has deployed a small group of self-driving taxis picking up paying passengers in  Texas, with chief Elon Musk announcing the “robotaxi launch” and social media influencers posting videos of their first rides.

Musk called the moment the “culmination of a decade of hard work” in a post on his social media platform X and noted “the AI chip and software teams were built from scratch within Tesla”. 

Teslas were spotted in an Austin neighbourhood called South Congress with no one in the driver’s seat but one person in the passenger seat. 

The automaker planned a small trial with about 10 vehicles and front-seat riders acting as “safety monitors”, though it remained unclear how much control they had over the vehicles. 

In recent days, the automaker sent invites to a select group of influencers for a carefully monitored robotaxi trial in a limited zone. 

The rides are being offered for a flat fee of $US4.20 ($A6.50), Musk said on X. Tesla investor and social media personality Sawyer Merritt posted videos on X showing him ordering, getting picked up and taking a ride to a nearby bar and restaurant using a Tesla robotaxi app. 

If Tesla succeeds with the small deployment, it still faces major challenges in delivering on Musk’s promises to scale up quickly in Austin and other cities, industry experts say.

It could take years or decades for Tesla and self-driving rivals, such as Alphabet’s Waymo, to fully develop a robotaxi industry, said Philip Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon University computer-engineering professor with expertise in autonomous-vehicle technology. 

A successful Austin trial for Tesla, he said, would be “the end of the beginning – not the beginning of the end”. 

Most of Tesla’s sky-high stock value now rests on its ability to deliver robotaxis and humanoid robots, according to many industry analysts. Tesla is by far the world’s most valuable automaker.

The Tesla robotaxi rollout comes after more than a decade of Musk’s unfulfilled promises to deliver self-driving Teslas.

Musk has said Tesla would be “super paranoid” about robotaxi safety in Austin, including operating in limited areas.

The service in Austin will have other restrictions as well. Tesla plans to avoid bad weather, difficult intersections, and will not carry anyone below age 18.

Almost seven in 10 private housing tenants worry about asking for repairs in case they face a rent increase.

A survey of more than a thousand renters across Australia has also found a third would be unable to afford a five per cent increase on what they’re currently paying.

Half the respondents live in homes that need repairs and one in 10 need them carried out urgently.

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, the study is the 26th published by the advocacy network.

It found 31 per cent 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.

Rents have, meanwhile, surged a staggering 47 per cent in the past five years amid calls for nationwide rental increase limits.

Even so, researchers found 68 per cent of tenants fear asking their landlord to repair their residence would mean upping the rent, 56 per suspect it would get them evicted and 52 per cent worry that they would be placed on a blacklist stopping them renting another property.

The findings were magnified for tenants in disadvantaged groups, especially the unemployed, poorly educated and disabled.

ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie says the study highlights the serious failings of Australia’s housing market.

“It is completely unacceptable that people in the private rental market are nervous about asking for essential repairs because they fear a rent increase or eviction notice,” she said.

“Everyone deserves to be able to live in secure homes without the constant fear of losing their home.”

National Association of Renters’ Organisations spokesman Leo Patterson said the report validated what tenants already knew.

“Despite extensive rental laws on paper, it exposes the stark gap between legislation and reality,” he said.

“Weak oversight of rental costs, property standards and industry practices have denied renters the benefits of a safe, stable and healthy home.”

The agencies involved in the project are calling for a limit to the amount and frequency of rent increases, improved legal security via the abolition of no-grounds evictions and more funding for tenants’ advice services.

Australian banks have been slow to trim exposure to deforestation, with big agribusiness players still found to be lending to bush-bulldozing businesses.

Two years on from the Australian Conservation Foundation’s first foray into the financing of destructive land clearing, a follow-up report points to sluggish progress.

Destruction of bushland for grazing, real estate and other development contributes to climate change and threatens species, such as the endangered pink cockatoo, as well as undermining Australia’s international commitments to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.

Deforestation also poses material risks to banks, ACF corporate responsibility policy analyst Audrey van Herwaarden told AAP.

Mature trees are important for soil integrity, she said, as well as protection from extreme weather.

