What’s making news todayBy Emily KaineHello and welcome to our live coverage of news from Australia and around the world. It’s Friday, May 29. Here’s what is making headlines today.Treasurer Jim Chalmers has introduced the first tranche of legislation to enact the tax overhaul announced in the government’s budget. A Senate inquiry will examine the proposed changes.This morning, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has defended his decision to call Prime Minister Anthony Albanese an “arrogant prick” during question time. Taylor withdrew the comment in the chamber yesterday.Albanese’s department has sought to block royal commissioner Virginia Bell from considering whether the government directed intelligence agencies to reduce counter-terrorism resources in the lead up to the Bondi massacre, a senior minister has confirmed.Counter-terror police have charged a woman with terrorism offences after she returned to Australia from Syria last year. She will seek bail in Melbourne on Monday.A group of passengers who were on board a hantavirus-struck cruise ship will have their quarantine period in a COVID-era facility in Perth extended by three weeks. The World Health Organisation advises hantavirus has an incubation period of up to 42 days. The passengers monitored for the entirety of that period. The group will be released on June 23.And the US and Iran have reached a tentative agreement to extend the ceasefire in the war by 60 days, but President Donald Trump has yet to approve it, according to sources familiar with the matter.Latest Posts1.33pmErin Patterson’s appeal date locked inBy Erin Pearson and Isabel McMillanMushroom triple-murderer Erin Patterson’s bid to overturn her convictions has been scheduled for August.The Court of Appeal on Friday confirmed Patterson’s appeal against her convictions, as well as the Director of Public Prosecution’s appeal against her sentence, has been listed on August 19 and 20.Erin Patterson, photographed in April 2025 ahead of her trial for murder and attempted murder. AAPPatterson, 51, hosted a lunch at her home in the Victorian town of Leongatha in July 2023, where she invited in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, and Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson for a meal of beef Wellington.Gail, Heather and Don all died in the days following, while Ian became seriously ill before recovering.Last year she was found guilty of three counts of murder and one of attempted murder, and sentenced to life in jail with a non-parole period of 33 years.1.21pmJeff Bezos-owned rocket explodes on launch pad during engine-firing testBy A rocket belonging to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin exploded during a test at the launch pad on Thursday night (Florida time), shaking nearby homes and briefly painting the sky orange.Blue Origin said its New Glenn rocket exploded during an engine-firing test being conducted ahead of a satellite launch planned for next week. No one was hurt, according to officials at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.“It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it,” Bezos said via X. “Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.”AP12.50pmIsrael cuts ties with UN secretary-generalBy Israel says it will cut ties with the leader of the United Nations in a largely symbolic move to protest its inclusion on an annual report about sexual violence in conflict zones.“We are done with this UN secretary-general,” Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said, adding that his country was freezing relations with the office of UN Secretary-General António Guterres.Israel remains a UN member and can interact with several of its bodies separately from the secretary-general. However, being listed in the sexual violence report could have negative implications for a member state, including for peacekeeping missions.UN Secretary-General António Guterres.AP“The secretary-general’s door is figuratively and literally open to representatives of the Israeli mission,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters. “We want to be able to dialogue and speak to all representatives that are in this building.”Israel’s inclusion on the UN blacklist has sparked outrage in the country, which has historically had a strained relationship with top UN officials and the organisation as a whole, over its policies in Gaza and the West Bank.Bloomberg12.16pmDuniam says ‘nothing warrants’ government blocking resources from royal commissioner By Emily KaineOpposition spokesman for home affairs Jonno Duniam says “nothing warrants [cabinet documents] being excluded from the consideration of the royal commission”, as the government continues to defend its decision to seek to block royal commissioner Virginia Bell from accessing confidential cabinet documents.The public interest immunity claim would prevent Bell from considering whether the government directed intelligence agencies to reduce counter-terrorism resources in the lead up to the Bondi massacre.This morning, Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said making the claim to protect cabinet confidentiality was routine, and the government had “fully co-operated” with the royal commission.Opposition home affairs spokesman Senator Jonno Duniam.Alex EllinghausenAsked on Sky News just now if the decision by the government was indeed routine, Duniam said: “It’s far, far from it.”“Figuring out what happened, what went wrong, who made what decision, or didn’t make the decision, whether there was enough resourcing going to agencies, and the rest of the considerations this commission will consider. This is not business as usual ... we are dealing with the largest ever terror event in our country’s history. The government made decisions, and we need to know exactly what those decisions were, who made them, and what consequences, if any, flow from those decisions.“It does not stand up to any test in this situation,” he said.11.49amBiden sues Trump administration over interview tapesBy Former US president Joe Biden is suing the Justice Department to block officials from sharing audio recordings and interview transcripts he gave for a memoir project with Republicans in Congress and a conservative advocacy group.The extraordinary lawsuit, which pits a former president against his successor’s administration, comes amid a long-running legal fight over a public records request for the materials by the Heritage Foundation. The group sought the materials after a 2024 report came out citing the recordings as proof of Biden’s “diminished” mental state.Former president Joe Biden speaks at an event in 2022. APOn Tuesday, Biden filed his own legal challenge to stop the disclosure, which is set to happen on June 15, according to his complaint.“Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home,” Biden’s lawyers wrote, referring to the fact that the 2016 and 2017 recordings were made during and after his time in the Obama administration.11.22amChanges to CGT, negative gearing will help some older Aussies too: McBainBy Emily KaineLabor’s proposed changes to the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing will help some older Australians still living in large family homes due to housing unavailability, Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain said this morning.She told Sky News many older Australians in regional communities remained unable to access appropriate housing under the current system.Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain.Alex Ellinghausen“There hasn’t been enough new homes built. We’ve got a lot of older people in large family homes, because there’s nothing smaller for them to downsize into … It’s really important that we continue that build, not only for older generations looking to downsize, but for workers that we need in our communities.“That’s why we are continuing our CGT and negative gearing exemptions for new home builds. We know we need to get more homes built across the country, but we’ve got to get the sizing of those homes right too. It’s important that we’ve got apartments and units, but we need town houses and different types of dwelling, particularly across regional Australia,” McBain said.The opposition has accused the government of delivering a budget that disproportionately focuses on young people while squandering the aspiration and ambition of business owners and older Australians.10.46amLebanese PM condemns Israeli attacks as ‘collective punishment’ By Israel’s air force carried out an airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut on Thursday afternoon, the Israeli military said, further straining a fragile ceasefire a day before crucial negotiations in Washington.The strike hit an apartment building, but the target of the attack wasn’t immediately clear. White smoke billowed from a residential neighbourhood in the suburb of Choueifat, close to Beirut’s international airport.Tensions have been increasing in southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops recently crossed the strategic Litani River, which the Israeli military has used as a de facto boundary. Large areas to the south are under Israeli military control, despite the Washington-brokered ceasefire from April 17.This was the first attack close to Beirut since May 6, when an Israeli strike killed a military official with Hezbollah militant group’s elite Radwan Forces in another southern suburb.Overnight, Israeli forces pounded Tyre, Lebanon’s fourth-largest city, and killed at least 14 people across the south of the country in their ongoing military escalation against Hezbollah before the Lebanon-Israel talks in Washington.10.21amMcIntosh: ‘Never seen small businesses as angry and fired up’ By Emily KaineLiberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh says she will continue to fight Labor’s proposed changes to the capital gains tax discount, claiming this morning she has “never seen small businesses as angry and fired up as they are right now”.Appearing on Sky News earlier today, the member for Lindsay repeated the Coalition’s line that the prime minister had “lied” to Australians by promising no changes to negative gearing or the capital gains tax.Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh.Alex Ellinghausen“Australians, I think, are rightly in an uproar … I think we need to fight for Australians that don’t want this deal,” she said.“I’ve never seen small businesses as angry and fired up as they are right now, particularly because they’ve been working so hard … It’s grunt work. They’ve built their small business, and they’re afraid. What’s going to happen to it? Can they even pass it on to their kids? Is it going to be worth it? And why are we staying in business at all? This is what small businesses are saying, so it shouldn’t be a done deal.”A Senate inquiry will examine the budget’s proposed changes to the tax system.9.49am‘Let’s start with that’: Netanyahu directs Israeli forces to control 70 per cent of GazaBy Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said overnight he had directed Israel’s military to take more of Gaza, initially by seizing 70 per cent of the Palestinian territory, where the population is already penned into a tiny strip of land along the coast.Israel effectively controls an estimated 64 per cent of the coastal strip, bombarded to ruins by Israel’s two-year military assault that followed the 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.Israeli soldiers occupy a military position overlooking the so-called Yellow Line in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday.APUnder an October US-brokered truce that has failed to halt Israeli attacks or secure Hamas’ disarmament, Israeli troops were meant to withdraw to a “Yellow Line” demarcating the extent of their control. Marked on military maps, that line put Israel in control of some 53 per cent of Gaza, with Hamas ruling the rest.Reuters has reported that Israel has unilaterally moved the concrete blocks marking the Yellow Line on the ground deeper into Hamas-controlled territory. Maps issued by the military in March showed an even bigger restricted area that analysts say cordons off about 64 per cent of Gaza’s territory in total.9.17amJoyce repeats call for snap electionBy Emily KaineOne Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has repeated his calls for an early election, after he said on Sky News last night that “One Nation would do exceedingly well” if an election were called.“I’ll take an early election,” Joycesaid on the Today show this morning.Member for New England Barnaby Joyce during question time at Parliament House in Canberra. Alex Ellinghausen“I don’t know whether that’s a smart thing for the Coalition to do right now, I really don’t, but One Nation would certainly take an early election if there’s one on offer.”Joyce’s remarks this morning follow earlier calls for a snap election by Nationals leader Matt Canavan, who said Australians “should not be taxed before they have a say in what those taxes are”.1 of 2