Trump administration urged to use ‘trade remedies’ to stop news bargaining incentive – as it happened

And with that, we are going to put the blog to bed. Before we go, let’s recap the big headlines:

• Barnaby Joyce acknowledged One Nation may have made a mistake by not asking a star candidate about his past ties to the Labor party. Nine newspapers on Monday reported the minor party’s nominee for the Farrer byelection, David Farley, sought preselection for Labor in 2021 and donated to the party in 2023.

• Electric vehicle chargers could be installed in the basements of more than 400 apartment buildings around Australia as part of a $3.4m investment in the technology, AAP reported. Sydney-based charging company ReadySteadyPlug announced plans to expand its charging network on Wednesday after securing a $1.5m investment from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena).

• A majority of surveyed Australians approved of Pauline Hanson’s leadership of One Nation, giving her ahigher job approval rating than Anthony Albanese and Angus Taylor, a Guardian Essential poll found. The rightwing populist party is outperforming the Coalition for the first time.

• NT police said more than 100 people were assisting with the search for Sharon, a missing five-year-old they believe was abducted from her home in Alice Springs last weekend.

• A pro-Palestine protester refused to enter a plea to a charge of displaying a prohibited expression on the basis that his charge is “insane”. Jim Dowling appeared in Brisbane magistrates court on Wednesday, charged with holding a sign reading “from the river to the sea” at a protest on 18 March. He appeared without a lawyer, representing himself.

• The US lobbying firm representing tech companies, including Meta and Google, has said Australia should face “targeted trade remedies” from the Trump administration to stop the government implementing the news bargaining incentive, which would force Meta, Google and TikTok to make commercial deals with Australian media outlets or pay a dedicated 2.25% levy on local revenues.

• The mother of a police officer who allegedly murdered Luke Davies and Jesse Baird two years ago was charged over allegedly tampering in her son’s trial. NSW police said Coleen Lamarre, 63, was charged with perverting the course of justice in her son’s high-profile double murder trial after she allegedly attempted to influence a key witness to change their evidence.

Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We will be back tomorrow to do it all again.

Closure of 40 childcare centres ‘deeply concerning’ for workers and families, says union

The United Workers Union says today’s announcement that G8 Education will close approximately 40 childcare centres across Australia is deeply concerning for workers, families and communities.

UWU’s director of early childhood education, Carolyn Smith, said the union was focused on supporting affected members through the uncertainty ahead:

These are dedicated, hard-working people who have shown up every day to care for children and families. We are still waiting to understand which centres will be impacted, and we will be working closely with our members every step of the way as that becomes clear.

Our message to workers right now is simple: we are here, we are watching this closely, and we will make sure your rights and entitlements are protected.

The union is calling on the federal government to urgently intervene to ensure affected workers receive their full entitlements and that no family is left without access to childcare.

Timor-Leste’s president issues second statement over proposed crypto resort linked to ‘scam’ empire

Timor-Leste’s parliament continues to discuss a joint investigation between Guardian Australia and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, which raised questions about a proposed crypto resort in the capital of Dili.

The report uncovered alleged links between three individuals involved in the resort project and Prince Group, a multibillion-dollar Cambodian conglomerate accused by US authorities of running “industrial-scale” scams.

A spokesperson for the Prince Group denied all claims of criminality and said the US allegations were “nothing more than a cash grab”, while the resort’s current shareholders said the alleged Prince Group associates had been immediately dismissed following US sanctions in October.

Timor-Leste’s opposition has questioned how foreign investors in a proposed cryptocurrency resort obtained prime beachfront real estate in the country’s capital, among other concerns.

The office of the president of Timor-Leste, José Ramos-Horta, has now issued a second statement, rebutting statements made by a Fretilin opposition party MP on Monday that questioned why a diplomatic passport was issued to a Chinese businessman involved in the project, named Lin Xiaofan. There is no suggestion Lin is under sanction or is a member of Prince Group, and he is not accused of any criminality.