Landowners with poorer soil and less productive land are more likely to miss repayments, manifesting as a credit risk to the bank.

Reputational risk are also at play, with landowners caught land clearing illegally forced to pay steep remediation costs.

The five big agribusiness players, ANZ, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Rabobank, were linked to cases of deforestation via mortgages over land titles in the 12 months from July 2023.

Bank loans through securities on title are a common method for financing deforestation but the environmental group stressed it could not be certain the loans were used for bulldozing. 

Several mortgages were issued or reissued during or after the destructive landclearing had taken place, raising “serious questions about due diligence or, worse, wilful ignorance”.

Nearly half the cases might have been in breach of federal nature laws and the environment group had reported them to the relevant department. 

“Our analysis shows banks still have a long way to go to mitigate the risks – and seize the opportunities – associated with their impacts and dependence on nature,” Ms van Herwaarden said.

NAB, a major agribusiness lender, was twice as exposed as its peers across the 100 cases of deforestation from around the country.

A spokesperson said the bank was addressing many of the report’s recommendations, including doing more to engage stakeholders and investing in geospatial tools.

“NAB is Australia’s largest lender to agriculture and we understand deforestation is a complex issue that requires collaboration across government, industry and landholders,” the spokesperson said.

As well as calling on banks to commit to eliminating deforestation from their lending portfolios – a move already taken by Westpac – the environmental group also wants government to step up.

A national strategy to end deforestation by 2030 is a key request, as well as executing on long-delayed reforms to broken nature laws.

Both Commonwealth Bank and ANZ pointed to their social and environmental policies that dictate how they support their customers to manage deforestation risks.

Australia is considering its next steps after one of its closest allies joined with Israel to bomb Iran, exacerbating volatility in the Middle East.

After days of growing escalation, the US unleashed strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities on Sunday (AEST) as President Donald Trump declared “there will be peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran”.

The Australian government has urged all parties to prioritise diplomacy and dialogue since Israel first launched strikes in mid June.

Though some have raised questions over whether Australia should do more to support its ally, former ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos said the government was unlikely to get involved in combat.

“There’s no way we would put troops on the ground,” he told AAP.

“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.”

Australia has previously provided some resources around shipping lanes but during the recent outbreak of violence, the government has refused to even entertain the possibility of military involvement.

When Foreign Minister Penny Wong revealed the government would deploy defence assets to assist evacuation efforts, she repeatedly emphasised that they were not there for combat purposes.

And in the immediate aftermath of the US strikes, a government spokesperson said they “note the US president’s statement that now is the time for peace” while continuing to call for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy.

While the coalition has insisted it does not want war, acting foreign affairs spokesman Andrew Hastie said the opposition supported the US bombings and claimed it was a “necessary action to take”.

However, the American strikes have also been labelled as a “terrifying and catastrophic escalation” with the Greens warning further violence from Israel or the US would impact ordinary Iranian civilians.

Former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia’s respond to the bombings would be defining.

“Australia should welcome US bombing of Iran’s nuclear program,” Mr Downer said on X.

“We’ve been a US ally since 1951 as well as a consistent supporter of nuclear non-proliferation.”

About 2600 Australians in Iran are seeking assisted departures from the region, alongside about 1200 in Israel as the government urges travellers not to venture to either nation.

Staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs have been evacuated from the Tehran embassy and are helping Australians leave through the border in Azerbaijan.

Mr Sinodinos warned the future of Iran was uncertain as strikes could lead to the collapse of the country’s regime.

Australia has called for a de-escalation as the situation in the Middle East continues to devolve following Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran.

The US military struck three Iranian nuclear facilities on Sunday morning AEST in a move the American president declared a “spectacular military success”.

But the conflict could continue to worsen as Mr Trump warned “there will be peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days”.

The Australian government has consistently pushed for dialogue and diplomacy since Israel first launched strikes on Iran in mid June, and has continued to do so in the aftermath of Mr Trump’s announcement.

“We note the US president’s statement that now is the time for peace,” a government spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday.

“The security situation in the region is highly volatile. We continue to call for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy.

“We have been clear that Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program has been a threat to international peace and security.”

