Australia news LIVE: PM says he would dump ex-prince Andrew from line of royal succession; Bondi royal commission commences today

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

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

• The deputy leaer of the Greens has taken aim at Prime Minster Anthony Albanese after he wrote to the UK arguing the former Prince Andrew should be removed from the line of succession. Senator Mehreen Faruqi said Albanese’s letter was “not leadership”. In a later interview with Karl Stefanovic, Albanese said he had received confirmation the letter had been received by the UK.

• A New Zealand man was arrested in Perth after Australian Border Force officers allegedly caught him in possession of videos of “multiple overseas terrorist incidents” including “violent killings” on his phone. The 24-year-old man was stopped for a baggage search in the Perth Airport yesterday after arriving on an overseas flight. During that search, ABF officers allegedly found suspicious materials, and alerted the Australian Federal Police.

• Anthony Albanese spoke about where he was when he was first notified of the Bondi attack in Sydney in December, and the rush to Sydney after the gravity of the attack became clear. The prime minister recalled being in The Lodge before getting on an overnight flight to Sydney. He later visited Bondi police station, where he met first responders who had been working through the night.

• The parents of missing four-year-old boy Gus Lamont spoke out publicly for the first time, appealing for public assistance as police continue investigating his disappearance. In a statement, released by SA Police, Gus’ parents Josh and Jess Lamont said they were united in their grief and their search for answers about what happened to the boy that “means everything to us”. The boy’s disappearance was earlier this month declared a major crime.

• And overseas, British police have released Peter Mandelson on bail about nine hours after arresting the former UK cabinet minister on suspicion of misconduct in public office because of his ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was detained on similar grounds.

Thanks again for joining us. This is Isabel McMillan signing off.

Washington: Donald Trump’s new worldwide tariff on imports to America has gone into effect – at 10 per cent, not 15 per cent as threatened – as the US president vowed to retaliate against any country that “played games”, and belittled the Supreme Court on social media.

The new tariff came as transport and logistics giant FedEx sued the Trump administration for “a full refund” of the tariffs Trump had imposed using emergency powers, which were ruled unlawful by the nation’s highest court last week.

A US Customs and Border Protection bulletin issued on Monday evening (Washington time) said the new global tariff would be collected from midnight (4pm AEDT) at a rate of 10 per cent – the level Trump initially announced after the court’s bombshell decision. A separate notice confirmed that the collection of the old duties would cease at the same time.

Despite Trump posting on social media the day after the court ruling that he would “immediately” lift the rate to 15 per cent, the text of his proclamation was not changed or reissued. It means that, for now, Australian exports to the US will attract essentially the same tariff as before the court ruling.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said the government will continue to make its case against tariffs on Australian goods: “We repeat our view that these tariffs are unfair.”

Read the full story from US correspondent Michael Koziol here.

The Commonwealth Bank is scrapping 300 jobs across its retail banking, institutional and human resources divisions, with technology workers bearing the brunt of the cuts, in the latest round of lay-offs by a major Australian bank.

The job cuts come as the banking giant is also rolling out a program aimed at preparing workers for what CBA boss Matt Comyn warns will be an accelerating AI-driven shift in the workplace over the next five years.

On Tuesday, the Finance Sector Union slammed the 300 cuts as “totally unacceptable” after the bank’s recent $5.4 billion profit, and demanded the bank use its newly announced program to help workers affected by the job cuts find other positions inside the banking group.

A CBA spokesperson said the bank regularly reviewed the skills it needed, and signalled it had consolidated technology roles. They said the latest job cuts were not the result of AI, but that the technology “reshape how work is done across CBA and the broader economy”.

“AI is changing how some tasks are performed, but it is not the driver of these role changes,” they said.

Read the full story from economics writer Millie Muroi here.

British police have released Peter Mandelson on bail about nine hours after arresting the former UK cabinet minister on suspicion of misconduct in public office because of his ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was detained on similar grounds.

The Labour insider, who was elevated to the House of Lords after decades of senior roles in public life, is under investigation after the release of documents showing he sent confidential government information to Epstein while a minister.

Police were seen walking Mandelson to a vehicle on Monday afternoon in London (about 4am on Tuesday, AEDT) and they later confirmed they had begun searching a home in Camden in the north of the city as well as a country property in Wiltshire.

“Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office,” the Metropolitan Police said.

“He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, 23 February and [was] taken to a London police station for interview.”

Read the full report here.

Anthony Albanese said it was appropriate for state governments to prepare for the return of the 34 women and children seeking repatriation from Syria in case they made it back to Australian shores.

“If we said that no preparations were being made for if they do come back, that would be the worry,” the prime minister told Karl Stefanovic’s podcast, referring to NSW Premier Chris Minns’ comments yesterday that the state expected about a third of the cohort to settle there.

“Of course, preparations have been made, but the fact is that doesn’t constitute assistance,” he said.

The prime minister said Australians would expect that Australian kids get access to healthcare and education once in the country.

“Now it might be that they decide not to [return], because of charges potentially that will be laid,” he said.

“People are trying to make something more complex than it is. Point one, no [government] assistance for these people. Point two, Australian citizens do have rights. We are acting right up to where the law is, and the law was put in place by the former government.”

The prime minister said he would keep doing the nation’s top job as long as he was enjoying it, and as long as the Australian people would have him.

“I have an incredible privilege of being here,” Anthony Albanese told The Karl Stefanovic Show podcast.

“I didn’t have the ambition that some people have told people at school they’d be prime minister. I just wanted to make a contribution. I was quite enjoying being the infrastructure minister and building things, and that for me was a passion, but I found myself in a position to be Labor leader and to win an election.

“But it’s not something I take for granted. Each and every day is a privilege, and every day I wake up and think, you know, OK, what are we doing today? I work hard, and I never forget where I’ve come from.”