Australian consumers are the least confident they’ve been since records began, as high oil prices threaten to worsen the housing crisis by pushing up building costs.

Motorists have already been feeling under the pump from petrol price increases. 

But now second-order effects have started to filter through to sectors such as construction and aviation, exacerbating the Reserve Bank’s fears of a sustained break-out in inflation.

Consumer confidence fell 5.4 points to 63.1 last week, a long-running survey by ANZ and Roy Morgan reported on Tuesday.

It was the lowest level since the index began in 1973, ANZ economist Sophia Angala said.

“The impacts of the Middle East conflict on oil prices and the economic outlook are likely behind the drop, along with the RBA’s decision last week to increase the cash rate to 4.1 per cent,” she said.

Worryingly for the central bank, inflation expectations climbed to 6.9 per cent – higher than at the peak of the post-COVID inflation spike.

Following the RBA’s decision to raise interest rates earlier in March, governor Michele Bullock said it was critical inflation expectations stayed anchored.

But that will be harder to achieve the longer the war drags on.

Westpac senior economist Pat Bustamante said underlying inflation was expected to return to just above three per cent by the end of the year, assuming a ceasefire in the Middle East allows oil and gas to flow through the region once more.

“But the longer it runs on, the greater the risk that inflation remains sticky,” he said.

“We know that there’s a lot of industries, construction for instance, that’s quite energy intensive.”

Builders have been hit by price hikes across a range of construction materials, from concrete to steel reinforcing bar and PVC pipes.

More than a dozen suppliers cited rising fuel costs behind decisions to raise prices by up to 20 per cent in emails sent to construction customers and seen by AAP.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil convened a meeting of construction industry leaders on Tuesday to discuss the impact of the supply chain disruptions on housing supply and construction costs.

“What’s happening in the Middle East isn’t abstract; it’s clearly having real impacts here in Australia, and we’re staying closely engaged with industry to understand how we can support them to build more homes for Australians,” she said.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it was also stepping up its monitoring of airlines, with airfares set to increase as a result of rising jet fuel costs and the closure of routes through the Middle East.

“While market conditions will ultimately determine the cost of flying, we are closely monitoring price movements, market behaviour and the airlines’ representations to consumers, and will act if there is behaviour that contravenes competition and consumer laws,” commissioner Anna Brakey said.

Australia and Europe will step up co-operation on defence, security and scientific research as part of long-awaited deals inked alongside a new trade agreement.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen became the first female world leader to address Australian parliament, urging governments to come together to counter a new age of global threats.

“Today’s world shows that security threats are no longer restrained by distance but are enabled by technology,” she said.

“Malicious actors are able to reach into our borders without ever leaving their own. Europe, like Australia, does not choose how threats come to us, but we all suffer their fallout.”

While much of the focus was on the landmark Australia-Europe free trade agreement, Ms von der Leyen and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also signed other pacts on defence and research co-operation.

Officials are yet to outline exactly what the new defence agreement will involve, but it will likely include more frequent joint exercises between Australia and European nations and greater co-operation on cybersecurity.

The pact is not on the same level as a recent treaty struck with Papua New Guinea which requires both nations to come to the aid of the other if attacked, government sources say.

In a bid to bolster scientific co-operation, Australia will also sign up to Horizon Europe, the EU’s $155 billion research and innovation program.

Once Australia formally joined, companies would be able to access funding and guidance from researchers around the world, likely from 2027, Mr Albanese said.

“This is the largest research organisation in the world, bar none,” he told reporters after announcing the deal.

“Our new commitments reflect our shared commitment to security and prosperity and our shared understanding that each depends on the other.”

The deal would deepen longstanding research co-operation between the two sides, Ms von der Leyen added.

“It will link our brightest minds with long-term, well-funded programs so that they can be working together to generate the ideas and the products our society needs,” she said.

Australian universities have backed the move, declaring it would strengthen local research and build up critical industries.

“In a more uncertain and competitive global environment, strong international partnerships are more important than ever to protect Australia’s interests and keep us at the forefront of discovery,” Universities Australia chief executive Luke Sheehy said in a statement.

Ferdos had mixed emotions when Australia granted Iran’s soccer players asylum – relief at their safety but confused at her own visa application being in limbo for 14 years.

The 23-year-old Iranian refugee was sent to Nauru when she was 10, and spent five years in detention with her family before she was transferred to Australia in 2018 with her brother, when they were unwell. 

She completed high school in Australia and works as an employment caseworker, but her own situation remains volatile. 

