Australian news and politics live: Albanese questions if Putin is ‘genuine’ about peace after Turkey no-show

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles has been speaking in Melbourne, where he’s been asked about Oscar Jenkins.

The Australian teacher was late last week sentenced to 13 years in a Russian maximum-security prison after being convicted of fighting alongside Ukrainian forces.

Mr Marles said the Government are “obviously very concerned” about his welfare, are deeply concerned by the sentence following a “sham trial”, and are calling on Russia to treat Mr Jenkins as a prisoner of war and honour the protections that go with that under international humanitarian law.

“We stand utterly opposed to the sentence that Russia have put in place,” Mr Marles said.

“We condemn Russia for the sentence.”

Victoria’s treasurer has revealed the state government will report a surplus when the budget is announced on Tuesday.

The long-awaited return to surplus has taken a $1 billion hit however as it hovers between between cost-of-living relief and paying down mounting debt.

AAP reports that Treasurer Jaclyn Symes will reveal a forecast $600 million operating surplus in 2025/26.

That is $1 billion smaller than was predicted less than six months ago.

Victoria has not posted a positive net operating result - which is day-to-day government sector running costs minus revenue and excludes spending on infrastructure projects - since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Its operating surpluses are then expected to be $1.9 billion in 2026/27 and $2.4 billion in 2027/28, higher than forecast in the state’s mid-year budget update.

Returning to an operating surplus was one of the steps laid out in the government’s fiscal strategy following successive lockdowns and cost blowouts on projects such as the North East Link and West Gate Tunnel.

Ms Symes said the surplus was “just the beginning”.

Ahead of his WA trip to sound out stakeholders around his looming North West Shelf gas project decision, freshly-minted environment minister Murray Watt has claimed he has a “good relationship” with Premier Roger Cook but described him as “no shrinking violet”.

Mr Watt has declared he’ll make a call on the expansion, a decision his predecessor Tanya Plibersek delayed multiple times before she was shuffled out of the portfolio after the election.

The Labor minister will travel to Perth on Tuesday to meet with the State leader, his counterpart Matthew Swinbourn, as well as industry, business and environmental groups.

“I’ve worked with Roger Cook and a number of his ministers in previous roles, and I’ve got a good relationship. Roger’s no shrinking violet, let’s face it, in putting forward the views of his state,” he told ABC radio on Monday.

Mr Watt said had received briefings on the project and was in a “listening” phase before making the final call.

“I think all parties want to see a resolution. Of course, there’s really strong views on either side of this debate, and I can guarantee you that whatever decision I make, there’ll be some people who’ll be unhappy,” he said.

“That’s the nature of the work that I’ll be doing in this portfolio. But it is my intention to stick to the current deadline of May 31.”

Anthony Albanese has taken a shot at Vladimir Putin for not turning up to Ukraine peace talks that he proposed.

The Russian President was supposed to attend the talks in Turkey last week but skipped them without giving a reason.

The Prime Minister on Sunday said it showed Mr Putin was not serious about bringing an end to the three-year conflict.

“We, of course, have seen recently President Putin proposed a meeting in Türkiye and then to not turn up to that meeting,” Mr Albanese told reporters in Rome.

“That says something about whether they are genuine in seeking peace.

“But certainly, (Ukrainian) President Zelensky reaffirmed his view that he wants to see peace, of course, in Ukraine, but he also wants to be directly involved clearly in those negotiations.

“The United States has an important role to play as well.”

Read Latika Bourke’s report from the press conference here.

A senior Liberal frontbencher has urged the party not to abandon its net zero target as divides over climate and nuclear energy policies threaten the coalition’s election rebuild.

Liberal leader Sussan Ley and Nationals counterpart David Littleproud continue to hammer out a power-sharing agreement, with the number of ministers assigned to each party central to negotiations.

But outspoken groups within each party are urging their leaders to ditch the coalition’s support of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, while some Nationals want a commitment from the Liberals to keep their nuclear power policy before signing a new agreement.

Liberal senator Jane Hume said policies were a matter for each party room, but her personal opinion was to keep net zero.

