Australia news live: Albanese says Australia ‘hasn’t been asked’ to help blockade strait
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Albanese will travel first to Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei on Tuesday for a meeting with the sultan, Hassanal Bolkiah, to discuss “energy, food security, and the flow of essential goods between our countries,” according to the PM’s office.
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Brunei supplies 9% of Australia’s diesel imports, and 11% of Australia’s fertiliser-grade urea imports, while Australia exports food and agricultural products to Brunei.
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In Malaysia, Albanese will meet the prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, for similar negotiations, as Malaysia is Australia’s third-largest source of refined fuel and supplies 10% of Australian imports of fertiliser-grade urea, while Australia supplies 95% of Malaysia’s imported natural gas.
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Wong will then travel separately to Singapore for meetings with her counterparts there.
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Albanese visited Singapore last week”,”caption”:”Anthony Albanese visited Singapore last week.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Tom White/EPA”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1776028609000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”17.16 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1776029113000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”17.25 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1776028768000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”17.19 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”17.19″,”title”:”Albanese to visit Brunei and Malaysia this week”,”contributors”:[{“name”:”Stephanie Convery”,”imageUrl”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2025/07/17/Steph_Convery.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=db41b75c25e79868a17e286c6dbe4955″,”largeImageUrl”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2025/07/17/Steph_Convery.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=71c5d995a85cf82ae4cd2cd0d0a7f5fb”}],”primaryDateLine”:”Sun 12 Apr 2026 19.18 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sun 12 Apr 2026 17.14 EDT”},{“id”:”69dc0a508f08ff62487f80d5″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Good morning, and happy Monday. Nick Visser here to bring you the day’s news. Here’s what’s on deck:
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The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will visit Brunei and Malaysia this week, the latest diplomatic visits meant to shore up Australia’s fuel supplies. Brunei supplies 9% of Australia’s diesel imports and Malaysia is the country’s third-largest source of refined fuel.
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Australia and the US announced a slate of rare earths and critical minerals projects, including those that will support the mining of nickel, cobalt, gallium and other minerals.
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The federal government has funded a helpline for paedophiles for the first time. It will consist of a free and anonymous phone helpline, a website and online self-help resources.
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Stick with us.
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Key events
Woman drowns at popular outback swimming hole
A woman has drowned at a popular outback swimming spot in the NT despite desperate efforts to save her, AAP reports.
The incident happened at Ellery Creek Big Hole, west of Alice Springs on Sunday afternoon.
Emergency services received reports CPR was being performed on a 25-year-old woman at the tourist site. Ambulance crews arrived, but were unable to revive her and she died at the scene.
After the drowning, police urged all visitors to take care around waterways and follow safety advice when visiting remote locations.
There were 81 drowning deaths in Australia over the 2025/26 summer, according to Royal Life Saving.
Andrew Messenger
Government to fund ads for helpline on pornography websites
The child abuse prevention service is operated by Jesuit Social Services, which has run a trial scheme since 2022. It will now be able to expand its coverage as a result of commonwealth funding, and do so permanently.
“Child sexual abuse is one of the most significant issues facing Australia, with one in three girls and one in five boys having been the victims of child sexual abuse. The prevalence of online offending has only intensified this issue and the need for evidence-based approaches to prevention,” Stop It Now! general manager, Georgia Naldrett, said.
We know that it’s really important to work with people offending or at risk of offending, so we can intervene earlier, and ultimately keep children safe.
Our experience delivering the pilot program since 2022, supported by independent evaluation, shows that this approach helps callers take meaningful action to reduce harm and keep children safe.
As in other similar services, the federal government will fund pop-up ads on pornography websites to warn people when they attempt to access illegal content. The ads will refer people to Stop It Now!
The 2017 royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse also recommended the federal government fund a national scheme to assist the non-offending partners of paedophiles, akin to the Australian charity that was a global leader in the field, PartnerSpeak.
A senate inquiry and the Australian National Audit Office have released damning reports into its tender process, which was conducted by the Attorney-General’s Fepartment.
Andrew Messenger
Federal government funds helpline for paedophiles for the first time
The federal government has funded a helpline for paedophiles for the first time, nine years after the service was recommended by the child abuse royal commission.
Stop It Now! will prevent child sexual abuse by providing therapy to potential and former perpetrators of child sexual abuse. It consists a free and anonymous phone helpline, website and online self-help resources.
Similar helplines have operated in the UK and US for decades. Free inpatient services for paedophiles are also common in mainland Europe. Neither have ever been previously offered in Australia.
Australia has not been asked to help blockade of strait of Hormuz
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the government wants to see negotiations between the US and Iran continue, adding Australia has not been asked to participate in any blockade of the strait of Hormuz.
The US president, Donald Trump, said the American navy will blockade the passage after peace talks between the two nations stalled.
Albanese told Channel 9’s Today this morning:
We haven’t been asked to participate. We’ve received no requests. We haven’t been asked … and I don’t expect that we will be.
What we want is for negotiations to resume. We want to see an end to the loss of life and the loss of infrastructure, civil in the Middle East. And we want to see trade resume.
This is having a massive global economic impact, not just on Australia. Every single country is being impacted.
Tips for saving fuel
The fuel-saving tips include a few simple actions motorists are encouraged to take, including:
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Looking after your vehicle’s tyres, which could reduce fuel consumption by up to 5%.
