The Danish royals are continuing a Down Under green streak as they promote greater cooperation and investment in renewables and medical research between Australia and Denmark.

King Frederik and Queen Mary began their final day in Melbourne as part of a whistlestop state visit, attending an event focused on supporting commercial and institutional cooperation between the nations for a green transition.

The king delivered a speech to an audience of business leaders, which also included Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen.

The monarchs then turned their attention to health collaborations, visiting a stem cell innovation research event at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Royal Children’s Hospital, where they toured the site and discussed the latest advances in medical technology.

A crowd of excited staff, parents and children had gathered inside the building, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Australia-born royal.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who hosted the couple in Canberra and will meet them again in Hobart, said they were delightful, humble, engaging and very interested in Australia, particularly Tasmania where the queen is from.

“It is extraordinary – the whole story, and I think it’s one that appeals,” he told reporters in Burnie, Tasmania.

“At a time where there is a lot of negativity in the world, isn’t it wonderful that we have this relationship and story which we should celebrate?”

The royals are in Australia for a six-day visit, the first since Frederik became king in 2024.

On Tuesday, the royals attended an official reception at Government House, toured sustainable and renewable energy developments and had a kick of a footy at the MCG.

The pair had met with Mr Albanese and other dignitaries in Canberra and also visited Uluru.

The royals are aiming for their visit will deepen trade ties between Queen Mary’s adopted and home nations, with a focus on clean energy.

On their final stop is Mary’s home state of Tasmania, where they will spend time with the Queen’s relatives, including her elderly father John Donaldson.

The Danish royals are continuing a Down Under green streak as they promote greater cooperation and investment in renewables and medical research between Australia and Denmark.

King Frederik and Queen Mary began their final day in Melbourne as part of a whistlestop state visit, attending an event focused on supporting commercial and institutional cooperation between the nations for a green transition.

The king delivered a speech to an audience of business leaders, which also included Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen.

The monarchs then turned their attention to health collaborations, visiting a stem cell innovation research event at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Royal Children’s Hospital, where they toured the site and discussed the latest advances in medical technology.

A crowd of excited staff, parents and children had gathered inside the building, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Australia-born royal.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who hosted the couple in Canberra and will meet them again in Hobart, said they were delightful, humble, engaging and very interested in Australia, particularly Tasmania where the queen is from.

“It is extraordinary – the whole story, and I think it’s one that appeals,” he told reporters in Burnie, Tasmania.

“At a time where there is a lot of negativity in the world, isn’t it wonderful that we have this relationship and story which we should celebrate?”

The royals are in Australia for a six-day visit, the first since Frederik became king in 2024.

On Tuesday, the royals attended an official reception at Government House, toured sustainable and renewable energy developments and had a kick of a footy at the MCG.

The pair had met with Mr Albanese and other dignitaries in Canberra and also visited Uluru.

The royals are aiming for their visit will deepen trade ties between Queen Mary’s adopted and home nations, with a focus on clean energy.

On their final stop is Mary’s home state of Tasmania, where they will spend time with the Queen’s relatives, including her elderly father John Donaldson.

Asian shares have rallied as oil prices paused their gains, with markets turning to the US Federal ‌Reserve meeting to see how policymakers will balance growth and inflation risks amid ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

Israel intensified its offensive by killing Iran’s security chief, while Iran ‌renewed its strikes on oil facilities in the United Arab Emirates. 

A senior Iranian official said the new supreme leader rejected de-escalation offers conveyed by intermediaries, signalling no quick end to a ‌war that has unleashed a global oil shock.

Oil prices took a breather on Wednesday from recent gains though the Strait of Hormuz remained largely shut. 

Brent crude futures dropped one per cent to $US102.28 ($A143.99) a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.6 per cent.

That is proving to be a comfort for equity investors, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 1.2 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei rallied two per cent.

Chinese blue-chips inched up 0.1 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.3 per cent.

Natasha Kaneva, head of global commodities research at JPMorgan, said the apparent stability in Brent and ‌WTI reflects a temporary buffer ‌created by regional inventory overhangs, benchmark ⁠composition and policy interventions.

