Penny Wong speaks with Israel’s foreign minister, calls for de-escalation with Iran
Josh Butler
Australian foreign minister Penny Wong spoke with her Israeli counterpart overnight, again calling for a de-escalation of the growing conflict with Iran.
Wong spoke by phone with Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, last night. It’s understood she urged restraint and de-escalation, after Iran and Israel traded missile strikes over the weekend, with many killed. Wong also called for a return to dialogue and diplomacy.
It was similar to Wong’s public statements, as reported yesterday. Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said on social media yesterday:
Some still urge diplomacy, as if words can stop warheads. This is how the conflict began. Israel cannot afford the illusion that existential threats are empty words.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese echoed Wong’s sentiments at a press conference earlier today. Australian sources are pointing out that the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada are also all urging dialogue and diplomacy too.
Key events
Luca Ittimani
ASX to be investigated after ‘repeated and serious failures’
The Australian share market operator will be investigated over “repeated and serious failures” which have drawn concern from the Reserve Bank.
ASX will be the subject of an inquiry into whether it can maintain stable and secure market operations, after the RBA and Australia’s corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic), expressed concern about the company running the market.
Shares in the ASX group dropped nearly 5% in early trading on Monday, wiping nearly $700m from the operator’s market value.
Asic had already been investigating the ASX’s system for finalising transactions, known as Chess, which is essential for market trades but suffered an outage in December 2024 and has struggled with years of upgrade delays. The regulator and the RBA also warned the ASX in March they were concerned at the operator’s approach to risks.
That review will now be complemented by a full inquiry into whether ASX is complying with the obligations of its licence as financial market operator. The regulator’s chair, Joe Longo, said:
Asic’s decision to initiate an inquiry follows repeated and serious failures at ASX. ASX is ubiquitous. You simply cannot buy and settle on the Australian public equities and futures markets without relying on ASX and its systems.
Investors and market participants deserve to have absolute confidence that ASX is operating soundly, securely and effectively.
The ASX says it will cooperate completely with the inquiry, which will include the RBA and the banking regulator. Chair David Clarke said:
We acknowledge the seriousness of this action … We have been working hard on a transformation strategy … but we acknowledge there have been incidents that have damaged trust in ASX.
Penny Wong speaks with Israel’s foreign minister, calls for de-escalation with Iran
Josh Butler
Australian foreign minister Penny Wong spoke with her Israeli counterpart overnight, again calling for a de-escalation of the growing conflict with Iran.
Wong spoke by phone with Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, last night. It’s understood she urged restraint and de-escalation, after Iran and Israel traded missile strikes over the weekend, with many killed. Wong also called for a return to dialogue and diplomacy.
It was similar to Wong’s public statements, as reported yesterday. Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said on social media yesterday:
Some still urge diplomacy, as if words can stop warheads. This is how the conflict began. Israel cannot afford the illusion that existential threats are empty words.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese echoed Wong’s sentiments at a press conference earlier today. Australian sources are pointing out that the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada are also all urging dialogue and diplomacy too.
Adeshola Ore
One million Australians missing specialist doctor appointments due to cost, report finds
One in 10 Australians pay almost $600 each year to see specialist doctors, with 1 million delaying or skipping appointments due to the cost, according to new analysis. A report by the Grattan Institute, released on Monday, revealed outpatient fees have soared over the past 15 years.
Experts say a lack of regulation of specialist consultation fees and training positions has led to ballooning costs. Some specialist doctors charged more than triple the Medicare scheduled fee, the analysis found. The scheduled fee refers to a fixed payment that the federal government will pay the doctor for the service.
Of these “extreme-fee charging” specialists, psychiatrists had the highest average out-of-pocket costs for an initial consultation – $671. This was followed by $372 for endocrinologists and $369 for cardiologists.
Read more here:
A gift update: Canada gives Albanese a Stetson hat and a bronze sculpture of a bear
As we reported earlier, the leaders of Canada and Australia exchanged gifts during their meeting this morning. We now know what Mark Carney gave to Albanese, thanks to the Guardian’s Tom McIlroy: A Stetson hat, and a cold cast bronze sculpture of a bear.
The sculpture was made by Canadian artist Roy Hinz. You can see an example of his work below:
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A warning – this is a troubling story on a day already full of troubling news:
Queensland man charged with torture after child abuse investigation
Queensland police charged a 27-year-old man with multiple counts of assault and one count of torture as part of an investigation into alleged child abuse earlier this year.
Police began their investigations after a seven-week-old boy was taken to Queensland children’s hospital unresponsive. Medical examinations later alleged the boy had sustained extensive injuries consistent with a pattern of prolonged and repeated physical abuse. Authorities later removed the boy from the man, 27, and a 26-year-old woman.
The man has since been charged and has been refused bail. He will appear in court late this month.
Joshua Brewer, the detective acting senior sergeant on the case, called the investigation “deeply confronting”:
This investigation highlights the importance of community diligence – if members of the public are aware of or suspect child abuse, they are encouraged to report it to police.
McLaren downplays any acrimony after collision between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris
McLaren Automotives has attempted to play down any acrimony between its drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri after they collided at the Canadian grand prix, which saw the Briton crash out.
Norris’s failure to finish, crashing out from fifth place with three laps left, means that the Australian, who finished fourth, increases his championship lead over his teammate to 22 points.
