New Zealand's state-owned power transmission enterprise Transpower has issued a grid emergency notice due to a solar storm. The space weather event has been upgraded from severe to extreme, the highest category scientists use to measure galactic weather. Transpower says it is removing some transmission lines from its service on the South Island as a precaution. The storm could potentially produce northern lights in the US and disrupt communications over the weekend.

New Zealand is making defence a priority in its May 30 budget. The country's Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced a $520 million cash-splash on Defence. As tension rises in the Indo-Pacific, New Zealand is investing hundreds of millions in defence upgrades over four years. $148m will go towards a pay boost for defence personnel, while the $90m of the boost comes from savings made elsewhere in the New Zealand Defence Force budget.

New South Wales is on track to receive another drenching this weekend as a second wet weather system sweeps the state. Greater Sydney, the South Coast and Illawarra are in line to see the heaviest rainfall. Some areas have seen more than 20 millimetres of rain since 9am and could experience up to 200 millimetres by the end of tomorrow. Warragamba Dam is at 99 per cent capacity, and there are fears it could spill over, leading to more flooding in the city's northwest and Hawkesbury regions. Authorities are reminding residents in at-risk areas to prepare their homes for potential flooding.

The international community has reaffirmed its “unwavering support” for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine after voting in favour of Palestine being granted UN membership, according to Foreign Minister Penny Wong.  The United Nations General Assembly has voted in favour of Palestine being granted membership.  Australia – along with 142 other nations – passed the General Assembly resolution on Friday (local time) by recognising Palestine’s qualification to join the organisation.  “Australians know we’re not central to resolving this conflict, but what Australians do want is Australia to add our voice to the efforts of the international community to broker peace,” Ms Wong said during a media conference on Saturday.

Asbestos has been banned for over 20 years, but many Australians still suffer from its effects. Industry experts are calling for a shift in the way asbestos-related diseases are handled. The leading cause of mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer, is exposure to asbestos. Despite all forms of the material being banned in Australia, cases of non-occupational exposure are on the rise. Teens have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and approximately 4,000 Australians will lose their lives to this type of cancer this year alone.

The Albanese Government has committed more than $24 million to establish the Northern Territory’s first stand-alone medical school. The facility at Charles Darwin University will give priority to aspiring Indigenous doctors and students from the NT. Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory suffer from some of the worst rates of chronic disease in the world. This is something the new school hopes to combat. The school will have a particular focus on training local students. It is hoped that the school will reduce the Territory’s reliance on fly-in, fly-out medical staff.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says the “rejection of Hamas” is one of the reasons why Australia voted in favour to support a bid for Palestine to become a member of the UN.  The United Nations General Assembly has voted in favour of Palestine being granted membership.  Australia – along with 142 other nations – passed the General Assembly resolution on Friday (local time) by recognising Palestine’s qualification to join the organisation.  “What it did do, consistent with the two-state solution, was to express the General Assembly’s aspiration for Palestinian membership of the United Nations, noting that this must be recommended by the UN Security Council,” Ms Wong said during a media conference on Saturday.  “It did reaffirm the international community’s unwavering support for the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security within recognised borders.”

Support for Labor has slumped further as more voters turn their back on the party.  A new poll by GXO and JL partners shows the government losing a large chunk of voters that helped Prime Minister Anthony Albanese into office in 2022.  The poll revealed 27 per cent of Australians who voted for Labor at the last election no longer plan to vote for the party.  Of those surveyed, 16 per cent say they plan to vote for the Greens and Coalition, while another eight per cent remain undecided.  Almost three-quarters of voters think Labor is managing the cost-of-living crisis and inflation poorly.

The US State Department says Israel’s use of American weapons in Gaza has likely been inconsistent with international law.  In a report which had been delayed, the department says due to the nature of the conflict in Gaza makes it difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings on individual incidents.  It also said it’s “reasonable to assess” that US-supplied weapons have been used by Israeli security forces since October 7 in instances “inconsistent” with its international humanitarian law obligations.

Labor will pledge an additional $11.3 billion to help tackle the housing shortage crisis in next week’s budget. Overall, the housing budget support now sits at $36.3 billion.  Cost of living relief and housing will be the centrepieces of the budget.   Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down the government’s budget next week on Tuesday, May 14.

Former home affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo says Australia is in “a position of looming peril”. The long-serving bureaucrat claims the ADF is “optimised for escalated low-level conflict”.  He believes Australia would struggle to defend itself in a major conflict without support from the United States.   According to Mr Pezzullo, the 2010s were a decade of turmoil where political infighting distracted from necessary defence reforms.

