News and politics recap: Anika Wells says Telstra has ‘awful lot of work to do’ to regain trust

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Monash university students filmed TikTok dances in the car parks of Auschwitz and concentration camps during a 10 day study tour, the Royal Commission into Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion has heard.

Monash graduate Paris Enten told the inquiry she’d been “clinically traumatised” from the 2024 university trip to the Netherlands, Germany, and the Czech Republic, where some of the other student attendees mocked her and atrocities committed against Jews.

Ms Enten, who is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, was one of several witnesses to appear before the inquiry on Tuesday in Melbourne as it hears from students, academics and universities about experiences of anti-Semitism on campus.

She described the behaviour of fellow students on the trip as “disgusting” and “abhorrent” while she had an “really emotionally intense few days” travelling through concentration camps, ghettos and memorials.

“People were filming TikTok dances in the car parks of Auschwitz and concentration camps,” Ms Enten said.

Read the full story here.

A US judge has found that President Donald Trump improperly used a $US10 billion lawsuit he filed against the IRS to extract personal benefits from the government he oversees, preventing the terms of a settlement agreement taking legal effect.

Miami-based US District Judge Kathleen Williams excoriated Mr Trump’s personal lawyers and lawyers in his administration, concluding their interests were not opposed to each other as is required for civil lawsuits, and that Mr Trump’s lawsuit was filed for an “improper purpose”.

Judge Williams referred a Mr Trump lawyer in the case, Alejandro Brito, and senior Justice Department officials who approved the settlement to state bar authorities to determine if their actions violated legal ethics rules.

Reuters

The Albanese government’s plans to return to surplus have been questioned by new parliamentary analysis that has also warned reducing net overseas migration will keep the budget in deficit.

Australians will also be paying an extra $336 billion in personal income tax by the middle of next decade even after Labor’s latest round of tax cuts, with a greater share of spending being diverted to hospitals, the military and paying interest on public debt.

“Personal income taxes are projected to continue to grow faster than the economy over the medium term, while all other major sources of revenue remain broadly flat,” the annual analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Office states.

“As such, personal income taxes will make up half of total revenue by 2029-30 and 53.8 per cent of total revenue by 2036-37,” the PBO projected.

The PBO has also estimated that if Australia’s net migration is 40,000 lower than the 235,000 a year that is currently assumed through the 2030s, the cost to the budget would be $79 billion.

Read the full story here.

Australia’s gold sector is in for a shake-up with the upcoming merger of two two local miners, creating the third-largest yellow metal producer in the nation.

Western Australia-based Vault Minerals and Genesis Minerals have sealed a multibillion-dollar tie-up that will see it become the third biggest listed gold miner in Australia.

Genesis had been eyeing Vault for a while and only managed to knock out a rival bid from Regis Resources.

“This is a perfect pairing,” said chair Raleigh Finlayson, who will become managing director of the merged group.

The combined company will have a market value of about $12.6 billion. The biggest are Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining.

with AAP

Brief hopes that the Middle East war had been paused helped spark a rebound in confidence for Australian businesses and consumers.

NAB’s business confidence index lifted nine points in the month, the third consecutive increase.

Yet the overall mood was still sour at a net negative 5 — meaning a marginally higher number of firms were pessimistic than optimistic.

The improvement will be at risk thanks to news overnight that Iran had again closed crucial oil supply route the Strait of Hormuz and US President Donald Trump pledged to impose a 20 per cent shipping levy through the region.

Both surveys caught a brief lull in fears over the war and energy prices.

The outlook for households was modestly improved with the Westpac–Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index rising from 80.6 points in June to be 83.9 in July.

But Westpac’s head of forecasting Matthew Hassan warned the overall mood was still very bleak.

“Despite the gain, sentiment remains deeply pessimistic,” he said.

Read the full story.

China’s export growth has topped forecasts in June as strong demand for semiconductors and a rush by manufacturers to ship goods to the US ahead of potential new tariffs countered broader concerns about the Iran war and weakening global demand.

The stronger-than-expected trade performance suggests Chinese manufacturers continued to sustain sales despite slowing growth in major economies and uncertainty over trade relations with Washington.

Strong demand for AI-related technology products, front-loading of US-bound shipments and aggressive pricing by Chinese exporters helped support overseas sales.

Exports rose 27 per cent from a year ago in US dollar value terms, customs data showed on Tuesday, their best performance in four months, outpacing the 19.4 per cent gain in April and an 18.2 per cent rise that economists’ expected.

Imports jumped 36 per cent, compared with a 27.4 per cent gain a month prior, a five-year high. Economists had forecast growth of 24 per cent for June.

China will publish its GDP figure for the second quarter on Wednesday.

China’s trade surplus came in at $US125.6 billion ($A181.6 billion) in June, up from $US105.4 billion in the previous month.

-AAP

The Albanese government is leaving the door open to further extending the fuel excise discount as the Middle East spirals further into conflict.

Crude saw its biggest single-day price jump since 2020 after US President Donald Trump announced overnight he was reinstating the blockade on Iran, with Brent surging 9.6 per cent to $US83.30 a barrel.

The spike comes two weeks before the fuel tax is set to revert to 52.6 cent per litre after a temporary discount introduced in March.

“I think the Treasurer has been pretty clear that we’ll continue to monitor the situation,” Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain told ABC’s Radio National.

“We’ve extended that obviously until the end of this month and we’ll monitor the situation and see what else needs to be done.”

- with NCA Newswire

Sports Minister Anika Wells said she can’t confirm whether she’ll attend the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

The games, which were originally supposed to be held in Victoria before the State withdrew its hosting bid citing cost concerns, will run from July 23 to August 2 2026.

When asked on Tuesday if she’ll attend, Ms Wells said she would have to “carefully calibrate” her schedule amid issues in her dual communications portfolio after a major Telstra outage.

It comes after the Labor frontbencher copped criticism for her travel expenses on various trips in her portfolios, including at AFL Grand Finals, 2024 Summer Olympics, Australian Grand Prix and the Boxing Day Test.

“I think it’s important that Australia is represented at the Commonwealth Games,” she said.

“I think the athletes and everybody that works so hard to get our Australian athletes to the Commonwealth Games would like to see that support.

“But last week is a great example of how our ministerial schedule changes, even by the hour.

“So we’re still looking at whether it’ll be possible.

“I love that part of my job, and I love the relationship that I get to have with our athletes, from grassroots through to high-performance athletes that we know will be over there competing.

“But as always, I have to carefully calibrate my duties in the communications portfolio alongside the sport portfolio.”

The rise of brent crude prices by over 12 per cent since Friday, sent Australian energy stocks more than 3 per cent higher in the first two sessions this week.

Woodside shares jumped 3.4 per cent by midday, while refinery operators Ampol and Viva each gained more than 2.2 per cent.

Utilities stocks also made gains, as Origin, APA Group and AGL made inroads for the traditionally defensive sector.

Meanwhile, BHP and Rio Tinto notched modest losses as copper and iron ore futures edged higher.

The overall benchmark S&P/ASX200 index is lower in afternoon trading on Tuesday, down 35.3 points to 8774.3, as the broader All Ordinaries dipped by 36.7 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 8966.3.

-with AAP