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Zelenskyy urges Australia to put more sanctions on Russia

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Australia to put more sanctions on Russia, while prime minister Anthony Albanese says he continues to put pressure on Russia to secure the release of Oscar Jenkins in the pair’s meeting.

The prime minister’s office has released a transcript of the leaders’ meeting on the sidelines of the pope’s inauguration.

Zelenskyy congratulated Albanese on his “historical” election win, while Albanese reaffirmed Australia’s support for Ukraine’s struggle for their national sovereignty, and right to determine their own future.

We have been participants in the discussions that have been convened by Prime Minister Starmer and President Macron. It’s always at strange hours in Australia, some very late-night meetings that I have participated in. We’ve said that if a peace process emerges, we would consider being involved in a coalition of the willing. Until then we’ll continue to provide support.

… We’ve provided now around about $1.5bn dollars in support, primarily military and defence support.

Zelenskyy thanked Albanese “very much for your military support, for your strong words and supporting the coalition of the willing”. He went on to say:

Together we can really move this situation to closer to peace, with pressure on Russia. And we are very thankful for sanctions. I wanted to raise with you also this topic which is very important, to put more pressure, more sanctions on Russia.

Albanese concluded, thanking the Ukrainian leader “for what you have said with Mr Jenkins”.

The Russian so-called courts have brought down an outrageous ruling, and we continue to seek his freedom and his return to Australia, and we thank you for the assistance in that.

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Updated at 18.42 EDT

Dan Jervis-Bardy

Changes to corporate tax arrangements and policies to make it cheaper to meet climate targets will be examined as part of the Productivity Commission’s wide-ranging inquiries to boost the nation’s stagnating growth.

The commission has released a list of 15 priority areas to sharpen the focus of the five separate reports it is conducting into options to lift productivity across the economy.

Among the priority areas is corporate tax, with the commission asking for feedback on possible changes to “support business investment”.

Former industry minister Ed Husic last year floated the idea of cutting the corporate tax rate to boost productivity, in comments that were sidestepped by the treasurer, Jim Chalmers.

As part of its report into the clean energy transformation, the productivity commission will examine options to reduce the cost of achieving emissions reduction targets and how to speed up approvals of new energy infrastructure.

The commission’s chair, Danielle Wood, said:

Boosting productivity is the only sustainable way to improve Australians’ living standards, but productivity growth has stagnated in the past decade. It’s now at its lowest ebb in 60 years.

Productivity growth isn’t about working harder or about having more ‘stuff’. It’s about making the most of what we have – the skills and experience of our workforce, new technologies, and our resources – so we can get more out of our economy.

In a statement, Chalmers said flatling productivity was “one of the biggest challenges facing our nation”, which was why he commissioned the five reports late last year.

We’re determined to make Australia’s economy more prosperous and productive and this work from the PC is an important part of that process.

Consultation of the priorities will open on Monday and run until 6 June.

Interim findings will be released through July and August, with the final reports due to be handed to the government in December.

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Eight people rescued from vehicles in NSW floodwaters

The NSW SES has already had to rescue eight people in that area of the Hunter and mid North Coast where coastal catchments have already responded to rainfall over the weekend.

All eight rescues were for people in floodwaters in vehicles in northern NSW; all persons were safe and one was taken to hospital.

The SES has responded to 346 incidents statewide, with the majority (272) in the northern zone.

An SES spokesperson said:

We are expecting slow moving heavy rainfall to last several days across the mid north coast and Hunter regions, and we are anticipating minor to moderate flooding along coastal catchments.

We’re already seeing those coastal catchments respond quite quickly to rainfall over the weekend and, with the forecast heavy rainfall over the next few days, we’re anticipating renewed rises and many catchments to reach minor to moderate flooding.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast widespread 24-hour rainfall totals of 50 to 100mm. However, there is the possibility for isolated rainfall to exceed 180mm in 24-hour periods.

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Updated at 18.21 EDT

Flood watches in place for rivers in Hunter and mid-north coast

Due to the prolonged period of wet weather for New South Wales – with rain expected to fall across the same regions for several days in a row – flood watches are in place for many rivers through the Hunter and the mid-north coast districts, where minor to moderate flooding is anticipated throughout the week, Hines says.

… and we can’t rule out the chance that one or two of them could see major flooding in the coming days.

Some of those rivers where flooding is expected include the Goulburn River, the upper Hunter River, the lower Hunter River, the Gloucester River, the Hastings River, the Nambuka River and the Bellinger River.

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Updated at 18.09 EDT

NSW is wet, with a severe weather warning for mid-north coast to central coast

On to the weather in NSW, which has seen heavy falls over the weekend. Angus Hines, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, says it has been a particularly wet night for the northern suburbs of Sydney, the NSW Central Coast and up into southern parts of the Hunter area as well.

Since 9am on Sunday to 6am Monday, the heaviest falls have been 121mm at Wyee and 117mm at Dora Creek on the Central Coast, in Sydney 70mm recorded at Wahroonga and 62mm at Pearl Beach, and around Newcastle 87mm has fallen at Nobby’s Head.

A severe weather warning for heavy rainfall and damaging winds extends through much of the mid north coast district, Hines says, from about Kempsey southwards, and it goes down into the Hunter and even the Central Coast district south of Newcastle. Some of the urban areas included within that warning are Port Macquarie, Taree, Forster, Newcastle and Maitland.

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Updated at 18.10 EDT

Watt says idea of a federal EPA has been ‘particularly contentious’

On whether he believes environmental approval should sit with the environment minister or an independent body such as a federal EPA, Watt apologises for sounding like a broken record, saying he needs to discuss the issue with different parties:

This is an area that has been particularly contentious, is what the powers of an independent EPA should be, whether they should be simply a compliance agency and an enforcement agency, or whether they should have approval powers for projects.