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke granted a handful of women from Iran’s soccer team asylum when they were in Australia for the Asian Cup earlier in March, for fear they would be persecuted back home for failing to sing the national anthem before a match.

“I was really, really happy that Australians really gave that opportunity to such beautiful woman to stay here and feel safe,” Ferdos told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

“It was really hard for me to understand how the government has this power to do so in less than 48 hours, but for us, it’s been years and decades.”

There are about 700 Iranians found to be refugees who remain in limbo, according to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

“It’s time that Australia shows them the protection that they deserve,” the centre’s deputy CEO Jana Favero said alongside Ferdos, whose surname is not being used for safety reasons because she has family in Iran.

Advocates for Afghan refugees have also pointed at a double standard over the quick processing of the players.

Ghairat Jawahiri had his humanitarian visa application rejected after years of waiting, despite being in hiding with his family in Pakistan in fear of being deported back to face the Taliban’s wrath.

He helped NATO forces track the terrorist organisation’s camps in the mountains during the Afghan war and was captured and tortured when the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021 before fleeing to Pakistan.

His daughter Namja worked in the human rights and women’s rights sector as an activist, making her return to Afghanistan too risky as the Taliban brutally cracks down on women’s rights.

The Taliban believes she co-operated with the Afghan government and international forces during 2001 and 2021 because of her numerous media interviews and human rights projects with international organisations during the Afghanistan war, she said. 

Rural Australians for Refugees national president Marie Sellstrom, who is helping the family, offered to resettle them in Shepparton.

“While I am pleased the Iranian women have received support this puts to nonsense the response of the Australian government to the Jawahiri family that ‘Australia does not have the capacity to accommodate them’,” she said. 

“Rural communities can support the Jawahiri family immediately, they were and are in just as much danger if not more than the Iranian women.

“The difference is they are not popular sporting identities.”

Ms Sellstrom also pointed to Farzana, who remains in hiding in Iran after she was rejected from joining her family in Shepparton because she was 24 and not 22.

She aged out of being able to be included in her father’s family reunion visa by the time his application was put through, Ms Sellstrom said.

Afghan women’s rights organisation Azadi-e Zan has made representations to the offices of multiple minsters, outlining a list of high-risk women and families. 

Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster told a parliamentary hearing in February the department could identify “individuals who might need to be taken out of the queue because of particular circumstances” when representations are made by a minister.

“For example, that might be where we have families where daughters are about to reach an age where they wouldn’t be able to travel with their families, and if we processed them in the normal way there would be a perverse outcome,” she said. 

Ms Favero said the system needed reform as organisations couldn’t be expected to make a case-by-case representation for hundreds of cases.

There are more than 300,000 refugee and humanitarian visa applications, including more than 270,000 that are offshore, which amounts to unprecedented demand due to increasing global instability, according to Home Affairs.

A national crackdown on electric bikes has gathered speed as multiple states slam the brakes on illegal, high-powered mobility devices amid safety concerns.

Queensland has become the latest government to rein in e‑scooters and e‑bikes, banning children aged under 16 from using the devices under what’s been called nation-leading laws.

In reforms to be introduced in parliament this week, riders over 16 must be medically fit to drive and hold at least a learner’s licence.

Queensland Police will be granted more powers to randomly breath test riders, and seize and destroy illegally used devices.

Parents will be held liable if they allow underage children to ride, while retailers and shared‑scheme operators face fines if they enable unlawful use. 

A 10km/h speed limit will also apply on shared footpaths to better protect pedestrians. 

A six‑month transition period will allow some devices to be made compliant, but most are already illegal.

“There will be penalties for riders of all ages that will be tough but fair,” Queensland Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg said on Tuesday.

“This is about protecting community safety – we want to facilitate the legal and safe use of e‑mobility devices, while cracking down on unsafe and illegal use.”

In Queensland alone, more than 6000 hospitalisations were linked to e‑mobility devices between 2022 and 2025. 

Queensland is the latest to crackdown on e-bikes after Western Australia and Tasmania placed restrictions on under 16s using the devices, with NSW currently weighing up an age limit.

Police and transport officers would be given new powers to seize illegal e-bikes to be crushed under legislation introduced to NSW Parliament on Tuesday.

If an e-bike is performing like a conventional motorbike in terms of power or speed, then it could be destroyed under the laws, which mirror those in place in WA, the government says.

“We don’t want to discourage safe and healthy e-bike use, but we do want to discourage dangerous and illegal e-motorbike use,” NSW Transport Minister John Graham said.

