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Good morning. Today we take a look at the increasingly close friendship between opposition leader Peter Dutton and influential billionaire Gina Rinehart. As Dutton vies for the top job, we ask what influence the mining magnate will have over the next parliament, and launch an exclusive teaser episode for our new narrative podcast series.
Plus: could jobseeker recipients struggling to get by be a crucial voting block as the election looms?
And the US claims that Vladimir Putin “accepts the philosophy” of Donald Trump’s ceasefire and peace terms for the Ukraine conflict, as the two leaders prepare for talks expected this week.
Gina: the billionaire who wants to make Australia great
As we approach the Australian federal election, our new podcast series is exploring how much power and influence Gina Rinehart has in this country. She is a success story, worth almost $40bn. She’s also a climate sceptic, a Trumpette, a litigant – even against her own kids – and the woman who saved Australian swimming. Reged Ahmad speaks to Sarah Martin to ask: who is Gina Rinehart, and what does she want?
Gina Rinehart: the billionaire who wants to make Australia great
Gina Rinehart is a Trump supporter and a woman with ambitions for political influence: she has spoken about her desire to “make Australia great”.
Today, we dive deep into Rinehart’s close bond with aspiring prime minister Peter Dutton, who has pledged to “be the best friend the resource sector in Australia will ever have” and described the billionaire as “a dear friend”.
Rinehart has cultivated a relationship with the opposition leader since he took the job in 2022, and political donations have since flowed from Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting to the Coalition in unprecedented amounts.
There’s an image of big cities as soulless places, where everyone is just out for themselves. In the latest of our Kindest of strangers series, we hear from someone who left their precious flute on a Sydney train. The instrument was handed in to lost and found – but a lack of ID meant the station guards wouldn’t hand it back. Would an offer to play a tune unlock the impasse?
A construction giant is seeking urgent government support to prop up ailing subcontractors at the $836m Sydney Fish Market development, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The workplace regulator is investigating as a 32-year old is among 13 workers on a troubled Sydney tunnelling project who have been diagnosed with silicosis, reports ABC News.