Australia news LIVE: Barnaby Joyce barks at dog; Liberal senator scrutinised after One Nation praise; Israel seeks to water down criticism of Labor draft policy

Welcome to our rolling live coverage of all the latest news and developments around Australia and the world this Tuesday, July 21.

Here is what’s making news today.

• One Nation and Barnaby Joyce are back in the headlines. In an interview with the ABC on Monday night, Joyce took a moment from a question about whether he was comfortable with party leader Pauline Hanson’s policy positions, to chastise his dog off-camera. Meanwhile, right-wing Liberal senator Alex Antic’s declaration of One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts’ as a “clear thinker” and “decent bloke” has brought his future in the party under a cloud. Federal opposition leader Angus Taylor has spent the week highlighting Roberts’ antisemitic and fringe views.
• Israel is seeking to water down criticism of the Jewish state and settler violence in the West Bank in Labor’s draft policy platform, ahead of the party’s National Conference this weekend. With Labor MPs and delegates converging on Adelaide to debate party policy, the Israeli embassy has argued the party’s draft platform is one-sided against Israel, while going easy on Hamas and other Palestinian factions.
• A Herald investigation reveals some of Aland Group – one of Sydney’s largest private developers and construction companies – developments have been blighted by serious defects, massive fines and legal troubles. The revelations have prompted questions about why Premier Chris Minns and Building Commissioner James Sherrard boosted the image of a development company that had, just days earlier, responded to a series of show-cause notices from the Building Commission.
• British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has vowed “to bring back hope” after delivering his first remarks as leader outside 10 Downing Street. The country’s seventh leader since 2016, Burnham said his generation of politicians needed to “raise our game and rise to the new challenge”.

Washington: US President Donald Trump imposed 50 per cent tariffs on most Canadian goods, declaring that Canada had unfairly discriminated against American autos, alcohol and dairy products.

The move could unleash a new wave of economic chaos, with risks of higher inflation and further fraying of relations between two nations.

The administration official previewing the action said that Canada was one of the only nations other than China that retaliated against Trump’s previous tariffs and must be held accountable.

The official – who insisted on anonymity on a call with reporters to preview the president’s actions – said Trump had signed three proclamations to launch the tariffs under Section 338 of the 1930 Trade Act. Several Democratic lawmakers last year proposed repealing the section because they said Trump could use it to destabilise the economy.

The new 50 per cent tariffs would exclude energy products, potash, fish and critical minerals, but they would include goods that had previously been protected from import taxes by the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

President Donald Trump’s administration sought phone records of several New York Times journalists and even those of some of their relatives, according to a motion unsealed Monday – an unusually aggressive attempt to unmask the confidential sources of reporters who wrote about Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet.

The efforts by the Republican president’s administration to compel the identity of sources in the form of additional subpoenas come at a time when the executive branch’s relationship with the press is increasingly contentious. The efforts, described in a letter-motion filed by the Times over the weekend, were more expansive than previously known, the newspaper noted. They also covered a time frame that exceeded the news articles in question.

The Times revealed the government’s actions as part of an ongoing legal challenge to quash subpoenas that the Justice Department served on three journalists who reported on security concerns involving the jet.

The original subpoenas, delivered to reporters at their homes, marked a dramatic escalation of the Trump administration’s crackdown on media leaks, that free press advocates swiftly condemned as a government effort to intimidate news organisations. It followed an FBI search earlier this year of a Washington Post reporter’s home and the seizure of her electronic devices.

The new jet in question, a present from Qatar that Trump’s administration spent $US400 million ($571.5 million) to retrofit and upgrade, recently entered service. But Trump used an older model Air Force One jet to leave a NATO summit in Turkey earlier this month.

Federal Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg has refused to criticise his colleague Alex Antic’s declaration of One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts as a “clear thinker” and “decent bloke”, saying “he can praise who he wants”.

The future of the South Australian conservative firebrand and powerbroker has come under scrutiny after he complimented Roberts despite concerns about his antisemitic and fringe views.

In an interview with ABC radio on Tuesday morning, Bragg was asked whether he believed Roberts’ views — which includes saying he could not rule out that the Bondi terror attack was a false flag operation — represented clear thinking.

“I’m not a spokesperson for the other senators, but I’d certainly make the point that I don’t think that the Bondi atrocity was a false flag. As someone who lives in eastern Sydney, it was a horrendous event, and frankly, the community is still recovering from that,” he said.

Pressed on whether Roberts was a figure who should be praised by his Liberal colleagues, Bragg responded: “I’m not a spokesman for Alex. I mean, he can praise who he wants. I’m not getting into, you know, praising or not praising other colleagues.”

The NSW senator reiterated he didn’t believe a government containing One Nation would “be good for Australia”. Antic has refused to rule out a pact with the populist party in South Australia, which polled around 24 per cent in the latest state election.

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth says debates over Labor’s policies on the Middle East are a matter for the party, amid criticism from Israel over a to-be-debated draft.

The platform is set to call out settler violence in the West Bank, condemn a controversial new death penalty law and back two international courts considering genocide and war crimes charges against Israel.