“This legislation gives police and transport officers the powers they need to efficiently and permanently remove these devices from our streets.”

NSW will become the first state to roll out roadside “dyno units”, which measure whether an e-bike can go faster than the 25km/h speed limit.

The new crushing powers would apply to all devices that breach the standards, even if bought in error, Mr Graham said.

The legislative crackdown aligns with a heavier police response to dangerous e-bike use on the state’s roads.

Fines were issued to 170 people in Sydney over two days last week as NSW Police carried out a compliance operation focused on schools, business districts and beaches.

Five riders tested positive for drugs and 21 traffic charges were laid during the operation, the state highway patrol commander said.

“While e-bikes are a great mode of transport when ridden safely … police have seen an increase in illegal or anti-social e-bike rider behaviour,” Superintendent Anthony Boyd said.

E-bikes were involved in the deaths of a dozen people in 2025, including several children.

A major Australian department store operator is planning a big expansion of its e-commerce product categories when it launches a new marketplace platform in the coming months.

Myer’s new, curated marketplace will go live in May, powered by Paris- and Boston-based e-commerce and dropshipping provider Mirakl, which is also behind the marketplaces of Bunnings and Country Road Group.

The retailer’s existing e-commerce platform launched in 2017, to allow outside merchants to sell products on myer.com.au.

In the first half of fiscal 2026, marketplace sales were up by 9.3 per cent.

Myer recently added Samsung as a marketplace partner, executive chair Olivia Wirth told an earnings briefing on Tuesday.

“This is an area that we haven’t played in before,” she said. 

“Back in the day, many years ago, we used to have a greater assortment of electrical items and telecom items.

“We don’t (now). So this gives us a way to participate in the market.”

The marketplace leverages the group’s popular Myer One loyalty program, which has 5.1 million active members, according to Ms Wirth, who is the former head of the Qantas loyalty program. 

Myers’ marketplace opened the way to add large and bulky items to its product range, such as prams and cots to sit alongside its baby clothes offering or mattresses with its towels and sheets and bedding, Ms Wirth said.

“Our brand has strength in the home category, so marketplace allows us to work with different partners in a different way and really build out that overall assortment and truly own homes, a broader category,” she said.

When it comes to Christmas trees, Myer’s marketplace allows it to sell them for as low as $89.

“If we didn’t have marketplace as an offering, we wouldn’t have been able to participate at the lower end, and we actually saw customers trade up,” Ms Worth said.

Myer keeps a careful eye on customer behaviour as soon as they enter its website, she added.

In the six months to January 24, the group’s total sales were up 24.5 per cent to $2.28 billion, after it acquired five clothing labels from Premier Investments.

The integration of the brands – Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Dottie and Jacqui E – is progressing well.

Excluding the apparel brands acquisition, Myer sales were up 2.1 per cent, compared to the same period a year ago.

Myer made a statutory net profit of $40.3 million, up 32.8 per cent after including the contribution from apparel brands.

For the first seven weeks in the second half of the year, sales were up 1.7 per cent from the previous corresponding period.

Myer will pay a fully franked dividend of 1.5 cents per share, fully franked.

Around midday, its shares were down 3.4 per cent to 28 cents.

OnlyFans owner Leonid Radvinsky has died at the age of 43 after a long battle with cancer, the company announced.

The reclusive billionaire Ukrainian-American bought Fenix International Limited – the company that owns the adult content site – in 2018 and has been a director and majority shareholder since then.

A spokesperson for OnlyFans said: “We are deeply saddened to announce the death of Leo Radvinsky.

“Leo passed away peacefully after a long battle with cancer.

“His family have requested privacy at this difficult time.”

Radvinsky’s deal to buy OnlyFans followed just two years after the site was launched by British father and son Guy and Tim Stokely.

OnlyFans transformed the porn industry by offering content creators a platform to reach their audience directly and taking a 20 per cent cut of the revenues. The content creators keep the remaining 80 per cent, a compelling offer for the mostly adult entertainers seeking to monetise their work.

The firm behind OnlyFans paid out eye-watering dividends to Radvinsky since he acquired the company, with a record $US701 million ($A994 million) paid in 2024 as the streaming site saw user numbers jump by almost a quarter to 377.5 million globally.

The company is headquartered and pays tax in the UK but makes the majority of its money in the US.

Radvinsky had reportedly been in talks to sell a majority stake in the site, with discussions recently believed to have been held with investment firm Architect Capital in a deal that values the service at around $US5.5 billion including debt.

