News live: Australians from hantavirus cruise ship to be quarantined for three weeks near Perth

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O’Neil ‘terrified’ at prospect of Coalition relying on One Nation support to form government

Turning to the Farrer byelection, the housing minister, Clare O’Neil, tells ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that she is “absolutely horrified” that a political space for One Nation “has been opened up by the total chaos and dysfunction in the Liberal and party”.

The fact we have voters saying One Nation is a real option for them, I think that is incredibly sad and Angus Taylor and Matt Canavan have to stand up and work out how they can get their act together so this problem does not continue.

She said people are feeling pessimism about what mainstream politics can offer them, and it “terrifies” her that the Farrer numbers show it will not be possible for a future Liberal and government without One Nation.

Housing minister flags ‘serious intergenerational issues’ ahead of federal budget

We want to see them get ahead and preferably in their own homes.

O’Neil said the government is focused on making housing more affordable, and for young people to be in a position to access it.

I will not foreshadow what is in the budget tomorrow but I can say a big focus of our government is trying to make sure housing is more affordable and young people are in a position to get access to it.

Our main focus is on supply, but we also have to think about equity and making sure young people have an opportunity to get into a home.

Asked whether the situation had changed much in the past two years, after the government ruled out changes to CGT and negative gearing at the last election, O’Neil said it had been building for the past 40 years, and people will look at what is in the budget and if this is the right reform at the right time.

I fiercely believe the answer is yes.

She said housing is a principal focus of this term of government and it will be laid out in the budget tomorrow.

Hantavirus ‘a very different beast’ than Covid-19, Butler says

Staff on the repatriation flights for the Australians on the hantavirus-affected ship will have “very high levels of protection” but advice to those travelling on board on quarantine or isolation requirements will be given once arrangements are put in place, the health minister, Mark Butler, says.

He said none of the Australians returning to Australia have symptoms of hantavirus at this stage.

Asked whether the report on the Covid pandemic stating people would be less likely to accept “heavy handed” government responses such as lockdowns was in his mind when making these decisions, Butler said Covid was a very different type of virus to hantavirus.

I mean, I think all of the public health advice about this virus is that it is not a virus with pandemic potential.

I mean, transmission is very difficult human to human.

But that does not mean that there is not a risk of transmission.

And as you’ve seen, three deaths from eight cases, transmission of this virus can have very, very serious, including deadly consequences.

So, you know, I’m not really seeing these two things as analogous – that coronavirus-based pandemic is a very different beast to deal with than this risk.

We’re assessing this risk on its own merits and based on public health advice.

Australians repatriated from hantavirus-infected cruise ship to be quarantined for three weeks near Perth

The health minister, Mark Butler, is holding a press conference on the Australians being repatriated from the hantavirus-affected cruise ship MV Hondius from the Canary Islands.

He said five Australians were passengers on the ship, along with one New Zealander who will be covered by the repatriations.

He said the new Australian Centre for Disease Control has been coordinating federal and state governments for repatriation, with flights still in the process of being finalised.

Three of the five Australians are residents of New South Wales, and the other two are from Queensland.

Butler said national quarantine arrangements will list the hantavirus as a listed human disease under the Biosecurity Act in the next 24 hours.

Those returning to Australia will be subject to quarantine at the Bullsbrook Centre for Resilience just north-east of Perth, next to RAF Base Pearce, which is where the flight will return to Australia.

The centre is owned and operated by the federal government, in partnership with WA Health.

There will be a quarantine period of three weeks, which is short of the 42-day potential incubation period for Hantavirus, and Butler said that further advice will be sought from chief health officers on what arrangements should take place beyond the initial three weeks.

He said:

I want to stress that our primary responsibility as a government, obviously, is to keep our community safe and healthy.

We also have a responsibility to those passengers to bring them home and to protect them from any risk, no matter how small, of potentially transmitting the virus without knowing it.

And these arrangements discharge those responsibilities.

Instructure CEO apologises following hack of Canvas education platform

On Friday in the live blog, we reported that dozens of schools and universities in Australia had been affected by a hack on the Canvas education platform, with some universities such as RMIT and UTS giving assignment extensions while the platform was taken offline.

The service was restored over the weekend and Instructure chief executive, Steve Daly, has apologised for the disruption.

He said:

Over the past few days, many of you dealt with real disruption. Stress on your teams. Missed moments in the classroom. Questions you couldn’t get answered. You deserved more consistent communication from us, and we didn’t deliver it. I’m sorry for that.

Daly said the unauthorised access included access to data including usernames, email addresses, course names, enrolment information and messages.

He apologised for not speaking publicly earlier, saying the company wanted to “get the facts right” first but the balance was wrong:

We focused on fact-finding and went quiet when you needed consistent updates. You’ve been clear about that, and it’s fair feedback. We will change that moving forward.

Instructure will now keep live an incident update page, promising more updates and a forensics report. Daly said Canvas is now fully operational and safe to use.

