Australia news live: Surge in EV demand and fuel diplomacy push send trade surplus to nine-year low

Jump in imports narrowed Australia’s goods trade surplus to $1.1bn in June quarter. Follow today’s news live Marles maintains gambling reforms about striking a ‘balance’ over ‘complex’ issue Richard Marles , the deputy prime minister, said the government still intends to get its gambling reforms past parliament despite opposition from the Greens and the Coalition, who both argue that they do not go far enough. I mean, we are doing more in terms of breaking the link between gambling advertising and sport, more in terms of protecting our kids from being exposed to gambling advertising on TV and radio at the times when they would be watching and listening. We’re doing more in terms of supporting BetStop, which helps people who identify to restrict their own gambling habits. So this is really important legislation and we’ll work with the parties across the parliament to get it passed. It’s also an area where you need to strike a balance and we believe we’ve done that … We’re not saying that people should not be able to engage in betting but there needs to be a balance. And it’s important. We’ve got work more work to do. We’ve announced that we do want to engage with and negotiate with both Tonga and Solomon Islands. Obviously, there’ll be a lot of work there that we want to do with them in partnership. It was a test which was destabilising and in a region where leaders have said we want an ocean of peace. It’s really important that partners respect that, and we would continue to encourage that respect. Continue reading...