As it happened: Anthony Albanese urges support for Voice in parliamentary debate

Thank you for joining us today. I’m shutting up shop so that we can concentrate on breaking news. You can follow updates of the Sydney fire on a dedicated news blog.

Some of the other headlines that have captured our attention today include:

• A ship has grounded in the Suez Canal.
• US Congress has discussed our reporting on abducted kids in Japan.
• A man has been charged for allegedly making online threats against ABC journalist Stan Grant. Meanwhile, the ABC’s independent ombudsman has cleared the broadcaster of breaching its editorial standards in its coverage of King Charles’ coronation.
• The Australian Federal Police has launched a priority investigation into PwC.
• Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says public servants and politicians are being abused over the proposed Indigenous Voice to parliament.

To global news, and the International Energy Agency says solar projects are expected to outpace outlays on oil production for the first time this year.

The World Energy Investment report put out by the Paris-based energy watchdog stated that annual investment in renewable energy was up by nearly a quarter since 2021, compared with a 15 per cent rise for fossil fuels.

About 90 per cent of that clean energy spending comes from advanced economies and China. Overall, fossil fuel investment is still double the levels needed to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century.

“Clean energy is moving fast – faster than many people realise,” said IEA executive director Fatih Birol.

“For every dollar invested in fossil fuels, about 1.7 dollars are now going into clean energy. Five years ago, this ratio was one to one.”

Back in Australia, Laura Chung reported earlier today that the NSW government’s renewable energy projects are expected to be delayed, while some cost more than originally anticipated.

With Reuters

The roof has collapsed in the building fire in inner-city Sydney, and the blaze is beginning to spread to other apartment buildings. Follow the dedicated live blog for more updates.

This is Caitlin Fitzsimmons joining you for the rest of the evening. Christopher Harris has been pulled away to report on the fire in Sydney.

To the markets, and miners and banks dragged the Australian sharemarket lower today as stocks tumbled across the world on worries about the global economic outlook.

The S&P/ASX 200 was down 75.6 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 7138.2 at the close, as all sectors except information technology, healthcare and utilities traded in the red.

Millie Muroi has the full recap of the day’s trading.

A major fire has broken out in the inner-city suburb of Surry Hills in Sydney.

Fire has torn through the building near the corner of Randle and Chalmers streets.

Plumes of smoke have been billowing from the older building while footage of the fire show entire walls collapsing.

Residents have been told to avoid the area.

We have a dedicated blog to keep you updated on the fire in the Sydney CBD – you can follow it here.

Heading overseas for a moment, and it looks like the economic powerhouse of Europe is heading for turbulent times, according to AP.

The German economy contracted slightly in the first quarter of 2023 compared with the previous three months, thereby entering recession, data from the statistics office showed on Thursday.

Gross domestic product fell by 0.3 per cent for the quarter when adjusted for price and calendar effects, the data showed. This follows a decline of 0.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022. A recession is commonly defined as two successive quarters of contraction.