Australia news LIVE: Gaza ceasefire talks collapse; Marles and Wong to meet UK counterparts in Sydney; Hulk Hogan dead at 71

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has welcomed the Australian Council of Trade Unions’ new push on productivity ahead of next month’s economic roundtable, saying that inclusive and constructive discussion was a “good thing”.

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus went on the front foot this morning, appearing on several breakfast TV programs to spruik domestic and international data suggesting that bad management was among the biggest drags on productivity, as Australian workers report increased workloads and burn out with limited managerial support.

Speaking in Brisbane ahead of next month’s roundtable, Chalmers embraced a wide array of perspectives while acknowledging that “not every Australian will have a unanimous view”.

“We think it’s a good thing that people are being blunt and upfront about their views. I think that gives us the best possible chance of working out if there’s common ground and where that common ground might exist,” Chalmers said.

“People should be free to express their views about the best way forward when it comes to making our economy more productive, obviously decisions taken by managers and by boards and by others are relevant here to the productivity challenge.”

McManus has been invited to the economic roundtable, with NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey and Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood among the other business, union and political leaders also asked to attend.

US President Donald Trump has taken to Truth Social to celebrate the Albanese government’s decision to lift import restrictions on American beef, declaring that “we are going to sell so much” to Australia and that the removal of the ban constituted “undeniable and irrefutable proof that US beef is the safest and best in the entire world”.

“The other Countries that refuse our magnificent Beef are ON NOTICE,” Trump wrote.

“All of our Nation’s Ranchers, who are some of the hardest working and most wonderful people, are smiling today, which means I am smiling too. Let’s keep the Hot Streak going. IT’S THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA!”

The Albanese government has denied the decision to lift the ban, confirmed yesterday, was done to appease Trump, saying that it followed an expansive review from Australian biosecurity officials who concluded that the import of US beef wouldn’t compromise national security standards.

Cattle Australia chief executive Will Evans said yesterday he expected very little US beef to enter Australia after the ban lifted, finding that the trade terms still favoured Australian farmers and that any US beef imports would be in small quantities and often boutique products.

The British government will sign a 50-year treaty with Australia to cement the AUKUS defence pact in a massive strategic and financial deal, backing the plan when it is under extraordinary pressure from US President Donald Trump and his advisers.

The treaty will include a $41 billion pledge to scale up industry in both countries to build new submarine fleets with a common design, amid fears that Trump will undercut AUKUS and leave Australia and the UK exposed.

But the deal will require a soaring investment from Australia to ramp up construction in the UK on the new design for nuclear-propelled submarines, after it made another $800 million payment to the US to support its shipbuilding.

Read more here.

Liberal senator Jane Hume has backed calls from her Coalition colleagues for an independent review into the Albanese government’s decision to lift import restrictions on beef from the United States, months after US President Donald Trump publicly demanded that the ban be removed.

The government has said its decision is unrelated to White House pressure, but has come under fire from Coalition MPs and farmer groups over concerns that the move could undermine biosecurity standards central to national safety.

Speaking on Seven’s Sunrise, Hume said it was “not unreasonable” for a review of the documents and evidence supporting the decision.

“There is no second chance when it comes to protecting Australia’s livestock from biosecurity threats,” Hume said.

“It’s not unreasonable to ask what it is that’s changed and to understand what the decision has been based upon, to see those documents. I don’t think that’s unreasonable, particularly considering the timing.”

Health Minister Mark Butler said he wasn’t aware of the decision by Australia’s largest private health operator to close almost all of its psychology clinics before it was reported in the media yesterday, saying that changes to service delivery was placing “real financial pressure” on brick and mortar care models.

Ramsay Health Care announced the closure of 17 of its 20 psychology clinics yesterday, saying they would be closed by the end of August to support greater flexibility and sustainability within its mental health care.

Butler said the closures reflected a move towards more Australians accessing virtual psychology consultations rather than in-person, and has been told that mental health services will still be available to those whose local centres are being shut.

“About half of the work that they were doing out of those clinics was being conducted virtually,” Butler told ABC News Breakfast.

“More and more people are conducting their psychology sessions online rather than face-to-face … so Ramsey and some others as well are moving to quite different models of care.”

Health Minister Mark Butler has said the collapsing of Middle East ceasefire talks are distressing and disappointing, and has urged the return of negotiations and an end to the conflict.

United States mediators were directed to walk away from ceasefire talks in Qatar hours ago, following an identical move from Israeli negotiators. US special envoy Steve Witkoff blamed Hamas for the latest breakdown in negotiations, and said his team would “now consider alternative options” to secure stability in the region.

Speaking on ABC News Breakfast, Butler encouraged all parties to return to the negotiating table with an objective to end the conflict.

“This is, again, distressing, disappointing, the position in Gaza, the fact that hostages remain in place there, the terrible humanitarian position for the people of Gaza itself is just unsustainable,” Butler said.

“The suffering has to end. The hostages have to be returned. Innocent civilians in Gaza have to stop being subject to the conditions that they’re subject to right now.”

Butler refused to be drawn on a question probing if Australia should be doing more to support security and peace in the Middle East, saying it was a “delicate situation”, and reaffirmed his government’s wishes for the conflict to end.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the Albanese government would work “really closely” on the spending of a near $5 billion pledged to the United Kingdom under the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, ahead of meeting with his UK counterpart in Sydney today.

Marles said the funding, designed to support the expansion of British production for the nuclear reactors eventually installed on AUKUS submarines in Adelaide, would be closely monitored to ensure it underpins strong outcomes for Australian national security and defence interests.

“We will work really closely with the United Kingdom on the way in which that’s spent,” Marles told ABC’s 7.30 program last night. “But to give you a sense, I’ve visited that factory, I’ve seen the plans on how that expansion is going to occur.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong will also meet her UK counterpart today, which will mark the second ministerial consultations staged since the election of the Labour Party in last year’s UK general election.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that France will recognise Palestine as a state, adding that he would formally make the announcement before the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Macron said the decision was “consistent” with France’s “historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East”, adding in a statement on X that the “urgent priority” was to end the conflict in Gaza and “bring relief to the civilian population”.

Attached to Macron’s statement was a signed letter addressed to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, where he wrote that France would work to mobilise international partners to support peace in the Middle East, and that he would be “particularly attentive” to the implementation of a Gaza ceasefire and release of hostages held by Hamas.

It comes as Gaza ceasefire negotiations collapse in Qatar, prompting United States mediators to return home and consider “alternative options” to securing stability in the region. American negotiators blamed Hamas for the breakdown in talks, with their departure following the exit of Israeli mediators hours earlier.