Man allegedly assaults five people at Sydney hospital
A man has been tasered and arrested after allegedly assaulting nurses, police and a member of the public at a Sydney hospital.
Police officers were alerted to reports of an assault at Prince of Wales hospital at 8:30pm on Saturday while they were there for an unrelated matter, a spokesperson said.
They said police were told a patient, a 51-year-old man, had allegedly seriously injured a nurse’s leg before assaulting two other nurses, a hospital security guard and a 26-year-old woman. The woman, a member of the public, was attacked with a garbage bin as she attempted to protect another patient.
Police arrived and attempted to speak to the man, but he allegedly assaulted one of the officers. An officer then used a Taser to subdue him before he was arrested, the spokesperson said
The man, who has not been charged, was moved to a secure facility within the hospital. Police are investigating the incident.
The seriously injured nurse was assessed at the scene and remained in hospital for further treatment, while the other nurses, security guard, officer and member of the public were treated at the scene and did not need further care.
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Updated at 05.09 CEST
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Krishani Dhanji
‘Too much talk of diversity’ says Nationals leader at rally
The Nationals party leader Matt Canavan says the country has spent too much time talking about diversity and not enough about unifying, addressing attendees at the anti immigration rally at Parliament House.
Despite having previously condemned Pauline Hanson for her comments against Muslim Australians, Canavan preceded the One Nation leader on stage, and said Australia needs to have “better standards” on migration.
It’s a line his colleague, the Liberal leader Angus Taylor has also used – that migration standards have been “too low”.
Canavan told the crowd:
double quotation markWe’ve just had a little bit too much talk of diversity. We’re all different … And that’s great, but we now just talk all about that and we don’t talk enough about unifying, about [how] we’re one nation.
We’re going to check who’s coming, this country’s going to have better standards and we’re going to bring the numbers down. And yes, if you don’t share our values, you’re getting deported.
Earlier this morning, Taylor wouldn’t criticise Hanson’s stance on migration and said “some things we might agree on“.
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Canavan tells anti-immigration rally net zero is socialism
Matt Canavan, the leader of the Nationals, has claimed the Albanese government has pursued a “global socialist agenda” in its pursuit of net zero emissions.
Canavan, the deputy leader of the federal Coalition, has spoken at the “March on Canberra to end mass immigration,” organised by March for Australia campaigner Scott Challen. Attenders have gathered outside Parliament House.
Matt Canavan at the ‘March on Canberra to end mass immigration’ rally on Sunday. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Canavan claimed the Albanese government was supporting “foreign jobs” over “domestic jobs” by seeking to secure oil supplies from overseas.
double quotation markThey’re not putting our nation’s interest first, you can see that right now. They’re going to other countries to get oil. Yet the prime minister won’t meet with the Queensland premier to produce oil here. Why are we supporting foreign oil and foreign jobs and not supporting domestic oil and domestic jobs? Why are we doing that?
The Queensland premier has sought fast-tracking for oilfield developments from the federal government. You can read more here:
Canavan went on to describe the pursuit of net zero emissions as “socialism”.
double quotation markDrill, baby, drill. We quit doing that because this government focuses on a global socialist agenda just to take away our energy. …
Net zero is just another word for socialism, right? Because to get to net zero, they’re going to tell you what energy you can use, what car you can drive, what food you can eat. They even want to tell you what you can say, right? That is socialism and we’re against socialism.
He did not specify how the Australian government’s climate policies had restricted free speech or consumers’ choices of energy sources, cars or food.
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Updated at 06.30 CEST
Albanese ‘pleased to hear’ Trump safe after White House gunshots
Anthony Albanese has welcomed the news the US president and first lady, Donald and Melania Trump, are safe, after a White House dinner was interrupted by loud gunshots and one suspect was arrested.
The prime minister said in a statement:
double quotation markI am pleased to hear the President and the First Lady, along with all attendees at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, are safe.
We applaud the work of the Secret Service and law enforcement agencies for their swift action.
You can read the full report here or follow breaking news on the shooting at our US live blog:
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Updated at 05.38 CEST
Women from Syrian camp have not bought tickets to Australia, Guardian Australia understands
Krishani Dhanji
Guardian Australia understands the women and children who have left a Syrian detention camp have not bought plane tickets to Australia.