Questions have been raised over whether Australia – as a US ally – should bolster American efforts in the Middle East.

The federal government has insisted Australia is not a central player in the conflict, and only deployed defence assets to the region to assist in evacuation efforts, with Foreign Minister Penny Wong repeatedly emphasising they are not there to engage in combat.

Meanwhile, the opposition has supported America’s actions in Iran, noting they were taken to prevent the nation from acquiring nuclear weapons.

“The world can never accept a nuclear-armed Iranian regime and today the United States military has taken proactive action to ensure that we never need to,” Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and acting opposition spokesman for foreign affairs Andrew Hastie wrote in a joint statement.

“While Australians will never seek conflict in the world, we can never forget that the Iranian regime is a militantly theocratic autocracy.

“It is the Iranian people who are the victims of this brutal regime and we stand in solidarity with them.”

At least 430 people have been killed and another 3500 injured in Iran according to Iranian media outlet Nour News, while local Israeli authorities have reported 24 civilian deaths and almost 1300 injuries.

The casualty toll from US strikes is yet unclear but Greens leader Larissa Waters called the event a “terrifying and catastrophic escalation”.

“You cannot bomb your way to peace,” she said in a statement.

“Australia must always work for peace and de-escalation. Australia is not powerless, and we cannot be involved in another brutal war in the Middle East.”

About 2600 Australians in Iran are seeking assisted departures from the region, alongside about 1200 in Israel as the government urges travellers not to venture to either nation.

Staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs have evacuated the Tehran embassy and are helping Australians leave through the border in Azerbaijan.

Some Australians have already left through land crossings but the government is also poised to help citizens leave once the airspace over both nations re-opens.

The US attack on Iranian nuclear sites could lead to a knee-jerk reaction in global markets when they reopen, sending oil prices higher and triggering a rush to safety, investors say as they assess how the latest escalation of tensions will ripple through the global economy.

The attack, announced by President Donald Trump on social media site Truth Social, deepens US involvement in the Middle East conflict. 

That was the question going into the weekend, when investors were mulling a host of different market scenarios.

In the immediate aftermath of the announcement, they expected the US involvement was likely to cause a sell-off in equities and a possible bid for the dollar and other safe-haven assets when trading began, but also said much uncertainty about the course of the conflict remained.

“I think the markets are going to be initially alarmed, and I think oil will open higher,” said Mark Spindel, chief investment officer at Potomac River Capital.

“We don’t have any damage assessment and that will take some time. 

“Even though he has described this as ‘done’, we’re engaged. What comes next?” Spindel said.

“I think the uncertainty is going to blanket the markets, as now Americans everywhere are going to be exposed. It’s going to raise uncertainty and volatility, particularly in oil.”

Spindel, however, said there was time to digest the news before markets opened.

A key concern for markets would centre around the potential impact of the developments in the Middle East on oil prices and thus on inflation. 

A rise in inflation could dampen consumer confidence and lessen the chance of near-term US interest rate cuts.

“This adds a complicated new layer of risk that we’ll have to consider and pay attention to,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Cresset Capital. 

“This is definitely going to have an impact on energy prices and potentially on inflation as well.”

While global benchmark Brent crude futures have risen as much as 18 per cent since June 10, hitting an almost five-month high of $US79.04 ($A121.82) on Thursday, the S&P 500 has been little changed, following an initial drop when Israel launched its attacks on Iran on June 13.

Before the US attack on Saturday, analysts at Oxford Economics modelled three scenarios, including a de-escalation of the conflict, a complete shutdown in Iranian oil production and a closure of the Strait of Hormuz, “each with increasingly large impacts on global oil prices”.

In the most severe case, global oil prices jump to about $US130 ($A200) per barrel, driving US inflation close to six per cent by the end of 2025, Oxford said in the note. 

“Although the price shock inevitably dampens consumer spending because of the hit to real incomes, the scale of the rise in inflation and concerns about the potential for second-round inflation effects likely ruin any chance of rate cuts in the US this year,” Oxford said in the note, published before the US strikes.

Economists warn a dramatic rise in oil prices could damage a global economy already strained by Trump’s tariffs.