“If the Strait does not reopen … Brent and WTI will ultimately reprice higher as Atlantic basin ​inventories are drawn down and the global market is forced to clear at a materially tighter supply level,” she said.

The United Arab Emirates may join a US-led effort to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, but several Western countries have already rebuffed calls from US President Donald Trump to send warships to escort oil tankers in the region.

Both S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures inched up 0.2 per cent after Wall Street gained overnight, supported by expectations of strong earnings from chipmaker Micron Technology . Investors will be watching out for commentary on chip shortages and ⁠pricing from its results due later on Wednesday.

After the Reserve ‌Bank of Australia ​kicked off a busy week for global central banks with a rate hike, all eyes are now on the Fed’s policy meeting later in the day. 

Attention will be on its ​updated economic forecasts, ‌especially the “dot plot”, where the risk is it might no longer project any rate cuts at all this year.

The Fed is widely expected to keep its policy ​steady but the debate will very much centre on whether the Iran conflict is more likely to disrupt economic growth, threaten more persistent inflation or create a confounding mix of economic slowing and rising prices.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who is due to step down in May, will also hold a press conference, and markets will ​be ​watching for any hint on whether he intends to remain on the ​Board as a governor once his term as the chair ends.

“Consensus still points to the ‌median dot plot showing one 25-basis-point cut for 2026, aligning with current market pricing,” said Tony Sycamore, analyst at IG.

“That said, there’s a decent chance the dots could shift more hawkish, perhaps even to zero cuts, if the committee views the oil shock as leading to stickier inflation.”

The Bank of Canada also meets later on Wednesday where no policy change is expected. Markets are wagering the next move will be up, with one rate hike fully priced in by the year-end.

In currency markets, the US dollar was on the back ​foot with the euro holding at $1.1539, after rising 0.3 per cent overnight.

The Japanese yen steadied at 159 per dollar, having gained for two straight days to move away from the ​160 level that has triggered official intervention in the ⁠past.

Treasuries bounced a little overnight, helped by a solid auction of 20-year Treasury bonds. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes were ​flat at 4.2024 per cent, having declined two basis points overnight. 

Labor appears set to scale back tax concessions for property investors in a move welcomed by economists and social housing advocates.

But while it’s set to boost intergenerational equity and budget revenue, experts caution the effect on housing affordability will be relatively minor.

A Greens-led parliamentary inquiry released Tuesday found the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount skewed the housing market towards investors at the expense of owner-occupiers and unequally benefited wealthier Australians.

Labor senators Ellie Whiteaker and Richard Dowling, who signed off on the report, added that younger Australians increasingly faced different economic circumstances to previous generations.

Any tax reform should be guided by the principles agreed to at Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ economic reform roundtable of 2025, including making the tax system fairer for young people, they said.

It’s the clearest indication yet by the government that changes to the capital gains tax discount will be included in the upcoming budget.

Treasury is understood to be working on a number of options, including reducing the concession to 33 per cent, as well as examining scaling back the negative gearing tax break for property investors.

Grattan Institute economist Brendan Coates told the inquiry reducing the capital gains discount would be positive for budget sustainability and economic growth.

“As a measure to boost to improve affordability, it falls a long way behind measures around supply,” he said.

Domain chief economist Nicola Powell said negative gearing and the capital gains tax had not been the main drivers of price growth.

“There’s no silver bullet, but broader reforms like moving from stamp duty to land tax, reviewing policies that discourage efficient use of housing, and investing in infrastructure to unlock supply could make a real difference,” she said.

Commonwealth Bank research found cutting the discount to 25 per cent would result in prices settling about four per cent lower than the baseline over several years – less than the growth many Australian capitals saw in a single quarter in 2025.

Rents would be about 0.2 per cent higher than the baseline over a decade.

Dr Chalmers said there had been no changes to government policy but left the door open for the budget.

“I’ve tried to be upfront with your listeners and with others in saying that we are working up some options,” he told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

“I’m not going to come at what those options look like, but there is certainly appetite for more tax reform if we can land it.”