Four Australian women and nine of their children and grandchildren have left al-Roj camp in north-east Syria, seeking to return to Australia.
Sources told Guardian Australia a further seven Australian women, and 14 of their children, remain at the camp.
The government can track where an Australian passport has been used to buy plane tickets or cross land borders.
The government says it is not assisting or repatriating the group. A spokesperson said:
double quotation markOur security agencies have been monitoring – and continue to monitor – the situation in Syria to ensure they are prepared for any Australians seeking to return to Australia. People in this cohort need to know that if they have committed a crime and if they return to Australia they will be met with the full force of the law.
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Updated at 05.39 CEST
Jacinta Allan claims ‘Liberal National One Nation way’ means spending cuts
The Victorian premier has targeted One Nation in criticism ahead of next Saturday’s Nepean byelection.
Jacinta Allan this morning defended her government’s growing spending and turned to criticising the Coalition parties as well as One Nation. She told reporters:
double quotation markThey want to cut into government spending. What those cuts mean, and we have seen this before, cuts to government schools, cuts to our nurses, not helping people when they need it when times are tough, not building the metro tunnel because they call it a waste …
When times are uncertain and tough, you’ve got the ability to help people, not cut into services like the Liberal National One Nation way would be.
One Nation’s Victoria website condemns spending on “Labor’s vanity projects”:
double quotation markThis is money that could have been put into freeing up vacant land and building homes. One Nation has long advocated for wasteful government expenditures to end and for the government to direct resources toward alleviating the housing cost crunch.
Labor is increasingly recognising One Nation as an electoral threat, including in next weekend’s byelection, as our Victorian state correspondent Benita Kolovos writes here:
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Updated at 05.15 CEST
Victorian premier denies spending is adding to inflation
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has denied her government’s spending is adding to inflation and stood by her surplus promises.
Ahead of a byelection next Saturday in Nepean, on the Mornington Peninsula, Allan has announced further cost-of-living relief via a rebate on vehicle registration, as we reported earlier, on top of previous measures such as free public transport.
Jacinta Allan. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP
Allan said she still expected to deliver a surplus in the upcoming state budget despite the pre-budget sweeteners being handed down ahead of this year’s election, speaking to reporters today.
She rejected claims her government’s new spending measures this year were adding to inflation, saying:
double quotation markThere are some that may have a different view about how you help families right now. Our Labor government believes we need to help families right now because it’s a choice. It’s a choice between whether you can put a meal on the table for your family or not. That’s not inflationary. That’s real world experience for real families right now …
That’s helping people and it’s also helping people making sure that they can stay connected to their community, can stay in work. That’s overall a good thing for our economy and it’s a good thing for our community.
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Updated at 05.45 CEST
Man allegedly assaults five people at Sydney hospital
A man has been tasered and arrested after allegedly assaulting nurses, police and a member of the public at a Sydney hospital.
Police officers were alerted to reports of an assault at Prince of Wales hospital at 8:30pm on Saturday while they were there for an unrelated matter, a spokesperson said.
They said police were told a patient, a 51-year-old man, had allegedly seriously injured a nurse’s leg before assaulting two other nurses, a hospital security guard and a 26-year-old woman. The woman, a member of the public, was attacked with a garbage bin as she attempted to protect another patient.
Police arrived and attempted to speak to the man, but he allegedly assaulted one of the officers. An officer then used a Taser to subdue him before he was arrested, the spokesperson said
The man, who has not been charged, was moved to a secure facility within the hospital. Police are investigating the incident.
The seriously injured nurse was assessed at the scene and remained in hospital for further treatment, while the other nurses, security guard, officer and member of the public were treated at the scene and did not need further care.
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Updated at 05.09 CEST
Brisbane band leads singing of ‘like a river to the sea’ to protest contentious laws
Kelly Burke
A four-decade-old pop classic has become an unlikely anthem of protest, as Queenslanders look for creative ways to defy the state’s contentious new hate speech laws.
