Australia news LIVE: Australia Post temporarily suspends US deliveries; at least 20 killed in twin Gaza strikes

Childcare provider G8 Education has said the impact of sexual abuse allegations against one of its former employees has not led to a widespread withdrawal of enrolments, with the impact on occupancy localised to the affected centres in Victoria so far.

This morning, G8 announced net profit after tax of $22.5 million in the half year to the end of June – an increase of 12.4 per cent on the corresponding period in 2024 – as company revenue dropped 3.7 per cent to $465.4m. It also announced a 2c fully franked dividend per share for investors.

The results reflect the period just before bombshell allegations of child sexual abuse rocked the sector and brought about turmoil for providers such as G8 who had employed alleged abuser Joshua Dale Brown across its centres.

The company’s market capitalisation was slashed by hundreds of millions within days of the revelations, with its share price of $1.18 before the police announcement dropping significantly to currently trade at 92c.

“We would like to acknowledge the profound impact the situation in Victoria has had on our community,” G8 managing director Pejman Okhovat said.

“The allegations are deeply upsetting, and our hearts go out to the children and families affected. Please know that the safety and wellbeing of every child in our care is, and always will be, our highest priority. We recognise that safeguarding children is not just a regulatory obligation, it is an ethical and social licence imperative.”

In the aftermath of the revelations, G8 announced a range of measures to boost safety, including rolling out CCTV to its 399 centres across the country that operate under various brand names. Today it noted that 94 per cent of its centres in the first half of 2025 were rated as “meeting” or “exceeding” national quality standards.

Mining billionaires Andrew and Nicola Forrest will share $1.2 billion in dividends from Fortescue Metals Group after the world’s fourth-largest iron ore producer posted a steep fall in full-year profit and reduced shareholder returns.

Fortescue, which makes most of its money mining the steel-making ingredient iron ore in Western Australia, said today its net profit had tumbled 41 per cent to $US3.4 billion in the year to June 30.

The company is the latest of Australia’s major iron ore miners to reveal sharply lower earnings due to slowing demand from their biggest customers, China’s giant steel mills.

Investors would receive a final dividend of 60c a share, taking full-year dividends to $1.10 a share, Fortescue said on Tuesday. The dividend is the smallest Fortescue has paid since 2018.

Fortescue founder and chairman Andrew Forrest and his ex-wife Nicola are the company’s biggest shareholders, with a combined stake of more than 36 per cent.

Fortescue chief executive Dino Otranto described the miner’s full-year earnings as a “strong set of results”.

Demand and prices for iron ore, Australia’s most valuable export, have been slowing as China’s property sector battles a protracted oversupply crisis, which has crunched building activity and weakened steel production rates.

An adviser to the Biden administration on the agreement to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines is warning against its cancellation amid a Pentagon review, while highlighting a wide range of problems that need to be resolved for it to succeed.

In a joint paper authored with a former State Department official, Abraham Denmark recognised the need for “a thorough review of AUKUS by the Trump administration”, but said shoring it up was a “strategic imperative”.

“Should AUKUS fail or be scrapped, the United States would become less capable in the Indo-Pacific ... its international credibility would be dramatically undercut, deterrence would be undermined, and propaganda from Beijing and Moscow declaring the unreliability of American commitments would gain significant credibility.”

The paper, written for Washington’s Centre for the Strategic and International Studies think tank, listed well-known problems, including lagging US submarine production rates and the question of whether Australia would use American submarines in an Indo-Pacific conflict while depleting US resources in acquiring them.

The report also highlighted other problems including the high cost – estimated to be $US240 billion ($368 billion) over three decades – the shortage of skilled labour and other practical issues such as lack of progress in ensuring “AUKUS visas” to facilitate movement for people involved in the project.

The Pentagon has said its review of the three-way collaboration between Australia, Britain and the US to ensure it aligns with President Donald Trump’s “America First agenda” wil be completed this year.

Reuters

Opposition industrial relations spokesman Tim Wilson says Australia Post’s suspension of most parcel postage deliveries to the United States, announced in the past hour, will be “very concerning” for the nation’s small businesses, and has called on the Albanese government to resolve the matter with the Trump administration “as quickly as possible”.

Parcels will be suspended indefinitely from today ahead of the Trump administration’s closing on Friday of the de minimis “loophole” that allows for goods below $US800 (about $1200 today) to be sent duty-free. It follows a similar move made by several European countries.

“It’s very concerning because lots of small businesses depend on Australia Post to ship small goods internationally and domestically, so small business is going to be the ones most impacted by this decision,” Wilson told Sky News moments ago.

“My expectation is that the Albanese government will sort this as quickly as possible … I suspect Kevin Rudd [Australian ambassador to the US] will be off to the White House, Congress, quick smart because we need to make sure this relationship is sorted because this is a very bad sign.”