Ramos-Horta previously defended his decision to grant the diplomatic passport, telling Guardian Australia he hoped Lin could attract investment into one of the world’s newest and most impoverished nations.

The 28 April statement said:

The President remains committed to democratic oversight and welcomes responsible debate. But let that debate be rooted in fact, not fear; in legal evidence, not allegations; in ethics, not insult.

According to Ramos-Horta, the matter is now being handled by the public prosecutor.

The mother of a police officer who allegedly murdered Luke Davies and Jesse Baird two years ago has been charged over allegedly tampering in her son’s trial.

NSW police said Coleen Lamarre, 63, was charged with perverting the course of justice in her son’s high-profile double murder trial after she allegedly attempted to influence a key witness to change their evidence.

Beaumont Lamarre-Condon was charged with double murder after police found the bodies of Qantas flight attendant Davies, 29, and former TV presenter Baird, 26, in February 2024.

Lamarre-Condon, who is in custody, is alleged to have shot the men with his service weapon at Baird’s inner-city home before attempting to dispose of their bodies. The couple’s bodies were found on 27 February inside surfboard bags at the fence line of a rural property in Bungonia, near Goulburn, about 200km south-west of Sydney.

Police said in a statement on Wednesday that Coleen was arrested in Balmain and refused bail. She will appear before the bail division court on Thursday.

Lamarre-Condon is due to face trial in September, with it estimated to go for two to three months.

The US lobbying firm representing tech companies including Meta and Google has said Australia should face “targeted trade remedies” from the Trump administration to stop the government implementing the news bargaining incentive, which would force Meta, Google and TikTok to make commercial deals with Australian media outlets or pay a dedicated 2.25% levy on local revenues.

After the release of the draft proposal yesterday, the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) said the levy was “coercive” and suggested it was an “illegal performance requirement”.

The organisation called on the US government to “publicly and forcefully challenge the draft measure, including through targeted trade remedies, if legislation passes”.

The CCIA president, Matt Schruers, said:

Australia’s proposed News Media Bargaining Incentive is a thinly veiled discriminatory tax on US digital services that is inconsistent with its commitments under the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement … If enacted, it would mark a further step away from predictable, rules-based digital trade and risk inviting reciprocal measures.

The United States should make clear its opposition to such a measure and be prepared to use all available trade tools to facilitate its removal, and encourage Australia to embrace non-discriminatory policy approaches that support journalism without undermining the open internet.

That’s all from me. Cait Kelly will be your guide for the rest of the arvo. Take care.

Ed Husic says reining in capital gains tax discount a ‘good thing’

Labor MP Ed Husic said he believes it’s a “good thing” the country is looking at reining in the capital gains tax discount when it comes to housing affordability.

Husic spoke to Sky News earlier this morning:

I have said previously that while I understand people will want to build a nest egg for themselves by investing in homes, and I certainly appreciate the importance of that, I think, you know, if you’re getting to your fifth or sixth home that you’re investing in, how long should the Australian taxpayer support that?

I reckon a lot of Australians would be thinking about whether or not that’s right and fair. But appreciating that people will want to be able to, you know, build a strong future for themselves through those investments.

Read more about the CGT discount and its effects on housing here:

Police sent crime scene items for forensic analysis in search for missing five-year-old

Police said they seized a number of items from a crime scene near the Old Timers camp where Sharon was last seen, including a doona cover, the shirt Jefferson Lewis was allegedly wearing and a pair of child’s underwear.

Those items have been transported to a police facility for forensic analysis, with results expected tomorrow.

Police said the search for Lewis had been difficult as he doesn’t have a phone or a bank account, saying they had to rely on “old-style policing”. That effort has included speaking to Lewis’ wife and children, who have cooperated with investigators and know they are looking for the man.

This man does not have a telephone, a bank account, a car, so some of the usual practices that we do in 2026 are not applicable, hence the amount of resources we have on the ground.