An escalation in the conflict could have mixed implications for the US dollar, which has tumbled amid worries over diminished US exceptionalism.

In the event of US direct engagement in the Iran-Israel war, the dollar could initially benefit from a safety bid, analysts said.

“Do we see a flight to safety? That would signal yields going lower and the dollar getting stronger,” said Steve Sosnick, chief market strategist at IBKR in Greenwich, Connecticut.

“It’s hard to imagine stocks not reacting negatively and the question is how much. It will depend on Iranian reaction and whether oil prices spike.”

Thousands of construction students will complete their apprenticeships for free under a major investment by a state government in TAFE.

The NSW government has committed $3.4 billion to TAFE across the state to help train tradies and get them through their studies and onto job sites.

“(This is) the single biggest injection in TAFE’s budget in more than a decade,” Treasurer Daniel Mookhey told reporters on Sunday.

The funding comes as construction sites across Australia face a skills shortage but a growing demand for housing.

The state government estimates the construction industry will need more than 30,000 workers over the next five years to cope.

The investment includes $40 million to ensure 23,000 construction workers can get their apprenticeships done for free.

“We need as many people to complete construction TAFE as possible to help us build, build and build,” Mr Mookhey said.

Currently, some courses are deemed “fee-free” under a joint initiative between the NSW and federal governments, while other diplomas can cost up to $25,000.

The funding will also be used to convert casual TAFE workers to permanent, attract more staff and upgrade facilities across the state.

As NSW embarks on its big build, the government has allocated $145 million over four years for the state’s Building Commission.

The commission will be able to hire more prosecutors, investigators, inspectors and educators to ensure that the standards of residential construction are lifted.

Housing is set to be a key theme of the state budget to be handed down on Tuesday.

“The reason why is because we haven’t built enough homes for people to live in, and so in each budget, we’re taking the opportunity to make further progress,” the treasurer said.

“Today is about making sure we have the workforce to help us build.”

The budget will also be focused on the essential services and the future of the economy, including investment in TAFE, hospitals and schools.

But Mr Mookhey has flagged that, despite the ongoing cost of living pressures, there likely won’t be any cash sweeteners in the budget.

“We well and truly accept families are recovering from one of the biggest cost-of-living crises in more than a generation,” he said.

“What people will see on budget day is that with interest rates coming down, with real wages going up, we are beginning to see a bit of a recovery in household finances.”

With a July rate cut looking increasingly uncertain, monthly inflation data will shed new light on the likelihood of more mortgage relief.

The Reserve Bank of Australia takes greater stock in less volatile quarterly figures but the consumer price index for May will provide a valuable insight into inflation’s direction of travel when released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.

After inflation came in higher than expected at 2.4 per cent in April, economists at ANZ are expecting the headline figure to ease to 2.3 per cent off the back of falling petrol prices.

But conflict in the Middle East has sent crude oil soaring in recent days, so a reversal in prices is likely to come in the following months.

From $US60 a barrel in May, some analysts have predicted oil could soar past the $US100 a barrel mark if the conflict between Israel and Iran spirals, with strikes on oil infrastructure and disruption to supply chains.

That would have a widespread impact on Australian prices, given oil flows through to input costs, either directly via production or indirectly via distribution, for pretty much the entire economy.

But ANZ commodities analysts Daniel Hynes and Soni Kumari think the $US100 a barrel scenario is unlikely.

The most likely outcome (they assign about a 50 per cent chance) is for crude prices to reach $US75-85 a barrel, despite an extended conflict.

“This would see supplies come under direct threat,” the analysts said.

“However, the oil market is better equipped to respond to that than it has been in the past. 

“(Oil exporting organisation) OPEC has over six million barrels per day of spare capacity that can be quickly activated.”

The Reserve Bank will likely look through the noise of volatile oil prices and focus on the underlying pace in the trimmed mean.

On Tuesday, Australia’s largest and third-largest regional economies, NSW and Queensland, will unveil the state of their finances.

Together, the two account for about 20 per cent of all government expenditure in Australia and are increasingly contributing to mounting public debt.