The suspension will impact Australia Post’s Business Contract, MyPost Business and retail customers who send goods through Australia Post, while letters, documents and gifts under $US100 will be unaffected by the change.

Greens leader Larissa Waters is calling for a reform of the nation’s environmental protection laws, saying the government’s approval of coal and gas projects “is coming out like confetti”.

Waters said the current laws “don’t consider the climate impacts on nature, they haven’t protected nature ... so it’s pretty clear we do need reform, and the Greens have always called for nature laws that work, that protect nature, and we hope that the minister will seriously tackle this.”

The Queensland senator was critical of separating protection of nature and the climate — as the current laws do — pointing to the ongoing algal bloom crisis in South Australia.

“We’ve seen a climate-driven marine heat wave, which is now having enormous impacts on marine wildlife, not to mention the tourism and fishing industry there in South Australia. So I think it was a bit artificial to say that you’ve got other laws that deal with climate, therefore you shouldn’t have the climate impacts on nature considered. I found that a bit baffling,” Waters told ABC Radio National this morning.

She would not say whether the inclusion of a climate trigger in the proposed reform would be a dealbreaker for the Greens, but said her party was “willing to compromise”.

“The government will have to decide whether or not they want to have a pathway with the Liberals that will just simply roll out the red carpet for big business, or whether they want laws that actually protect nature, incentivise renewable energy investment and get the job done,” Waters said.

Australia Post will suspend most parcel postage to the United States and Puerto Rico amid prohibitive customs and tariff rules brought by the Trump administration, with the suspension coming into effect today and lasting until further notice.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month imposing tariffs on imported items under $US800 ($1234 today).

The suspension, which Australia Post said was due to the “recent significant changes” made to US customs and import tariffs rules, will impact the network’s Business Contract, MyPost Business and retail customers who send goods through Australia Post, while letters, documents and gifts under $US100 will be unaffected by the change.

It comes days after several European countries, including the UK, France, Germany Italy and Spain announced a similar move.

Australia Post executive general manager, parcel, post & ecommerce services, Gary Starr said he was “disappointed” to have to take the action, but said it was necessary due to the “complex and rapidly evolving situation”.

“Like more than 190 other postal providers, we’ve been working at pace to find a solution,” Starr said.

“A temporary partial suspension has been necessary to allow us to develop and implement a workable solution for our customers.

“Australia Post continues to work with US and Australian authorities and international postal partners to resume postal service to the US as a priority.”

The White House has imposed the trade penalties as part of efforts to crackdown on the illegal importation of drugs into the United States, and other illegal and abusive practices regarding postal trade.

Australia Post is working with US CBP-authorised third-party provider, Zonos, a cross-border ecommerce software platform, to resume deliveries as soon as possible. Australia Post will communicate with Business Contact and My Post Business customers on next steps and how to prepare and are urged to visit Australia Post’s website for updates.

“Australia Post continues to work with US and Australian authorities and international postal partners to resume postal service to the US as a priority.”

The government hasn’t “settled a position” on placing a climate trigger in fast-tracked environmental protection legislation, says Environment Minister Murray Watt, pointing to a review of the nation’s laws that did not recommend such a mechanism.

“What [reviewer Graeme Samuel] recommended was that companies, when they’re putting forward projects for approval, should disclose their emissions and should disclose what their plans are to reduce their emissions going forward,” Watt told ABC TV this morning.

“The reason Graeme recommended that was that we, of course, have a range of other legislation and measures in place to require companies to reduce the emissions of their projects.”

There are currently nine factors within the nation’s environmental protection legislation that can trigger review of a project by the minister, however the impact of a project on climate change is not one of them.

Many conservationists have called for the addition of a tenth “climate trigger” to slow or halt the approval of projects that would produce high emissions.

“We’ve got our net zero targets. We’ve got the safeguard mechanism, which requires the largest emitting projects in Australia to reduce their greenhouse emissions by five per cent every year and be net zero by 2050, so it’s not as if we’re not dealing with these issues,” Watt said.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan has said the “devil’s in the detail” on Labor’s proposed environmental protection reforms, set to be fast-tracked into parliament this year as part of work to improve unnecessary regulation, calling for legislation that can support investment “across the board” and support Australian industry.

Anthony Albanese has tasked Environment Minister Murray Watt with accelerating an urgent overhaul of environment protections, which will now be tabled six months earlier than originally planned.

“The devil’s in the detail … I’m certainly not going to give a blank cheque to the government,” Canavan told Sky News.

“I think the Senate should do its job and probably review any proposal put forward, and if there is to be any facilitation of investment, it needs to be across the board … there shouldn’t be one industry that’s given a free kick.”