Radvinsky is survived by his wife Katie Chudnovsky and their four children.

Farmers are on edge as Australia and the European Union comb through the final details of a long-awaited trade deal they hope will increase quotas on beef and lamb.

Negotiations that have dragged on for eight years are expected to culminate as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrives in Canberra to meet Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The free trade deal is expected to be announced on Tuesday afternoon, after previously being stalled by disputes over agricultural access and geographical naming rights.

The EU has been reluctant to increase beef and lamb quotas, but the National Farmers Federation said this should be a non-negotiable. 

“With everything going on globally, there couldn’t be worse timing to lock in an agreement that sells Australian agriculture short,” federation president Hamish McIntyre told AAP. 

“The NFF is concerned the EU will offer sub-par access for Australian producers while also deploying more billion-dollar subsidies to their producers – a double blow for Australian farmers.”

The NSW Farmers Association said it had been “increasingly nervous” agriculture would be traded off or used as a bargaining chip for a deal.

“And we don’t believe that’s in the national interest,” it said.

Both organisations have declared no deal would be “better than a bad deal”.

Trade Minister Don Farrell held talks with his counterpart Maros Sefcovic on Monday but final details of the deal were yet to be decided. 

Meat and Livestock Australia, which serves as secretariat to the Australia-EU Red Meat Market Access Taskforce, said the agreement was the only opportunity to remedy the competitive disadvantage it faced in the EU. 

“Settling for a sub-optimal outcome at a time of growing global trade uncertainty would weaken Australia’s trade resilience and apply a handbrake to diversification into a market of 27 countries and 450 million consumers,” task force chair Andrew McDonald said. 

“Our preference is that the EU genuinely engages in free and fair trade.”

Former Australian trade official Prudence Gordon said the current quotas were prohibitive and not commercially meaningful for farmers. 

“It’s not really worthwhile for most exporters of beef and lamb meat and other products like rice and sugar and dairy products to enter that market because the quotas are so tiny, but also the tariffs are really high,” Dr Gordon told AAP.

Europe wanted to strip Australian farmers of the right to use geographic naming indicators such as feta, parmesan and prosecco but a compromise appears likely as part of the final agreement.

Dr Gordon said if the quotas were compromised, it would indicate Australia prioritised international collaboration over agricultural exporters.

“The US decision to walk away from its trade agreements has given greater incentive to this negotiation to get it concluded,” she said. 

Ms von der Leyen will become the first female foreign leader to address federal parliament on Tuesday. 

Luxury car taxes and Australia’s world-first social media age ban are also expected to be discussed during her bilateral talks with Mr Albanese.

Truck drivers will receive fast-tracked support as hundreds of petrol stations run out of fuel because of the Middle East war.

The federal government will amend the Fair Work Act to allow truck drivers and transport businesses to make emergency applications for a contract chain order in response to spikes in fuel prices. 

The change removes the six-month minimum wait time for such orders to enable faster intervention as global instability drives up costs and pressures the sector. 

The changes would help spread costs more fairly across the supply chain and support a critical industry, Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth said.

“Truckies and transport operators need to be protected from fuel price rises and it’s important that costs are shared fairly,” she said in a statement.

The measures were vital to keeping essential goods transported around the country, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Catherine King said.

“Fuel price spikes are affecting everyone, but no one is feeling it more acutely than those whose livelihoods are behind the wheel,” she said.

On Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a joint statement with Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong, affirming the two nations’ commitment to energy security and sharing their concerns over the situation in the Middle East.

Mr Albanese said the economic impacts from the conflict would continue after it ended due to the widespread destruction of oil and gas infrastructure.

“Even if we were to wake up tomorrow to the welcome news that this conflict was over, there would still be a long economic tail to reckon with,” he said at a minerals industry dinner on Monday evening. 

“All of this underlines a simple reality. The stable, predictable world of ever-expanding free trade is gone – and it will not be returning any time soon.”

It comes as service stations grapple with fuel supply, with Energy Minister Chris Bowen telling parliament 109 Victorian outlets had run out of at least one grade of petrol. 

He said 47 outlets in Queensland had no diesel and 32 were without regular unleaded, while 37 stations in NSW had run out of petrol.

The shortage would worsen by April as the war dragged on, opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan said.

“People should be deeply, deeply concerned with Chris Bowen’s management of this issue,” Mr Tehan told Sky News.

Australia’s fossil fuel and property industries are gearing up for a fight over tax as the government mulls changes ahead of its May budget.

