Australia news LIVE: Strait of Hormuz to open; Australia hit by post-budget economic pessimism; Expanded shark drones after attack

The prime minister says he won’t fast track carve-outs for businesses from his budget tax changes and he would stick with the planned timeline.

Asked at a press conference in Victoria whether he was considering detailing exemptions to the capital gains tax changes this week, Anthony Albanese said: “No, there’s two periods of legislation.”

“We’ll await and treat the Senate committee with the respect that it deserves. They had hearings yesterday, they’ll have hearings again today, but then there’ll be further legislation,” he said.

“We foreshadowed ... that for issues such as start-ups, what we will do is deal with a discussion paper from Treasury. What we’ve had is consultation up to this point. That discussion paper will go out, which will enable for further input, which will be fed into the legislation later this year.”

The release of findings from a parliamentary inquiry into the government’s overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme has been delayed to the end of the week.

A Senate committee was scheduled to hand down its report today after a truncated two-day inquiry into the reforms, which aim to remove 350,000 people from the scheme and cut spending by $38 billion over four years.

“The committee has requested an extension of time to report to further consider evidence received. The committee will now deliver its final report on Friday, 19 June 2026,” it said in a statement today.

The Australian sharemarket has fallen at the open while Wall Street rallied in its first session since Donald Trump announced a peace deal had been agreed to with Iran.

The S&P/ASX 200 was down 74.5 points, or 0.8 per cent, in early trade.

The Reserve Bank announces its interest rate decision this afternoon, with the central bank widely tipped to stay on hold.

The ASX jumped 1.3 per cent on Monday after the US-Iran agreement was announced.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on social media that the US-Iran memorandum of understanding was an “important step” towards stopping the fighting but noted a final agreement for a lasting truce “has yet to take shape”.

US Vice President JD Vance told CNN that the signed memorandum was only about a page to a page and a half long, and is “a very general document”. Details will be released over the next two days, US officials said. Vance said it included “a very significant sanctions relief package” for Iran.

US and Iranian officials say it could eventually deliver substantial economic benefits to Iran by lifting sanctions, unfreezing foreign assets and setting a $300 billion reconstruction fund, paid for by neighbouring Gulf states, which host US military bases.

US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Iran would have to satisfy US demands never to build a nuclear weapon and cut off support for militias such as Hezbollah in Lebanon to get those benefits.

Reuters

The government is analysing how long it will take for oil production and shipping to ramp back up to normal after the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, as it mulls an extension to the fuel excise cut.

“Oil prices have come down materially,” Labor MP Andrew Charlton told the ABC. “They’re not back all the way to where they were before the war, but they have come down, and ultimately that flows through to benefits for Australian motorists. Exactly how quickly that flows through is yet to be determined.

“There are still a number of questions in relation to how long it will take to get some of the production facilities that have shut down to reopen, and how long it will take to clear the Strait of Hormuz. So, all that information is being analysed, and all that will inform the decision.”

The fuel excise cut will expire on June 30. It saves motorists about 32 cents a litre.

Before the US-Iran war, more than a fifth of the world’s oil travelled through the Strait of Hormuz. Due to shipping bottlenecks and delays in restarting production, energy experts have warned it will take at least three to six months after the strait is cleared for oil and fuel availability to return to normal.