The Pope’s inauguration might have provided a second blessing for Australia as the prime minister looks to seal a trade deal with European leaders.

Anthony Albanese met European Union President Ursula von der Leyen and other world leaders on the sidelines of Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration at the Vatican.

Australia and the EU are working to seal a free trade agreement and a defence pact.

Trade Minister Don Farrell will meet EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic on Tuesday.

Australia is pushing Europe to drop barriers preventing the importation of Australian beef and lamb and has offered scraping a luxury car tax to get the deal over the line.

There has also been movement on a previous hurdle over geographic indicators after the Europeans indicated a willingness to budge on the issue if the rest of the agreement is settled.

The indicators refer to to Australian producers using terms such as feta and prosecco when products didn’t come from specific European regions.

It paves the way for a possible resolution to the long-running dispute.

Senator Farrell said he was hopeful goodwill across the board would end the food fight but an agreement would only be signed if it was in Australia’s interests.

“We are after a realistic commercial offer in respect of access to beef and lamb into the European market,” Senator Farrell told reporters in Canberra on Monday. 

As a bloc, the EU was Australia’s third-largest trading partner in 2022/23, with two-way trade valued about $110 billion.

The trade meeting will follow Mr Albanese’s one-on-one with Ms von der Leyen where she raised the idea of defence agreements between Australia and the trading bloc, similar to arrangements it has with Japan and South Korea.

Australia would consider the agreement, Mr Albanese said, but noted there was no detailed proposal and there were already similar pacts between Australia and European countries such as Germany.

Australia is looking to strike two agreements with Ukraine: one on security and one on the elimination of double taxation. 

Both could be signed during a visit from Mr Albanese after he flagged a trip to Ukraine before his re-election. 

Australian Abrams tanks are en route to Ukraine to help in its defence against Russia’s invasion.

Canberra and Kyiv are working together to get Australian Oscar Jenkins back from Russia, potentially through a prisoner swap, after he was sentenced to 13 years in a maximum-security prison for fighting for Ukraine.

The prime minister told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy Australia would continue to provide more military equipment as he pledged his support for Ukraine and again condemned Russia’s invasion.

The Ukrainian president called for more sanctions to be placed on Russia by countries such as Australia to maintain pressure on Moscow.

Mr Albanese also spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner while in Rome.

Mr Albanese did not have a one-on-one meeting with US Vice President JD Vance, who also attended the inauguration.

Australia is at loggerheads with the Trump administration after it imposed a 10 per cent tariff on imports and 25 per cent on steel and aluminium, which the prime minister has rejected as unjust.

Australia has a critical mineral offer on the table that would shore up US supply chains as a bargaining chip to drop tariffs, but it hasn’t been accepted by the White House.

Mr Albanese spoke with Pope Leo XIV after his inauguration when world leaders were taken into the basilica to greet the pontiff.

The prime minister, who grew up Catholic, described it as a warm discussion where he told the Pope about his mother, who he said would be “looking down from heaven with the biggest smile she’s ever had”.

Teal candidate Nicolette Boele has taken the lead from her Liberal opponent in the Sydney seat of Bradfield as counting goes down to the wire.

Ms Boele leads Gisele Kapterian by just 19 votes after the latest round of postal ballots were counted on Monday.

There were 268 votes left to count as of Monday afternoon, including postal, absent and declaration pre-poll ballots.

Bradfield has emerged as one of the tightest contests of the federal election, with a recount looking likely for the former safe Liberal electorate.

If the result is decided by fewer than 100 votes, the Australian Electoral Commission automatically conducts a recount.

Ms Kapterian was last week declared the winner of the seat by some media outlets and was in the Liberal party room meeting on Tuesday to vote for a leader.

But a large number of postal votes in favour of Ms Boele have renewed doubts about the outcome.

Ms Boele had slowly narrowed the gap on Ms Kapterian during the past week of counting.

The Liberal candidate slightly increased her margin to 50 votes earlier on Monday, but a batch of 181 postal votes counted later put Ms Boele in the lead.

The 2025 federal election was the second time Ms Boele has contested the seat after she narrowly lost to Liberal Paul Fletcher in 2022.

The close count reduced the former safe coalition seat to marginal status.