This has real consequences for the macro economy and the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy strategy, e61 Institute economists Michael Brennan and Aaron Wong said.

“State and territory finances are drifting onto an unsustainable path,” they said.

“Before the pandemic, state budgets were broadly balanced. This year, the states will run a collective cash deficit close to 2.0 per cent of GDP – bigger than the federal deficit, thus more than half the nation’s total government sector deficit.”

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has conceded the state’s remaining AAA credit ratings with agencies Fitch and Moody’s are under threat amid the ongoing deficit.

This would make borrowing costs more expensive and further constrain the state’s spending capacity.

The ACT will also reveal its budget on Tuesday, with its finances expected to remain in deficit.

In his February budget update, Treasurer Chris Steel revealed the territory’s projected deficit swelled by more than 50 per cent to $970 million from the previous update just seven months earlier.

Wall Street investors were meanwhile on edge over the Iran-Israel conflict heading into the weekend, as the US considers whether to get involved.

Trading was choppy for much of Friday, with the S&P 500 losing 12.53 points, or 0.21 per cent, to end at 5,968.34 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 95.27 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 19,451.01.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38.47 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 42,210.13.

Australian share futures fell 20 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 7,812.

The S&P/ASX200 fell 18.2 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 8,505.5, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 17.9 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 8,723.5.

Australia has expressed concerns tensions in the Middle East could evolve into a broader conflict after the US joined Israel’s offensive and attacked Iranian nuclear sites.

President Donald Trump revealed the US had struck three nuclear sites in Iran on Sunday through social media posts, explicitly aligning himself with Israel’s campaign.

Prior to Mr Trump’s announcement, Australian officials across the political spectrum had grown concerned about the rapidly intensifying situation.

“We are worried about the prospect for escalation here and this entering into some wider kind of conflict,” Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles told Sky News on Sunday.

“We’ve been urging dialogue and diplomacy and we continue to do that now.”

At least 430 people have been killed and another 3500 injured in Iran according to Iranian media outlet Nour News, while local Israeli authorities have reported 24 civilian deaths and almost 1300 injuries.

Though he hoped Iran would negotiate and surrender its nuclear program, opposition spokesman for home affairs Andrew Hastie predicted a strike would occur, mere minutes before the US president made his announcement.

“I suspect diplomacy is probably going to fail here and we’re going to see a strike of some sort,” he told ABC’s Insiders.

“The next two weeks is going to be tough for innocent people in Israel and Iran who are caught in the middle of this war.

“Iran needs to come to the table, or it’s going to be a settlement by force and more people will die.”

The federal government has repeatedly insisted Australia is not a central player in the conflict, which was triggered in mid June when the Israeli military launched attacks on Iran in what it claimed was a bid to wipe out Iran’s nuclear program.

Australia has deployed defence assets to the region to assist in evacuation efforts, with Foreign Minister Penny Wong repeatedly maintaining they are not there to engage in combat.

Mr Hastie, a former Special Air Service Regiment troop commander during the war in Afghanistan, said he would be reluctant to send in troops and called for Australia to more clearly define its alliance with the US.

“I think we need to talk about operationalising the alliance – building guardrails for combat operations and of course, defining our sovereignty,” he said.

“We’re not just a vassal state, we’re an ally and a partner.”

Mr Marles maintained Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program was “most definitely a threat” to the peace and stability of the world, while also expressing concern about the conflict’s escalation.

“We recognise Israel’s right to defend itself and we very much acknowledge the risk that the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile program represents,” he said.

But now that it appears the dominoes have begun to fall, the world could soon have to reckon with the consequences, Mr Hastie warned.

“I think it’s very dangerous and risky,” he said.

“We could see regime change, we could see a collapse of the Iranian regime, we’d see large scale migration and refugees across the world but particularly Europe.”

About 2600 Australians in Iran are seeking assisted departures from the region, alongside about 1200 in Israel as the government urges travellers not to venture to either nation.

Staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs have evacuated the Tehran embassy and are helping Australians leave through the border in Azerbaijan.

Some Australians have already left through land crossings but the government is also poised to help citizens leave once the airspace over both nations re-opens.

With Reuters