Since the Crisafulli Government’s ban of the phrase “from the river to the sea” last month, protesters in Brisbane have turned to John Farnham’s 1988 hit Two Strong Hearts to test the limits of the law, chanting the song’s chorus that includes the words “reaching out forever like a river to the sea”.
As of Sunday morning, no one has yet been arrested for singing the song, if only because the words “from the” are replaced with “like a” in the lyrics, written 35 years before the current conflict in Gaza flared up.
On Friday night, a packed Tivoli in Fortitude Valley saw about 1,500 fans of the Brisbane band Regurgitator join in the chorus of its version of the Farnham song.
The band’s manager, Paul Curtis, told Guardian Australia that in a healthy democracy, citizens should be capable of “considered critical adult discussion” rather than being silenced through censorship. He said:
double quotation markIf this is a democracy, and we have the freedom of speech that comes with that, then we should not be shut down like juveniles, as if we’re not allowed to talk at the table …
It sends a message that condones destruction. We should be capable of rising above that, being more intelligent about how we deal with this stuff.
A week earlier, a flashmob of about 300 participants converged on Brisbane’s King George Square. Sporting blond mullets and 80s-themed outfits, they performed a choreographed dance routine to the song.
The following day, 20 protesters were arrested during a weekend of mass demonstrations across Brisbane. They now face a maximum two-year prison sentence under the state’s aggressive new crackdown, which the Queensland attorney-general, Deb Frecklington, has described as a “common sense” response to the 14 December terror attack at Bondi Beach.
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Updated at 03.45 CEST
Follow live: Donald Trump evacuated from White House dinner as loud bangs heard
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner has been interrupted by loud bangs, and Donald Trump and Melania Trump have been evacuated immediately.
There were reports that the US Secret Service had guns drawn as they rushed the White House pool reporters out of the room and mentioned “shots fired”.
You can read the report here or follow breaking news on the incident in this live blog:
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Updated at 03.30 CEST
NDIS reform ‘part of the deal’ for hospital funding, Butler warns Queensland
Krishani Dhanji
The health and NDIS minister, Mark Butler, says Queensland will be “answerable to their community” if they don’t sign on to NDIS reforms, with billions of dollars of hospital funding on the line.
Every state and territory except for the sunshine state has signed a bilateral agreement with the government for the Thriving Kids program, which is designed to take children under nine with developmental delays or low to moderate autism off the NDIS.
Mark Butler. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
The program will be critical to federal Labor’s widespread reforms announced this week, which will see up to 160,000 participants removed from the NDIS and put on to other state-based supports, such as Thriving Kids or foundational supports.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, Butler said the state’s Liberal government, led by David Crisafulli, needed to come to the table.
double quotation markNow every state and territory has signed a bilateral agreement with us that details the broad details of the Thriving Kids program … The only state that hasn’t signed yet is Queensland.
I tried to make clear again last week that is part of the deal that sees them get additional hospital funding and, frankly, they are answerable to their community if they don’t put the additional supports.
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Updated at 03.32 CEST
Liberal leader pushes tax cuts on housing: ‘If you want more of something, take taxes off’
Labor is readying to reform taxes on property investors, and the Coalition still hasn’t taken a firm stand.
Angus Taylor said he believed the focus should be on building more homes, and that higher housing taxes would lead to less housing supply.
Asked whether he was open to winding back tax breaks offered to property investors, Taylor told Insiders:
double quotation markWhat I want to see is more homes built in this country, more investment, successful housing completions, in this country. … If you want more houses, don’t impose additional taxes on housing.
Taylor did not directly answer when asked whether he would vote against any changes to capital gains tax or negative gearing. He said:
double quotation markI just want more houses built. … At the moment we’ve got about a thought bubble about what they’re going to be. … You get the government to give a specific policy, which lasts more than about 24 hours, and I’ll consider comment. …
The principle is we need more homes built, and if you want more homes built, don’t whack another tax on it. If you want less of something, tax it. If you want more of something, take taxes off.
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Updated at 02.52 CEST
Taylor says it’s ‘reasonable to call out’ Iran as he refuses to label Trump’s war a mistake
Angus Taylor has steered clear of endorsing his colleague, frontbencher Andrew Hastie’s condemnation of the US president, Donald Trump, and his war on Iran.