“The electorate has sent us a very clear message what it is that they want in their government,” she told Sky News on Monday.

“Abandoning net zero, I don’t necessarily think is consistent with that.”

Read the full story here.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been holding formal and informal meetings with other world leaders during the Pope’s inauguration ceremony celebrations in Vatican City.

Mr Albanese took time to grab a selfie after meeting the newly elected Canadian prime Minister Mark Carney before the two hold more formal talks.

“Great to meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney at the inauguration of the Holy Father,” Mr Albanese said

“Our two countries have a strong history of cooperation on global issues. And we will work together on closer trade and a more secure Indo-Pacific.”

Mr Carney replied on X that the conversation swung from the global economy to Vegemite.

“Great to meet @AlboMP: the only world leader who can discuss spirituality, the global economy, Vegemite hygiene & how Go-Jo was robbed @ Eurovision in one go. With the same values & ambitions Canada and Australia can help shape a fairer, more prosperous world.”

David Littleproud has appeared on Sunrise and explained the Nationals’ ideals toward net zero and nuclear energy post the Federal election.

“I think you can’t get to zero without nuclear energy,” Mr Littleproud said.

“Whether it’s specifically the policy that we took around government-owned or whether it’s simply removing the moratorium, I think you have to be pragmatic. You cannot do an all- renewables approach and keep the economy going.

“We were promised three years ago, a $275 reduction in our energy bills. They’ve gone up by over $1300.

“Unfortunately, physics and economics will catch up with us at some point.

“I think what Anthony Albanese was able to do in a masterful way was to perpetrate a lie around a $600 billion cost.

“The costings actually were $263 billion cheaper than an all-renewables approach of having a mixed grid, not just renewables but renewables and gas in it.”

A trial over whether a poisoned beef Wellington was deliberately served to four people with murderous intent is entering its final weeks as it continues to make international headlines.

Erin Patterson, 50, will face her fourth week of a Supreme Court trial on Monday, which is being held in the town of Morwell about two hours’ drive from Melbourne.

Fifteen jurors had been initially selected for the trial but this was cut down to 14 on Thursday after Justice Christopher Beale dismissed a juror for potentially discussing the case with family or friends.

The jury will be further whittled down to 12 by the end of the trial, who will be sequestered to decide whether Patterson is guilty of three murders and one attempted murder, or it was all a terrible accident.

Read the full story here.

Nationals leader David Littleproud has appeared on Sunrise and spoken about Anthony Albanese’s crucial trade talks with EU leaders.

“I think it’s back on the table in President Trump’s trade war around the globe. What the world is doing is trading around the United States where they can,” Littleproud said.

“We should take opportunity, but we also need to be careful.

“It’s not just about making sure we secure this. What the EU also wants Australian farmers to do is to produce your food and fibre in the same way that they do in Europe and not understand we’re on a different continent with a different climate and different environmental conditions.

“So we’ll be looking very closely at what the government can pen with the EU and we need to make sure what they impose on the side to the environmental standards that we need here in Australia because we’re a very different continent.

“It’s very encouraging and we should take advantage of this as quickly as we can as we get this opportunity.”

Labor Minister Tanya Plibersek has appeared on Sunrise and shed some light on the prosecco and feta affair facing the PM in Rome.

“We’ve been pursuing a free trade agreement with the European Union for many years now, in fact, before we came to government, this was already being negotiated,” Ms Plibersek told host David Woiwod.

“We already have about $156 million of two-way trade with the European Union but we’d like to see that increase.

“That’s good for Australia, it’s good for the European Union as well but there are a few sticking points,’ Ms Plibersek added.

‘Prosecco and fetta!” Woiwod exclaimed.

“Yes. There’s about a thousand names that the European Union wants to restrict the use of, and they are parmesan, fetta, prosecco, a whole lot of names of food that are related to the place where they come from,” Ms Plibersek confirmed.

“But we would say that the parmesan made in Australia is world’s best and we want to make sure that any free trade agreement with the European Union is a clear advantage for Australia.

“This is obviously one of the sticking points and we’ll continue to work through it.”