Australia news live: Star shares suspended again as pressure mounts; David McBride appeal begins
Star shares suspended again as pressure mounts
Jonathan Barrett
The embattled casino operator Star Entertainment is one of eight listed companies to have trading in their shares suspended this morning, after failing to lodge financial accounts last week.
Star, which operates casinos in Brisbane, Sydney and the Gold Coast, has been on the brink of collapse for weeks amid declining revenues, licensing headaches and major operational disruptions.
It told shareholders on Friday it was exploring “possible liquidity solutions” required to stay afloat. Its shares briefly traded on Friday after the update, closing down 15% to 11c.
Publicly-traded companies must lodge periodic financial reports to the ASX or risk having share trading suspended. They can also eventually be removed from the stock exchange.
Star, which was unable to lodge accounts because of concerns over its ability to remain solvent, is expected to enter into administration unless it can find a last-minute cash injection.
The other suspended companies tend to be very small, and rarely trade.
Key events
Ben Doherty
ADF issues update on movement of Chinese ships
The Australian defence force has issued an update on the movement of the Chinese naval flotilla sailing off Australia.
The three ships – possibly unaccompanied by an undetected nuclear submarine – sailed down Australia’s east coast over the past fortnight, and conducted live fire drills in the Tasman Sea.
The ADF has updated this morning:
People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) Task Group 107, comprised of the Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, the Renhai-class Cruiser Zunyi, and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu, is operating 305 nautical miles (approx. 550 kilometres) Southeast of Perth.
Defence continues to monitor the Task Group while it remains in the vicinity of Australia’s maritime approaches.
Last week, China’s ambassador Xiao Qian said China didn’t even need to “think” about apologising over the way it notified Australia about its live-fire naval drills:
Australia continuing to monitor Chinese ships in international waters, PM says
Wrapping up his address before a cabinet meeting in Canberra, the prime minister said Australia is continuing to monitor the Chinese ships moving around international waters surrounding Australia. Anthony Albanese said:
HMAS Stuart and HMAS Warramunga … will continue to monitor what is going on there. It stands in stark contrast with what happened prior to 2022 when there [was] a surveillance ship off the Western Australian coast that had no monitoring …
We’ll continue to respond in appropriate way and will continue to monitor there. I have every faith in our Australian Defence Force to make sure they get that done.
Albanese addresses media on tropical cyclone, Ukraine
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, also spoke to the media in Canberra just a moment ago.
He said touted the government’s Medicare pledge, before moving to Tropical Cyclone Alfred – the PM said he had spoken with Queensland premier David Crisafulli.
[It] is a very real threat in southeast Queensland. We hope of course for the best outcome possible, but we will stand with Queenslanders at this difficult time and we will continue to provide support …
Moving to Ukraine, Albanese said support for the nation is “an issue of doing what is right but also what is in Australia’s national interests.”
The brave people of Ukraine led so extraordinarily by President Zelenskyy are fighting not just for their national sovereignty and for their democracy, they are fighting for the international rule of law. And it is an easy choice that Australia has made – it’s a bipartisan position that Australia has had – we have contributed $1.5bbn of support, $1.3bn of which is military support.
Josh Butler
Dutton due to front press in an hour
We’re expecting a press conference from opposition leader Peter Dutton in Queensland in about an hour’s time.
It will be his first media appearance since Friday, so we’ll expect him to get some questions on the astonishing argument between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, and the situation in Ukraine.
Dutton spent much of last week fending off questions about his stock market and property investments, and denying he’d done anything wrong. It will be interesting to see whether he faces further questions about his portfolios.
The Coalition announced over the weekend that it would spend $3bn to buy 28 new fighter jets for the Australian military, if elected at the coming election.
That poll could be called as soon as this weekend, so we may be in the final throes of this faux election campaign – before the real action begins, potentially as early as next Monday.
Lisa Cox
No timeframe for delivery of NSW koala park
The NSW environment minister Penny Sharpe has refused to give a timeline for when the government will meet its commitment to deliver a great koala national park in the state’s north.
The Minns government has been under pressure to declare the boundaries for the promised park after scientific assessments were completed last year.
Asked at an estimates hearing when the government would announce its decision about the boundaries for the park, Sharpe would only say “soon” and would not elaborate on whether that meant within the next month or within the next six. Sharpe said:
Of course, it will be soon, but I’m not putting a time frame on it because we’ve got issues that we’re working through.
The Greens environment spokesperson Sue Higginson said her office was taking calls every day from members of the public concerned about the amount of time it was taking the government to declare the park. She said communities that were witnessing ongoing logging in native forests within its potential boundaries were particularly anxious.
Sharpe said the process of making a decision was not a simple one. But she said “no one should underestimate the commitment” the government had to getting the park done.