He told the ABC’s Insiders:
double quotation markI’m not going to get into commentary on major leaders like Donald Trump. What I will say is, what we want to see is an opening of the strait of Hormuz.
Taylor refused to say Trump’s war was a mistake when repeatedly asked.
double quotation markI’m not going to get into commentary on this. What I do know is: Iran is a bad country. It is. It kills its own people. That is a bad country. And I think it is reasonable for freedom-loving countries like ours to call out the bad behaviour of those countries.
But I tell you what I want to see most of all: an opening up of the strait of Hormuz, because, if we don’t get that, we are going to continue to see high petrol and diesel prices at the bowser, high jet fuel costs for when you fly around this country, and we need that brought down.
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Updated at 02.22 CEST
Taylor says government should not give Syrian camp detainees passports
Angus Taylor has claimed the Albanese government could choose to avoid giving passports to Australians detained in Syria or block them from re-entering Australia.
Four Australian women and nine of their children and grandchildren left the al-Roj camp in north-east Syria, seeking to return to Australia, earlier this week.
The wives, widows and children of jailed or dead Islamic State fighters held at the camp have not been charged with a crime. One woman has been issued a temporary exclusion order seeking to prevent her return to Australia.
Taylor this morning suggested the government should not be issuing passports to the Australians citizens, as it typically would be required to do. He told Insiders:
double quotation markThe government should be making every possible effort to not accept these people back into the country. That includes both the issuing and distribution of passports, where that’s possible. … There’s a lot of discretion or some discretion with the minister, as there is with temporary exclusion orders.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) advised the government to block one of the people from entering Australia. Asked whether he trusted Asio to advise on the others, Taylor said:
double quotation markI don’t trust the government. … All I’m saying is [what] we need to know is when the last security assessments were done, what we know from that and why only one temporary exclusion order has been issued.
Taylor also claimed, without evidence, that the government is supporting Jamal Rifi, a Sydney doctor and community advocate, to help repatriate the women and children. The government and Rifi have repeatedly denied this.
Read about the development this weekend here:
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Updated at 02.09 CEST
Angus Taylor says welcome to country should be used less
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, has called for welcome to country remarks to be used less often, saying he is frustrated they have been “devalued” by “overuse”.
Taylor said a welcome to country should be “special when it happens” and condemned those who booed during Anzac Day events on Saturday. He told Insiders:
double quotation markCan I say, booing, whatever the cause, on Anzac Day, [at] Anzac Day ceremonies, is absolutely inappropriate and un-Australian. It shouldn’t happen. It simply shouldn’t happen.
I can understand the frustration Australians feel about over use of welcomes to country. I feel that at times. Often actually. I think it is overused and as a result they are devalued.
I would like to see them used less and therefore not devalued, as I think they have been over time.
It’s up to individual organising committees to decide whether they want to do it or not. But the general principle should be: let’s do this less and make it more special when it happens.
To which, the Insiders host, David Speers, said: “And don’t boo?” Taylor responded:
double quotation markAbsolutely not boo, absolutely.
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Updated at 02.25 CEST
Taylor says ‘higher risk’ of ‘bad people’ coming from ‘bad countries’
Angus Taylor has said “bad people” could migrate to Australia from “bad countries” without detailing which countries would be considered “bad” under a government he leads.
Taylor earlier this month said migrants would be more likely to adopt Australian values if they were from liberal democracies than from “places ruled by fundamentalists, extremists and dictators”.
Asked whether migrants from China and Vietnam would disagree, Taylor told the ABC’s Insiders:
double quotation markSome of the great Australians have come from countries that were bad countries at the time. But there is a higher risk that some bad people come from those bad countries.
Asked if China was a bad country, he said:
double quotation markWe have bad countries around the world. I mean, to claim that Iran is a good country right now, seriously, and the government itself has put legislation in place to make it harder for people to come from Iran.
We have seen terrible acts of atrocity coming from Gaza.