Thank you all so much for following along with me on the blog today! I’ll leave you with the excellent Josh Taylor to take you through the afternoon.

I’ll see you back here tomorrow to take you through all the key numbers of the budget.

Flotilla to Gaza reaches Turkish waters with 10 Australians onboard

Ten Australians are onboard a Global Sumud Flotilla that has crossed international waters from multiple ports to merge into a group of 60 boats in Turkey, as part of an attempt to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid.

It comes after 22 boats were intercepted off the coast of Crete earlier this month. About 175 activists were taken off the ships by the Israel Defense Forces and released in Greece, including six Australians, while two were transported to Israel and released after six days.

Among those Australians onboard the current flotilla, which is stationed off the coast of Marmaris according to a live tracker, are Neve O’Connor, Zack Schofield and Surya McEwen, who were part of the fleet that was intercepted by Israel.

Lawyer Greg Barns alleged international law had been “repeatedly violated” by the capture and detention of supporters of Palestine in international waters far from Gaza.

Schofield, who was held for two days by Israeli forces, said “if Australians want to live in a fair world, we have to stand up for fairness”.

We have to take risks for others, no matter their religion or place of birth. As long as I’m able, I’ll keep sailing to Gaza despite the risks of violence from our allied state. I’m willing to face a beating if it means a chance of getting food and medicine to ordinary people being bombed in their tents, shot at aid sites, and starved.

The Israeli foreign ministry and the Israeli embassy were approached for comment.

Coalition MPs backtrack on suggestions they could partner with One Nation

The will-they-won’t-they around One Nation joining the Coalition hit a crescendo after this weekend’s byelection – but most players have today slammed the door on that idea.

That includes Tim Wilson, who earlier this morning walked back his comments to the ABC’s Insiders yesterday, that the Liberal party could work with One Nation if that’s who Australian voters supported at a future election.

Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce have also shut down the idea.

You can see who’s been yapping about it here - from my colleagues Josh Butler and Tom McIlroy:

Australian shares drop as Middle East ceasefire frays

The local share market has slipped after the US rejected Iran’s latest peace proposal to end the Middle East war, AAP reports.

Shortly after midday on Monday, the S&P/ASX200 index was down 49.7 points, or 0.57%, while the broader All Ordinaries had fallen 47.1 points, or 0.52%.

EToro market analyst Josh Gilbert said that risk-off sentiment was likely to prevail after the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar all reported drone strikes in the region and US President Donald Trump slammed Iran’s offer to end the war.

Trump calling the offer ‘totally unacceptable’ is exactly the kind of headline that markets hate.

The strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, Gilbert added, and each failed negotiation is a reminder that there is no quick fix to the biggest oil supply disruption in history.

Domestically, investors are also waiting for details of Australia’s federal budget, which treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down on Tuesday night.

At midday five of the ASX’s 11 sectors were higher and six were lower.

The budget papers are hot off the press

In a good year (read: a non-volatile period) the budget is always down to the wire because forecasts are being updated constantly.

The timing has been even tighter this year due to the war in Iran with even bigger changes to those forecasts.

But time’s up for the hard workers of the treasury department, because the documents have been printed, and handed over to the treasurer, Jim Chalmers (who immediately posted about it on social media).

We might even get some pics this afternoon of the glossy covers – you’ll never guess what colour they are (they’re always dark blue).

Greens the victim of ‘tactical voting’ in Farrer, says Waters

Waters was also asked about the Greens’ performance in the Farrer byelection, where it polled just 2.2% after suffering a 2.6% swing.

The poor showing was despite Labor not running a candidate, which in theory left more progressive votes up for grabs.

Waters speculated that the Greens were the victim of “tactical voting”, suggesting its supporters swung in behind Michelle Milthorpe in the hope of defeating One Nation.

The Greens were not setting out to win the seat of Farrer. But what’s really clear from the weekend’s result is that this was a rejection of both major parties, and this was a vote against the system. But Pauline Hanson’s approach to blame migrants so that she can protect the system, like her mate, Gina Rinehart, will not help anybody’s rent or groceries or cost-of-living become more affordable.

Greens say ‘time for tinkering’ on housing is over ahead of federal budget

The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, says the “time for tinkering is long gone” as she demands ambitious reform to fix the housing crisis in Tuesday’s budget.

Housing is expected to be a major focus of Jim Chalmers’ economic update, with changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount part of a strategy to get younger people in the market.

The Greens have campaigned to abolish the two concessions, which have been blamed for turning housing into investment vehicles for older and wealthier Australians.

Labor will almost certainly need the Greens’ support to get any changes through the Senate, meaning the minor party’s position is critical. Speaking to reporters in Parliament House, Waters said:

Housing affordability is the biggest crisis that this government is facing and people are seriously hurting. We are in a deep housing crisis and what people don’t want to see is tinkering. They would like the housing crisis to be fixed and that is the job of the government. They don’t want to see tinkering. And the Greens have been calling for the abolition of these property investor tax perks for years now.