And yes, it’s taking longer than people like but we need to do it properly. It’s not as simple – people just wanted me to say, this is what we’re doing…we’re going to close the industry, and that’s it. It’s all over. That’s not how good government works.
Star shares suspended again as pressure mounts
Jonathan Barrett
The embattled casino operator Star Entertainment is one of eight listed companies to have trading in their shares suspended this morning, after failing to lodge financial accounts last week.
Star, which operates casinos in Brisbane, Sydney and the Gold Coast, has been on the brink of collapse for weeks amid declining revenues, licensing headaches and major operational disruptions.
It told shareholders on Friday it was exploring “possible liquidity solutions” required to stay afloat. Its shares briefly traded on Friday after the update, closing down 15% to 11c.
Publicly-traded companies must lodge periodic financial reports to the ASX or risk having share trading suspended. They can also eventually be removed from the stock exchange.
Star, which was unable to lodge accounts because of concerns over its ability to remain solvent, is expected to enter into administration unless it can find a last-minute cash injection.
The other suspended companies tend to be very small, and rarely trade.
SES commissioner urges communities to prepare homes
The NSW SES commissioner Mike Wassing is also addressing the media.
He said agencies were working with Queensland to pre-position resources and personnel ahead of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Management personnel are pre-deployed into areas of risk and we also have a range of flood rescue capabilities, specialist communications equipment and a range of capabilities already in the local areas … This is all in addition to acknowledging the significant capacity we have through our local SES units and emergency services already in place and working with communities.
He encouraged the community to get prepared through cleaning loose items around the home, adding that “if you need to be doing some sandbagging, now is time to do it.”
Impact to NSW in coming days outlined
Steven Bernasconi said there were already warnings in place for strong winds from Byron Bay to Coffs Harbour, and abnormally high tides may begin to appear.
He said Lord Howe Island is expected to feel impacts tomorrow, with strong winds and damaging waves. The impact on the mainland would increase from Wednesday, he said.
Winds will start to be noticeable and will be becoming damaging. Waves are likely to be damaging also, and we’d expect a coastal hazard warning around this time. Tides again will be abnormally high and Wednesday is when we should start to see our rainfall increasing into the evening.
Latest updates on Tropical Cyclone Alfred
Steven Bernasconi from the Bureau of Meteorology is providing a status update on Tropical Cyclone Alfred, and said:
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It is currently at category two, situated 410km northeast off Maroochydore and 455km northeast of Brisbane
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It’s moving around 12km an hour, southeast, away from the Queensland
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It is expected to slow and move west tomorrow – when there will be more certainty about its direction and location for a potential crossing
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The timing of a crossing is “still up in the air” but is predicted to be around Thursday or Friday
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A tropical cyclone watch for NSW will be issued later today, with gale force winds expected within the next 24 to 48 hours
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Cyclone watches will be updated every six hours until it moves closer to the coast
He said tropical cyclones are “unusual” for NSW, the last being in 1990, and before that, 1974.
Emergency services in NSW addressing media about Tropical Cyclone Alfred
The NSW emergency services minister, Jihad Dib, is speaking to the media about Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
As we flagged earlier, the tropical cyclone is expected to cross anywhere from Bundaberg in Queensland to northern NSW on Thursday as a category 2 system, bringing up to 600mm of rain a day.
Dib said emergency services were “preparing for a nasty set of weather in the upcoming week” and were doing all they could to be “as best prepared as [they] can be”:
It’s not lost on me that the area of NSW where it will hit, potentially, will be the northern part of NSW and as we know, the Northern Rivers area suffered its own major flooding and quite a difficult situation three years ago. But we will do everything we can in working with that community in making sure our communities are well prepared, well protected and can respond to whatever comes our way. It’s really important all members of public prepare for the event.
McBride supporters gather outside ACT supreme court ahead of appeal
Supporters for whistleblower David McBride have gathered outside the ACT supreme court, ahead of his appeal.
Heatwave warning remains over WA, NT and parts of Queensland
In some other weather news, a heatwave is persisting over Western Australia, the Northern Territory and parts of Queensland.
In WA the warning area stretches across the Kimberley, Pilbara, Gascoyne and north interior districts, with temperatures reaching the low to mid 40s. The Bureau of Meteorology said severe heatwave conditions are expected to intensify early in the week and peak midweek.
Coral Bay is set to reach 42C from tomorrow to Thursday, and Exmouth is expected to reach 43C tomorrow.
In the Northern Territory, maximum temperatures are reaching the high to mid 40s, with conditions also set to peak midweek. Alpurrurulam could reach 45C tomorrow and Wednesday, and Timber Creek 43C tomorrow.
In Queensland, the severe heat is expected to peak earlier in the week, with temperatures also in the high to mid 40s.
Birdsville and Bedourie are forecast to reach 45C today, and Mount Isa 43C.
