News and politics live updates: Iran condemns ‘barbaric’ strikes as US vows to hold country ‘accountable’

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce hasplayed down a poll showing falling support for his party amid weeks of controversy over leader Pauline Hanson’s remarks on multiculturalism and paid parental leave.

The Resolve Political Monitor poll found core support for One Nation fell three points in July to 26 per cent, breaking four months of growth.

Resolve found that immigrants and women drove One Nation’s losses, but Mr Joyce dismissed polls as “an indicator” and “not a vote” and insisted Australians want “guardrails” on the country’s cultural make-up.

“I think that what there is an indication that Pauline Hanson is direct,” he told Nine’s Today.

“She’s straight down the barrel with what she says. And issues such as when she said monoculturalism – of course we have a choice.

“In Australia we can have multiculturalism, which means you’re accepting of a whole range of things which may be anathema to the Australian people.

“Or you can have an Australian culture which has to work within guardrails, and I believe that’s well supported.”

Share markets have slipped in Asia as fighting intensifies in the Gulf, sending oil prices surging and rekindling inflation risks globally.

The dollar gained with bond yields as investors nudged up the chance of a hike in interest rates from the Federal Reserve, just a day before Chair Kevin Warsh is due to face Congress for the first time in his new role.

Inflation figures for June on Tuesday could show some cooling in the headline rate of 4.2 per cent as petrol prices decline, though some of that will reverse now that oil is rising anew.

Brent crude climbed 3.3 per cent in early trade to reach $US78.50 ($A113.02) a barrel, up from the recent trough of $US70.14 ($A100.99), while US crude added 3.4 per cent to $US73.83 ($A106.30) a barrel.

Early action saw S&P 500 futures ease 0.3 per cent, while Nasdaq futures lost 0.5 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.0 per cent on Monday, having shed 1.7 per cent last week, while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2 per cent.

South Korea’s red-hot market eased 0.4 per cent, and will be in focus having shed almost eight per cent last week as leveraged bets on semiconductor shares came under pressure. The market has recently become something of a bellwether for the chip sector globally and further losses could ripple out more broadly.

South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix’s US-listed shares jumped almost 14 per cent in their Nasdaq debut on Friday. News that Apple had sued OpenAI and two former employees for trade secrets theft emerged after markets closed.

- with Reuters

Teh Coalition has flagged a new approach to nuclear energy policy with Opposition Dan Tehan revealing the party is considering a model that would give the Federal governemnt a “golden share” in future small modular and micro nuclear reactors.

The proposal, which follows reports the Coalition wants to lift Australia’s ban on nuclear power and establish a government body to oversee the rollout of the technology, is aimed at addressing community concerns and building public confidence.

Mr Tehan said government involvement would be critical if Australia wants to introduce nuclear energy.

“If you’re going to go down the nuclear path, you’ve got to make sure that you do have some sort of government control,” he told Sky News on Monday.

“And that’s why this idea of a golden share that the government would take, which means that you can dictate around safety, you can dictate around location, you can dictate about community acceptance, about where you would locate your nuclear facilities. All these would become paramount.

“I think there’s a better way for us to do it, whether it be with nuclear and all other types of energy that we’re going to need to roll out. If we’re going to pursue energy abundance.”

Iran has condemed the US’s latest wave of strikes against its forces, saying the attack had “rendered futile” the diplomatic efforts of the last few months.

“These barbaric attacks are not only a gross violation of the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter…but also a serious threat to international peace and security,” a foreign ministry statement said.

“The US regime has also caused the return of insecurity in the strait of Hormuz and disruption of international commercial shipping by openly interfering in the process of Iran implementing the necessary arrangements in the strait of Hormuz.”

Julian Leeser says the ABC and SBS must take “systemic bias” against Israel in its reporting seriously.

The Opposition Education spokesperson said the public broadcasters must address the complaints in their coverage after the ABC admitted to making a “bad mistake” in incorrectly reporting that 14,000 babies were facing imminent starvation in Gaza.