I mean, we know they’re in the Middle East and elsewhere, [places] that have committed great atrocities on their own populations. So there is real risk with people coming from those countries. It’s also true that many great Australians have come from bad countries, and this is why the discrimination shouldn’t be based on … race or religion; it must be based on Australian values.
When pressed, Taylor said Iran was at present one of those “bad countries” he was talking about, but China was not.
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Updated at 02.24 CEST
Coalition preferencing One Nation in Farrer to stop ‘teal policies’, Angus Taylor says
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, says the Coalition has directed its preferences to One Nation ahead of the independent in the Farrer byelection to prevent “teal policies”.
The Liberals and Nationals have both placed One Nation before independent Michelle Milthorpe, who has received a small proportion of her funding from the “teal” independent fundraising group, Climate 200.
Angus Taylor. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Polling suggests One Nation will win the New South Wales seat on Liberal and National preferences. Asked why the Coalition parties had put One Nation first, Taylor told ABC program Insiders:
double quotation markIf you vote teal you get Green. And so whilst preferences, beyond preferencing the National party, are picking the least worst option, and we want people to vote for the Liberal party and the National party, the truth is we don’t want to see teal policies for Farrer or for this country.
Asked about One Nation’s threat to the Coalition in regional electorates, Taylor said:
double quotation markI think teal policies, Labor policies are absolute existential for the regions and the Labor government right now. If you get out into these regions, you see what it’s doing to them.
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Updated at 01.45 CEST
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog today. I’m Luca Ittimani, and I’ll be taking you through Sunday’s breaking stories. Angus Taylor, the federal opposition leader, will be up on the ABC’s Insiders soon.
Let’s get stuck in.
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Updated at 01.20 CEST
Victorian motorists to get rego rebate in pre-election budget sweetener
Kelly Burke
Motorists in Victoria could save almost $400 a year on driving costs under a cost-of-living rebate in the Allan Labor government’s 2026/27 budget.
In a move designed to buffer the impact of soaring fuel prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East, the state’s premier, Jacinta Allan, has announced a 20% rebate on light vehicle registration.
With annual registration fees for standard vehicles costing as much as $930.70, a single-car owner stands to receive $186, while a two-car family could see up to $372 returned to their pocket.
The scheme only applies to personal-use vehicles under 4.5 tonnes, including cars and utes. The rebate will be backdated to cover registration payments made for the 2025/26 period, but Victorians will only have a two-month window from 1 June to 31 July to apply.
Car owners can only claim the rebate for a maximum of two vehicles registered under their name
The government estimates the scheme will cost $750m, with Allan saying the state would absorb the cost while maintaining a budget surplus.
Victorians have already seen the announcement of free and half-price public transport schemes, and the announcement of the rego discount is expected to ignite fresh criticism against the NSW premier, Chris Minns, from his state’s opposition, which is calling on him to cut the fuel excise and provide free public transport over long weekends to ease the pain at NSW bowsers.
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Updated at 01.25 CEST
Shadow treasurer says welcome to country hecklers ‘unworthy of the Anzac legacy’
The shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, has condemned the booing of welcome of country remarks at Anzac Day events on Saturday.
Wilson offered some of the strongest criticism of the hecklers from a Coalition frontbencher. In a post on X yesterday, he wrote:
double quotation markThank you to all our veterans who fought for our country. Anzac Day is a day to honour all those who fought and died for our country. Booing any Australian who served or their story is unacceptable, disrespectful and unworthy of the Anzac legacy.
The story of this land began thousands of years ago. Project Australia is a continuing story of one land, one people with one destiny. Let us be worthy of our full inheritance, and those that sacrificed for respect based on our common humanity and the equal dignity of all people.
Tim Wilson. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP
Liberal frontbenchers James Paterson and Jonno Duniam have called the booing “inappropriate” and said those opposed to the welcome to country should express their views at places other than an Anzac service. Paterson told Sky News:
double quotation markIt is incredibly disappointing and completely inappropriate to boo at an Anzac Day service. Whatever your views on a welcome to country, Anzac Day is our most sacred day … If you have strong views about that, there are many other ways in a free country that you have an opportunity to express your views.
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Updated at 01.31 CEST