The inquiry’s chair, Greens Senator Nick McKim, said he was pleased Labor was making it clear reforming “the most unfair tax break on the books” was on the table.

“This is a historic opportunity for government, and we hope they take it,” he told ABC Radio.

Maiy Azize, a spokesperson for social housing advocacy group Everybody’s Home, called on the government to invest extra revenue from winding back the capital gains discount into social housing.

Curfew and ankle monitoring restrictions imposed on a convicted murderer after his release from immigration detention have been declared invalid by the nation’s highest court. 

A Papua New Guinea citizen argued that unconstitutional conditions were imposed on him when he was granted a bridging visa after being released from detention. 

The conditions included a requirement that the man wear a monitoring device at all times and remain at a designated address between the hours of 10pm and 6am each day.

The federal government maintained the measures were necessary to protect the Australian community from the man, who was convicted of murder as a minor and domestic violence offences as an adult. 

But the High Court, by majority, found the conditions were invalid, in yet another blow to the federal government’s attempts to monitor people released from immigration detention. 

The government introduced the monitoring regime after a landmark 2023 High Court ruling that indefinite immigration detention is illegal if there is no reasonable prospect of the person’s removal from Australia in the foreseeable future.

The decision led to the release of 150 immigration detainees with criminal records, some of whom had serious criminal convictions, including for murder and rape.

A number were arrested for allegedly reoffending after their release, sparking fierce public and political backlash.

The government reacted by introducing laws requiring some of the former detainees to wear ankle monitors and abide by a curfew, but those measures were struck down in 2024. 

The High Court ruled the conditions were unconstitutional because they represented a punishment imposed by the government, instead of the courts. 

The man who succeeded in the latest High Court challenge was taken into immigration detention after being released on parole for domestic violence offences. 

The conditions imposed upon him when he was released into the community were incompatible with the country’s constitution, the High Court found. 

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke forecast the PNG man and others in the NZYQ group being moved to a small Pacific island.

“Fortunately, we now have the agreement with Nauru, because the best thing for people who have had their visa cancelled is to not be in this country,” he said in a statement.

“While obviously the government would have preferred a different outcome, the government’s ambition was never about ankle bracelets.”

The Big Australian is getting a new boss.

Brandon Craig will become the chief executive of BHP on July 1, replacing Mike Henry, who will step down after six and a half years in the role.

Mr Craig is currently BHP’s president for the Americas, leading its growth strategy in future-facing commodities across Canada, the US and South America.

He previously led BHP’s Western Australian iron ore business, with BHP crediting him on Wednesday with improving operational performance and increasing its lead as the lowest-cost, highest-margin major iron ore producer in the world.

“It is an honour and a privilege to succeed Mike Henry as CEO of BHP,” said Mr Craig, who has been with BHP since 1999.

“I look forward to continuing to take this great company forward.”

Mr Craig will receive a base salary of $US1.9 million ($2.7 million), with the potential to make a maximum of $US12.5 million ($17 million) a year more from bonuses.

Mr Henry will continue to provide support to Mr Craig through November 30.

He said it had been a privilege to serve as CEO of BHP and to have worked with so many talented people.

Under Mr Henry’s leadership, BHP sold off its petroleum business to Woodside Energy, unified its dual-listed structure and strengthened its copper exposure.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Kaan Peker said the appointment was a positive for the company, describing Mr Craig as a long-tenured BHP executive with deep operational experience across both iron ore and copper.

In early trading, BHP shares were up 0.4 per cent to $49.92.

Donald Trump has declared the US doesn’t need the help of Australia and other allies who rejected US calls for partners to help take back a major oil-shipping corridor.

In a scathing statement posted to his social media platform Truth Social, the US president blasted Australia and other Indo-Pacific nations for their refusal to get involved in the conflict with Iran.

“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO ‘Allies’ that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East,” Mr Trump’s post said.

“We no longer ‘need’ or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID! Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea.”

The conflict, triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has sent fuel prices skyrocketing globally after the de-facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to Tehran’s retaliatory actions.