“I know there have been complaints about the public broadcasters and their reporting of Israel for years and years … The special envoy has raised these issues. I think the public broadcasters have to take them seriously,” Leeser said.

“I think the public broadcasters actually have to be prepared to address systemic bias against Israel in their reporting, and I think they need to subject themselves to greater transparency mechanisms as outlined by the envoy.”

Mr Lesser also echoed anti-Semisim envoy Jillian Segal’s request for an independent review into the public broadcasters’ coverage of the Middle East conflict over recent years.

Pauline Hanson and One Nation’s popularity have slipped since her controversial Press Club speech with support shifting to the coalition, according to new polling.

Support for One Nation fell by three points in July to 26 per cent, while the coalition’s backing rose to 23 per cent, in a Resolve Political Monitor survey released on Sunday night.

Labor remained at 28 per cent, and support for the Greens was also unchanged at 12 per cent.

In the poll of 2252 people, conducted between July 6 and 11 for Nine newspapers, support for Pauline Hanson as preferred prime minister dropped by eight points from 33 per cent in June to 25 per cent.

Anthony Albanese made a comeback as preferred prime minister with 33 per cent nominating him, up from 29 per cent in June, with Angus Taylor sitting on 21 per cent, two points higher than previously.

- with AAP

Handwritten passenger arrival cards will be replaced by a digital option at all Australian airports, in a move hoped to make touching down a much smoother process.

The federal government will provide $56.1 million over four years to roll out the digital passenger cards to modernise airport operations across the country.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the days of scrambling for a pen after a long international flight were numbered.

“A lot of us have been in the situation at the end of a flight when the cards get handed out, and you’re you’re not always at your best at the end of a flight,” he told ABC News Breakfast.

“People are scrambling around, ‘Who’s got a pen? What’s the name of this flight again? What’s the address of the hotel that I’m meant to be staying at?’

“And then the fact that you’re dealing with pieces of cardboard just slows the process down.”

The change to a digital format follows successful trials involving more than 450,000 passengers on inbound Qantas flights into Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne since October 2024.

- with AAP

The US military has launched another wave of strikes against Iran to “hold” the country “accountable” after a dispute in the Strait of Hormuz erupted.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) made the announcement on social media, saying the fresh wave of strikes were launched at Donald Trump’s direction to “degrade” Iran’s ability to attack ships in the waterway.

“At 5 p.m. ET today, U.S. Central Command forces began launching more strikes against Iran to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) wrote on X.

“The Commander in Chief has directed the strikes to hold Iranian forces accountable.”

Iran state media has reported several locations in the country’s south, including Qeshm and port cities of Bandar Abbas and Hajiabad, were targeted in what officials described as attacks by an “enemy”.

According to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), between 10 and 11 projectiles struck military sites in Qeshm Island from Sunday afternoon local time.

Qeshm Governor Hossein Amir Teymouri said the strikes were confined to military targets and that no casualties has been reported on the island.

In a separate report, IRNA said a maintenance technician employed by Mobile Telecommunications Company of Iran was killed while working on Farur Island in Hormozgan province.

Two other technicians were reportedly injured in the same incident.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said that a so-called “ISIS bride” who was issued a return permit by the Australian government may not return to Australia.

Hodan Abby and her nine-year-old daughter are believed to be the final members of a cohort which has actively petitioned the Australian Government for repatriation from Syrian detention camps since 2019.

Mr Burke in February issued a two-year Temporary Exclusion Order against Abby, blocking her return on national security grounds.

She had travelled to the airport with the most recent group to return but was denied access to the flight she had booked.

Last month her temporary exclusion order was revoked, paving the path for her return to Australia with her daughter.

On Monday, ​the ABC​ reported that Abby was an enforcer of Sharia law at the camps where she was held in Syria, alleging that she organised arranged marriages, solicited donations, and allegedly hit a woman with a hammer in 2021.

When Mr Burke was asked on ABC Breakfast on Monday if he was aware of this and if it was why a temporary exclusion order had been put in place, he did not directly answer.

“There is a reason why only one person met the threshold for an exclusion order while our authorities made sure they were ready,” he said.

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