The Liberals pre-selected Ms Kapterian to contest the seat after Mr Fletcher retired from federal politics. 

Ms Boele will be the 10th independent elected to the new parliament if she wins Bradfield.

As of Monday, Labor had 93 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives. The coalition had 43 seats, the Greens had one and other minor parties two seats.

The other seat still in doubt is Calwell, with the electoral commission determining the final two candidates in the Victorian seat because of the complexity of the result.

Australia’s biggest telecommunications company is facing allegations it misled customers by inflating claims of how far its network reached.

In claims levelled by rival telco Vodafone, Telstra is accused of “dramatically” overstating its reach by as much as 40 per cent – for more than a decade.

Vodafone, along with parent company TPG Telecom, said Telstra advertised its coverage based on a signal strength customers could only get if they used a special external antenna and a powered repeater that is usually installed on a vehicle or building.

Its rival said network coverage claims should be based on signal strength a mobile phone would usually get without any extra devices.

TPG group executive Kieran Cooney said the allegations were “alarming” and would have cost his company customers.

“It appears Telstra has tricked Australians into paying top dollar for coverage they simply can’t get on a regular mobile phone,” he said.

“We are calling on them to make it right … Telstra’s conduct could have misled consumers into believing they can get coverage in places that require special equipment.”

Specifically, TPG alleged Telstra claimed its mobile network was around one million square kilometres greater than it was because it based its figures on the use of an antenna and repeater.

It also said the network covered 99.7 per cent of the population based on using those same devices.

Telstra recently updated its coverage claims to note that the 99.7 per cent mark required an external antenna.

The telco has been contacted for comment

TPG has reported Telstra to the consumer watchdog, called for a regulatory investigation and threatened legal action to stop the practice and potentially force a compensation payment.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it is considering the claims but would not confirm an investigation into Telstra.

“Mobile operators do not have a standardised or consistent approach to the coverage maps they publish via their websites and in advertising,” a spokeswoman said.

“We continue to urge mobile operators to provide comparable coverage maps … there is no legal requirement for mobile network operators to provide this, but the ACCC has been advocating for more transparency for consumers for some time.”

Australians living in regional and remote areas would pay extra for Telstra service because they believe it is the only option for reliable coverage, a consumer group said.

“If this allegation is true – and the coverage advantage is not as big as people have been led to believe – regional consumers would be forgiven for feeling betrayed,” Australian Communications Consumer Action Network chief executive Carol Bennett said.

“When consumers are misled, markets are distorted, and trust is eroded.”

Anthony Albanese spoke to Pope Leo XIV about his mother after being ushered into St Peter’s Basilica in Rome following the Catholic leader’s inauguration mass.

“I spoke to him about my mother who would be, I’m sure, looking down from heaven with the biggest smile she’s every had,” the prime minister told reporters at the Vatican on Sunday.

The conversation took place after a number of world leaders were taken into the basilica to greet the pope after the mass.

Mr Albanese, who was raised Catholic in a housing commission flat in Sydney, often references his late single-parent mother and her influence on his life. 

Mr Albanese also met with other world leaders on the sidelines of the historic event at the Vatican, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, European Union President Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ms von der Leyen reportedly raised the prospect of closer security ties between the EU and Australia, similar to other arrangements between the trading bloc and Japan and South Korea.

Mr Albanese was reportedly cautious but indicated he was open to considering the proposal, which might involve future military exercises and other cooperation in areas of mutual interest, according to the ABC.

Australia has been pursuing a free trade agreement with the EU, which is yet to be settled to its satisfaction.

Born with a genetic disorder that nearly killed her, Mikaela Norris spent much of her childhood in hospital.

During every stay for treatment connected to her spinal muscular atrophy type 2, she and her older sister would visit the Starlight Room, where volunteers provided games, crafts and a friendly face.

“It made hospital a lot more friendly for me and my family,” Ms Norris told AAP.

“As a kid you’re like, ‘why am I here and getting poked with needles and I can’t get out of bed? That’s not really fair’

“But then the Starlight captains are there to paint your face and play games with you and you’re like, ‘oh, it’s not too bad, I guess’.”

Now 23, she still visits the Starlight Room at Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, but as a volunteer to “pay it forward”.

Ms Norris, who works four hours every Wednesday, says she had been worried about her ability to contribute due to her physical limitations.