Norris was quick to hold up his hands over the crash on the team radio: “All my bad, all my fault, stupid from me,” he said straight after the incident. Later he added:
There’s no one to blame but myself, so I apologise to the whole team and to Oscar for attempting something probably a bit too silly. I’m glad I didn’t ruin his race.
Cait Kelly
Research shows impacts after 2014 reforms removed people from Disability Support Pension
In 2014, reforms removed around one in five people under 35 without manifest medical conditions from the disability support pension.
Today, research from the e61 Institute has found recipients who were moved off the support and lived alone – mainly older single men – experienced a marked increase in mental health medication use, particularly antipsychotics prescribed for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and severe depression.
This cohort lost an average of $21,400 per year, with 55% being moved onto newstart (now jobseeker) and 35% increasing their earnings elsewhere.
In contrast, those living with a parent or spouse were able to increase their household income, thanks to increased workforce participation from both the recipient and their family members, and recorded a far smaller increase in their use of mental health medication.
e61 Institute cofounder and chairman, Prof Greg Kaplan, said:
Our findings show that the financial and mental health impacts of DSP removal were highly dependent on access to informal support networks.
Men living alone faced both a substantial fall in household income and a sharp increase in antipsychotic use, indicating they were worst impacted by the change.
Albanese will put forward Australia’s thoughts on tariffs, Aukus during Trump meeting
Albanese declined to “pre-empt” what he will say to Trump during their meeting, but said he will continue to press the Australian position against blanket tariffs and for the ongoing success of the Aukus submarine deal. The prime minister said:
A successful meeting is one where we are able to – I, as the Australian prime minister – am able to put forward our position. Now, our position when it comes to tariffs is very clear. We see tariffs as acts of economic self-harm by the country imposing the tariffs. Because what it does is lead to increased costs for the country that is making those decisions.
On Aukus, Albanese said:
Having Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States all having an increased nuclear powered submarines, in our case, conventionally armed, is something that will make the Indo-Pacific area more secure. That is in the interests of the United States. And I will indicate that very clearly going forward.
Albanese says he and Trump have ‘a few things to talk about’
The prime minister said the focus of his future discussion, reported yesterday, with US president Donald Trump will very much be about Australia-US relations. He said:
We’ve got a few things to talk about … I look forward to the discussions with President Trump. I deal with people constructively, respectfully and I advance Australia’s national interests and that is what I will continue to do.
Read more about that upcoming meeting here:
Albanese and Carney spoke about Israel and Iran, want to see de-escalation
Albanese said he spoke with Carney about the increasing conflict between Israel and Iran. He said:
Both of us, I think, share a view wanting to see a de-escalation of conflict, wanting to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy. …
I have expressed before, our concern about Iran gaining the capacity of nuclear weapons as something that is a threat to security in the region. But we, along with other like-minded country, do want to see that priority on dialogue and diplomacy.
Albanese says Australia and Canada ‘long-term allies’ and ‘true friends’
The prime minister is speaking in Canada ahead of the G7 after an official meeting with the country’s prime minister, Mark Carney. He said:
We share values. We’re two great democracies and there was an opportunity for us to talk together one on one. …
We are long-term allies and we are true friends. We have much in common, as economies, as well.
Albanese said the two countries shared similar views on climate change and the impact it is having on both countries, pointing to recent wildfires in Canada.
Just as Canada has always helped Australia, there were over 200 Canadian firefighters in Australia during that terrible period of 2019-2020. And we share resources.
Increasingly, the impact of climate change means that our seasons are overlapping, so that’s becoming more and more difficult. But it is possible as well that we learn off each other and our firefighters respectively get skills to then be able to implement back in our respective home countries.
Pocock calls for reform in government procurement from big tech companies
Independent senator David Pocock has called for reform in government procurement procedures after the prime minister met with the head of Amazon Web Services in Seattle during his international trip for the G7.
Albanese said in a join statement on Sunday that Amazon would spend up to $20bn by 2029 on datacentre infrastructure in Australia, calling the commitment a “huge vote of confidence in the Australian economy”.
But Pocock said on social media this morning the Australian government had handed “huge contracts” to foreign tech companies like Amazon, IBM and Microsoft “without proper disclosure”. He pointed to a report in the Canberra Times, citing AusTender data, that found signed contracts worth nearly $200m were not listed under a single-seller arrangement between tech companies and the Australian government.
Pocock wrote:
Govt is handing huge contracts to foreign tech giants like AWS, IBM & Microsoft without proper disclosure.
We need procurement reform.
$200 million more taxpayer $ revealed to have gone to big tech without transparency.
Govt is handing huge contracts to foreign tech giants like AWS, IBM & Microsoft without proper disclosure.
We need procurement reform. pic.twitter.com/VTfWAbmDyw
— David Pocock (@DavidPocock) June 15, 2025
Say hello to this year’s Logie nominees
The nominees for this year’s Logie Awards came out this morning, including a slate of familiar faces and up-and-coming television stars.
Those up for the coveted Gold Logie include a roster across news and entertainment. Ally Langdon, Hamish Blake, Julia Morris, Lisa Millar, Lynne McGranger, Poh Ling Yeow and Sonia Kruger are all nominated as the most popular person on Australian television.
The new talent category includes newly-minted ABC favourite Guy Montgomery for his eponymous spelling bee, alongside The Voice’s Kate Miller-Heidke and Taskmaster Australia contestant Jenny Tian, among others.
The ABC has the most nominees by far, securing 44 nominations overall.