The US president had requested a naval coalition to help secure the key shipping route, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil supplies travels.

But Treasurer Jim Chalmers deflected Mr Trump’s criticism, saying the government had not considered sending any vessels to protect oil tankers in the strait.

Ministers previously said Australia had not received a formal request from the US to provide a warship.

Opposition frontbencher Andrew Hastie took aim at Mr Trump’s post.

“It was a petulant post from a president under immense pressure … relationships that are longstanding, you show respect and I don’t think it was a respectful post at all,” he told ABC radio on Wednesday.

“We’ve got a proud history and I just don’t think that’s how you treat allies. It’s a reflection on his character more than us.”

Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said Mr Trump was “lashing out”.

“He’s furious that America’s allies are not prepared to support him in a war that he started without their consent or … without any consultation,” he said.

“It really just underlines … the importance of Australia being more independent, exercising our own sovereignty.”

An Australian radio giant has axed its top-rating show, with controversial host Kyle Sandilands vowing to sue his employer after it tore up his multimillion-dollar contract.

ARN told the ASX on Wednesday morning that the shock jock’s contract has been terminated, ending the Kyle and Jackie O Show after more than 20 years.

Sandilands vowed to fight ARN, the parent company of KIIS FM, over the decision.

“I don’t accept it. My lawyers told them last week this would be invalid. And guess what? It is,” he said in a statement.

“Let me tell you what actually happened here. Jackie and I had a blue on air. That’s it. The kind of thing we’ve done a hundred times in 25 years. And ARN took the situation and decided to try and burn the place down. 

“They sacked Jackie. They suspended me. They wouldn’t even let me pick up the phone to call her or anyone else on the show. Then — and this is the bit that gets me — once they’d made it impossible for the show to go on, they turn around and say, “You didn’t fix it. You’re fired!”

ARN suspended the radio host on March 3 and issued him with a breach notice for “serious misconduct” after he berated co-host Jackie “O” Henderson on-air on February 20.

Sandilands denied he breached his $100 million contract. 

The friction between the hosts stemmed from Sandilands slamming Henderson for looking into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s horoscope.

“You’re off with the fairies … every segment, every time you’ve spoken, you don’t even know what’s going on,” Sandilands said during the broadcast.

On Wednesday, Sandilands said he had apologised to his co-host of two decades immediately after the blow-up.

“In the two weeks since, I’ve done everything ARN asked. I said, put me back on air. I’ll work with Jackie. I’ll work with someone else. Whatever you need. Every single time – “no.” They weren’t interested. They didn’t want to fix this. 

“They thought they saw a chance to get out of the contract they signed with me a year ago, and they ran with it.”

The Sydney ratings darlings are in the second year of a decade-long, $200 million contract which coincided with a poorly received entry into the Melbourne radio market.

ARN’s share price has dropped 64 per cent since the 10-year deal was signed in November 2023.

The show was hit with repeated decency breaches on Monday after the regulator found ARN had lost control of its content.

Sandilands said ARN knew exactly what it was getting when it signed the deal, adding they had worked together for more than a decade.

“They knew how I work, they knew the show, and they were happy to pay for it — because I delivered. Number one ratings. Year after year. Hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for their business. I held up my end. I always have,” he said.

“So, you tell me — why would ARN prefer to breach a contract and pay the legal consequences rather than honour the contract and pay me to do what I do best? That’s the bit that doesn’t make sense.

“I’ve got a contract until 2034. I’ve got rights under that contract. And ARN hasn’t honoured the contract. So, it’s over to my lawyers.”

ARN said on March 3 that Henderson gave notice she could no longer work with her co-host and it considered Sandilands’ comments a breach of his contract.

Cuba has reconnected its electrical grid across much of the island after it collapsed, leaving about 10 million people without power amid a US-imposed oil blockade that has crippled the island’s already obsolete generation system.

The Energy and Mines Ministry announced the restoration early on Tuesday, just hours after US President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric against the communist-run island, saying he could do anything he wanted with Cuba.