Rishworth told ABC Radio National the debate is a matter for Labor’s upcoming national conference, but the government has been consistent in its desire for a two-state solution.

“We have unequivocally condemned Hamas, including for the atrocities of the seventh of October and its ongoing acts of terror ... we’ve also very clearly said that both Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live their lives free from terror and violence,” Rishworth said.

“We want to see a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians can live in secure borders, and I think our prime minister and our government’s been pretty clear about that,” Rishworth said.

Celebrities will descend on Kirribilli House on Tuesday as part of Nova’s annual backyard cricket match.

Captained by Nova radio hosts Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald, Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli and Kate Ritchie, the charity fixture will feature sporting stars and entertainment personalities alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for the eighth instalment of the annual fixture.

Legendary Australian swimmer Susie O’Neill, musician Amy Shark, Roosters fullback James Tedesco and former Wallaby Michael Hooper have all been announced as participants. Celebrity veterinarian Dr Chris Brown was forced to withdraw after undergoing surgery.

The prime minister will line up for Team Fitzy alongside O’Neill, media personality James Bracey, comedian Julia Morris and Michael Ennis, the former NRL player turned commentator.

Barnaby Joyce was about to answer a question on the ABC about whether he was comfortable with where his party leader, Pauline Hanson, was taking him, when he roared at a dog off-camera.

It wasn’t clear how close the dog was or what it was doing to raise his ire, but the strange outburst proved the climax of a live nine-minute interview during which he claimed Channel Seven had suggested Hanson meet with British right-wing agitator Tommy Robinson, and appeared to suggest that One Nation could try to identify illegal immigrants using the medical system and parking fine data.

When he composed himself, Joyce said he had changed his views the way that many other Australians had.

When journalist Sarah Ferguson asked if he had set a limit on how far he was willing to go in defence of Hanson, Joyce didn’t answer directly.

Israel is seeking to water down criticism of the Jewish state in Labor’s policy platform, which is set to call out settler violence in the West Bank, condemn a controversial new death penalty law and back two international courts considering genocide and war crimes charges against Israel.

As Palestinian advocates call for Labor to go further by banning defence exports to Israel and imposing sweeping sanctions, the Israeli embassy in Canberra argued Labor’s draft national platform is one-sided against Israel while going easy on Hamas and other Palestinian factions for failing to advance the peace process.

With Prime Minister Anthony Albanese seeking to project party unity under his leadership, Labor’s three-day national conference in Adelaide is unlikely to feature lively debates on contentious issues such as AUKUS, after senior ministers spent months settling arguments behind the scenes to avoid public brawls on the conference floor.

But debate could flare up over the Middle East, with the draft policy platform going into more detail on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute than past manifestos and pro-Palestinian activists on the march after Albanese last year decided to recognise Palestinian statehood.

The draft platform does not contain accusations of genocide over the way Israel fought the war in Gaza or call for restrictions on arms sales to Israel, but party activists are pushing behind the scenes to make it tougher.

Read more: Israel blasts Labor’s ‘one-sided’ policy platform as Palestinian advocates push further

The US have launched another round of strikes against Iran after one of the regime’s allies said they would impose a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis made their announcement despite signs that Tehran and Washington want to resume diplomacy to halt a worsening cycle of attacks that has all but wrecked a fragile interim agreement signed last month.

Oil prices rose briefly after the Houthi statement, but later fell back as traders held out hope of a diplomatic breakthrough. The insurance cost of shipping goods through the Red Sea rose on the increased risks for merchant shipping.

Even so, the US President Donald Trump ordered a new round of strikes against Iran – the 10th consecutive night of attacks – that started about 6am on Tuesday (AEST).

“The strikes are designed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” US Central Command said in a statement.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy is this morning defending his cabinet colleague Chris Bowen in the face of a “media beat-up” about $4.2 million in accommodation costs for an upcoming climate conference.

The Australian newspaper reported the figure, saying it was to “lock in accommodation for foreign bureaucrats”, referring to AusTender contracts that set aside up to $4,217,040 to host delegates at a pre-COP31 meeting in Fiji in early October.

The report notes the figures “represent the upper end of what the government could pay”.

Conroy says the ultimate cost will be disclosed “in the normal course”.

Washington: Recently, Pete Hegseth paid a visit to my local park. The US defence secretary was there to praise the National Guard for helping make Washington safe. He had to speak loudly into the microphone to overcome noise from nearby protesters.

“It’s the sound of ingrates, of ingratitude,” Hegseth said. “People who are so blinded by ideology, they can’t see law and order and common sense in front of them.”

They gathered at Meridian Hill Park, just two blocks from my apartment, because it has become something of a symbol of President Donald Trump’s drive to beautify the nation’s capital.

The park features the longest cascading water fountain in North America, with 13 basins running down the hill. Each one is wider than the step before, making it look longer from the bottom.

For people who live in this dense, concrete-laden area of Washington, this patch of green – also known as Malcolm X Park – is a beloved respite, especially in the unrelenting heat of summer.

Read more: The reflecting pool saga is a metaphor for the Trump presidency itself