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Updated at 17.58 EDT

Watt says he will approach environmental reform ‘in the spirit’ of Graeme Samuel review

Is labor committed to introducing national environmental standards to assess development applications against – as was recommended in the Graeme Samuel recommendations?

Watt says:

That was a key recommendation in Graeme Samuel’s review under Sussan Ley. And the way I do want to approach these reforms is in the spirit of Graeme’s recommendations.

He and his team at the time put in a massive amount of work. It did seem to get broad agreement across different interest groups about the sort of package of reforms that was needed. It seems to me to make sense to try to stick to the spirit of those reforms, but it’s a little early for me to commit to any particular recommendations at this point.

Environment minister Murray Watt at Lamington national park in the Gold Coast hinterland.Share

Updated at 17.54 EDT

Watt undecided on form environment bill will take

Watt is being asked more about specifics – whether he will continue Plibersek’s approach of trying to reform the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act in stages or look to legislate the reforms all together.

Watt says he hasn’t reached a concluded view but will test the issues with different stakeholders:

There would be some advantages in going along with a fairly similar bill to what we had last time, but obviously it would require some adjustments to get through – but equally I can see some advantages in trying to broaden out that reform and try to have a bigger reform package in one go.

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Updated at 17.48 EDT

Murray Watt says his job is to build on environment work done by Tanya Plibersek

Murray Watt, the new environment minister, is talking on ABC Radio National about how his first job is to get environmental laws passed:

I’ve made calls to environment groups, mining groups, business groups, they all agree that we need change. So my job is to build on the work that Tanya [Plibersek] did as the minister and get these laws passed.

… I think that the election result did see a strong endorsement of Labor’s approach to environment environmental protection, which is that we can protect the environment and protect jobs. That’s what we want to do.

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Updated at 17.44 EDT

Albanese meets leaders in Rome

Albanese’s flurry of meetings with world leaders while attending the pope’s inaugural mass were immortalised with formal pictures and Vatican-backdropped selfies:

Australia 🤝 Canada

Great to meet with Prime Minister @MarkJCarney at the inauguration of the Holy Father.

Our two countries have a strong history of cooperation on global issues. And we will work together on closer trade and a more secure Indo-Pacific. pic.twitter.com/lq5T18bUDw

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 18, 2025

Free trade means more jobs and a stronger economy.

That’s why we’re working towards a free trade agreement with the European Union.

Today I met with EU Commission President @vonderleyen to discuss trade, and our work to support global peace and security. pic.twitter.com/KB4AdV4HAk

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 18, 2025

Австралія підтримує Україну – зараз і завжди.

Слава Україні!
__

Australia stands with Ukraine, now and always.

Slava Ukraini!@ZelenskyyUa
🇦🇺🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/krIsh0418k

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 18, 2025Share

Updated at 17.41 EDT

Elias Visontay

Hearings begin to determine Qantas penalty for outsourcing of ground handlers

Qantas could be forced to pay more than $120m in penalties, as the final hearings begin of what has been a years-long, costly legal process after the airline was found to have illegally outsourced 1,820 ground handlers.

From Monday, a five-day hearing in the federal court will determine the financial penalty Qantas must pay over the 2020 outsourcing decision, in which the Transport Workers Union (TWU) – which brought the initial legal action that found the outsourcing had been illegal – will call for the maximum penalty of $121m to be ordered.

The outsourcing saga has already seen the airline agree to pay $120m in compensation to the affected workers as part of a deal reached in December, on top of the hefty legal fees covering its defence against the initial legal action brought by the Transport Workers Union as well as subsequent unsuccessful appeals to the full bench of the federal court and the high court.

If justice Michael Lee does decide on the maximum penalty, it would bring the cost of penalties and compensation to more than $240m, well above the $135m Qantas budgeted for in its half-year financial results released in February. It would cap off a costly 12 months for Qantas – in an entirely separate matter in May last year, the airline also agreed to a civil penalty of $100m and $20m in customer compensation for allegedly selling tens of thousands of tickets to flights that had already been cancelled.

Michael Kaine, the TWU national secretary, said the union is calling for the maximum penalty against Qantas to “reflect the scale of its decision” and ensure the financial burden of the legal process meant there was no remaining “business case” for the outsourcing.

Kaine said:

Not only was it an appalling act to get rid of a loyal workforce, it was the biggest case of illegal sackings in Australian corporate history. The penalty to Qantas must reflect this and send a message to every other company in Australia that you cannot sack your workers to prevent them from using their industrial rights.

You can read more about the outsourcing legal process here:

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Updated at 17.36 EDT

Albanese spoke to pope of his mother ‘looking down from heaven’

What did Anthony Albanese choose to tell the Catholic leader when he met him?

After being taken into the basilica to greet the pope after the mass, AAP reports Albanese spoke to him about his mother:

I spoke to him about my mother who would be, I’m sure, looking down from heaven with the biggest smile she’s ever had.

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.

Anthony Albanese (centre in hat) joins other world leaders at the inauguration mass of Pope Leo XIV at St Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Sunday, 18 May, 2025. Photograph: Flavio Brancaleone/AAPShare

Updated at 17.29 EDT

Good morning!

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says he has been honoured to attend the inaugural mass and meet His Holiness Pope Leo XIV.

While in Rome, Albanese also met with other world leaders on the sidelines, including the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, European Union president, Ursula von der Leyen, and Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Back home heavy rainfall, strong winds, hazardous surf and minor to moderate flooding is expected on the northern New South Wales coast throughout the first half of this week, the SES warns.

The slow-moving heavy rainfall is expected to last several days across the mid north coast and Hunter regions, with the SES having already had to rescue eight people.

More to come soon, let’s get going!

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