The Australian Border Force has intercepted a vessel carrying dozens of suspected asylum seekers in Australian waters. The unauthorised boat was first detected on Thursday morning after it was destroyed by poor weather. More than 30 people onboard have been transferred to an offshore facility on Nauru after initially being taken to Christmas Island.

Australia’s relationship with China “is not stable” after the Darwin Royal Australian Airforce aircraft incident, says Strategic Analysis Australia’s Michael Shoebridge. “We hear from the government that they have stabilised the relationship between China and Australia,” Mr Shoebridge told Sky News Australia host Danica De Giorgio. “It is an unstable, dangerous relationship and the Chinese military are acting incredibly aggressively towards our military and we are not alone.”

Strategic Analysis Australia’s Michael Shoebridge says Australia is “not alone” when it comes to being in an “incredibly dangerous security relationship” with China. “Probably even today, the Chinese military will have done similar things to the Philippines military,” Mr Shoebridge told Sky News Australia host Danica De Giorgio. “They have done it to the Canadian, the Vietnamese, the Americas – everybody they bump into.”

The Chinese military has been “acting incredibly aggressively” toward Australia’s Defence Forces, says Strategic Analysis Australia’s Michael Shoebridge. “The Chinese military are acting incredibly aggressively towards our military and we are not alone,” Mr Shoebridge told Sky News Australia host Danica De Giorgio. “Probably even today, the Chinese military will have done similar things to the Philippines military. “They have done it to the Canadian, the Vietnamese, the Americas – everybody they bump into.”

Strategic Analysis Australia’s Michael Shoebridge has questioned if Labor is “going to wait for the Chinese military to kill someone” before getting proactive about Defence relations. “This is about the fourth time the Chinese military has done something when it has bumped into our military somewhere in the region,” Mr Shoebridge told Sky News Australia host Danica De Giorgio. “Are we going to wait for the Chinese military to kill someone in our Defence Force before we pick up a phone?”

Strategic Analysis Australia’s Michael Shoebridge has rubbished Beijing's common excuse of Defence Forces stray “too close to China” after a potentially fatal incident occurred off the coast of Darwin. “The Chinese say, oh it is because you are too close to China,” Mr Shoebridge told Sky News Australia host Danica De Giorgio. “Well, the Chinese military have done this off the coast of Darwin to a Royal Australian Airforce aircraft. “They put their laser onto the aircraft which could have blinded the pilots and caused it to crash.”

Sky News host James Morrow has blasted the Biden administration for their “gift to Hamas” and Iran by pausing military aid to Israel. US President Joe Biden has urged Israel not to go ahead with such an operation over fears it would exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian enclave. Earlier this week, Biden said the United States would not provide offensive weapons for a Rafah invasion, raising pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The full supine cowardice, the weak-willed idiocy, the jelly-brained determination of the Biden administration to throw over decades of American strategy to say nothing of one of America’s strongest allies, for no other reason than to gain tactical advantage in the November election – well, that was put display for the world to see over the past 24 hours. “After months of trying to manage Israel’s response to the atrocities of October 7, and years of acting like a pal to both Tehran and Tel Aviv, the Biden administration decided it finally had to pick one side or the other. “It reveals just how low Biden will stoop – selling out an ally when they are in the middle of trying to negotiate with Hamas for hostages, hostages of which five are believed to be Americans, by the way, and tipping the balance of power into Hamas’s favour because there’s a few votes in it. “Honestly, Joe, how low can you go?”

Cartoonist Mark Knight blames a mistaken invitation to the “Debt Gala” for why Victoria’s Premier Jacinta Allan and Treasurer Tim Pallas turned up to the “glamorous” Met Gala in a newspaper sketch. “I thought well why wouldn’t our Treasurer and our Premier be in there because they are doing such a wonderful job,” he told Sky News host Steve Price. “The only trouble was, their invitation was to the Debt Gala not to the Met Gala and they were politely refused entry.”

Cartoonist Mark Knight says his “send in the clowns” sketch was inspired by the failure of Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to take accountability following the released detainees debacle. “Their performance is on par with something from Barnum and Bailey so let’s draw them as a couple of clowns who were coming in to hopefully cheer up this poor woman Mrs Simons who was so, allegedly, terribly assaulted,” Mr Knight told Sky News host Steve Price. “But I don’t think they would cheer her up, sadly.”