Treasury is reportedly drawing up changes to make the tax system fairer for younger Australians, including by reducing the capital gains discount for property investors and increasing taxes on gas exporters.

The reports have been welcomed by crossbench members, who have been campaigning for the changes.

But the reception from big business is unsurprisingly more hostile.

Business Council chief executive Bran Black opposed increasing the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT), even if it allowed for tax cuts to boost business investment elsewhere.

“We think it is the wrong approach to be looking at increasing taxes on businesses at this time,” he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

The resources lobby, battle-hardened from its successful fight against the mining tax in 2013, came out swinging against any PRRT changes, which economists argue lets gas exporters off the hook with overly generous deductions.

As oil and gas prices soar and exporters stand to make massive windfall profits, Australian Energy Producers chief executive Samantha McCulloch said now would be the worst possible time to impose a new tax on the energy sector as it would stop investment in new supply.

Greens Senator Larissa Waters said it was natural for the gas industry to complain.

“Any big company will when their profits are at stake, but these greedy gas corporations are taking the piss,” she said.

Senator Waters joined calls from unions, other crossbenchers and left-leaning lobby group the Australia Institute for a 25 per cent tax on gas exports.

Independent MP Sophie Scamps said Australian voters had wised up since the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years, citing an Australia Institute survey that found more than 60 per cent support for the levy.

International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol said Australians were the real owners of its resource endowment and it was important they get their fair share of the profits.

But Australia’s triple-A reputation for regulatory predictability would be threatened by abrupt changes to taxation, which would risk further investment in gas supply, he said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government believed Australians deserved a fair return from their natural resources, hence why it had changed the PRRT during the last term to make gas companies pay more tax sooner.

Meanwhile, developer lobby groups also railed against reported changes to property investor tax breaks.

Master Builders chief executive Denita Wawn and Property Council CEO Mike Zorbas said hiking taxes on property would reduce the supply of homes

“The end of the story is that current and future renters pay more, and it’s a tragedy when you reflect on the fact that the critical role of investors in these markets is absolutely essential to building, in particular, new apartments,” Mr Zorbas said.

A recent report by economists at Commonwealth Bank found cutting the capital gains tax discount from 50 to 25 per cent would make rental prices about 0.2 per cent higher over a decade, compared to no change.

Passengers will bear the cost of surging fuel prices as rideshare giants raise fares to provide drivers short-term support. 

Uber and DiDi are among the delivery and transport companies that have introduced additional charges amid growing concern about Australia’s fuel supply due to the Middle East conflict.

Food delivery platform DoorDash has pledged support for its drivers and deliverers, providing workers with immediate relief.

Drivers who complete 100km or more in weekly deliveries will be eligible for cash support from Monday under a plan targeting those in rural and suburban areas who travel greater distances.

“Rising fuel prices have a real impact on all Aussies, particularly those who are making deliveries across our communities,” DoorDash vice president Simon Rossi told AAP.

“We want to back Dashers and provide immediate relief at the pump during this fuel crunch. 

“It will help them keep delivering and earning, while saving families and individuals time.”

The program will continue until April 30.

Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine welcomed the move, saying delivery workers had been hit incredibly hard by rising fuel prices.

Concern about fuel supplies has been mounting after six oil shipments to Australia were cancelled or postponed due to the war.

Iran’s decision to effectively close the Strait of Hormuz – a key global trade route – in response to US and Israeli strikes has sent global oil prices skyrocketing.

Domestic petrol and diesel prices have soared, but the government has repeatedly said shortages in some regional and rural areas were caused by panic-buying rather than supply issues.

Rideshare app Uber will increase prices from next week, and the surcharge will not be temporary

An Uber spokesperson told AAP it regularly reviewed fares to ensure it struck the right balance between drivers’ earnings and affordable rides.

“From next week, we will be updating Uber fares which will increase driver earnings by an average of six per cent across Australia,” the spokesperson said.

“These changes build on work already under way and reflect our ongoing commitment to better supporting driver earnings over time.”

Rival DiDi has added a five-cent-per-kilometre surcharge to help cover fuel costs for drivers.

“To help offset these increasing operating costs, DiDi will increase the temporary fuel surcharge applied to every DiDi trip nationwide,” head of external affairs Dan Jordan said.

“This adjustment is designed to provide additional support to drivers while fuel prices remain elevated.”

Mr Jordan told AAP the rideshare provider would continue to review its pricing structure and service fees.

DiDi and Uber have existing partnership programs for their drivers.