As it happened: PM’s China visit continues; Antisemitism envoy scrutinised over husband’s donation to right-wing group

Thanks for reading today’s national news blog. This is where we’ll end today’s coverage. We’ll be back tomorrow with more live coverage.

To conclude, here’s a look back at the major stories:

• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese continued to tour China, walking a trade-security tightrope at several business events in Shanghai today before his meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing tomorrow.
• Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has defended antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal after it emerged her husband’s family trust gave $50,000 to right-wing lobby group Advance.
• Treasurer Jim Chalmers has opened the government’s economic roundtable to a tax grand bargain that would offset cuts with extra revenue while signalling to the states that any plan to increase the rate or breadth of the GST is unlikely to win favour.
• In NSW, a former transport official, who is alleged to have received $11.5 million in kickbacks from contractors for work on the state’s roads, is on the run, sparking a manhunt.
• In Victoria, the investigation into an arson attack on an Israeli-linked military parts manufacturer in Melbourne’s north-east has been escalated after further action was threatened on a video online.
• In Queensland, Premier David Crisafulli has claimed the actions of the CFMEU at Brisbane’s Centenary Bridge Upgrade job site added $22 million to the project.
• In Western Australia, German backpacker Carolina Wilga has broken her silence after being rescued from a 12-day ordeal lost in the state’s outback.
• In business news, childcare provider G8 Education told the ASX today that it did not believe that allegations of child sexual abuse at one of its centres would affect its stock price.

• In world news, at least eight Palestinians – mostly children – were killed, and more than a dozen were wounded in central Gaza when they went to collect water after an Israeli strike which the military said missed its target.

Thanks for your company. Have a good night.

In news just in, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has slammed conservative campaigning group Advance and its donors after it emerged that antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal’s husband’s family trust gave $50,000 to the controversial organisation.

But Burke defended Segal, a lawyer and businesswoman with a long career of high-profile roles, saying that claims she should be held responsible for her husband’s actions were outdated and misogynistic.

“Advance is an appalling organisation, and those who fund it are not acting in the cause of social cohesion,” Burke said.

“But another of the forms of bigotry that we are fighting is misogyny, and there is no way I am going back to the 1950s and blaming a woman for the actions of her husband.”

Read more of this exclusive story here.

Shadow home affairs minister Andrew Hastie says Australia is not obligated to clarify with the United States how it would respond to a conflict over Taiwan.

Hastie, a former assistant minister for defence and ex-SASR officer, was asked on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing today about reports the Pentagon was pressing Australia and Japan to confirm how it would act in a hypothetical war.

Asked whether Australia was obligated to clarify its stance, Hastie responded: “I don’t think we are.”

He continued: “I think the US is ambiguous in its position with Taiwan. If that’s the case they can’t expect their allies to be declaring their position hypothetically.”

Hastie was also asked if the US could demand that Australia deploy submarines acquired under AUKUS in the future, to which he said:

That is a good question to ask. And this is why I have called for transparency on our operational arrangements with the United States.

We have the marine expeditionary force up in Darwin. We have Pine Gap. We have the naval communications facility on the north-west coast. And we are going to have Submarine Rotational Force West – which is essentially a US base – from around 2027 and 2028.

It is important if a conflict arises we have an understanding with the US on our role, and what that means for our sovereignty and national interest.

And these are the sort of things the prime minister needs to be talking about with President Trump.

Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi has moved closer to calling antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal’s position untenable after it was revealed that her husband’s family trust had donated to controversial right-wing lobby group Advance.

Faruqi, an outspoken supporter of the Palestinian cause, suggested the news undermined Segal’s antisemitism report released last week.

“These revelations just add to the problems of an antisemitism report that does more to stifle free speech than to protect minority groups,” the senator said in a statement sent out in the past hour.

“Ms Segal’s position is fast becoming untenable, and the whole system of ‘envoys’ is redundant when we already have a Race Discrimination Commissioner empowered to combat all forms of racism.”

The prime minister’s speech in Shanghai this afternoon also repeated the federal government’s commitment to stabilising the Australia-China relationship after it reached a nadir under the last Coalition government.

Much like his roundtable appearance with Andrew Forrest earlier today, Anthony Albanese cited decarbonisation in pursuit of Paris Agreement goals to curb climate change as an area of potential co-operation between the two countries.

“Australia has a long and proud story of providing energy to our region and the world. Now is our chance to continue that story with a new chapter, one in which our country takes its place as a renewable energy superpower,” he said.

“I look forward to further discussions on these issues with China’s leaders tomorrow in Beijing.”

Read more about the trade-security tightrope that Albanese is walking here.