Energy officials said they had reconnected the grid from westernmost Pinar del Rio province to Holguin, near the eastern tip of the island. Santiago de Cuba, the country’s second-largest city, remained offline, the reports said.

State-owned media reported that by late Monday power had been restored to five per cent of residents in the capital, Havana, representing some 42,000 customers.

The Trump administration has made it clear it sees Cuba as the next country where the US can play out its desires on the world stage. 

“Cuba right now is in very bad shape,” Trump said, a day after Cuba’s third nationwide blackout in four months.

“And we’ll be doing something with Cuba very soon,” the president said.

Until recently, Trump’s comments on change in the socialist island nation might have been considered remarkable. But they come after his administration’s audacious US military raid that captured then-President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, cutting off oil exports from that nation that had propped up the Cuban economy. 

They also follow the launch of US military strikes against Iran on February 28.

The administration is looking for President Miguel Díaz-Canel to leave as the US continues negotiating with the Cuban government, according to a US official and a source with knowledge of talks between Washington and Havana. No detail has been offered about who the administration might like to see come to power.

Many Cubans don’t believe that Díaz-Canel holds much power in Cuba, anyway, as opposed to revolutionary founding father Raúl Castro and his family. 

Electricity was slowly being restored to hospitals and some homes on Tuesday afternoon, but officials warned that the crumbling power network could fail again.

The government blames its woes on a US energy blockade after Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban heritage, said the island “has an economy that doesn’t work in a political and governmental system. They can’t fix it”.

A Cuban official said on Monday Cuba is open to trading with US companies, but such promises had been made before. 

“So they have to change dramatically,” Rubio said. 

“What they announced yesterday is not dramatic enough. It’s not going to fix it.”

The Trump administration is also demanding that Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalisation in return for a lifting of sanctions. Trump has also raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover of Cuba”.

While Cuba produces 40 per cent of its petroleum and has been generating its own power, it hasn’t been sufficient to meet demand as its electric grid continues to crumble.

The Reserve Bank board was widely expected to raise interest rates again.

In the end it was a photo finish.

The central bank’s monetary policy board voted five-four in favour of a 25-basis point rate hike on Tuesday, taking the official cash rate to 4.1 per cent.

It was the narrowest decision since the RBA began publishing the votes.

But the split was not down to a disagreement over whether to hike or not, said Governor Michele Bullock.

The argument was one of timing.

The board agreed demand was too high for supply in Australia, even before the Middle East conflict closed a key oil artery and added another supply shock to the system.

But given the uncertainty around the geopolitical situation and the speed at which events are liable to change, the four dissenters wanted more time to assess the situation, Ms Bullock revealed.

Westpac chief economist Luci Ellis said the split decision made a third successive hike look less certain, but retained her call for a May rate rise as the question was one of timing.

“Whether the conflict in the Middle East is still ongoing and how it evolves from here will be crucial,” she said.

Only US President Donald Trump can know whether the war will still be raging come May. In a protracted conflict, commodity analysts have warned benchmark oil prices could rise above $US150 a barrel. 

That would add more than 80c a litre to pre-war petrol prices and cause inflation to ripple over all aspects of the economy.

On the other hand, the longer the war drags on, the higher the risk of an economic downturn.

“Another possibility is that developments in the Middle East, particularly the sharp rise in oil and gas prices, deliver more of a global downturn that flows through to Australia too,” HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham said.

“Our central case is that the RBA needs to deliver more tightening yet, with a hike pencilled in for May. However, there is considerable risk around this view, particularly given current global uncertainties.”

Australia’s labour market is still looking strong but Ms Bullock said the bank did not want to see a recession or a large rise in unemployment if it could avoid it.

“If it does look like the world economy is in big trouble, and Australia, then that will have different implications for inflation, and we will be looking very hard at what we need to do in the circumstances,” she said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said developments in the Middle East were making Australia’s inflation challenge worse. 

“The impacts of what we’re seeing in that part of the world are already substantial, but we don’t know yet how enduring those very substantial economic pressures will be,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“It depends very heavily on how long the conflict in the Middle East continues for.”