But having been the child patient in the room, she offers empathy other volunteers can’t.

“I get quite insecure about my disability and how much I can actually help … (but) I do see a lot of myself in a couple of the kids that I’m able to meet,” she said.

“I want to make their hospital experience a little bit more tolerable, it really does make a difference.”

The way people volunteer has changed in recent years, according to Volunteering Australia chief executive Mark Pearce.

Instead of making a formal commitment to certain days and times, there was an emerging trend of people doing more ad-hoc volunteering, he said.

“It might be you and I get together and say, ‘you know, at that creek down the road, there’s got a lot of rubbish in it, let’s just go clean it up’,” Mr Pearce said.

The organisation is using National Volunteer Week, which begins on Monday, to urge more people to donate their time.

People like Ms Norris – those who had been positively impacted by volunteering – were often those most likely to want to give back, Mr Pearce said.

But many others volunteered just to demonstrate their commitment to their community, he said.

Around six million people volunteer through organisations across the nation and millions more volunteer informally in their local communities, according to the organisation’s figures.

It was cruelly ironic that volunteers were most needed at times of stress – such as during the current cost-of-living crisis or following natural disasters – but those same events could prompt a decline in numbers, Mr Pearce acknowledged.

“But it’s important to understand with volunteering that it goes both ways,” he added.

“Communities benefit from volunteers as volunteers benefit from volunteering itself.”

Ms Norris concurs.

“Seeing families and kids laughing and smiling, knowing that they probably had a rough week or couple of days … that’s all that matters.”

Uncertainty surrounds the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate-setting board as it meets for the first time since Donald Trump blew up the global free trade establishment.

But the two-day meeting, which begins on Monday, comes at a fortuitous time, with the board able to rely upon some known knowns.

Two influential pieces of data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics last week painted a clearer picture of a labour market still going strong. 

Meanwhile, the wait since “Liberation Day” on April 2 has allowed the board to sit back and see how the US president’s tariff plans have played out.

Mr Trump’s backdown on Chinese tariffs – dropping them to 30 per cent from 145 per cent – offers “at least some reassurance that the US is willing to make trade deals with its counterparts”, said AMP economist Diana Mousina.

But then there are the known unknowns.

Despite the easing in trade tensions, the global economy is still in for a significant hit.

But the data is yet to show exactly how substantial this will be.

Australian exports to the US will still face tariffs of at least 10 per cent, but the bigger impact on the domestic economy will be the flow-on effects from China.

JP Morgan economists predict the extent of the drag on Chinese economic growth to be 1.5 percentage points in 2025.

Chinese economic output spiked at the start of the year as US importers stockpiled inventory but activity data released on Monday could show a slowdown as front-loading unwinds, said JP Morgan’s Bruce Kasman, Joseph Lupton, Nora Szentivanyi and Malcolm Barr.

The known unknown of the negative impact on Australia’s economy weighs in favour of the Reserve Bank easing back the restrictiveness of interest rates, as do the unknown unknowns.

Even as Mr Trump’s apparent willingness to make deals has reassured markets, the uncertainty that surrounds his erratic decision-making will still drag on the economy.

There is always the risk that he could do something unexpected that drives markets back into turmoil.

Speaking shortly after the last board meeting in April, RBA governor Michele Bullock said a key focus of the bank was how much uncertainty was causing households and businesses to put off spending decisions.

The rates market has nearly fully priced in a 25 basis point cut, but until 2.30pm on Tuesday, the board’s decision will remain an unknown known to all but themselves.

A clear majority of economists believe the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut interest rates at its next meeting, but developments abroad mean it’s no longer a sure thing.

US President Donald Trump recently slashed tariffs on China to 35 per cent from a whopping 145 per cent, prompting Beijing to lower its own tariff wall and triggering a rebound in values for riskier assets such as shares.

Following strong labour market data released on Thursday, the market now predicts three rate cuts by year’s end, down from four priced in at the start of the week.

But traders are still nearly fully priced in for a 25 basis point cut to the cash rate, which sits at 4.1 per cent, on Tuesday.

Almost nine in 10 economists agreed in a survey by comparison website Finder.

Oxford Economics Australia’s Sean Langcake is among the vast majority of the 41 economists surveyed who predict a cash rate reduction.