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Travelling light and minimising drag, which can increase fuel efficiency.
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Using air conditioning and heating on low settings, which can make a difference in fuel consumption.
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Only filling up with fuel when you need and not overfilling your fuel tank.
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Monitoring your speed an acceleration, and minimise idling.
You can read them all here.
Australian government’s new campaign over fuel use draws mixed reactions
The Australian government launched a new ad campaign this weekend to encourage the public to minimise their fuel use amid the global energy crisis.
It’s already been a divisive effort, with One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce calling the ads “ridiculous” and Liberal senator James Paterson saying Australians don’t want to be “lectured”.
The environment minister, Murray Watt, said the ads and advice offered by the government were all about communicating to Australians about where the country is during the fuel shortages. He told RN Breakfast:
Even the tagline of this campaign, Every Little Bit Helps, is a reminder to Australians that we all can take actions ourselves to contribute to solving this national situation that we’re in at the moment.
Those basic things like taking unnecessary things out of your car to reduce the weight of your car, removing roof racks if you don’t need them. They’re only little things, but they can actually make a difference.
So I think it is important that the government plays a role in ensuring that Australians have accurate information and, as I say, gives people some ideas about what they can be doing to help as well.
Stephanie Convery
Rare earths deal will be ‘valuable economic opportunity’ for Australia
The trade minister, Don Farrell, said:
Australia has abundant deposits of critical minerals and rare earths, well-established resources and energy supply chains, and the expertise to extract and process those minerals.
The Albanese Labor Government stands ready to seize this valuable economic opportunity and to build investment and export opportunities for the critical minerals sector.
Other projects funded by this deal include:
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Alcoa Gallium Recovery Project (WA)
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Arafura’s Nolans Rare Earths Project (NT)
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Astron’s Donald Rare Earths Project (Vic)
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Graphinex’s Esmerelda Graphite Mine (Qld)
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RZ Resources Copi Rare Earths Project (NSW)
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La Trobe Magnesium (Vic)
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Northern Minerals Heavy Rare Earths Project (WA)
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VHM Goshen Rare Earths Project (Vic)
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Global Advanced Metals (WA)
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EQ Resources Mt Carbine Tungsten Project (Qld)
You can read more about the background to the funding deal here:
Stephanie Convery
Australia and US announce slate of rare earths and critical minerals projects
The Australian and US governments have announced a tranche of rare earths and critical minerals projects that will be funded under a deal signed last year in the wake of increased restrictions on Chinese critical minerals exports.
The projects funded under the $5bn agreement will target the mining and extraction of nickel, cobalt, gallium, magnesium, vanadium and graphite.
The critical minerals framework was designed to break China’s near-complete hold over materials essential for renewable energy technology, electricity grids, advanced military hardware and other commercial goods.
The resources minister, Madeleine King, said in a statement on Monday:
These materials are crucial to defence systems, advanced manufacturing and clean energy technologies that will help Australia and the world meet net zero commitments.
Export Finance Australia (EFA) and the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM) were providing funding for the projects, including issuing coordinated letters of support/interest of up to a combined total of around $849m for Tronox Holdings rare earths refinery project, and up to $500m each for Ardea Resources’ Kalgoorlie nickel project, both in Western Australia.
Stephanie Convery
Prime minister says visits will help ‘ensure Australia’s energy supply’
Albanese said in a statement on Monday:
Engaging with critical regional partners such as Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia will help ensure Australia’s energy supply remains secure during times of uncertainty.
We are taking every step to reinforce relationships and engage with key partners to keep our fuel supply flowing.
My Government is continuing to take every practical action to shield Australians from the impact of the war in the Middle East.
Wong said energy security was a “shared challenge” in the region:
We know that global supply challenges will be with us for some time, which is why we are focused on supporting Australians through this difficult period.
Albanese to visit Brunei and Malaysia this week
Stephanie Convery
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will visit Brunei and Malaysia this week as the government seeks to shore up Australia’s supply of diesel, fertiliser and other critical goods in the wake of shortages ccaused by the US-Israel war on Iran.
Albanese will travel first to Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei on Tuesday for a meeting with the sultan, Hassanal Bolkiah, to discuss “energy, food security, and the flow of essential goods between our countries,” according to the PM’s office.
Brunei supplies 9% of Australia’s diesel imports, and 11% of Australia’s fertiliser-grade urea imports, while Australia exports food and agricultural products to Brunei.
In Malaysia, Albanese will meet the prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, for similar negotiations, as Malaysia is Australia’s third-largest source of refined fuel and supplies 10% of Australian imports of fertiliser-grade urea, while Australia supplies 95% of Malaysia’s imported natural gas.
Wong will then travel separately to Singapore for meetings with her counterparts there.
Good morning
Good morning, and happy Monday. Nick Visser here to bring you the day’s news. Here’s what’s on deck:
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will visit Brunei and Malaysia this week, the latest diplomatic visits meant to shore up Australia’s fuel supplies. Brunei supplies 9% of Australia’s diesel imports and Malaysia is the country’s third-largest source of refined fuel.
Australia and the US announced a slate of rare earths and critical minerals projects, including those that will support the mining of nickel, cobalt, gallium and other minerals.
The federal government has funded a helpline for paedophiles for the first time. It will consist of a free and anonymous phone helpline, a website and online self-help resources.
Stick with us.