Colin Boyce changes tune, declares he’s ‘absolutely committed’ to the s

LNP MP Colin Boyce now says he is “absolutely committed to the Party” despite telling Guardian Australia over the weekend that he was reconsidering his political future after the Farrer byelection result.

Asked at a press conference today, Boyce said he was not joining One Nation. Boyce, member for the central Queensland seat of Flynn, said he’d been successful in his local electorate because “I’ve always been very clear where I sit on a range of issues, including dumping net zero, support for the mining and resource sector, the alumina sector, the gas sector, the cement sector, all of those blue-collar jobs that make up the industrial heartland of central Queensland”.

So the short answer to your [question] is, am I joining One Nation? No.

Over the weekend, Boyce told Guardian Australia: “I think everybody should be thinking about their political future, particularly the people who are the organisers in the hierarchy. If this isn’t a wake-up call for conservative politics, what is?”

I’m only facing the reality of what I’ve been trying to point out for a very long time. The point is, central Queensland is quite happy to vote One Nation.

For good measure, Boyce also hit the socials on Monday, professing his commitment to his current party:

PM should sack Wells over expenses issue, says shadow communications minister

Sarah Henderson is calling for Anika Wells’ head, over reports in the Australian Financial Review, casting more doubt over her claimed travel expenses.

That comes after the communications minister repaid $10,000 in incorrect travel expenses last week. Read here for the full recap:

Wells told the travel watchdog that she had held an official meeting with South Australian Labor minister Chris Picton on the same night she attended his wife’s birthday party in South Australia, and had claimed travel for the journey. But Picton would not answer questions or corroborate the evidence.

Henderson told Sky News a few moments ago that the latest reports were “beyond the pale” and that Wells should be stood aside.

The whole thing has a very very bad smell about it … The prime minister must now stand down his minister and investigate this particular weekend travel. She’s got a pretty sordid track record when it comes to managing her travel.

Canavan suggests s could win Farrer at next election

The s leader, Matt Canavan, has waved off the Coalition’s poor showing in the Farrer byelection, suggesting his party would keep trying to win the seat back despite polling under 10% in the weekend’s poll.

Canavan denied that his party was under existential threat from Pauline Hanson’s One Nation but said the Coalition needed to keep working to show voters what they stood for.

We got a good vote. We’re happy with that and we’re going to be back. We’ll come back and fight for Farrer again. There’s another election very soon. This is like a two-legged final, perhaps we played an away match on the weekend, where it was difficult circumstances at a byelection. Next time, we might be on a home ground advantage when the choice of government is up for grabs.

Canavan rejected the Coalition splits over the past year – where the s twice walked away from the Liberals in policy disputes – were a factor in the byelection result, where the Liberal and candidates struggled to attract a combined 22% of the vote.

What I’m going to be focused on doing is beating David [Farley]. Sorry to say. I congratulate him but I want to beat him in the next election with the s candidate … that was an election where we were kicking into the wind and we’ll dust ourselves off and have another crack.

$100m to speed up Canberra to Sydney rail line

The federal, ACT and NSW government’s have promised a chunk of cash each to help speed up the rail line between Sydney and Canberra.

Currently it takes four-and-a-half hours to go between the two cities, while the bus is an hour faster.

Speaking to reporters this morning, Katy Gallagher the finance minister and former ACT chief minister, made the announcement, saying the aim is to get the journey to under four hours. The federal government is chipping in $50m while the state and territory governments will hand over $25m each.

Gallagher says the Labor government cares about the territory, unlike previous governments.

It’s very easy to write Canberra off politically. It’s a small city punches above its weight. But I think in the past, when I was in the chief minister’s job working with the Coalition government, [they] didn’t care about Canberra.

Queensland clears backlog of 601 rape kits after DNA lab scandal

Queensland has cleared a backlog of 601 rape kits, left untested after a series of scandals at the state’s forensic DNA lab.

A string of investigations, including two commissions of inquiry, found a series of errors and failings at Forensic Science Queensland.

The lab proved unable to keep up with demand. By November 2024, the lab had a backlog of 601 rape kits and 11,700 “major crime” samples left untested by the lab, according to the attorney general, Deb Frecklington. The government subsequently outsourced testing to a lab in the United States.

Frecklington said on Monday that all rape kits had been tested, and the major crime backlog was down to 3,488.

This means victims of sexual violence, in particular, can get answers sooner. It means police can get their evidence to courts sooner and, importantly, it means offenders being bought before the courts much quicker.

The director of Forensic Science Queensland, Mick Fuller, said the lab would restart testing rape kits in July.

We never want another backlog with the sexual assault kits and my guarantee, as long as the labs are standing, that we won’t have a backlog again in that place.