Despite better news on the tariff front, the economy would still be negatively impacted by the “uncertainty shock”, he said.

“With upside inflation risks dissipating, the RBA can afford to lend the economy some more support,” Mr Langcake added.

Economists at all four big banks also expect a cut, with NAB still holding onto its prediction of a turbocharged 50 basis point cut.

Nomura analysts Andrew Ticehurst and David Seif said the case for an “aggressive” 50-point cut was relatively weak, given the detente in the Sino-American trade war.

“We expect the RBA to deliver a 25 basis point rate cut, reflecting both further welcome progress in returning core inflation back towards target and the continuing highly uncertain global backdrop,” the pair said.

The central bank will also update its quarterly economic predictions on Tuesday in an otherwise quiet week on the data front.

The Victorian government will unveil its budget on the same day, with ratings agency S&P Global warning the nation’s most indebted state to rein in spending or risk seeing its AA credit rating downgraded further.

Meanwhile, US markets were buoyed by the tariff reprieve, rising for their fifth day in a row by the end of the week.

Australian shares reached a three-month high on Friday after eight straight sessions of gains.

The fate of jailed Australian Oscar Jenkins is set to be discussed in face-to-face talks between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Rome.

Mr Jenkins faces 13 years in a Russian prison after a court found him guilty of taking part in an armed conflict as a mercenary, which denies him the protections provided to prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention.

The Australian government insists he was fighting as a member of the Ukrainian defence forces and should be entitled to humane treatment as a prisoner of war.

“This is an appalling decision from Russia, and another outrage in a long line of outrages when it comes to matters involving Ukraine,” federal frontbencher Murray Watt told Sky News on Sunday morning.

“We consider this to be a sham trial, and we don’t accept that Mr Jenkins should be treated this way.”

Mr Watt said he was sure Mr Albanese would bring up Mr Jenkins’ treatment and prospects for release with Mr Zelenskiy.

The pair are expected to meet on Sunday, Vatican time, on the sidelines of the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV in the Holy See.

On Saturday, Mr Albanese told journalists he was “outraged” by Mr Jenkins’ incarceration and that Russia was continuing to abrogate its obligations to international law.

Mr Zelenskiy held direct talks with Russian officials for the first time on Friday as the two sides make abortive efforts to work towards a ceasefire deal.

Mr Jenkins was captured in occupied eastern Ukraine and taken into Russian custody last December.

He was seen in social media videos visibly bruised and shaken while being interrogated and beaten by a Russian-speaking captor.

The 33-year-old is believed to be the first Australian combatant reportedly captured by Russian forces.

All sides of politics have offered their support to Mr Jenkins, with opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson calling his treatment “shocking”.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko has previously said his government added Mr Jenkins to its list of prisoners of war and would negotiate for his release in an exchange.

More than three years have passed since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

With a reputation as a savvy negotiator, Australia’s new environment minister will need all his political nous to navigate the competing interests in the politically fraught portfolio.

Reviving long-promised nature law reforms are top of Murray Watt’s to-do list, but that will not be the only challenge of the gig.

The fate of contentious resources projects also await the attention of the Queensland senator, who was picked to replace Tanya Plibersek after she was shifted to the social services ministry.

His most pressing priority will be picking up where his predecessor left off on installing a national environment watchdog and overhauling flawed federal laws at a time when more than 2000 species are listed as threatened.

Laws designed to protect “matters of national environmental significance” from development are considered too weak by some and too stringent by others.

Responding to the 2020 Samuel review that declared the legislation ineffective and outdated, the Albanese government agreed to substantial reform.

But the so-called “nature positive plan” hit a roadblock as the election neared, when a deal Ms Plibersek squared away with the cross bench for a federal environmental protection agency was scuttled by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

He faced criticism for caving to West Australian mining interests but denied the move was done to appease industry.

National co-convenor of the Labor Environment Action Network, Felicity Wade, described the mining industry as “pretty recalcitrant” ahead of the election, before which the coalition was initially tipped to win back a swathe of seats.

“There was a perception that a change of government was possible and their preparedness to be a constructive reform participant evaporated,” Ms Wade told AAP.

The Labor group’s members are hopeful the party’s thumping election victory will bring industry back to the table.