We are knocking on doors, going through houses, old-style policing – and it is a hard slog.

Officials had a message for Lewis: “Hand yourself in, go to your closest police station or give us a call and we will come get you.”

The price of unleaded fuel has returned to around pre-Iran war levels in Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide, and is now about 20 cents per litre cheaper in Melbourne and Brisbane.

Motormouth data shows Perth is the only one of the country’s six biggest cities where motorists are paying more than they were before the start of the conflict.

The pump prices would be higher were it not for the government’s 26-cent temporary cut to the fuel excise, and the decision to forgo the 10% GST on petrol sales.

The news is not as good for diesel: prices have come down from their heights but are still 65-80 cents higher than before the closure of the strait of Hormuz from 28 January.

Data earlier this morning showed inflation jumped to 4.6% in the year to March, from 3.7% in February. Those figure pre-dated the fuel excise cut.

Police still believe Sharon is alive. An official said:

“We still think she’s alive and our number-one mission is to find her safe and well.”

Martin Dole, the commissioner of the NT police, is holding a press conference into missing five-year-old Sharon.

Dole is issuing a community-wide appeal for information, saying officers’ priority remains finding the child. He said during the media conference:

We will follow up every single piece of information that we receive. The smallest detail could be the one that unlocks this investigation.

He added that officers are still searching for Jefferson Lewis. Officers say they still believe the man is in the nearby area:

We believe that there are members of the community that absolutely know where Jefferson Lewis is. What I want to say to you is: tell us. Tell us what you know. Tell us where he is. Tell us how to contact him.

Dole added that community support and the “collective effort” in the search for Sharon had made a “real difference”.

eSafety commissioner says women in leadership roles may need security protections

As more women take on public leadership and regulatory roles, Australia’s first eSafety commissioner warns they could require security protections similar to elected parliamentarians due to plausible online threats made against them, AAP reports.

Julie Inman Grant made history when she was appointed to lead Australia’s eSafety Commission in 2017, a world-first government regulatory body dedicated to keeping citizens safer online.

She has driven significant regulatory reform, including developing industry standards to address illegal content, age-restricted material and emerging AI harms online. But it is for her role in leading the implementation of Australia’s landmark social media ban, which prevents children’s access until they are 16, that Inman Grant has endured the most significant online threats.

After the ban announcement, billionaire Elon Musk, who owns social media platform X, made a public post calling Inman Grant a “censorship commissar”. Within 24 hours, 75,000 posts had been directed at her, 80% of which were toxic, harmful or contained plausible death threats.

“It is gendered and it is designed to wear you down, just like any other form of sexualised, violent online abuse that plays upon gendered standards,” she told the former prime minister Julia Gillard for a live podcast recording.

My issue is when they dox my children and my family members … it makes you sit back and go, am I putting my family and my kids in danger, and how do I protect them?

Inman Grant noted there were security protections for elected officials, who can face similar threats due to their work, but not the same for regulators.

Read more from our story last year here:

Second man charged over alleged offensive behaviour on Bondi beach footbridge

NSW police have charged a second man after an investigation into offensive behaviour on a pedestrian bridge at Bondi beach earlier this year.

Officials said the investigation began amid reports that two men had engaged in the behaviour around 7pm on 31 January. Police were told at the time one man was allegedly mimicking firing upon people near the bridge, six weeks after the Bondi beach terror attack.

After inquiries, that man, 23, was arrested in Coogee in February. He pleaded guilty to three counts of offensive behaviour in a public place and two counts of intimidation and has since been jailed for 12 months, with a non-parole period of nine months.

NSW police said the second man, also 23, was arrested in Double Bay on Tuesday. He has been charged with behaviour in an offensive manner near a public place and stalking or intimidating with the intent to cause fear of physical harm.

The second man appeared before the courts today and was granted conditional bail before another appearance next month.