“There are productivity and efficiency gains to be gained through this legislation, but not at the expense of the environment,” Ms Wade said.

Early indications suggest the mining lobby also wants the issue on the agenda.

Minerals Council of Australia chief executive officer Tania Constable committed to working collaboratively to reform environmental laws to provide “faster, clearer decisions” after the ministerial reshuffle.

Environmental groups, meanwhile, consider reforms of the “broken” laws long overdue, with Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive Kelly O’Shanassy calling for the issue to be knocked over in the first 12 months.

“There can be no more delays, caving to lobby groups and carving out industries,” she said.

The newly appointed environment minister is no stranger to competing priorities and has delivered on thorny issues before, such as ending live sheep exports.

Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil described Senator Watt as a “frank, fair and skilled negotiator who got things done”, based on her dealings with him as workplace relations minister.

“He makes sure he is on top of the detail, listens to varied perspectives and keeps his eye on the objectives,” she said.

Senator Watt has already indicated that legislating a federal environment watchdog will be one of the top priorities for the recently returned government, planning a trip to Western Australia in the coming week to meet with the premier and mining figures.

He told The Guardian in a post-appointment interview that he was weighing up ditching the “nature positive” title from its law reform in favour of “terms that Australians can understand and buy into”.

The support of the Greens, now under the leadership of Queensland senator Larissa Waters, will still be needed to pass any legislation in the new parliament, unless the coalition can be brought on board.

In the previous term, the minor party fought to broaden the reforms to include climate and forest protections.

But deals with the coalition also cannot be ruled out.

The new opposition leader, Sussan Ley, was the environment minister in the job when the Samuel review was commissioned.

Ms Wade said the opposition leader was “thoughtful” in her response to its findings and made an attempt at legislating national standards.

“Her party limited her ability to act, the million-dollar question is whether they have learnt and will respect the mandate of the Albanese government this time round,” she said.

The incoming Greens leader said Labor had a choice between working with the minor party to deliver laws that genuinely protected nature or siding with the coalition to continue the status quo.

“Do they want to do a proper job, or do they want to stick with (former coalition prime minister) John Howard’s laws from last century?” Senator Waters said after her appointment to the role.

Australian National University honorary associate professor and Biodiversity Council member Peter Burnett was hopeful Labor remained committed to its environmental protection agenda.

“Now we wait to see if the government announces any change of direction,” he said.

Legally enforceable environmental standards were foundational to the reforms and would prevent subjective ministerial decision-making, Assoc Prof Burnett added.

Basing decisions on standards – such as no land clearing in critical habitat for threatened species – and an independent EPA to enforce the rules would temper the potential for political arm-twisting.

He was critical of the way consultation was handled early in Labor’s first term, taking too long and ultimately leaving the government short on time to deliver its legislation.

“Now it’s the task of the new minister to try and get a major reform through in what is a relatively tight timeframe of a parliament,” Assoc Prof Burnett said.

An Australian man jailed for 13 years in a maximum-security Russian prison for fighting alongside Ukrainian forces was given a sham trial, the Australian government says. 

Oscar Jenkins, 33, was found guilty by a court of taking part in an armed conflict as a mercenary, said a statement on Friday from prosecutors in a part of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia.

The court ruled he took part in combat operations against Russian troops between March and December 2024.

Mr Jenkins, a teacher from Melbourne, was serving with Ukraine’s military when he was captured by Russian forces.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Australian government was appalled at what she described as a “sham trial”.

“As a full serving member of the regular Armed Forces of Ukraine, Mr Jenkins is a prisoner of war,” said a statement released on Saturday.

Senator Wong urged Russian authorities to give Mr Jenkins the protections afforded to him as a prisoner of war, including treating him humanely in accordance with international humanitarian law.

“We are working with Ukraine and other partners, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, to advocate for his welfare and release,” the statement continued.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko has previously said his government added Mr Jenkins to its list of PoWs and would negotiate for his release in an exchange.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also said Australia has made representations to Ukraine, including a one-on-one discussion he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan on Saturday said she stood ready to support the Jenkins family “who are no doubt going through a really difficult and challenging time”.

“We stand ready to provide whatever support is required to both the family and the federal government as they work through what is a really difficult and challenging set of circumstances,” she said in a statement.

More than three years have passed since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.