Australia news live: Rupert Murdoch among business leaders at inauguration; Sydney childcare centre targeted with antisemitic graffiti

NSW police have confirmed a childcare centre in Sydney’s south-east was targeted with antisemitic graffiti and set alight overnight.

Just before 1am emergency services were called to the centre in Maroubra where firefighters extinguished the blaze, but the building was “significantly damaged”, police said.

The building was unoccupied at the time and there were no reports of injuries. Offensive graffiti has been located on an external wall.

Officers have established a crime scene and an investigation was commenced. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.

Good morning

Emily Wind

Emily Wind here, signing on for blogging duties. I’ll be taking you through our live coverage for most of today.

As always, feel free to reach out with any story tips, feedback or questions via email: emily.wind@theguardian.com. Let’s go.

The government has announced $262m in another round of funding for local defence industry, to develop Australia’s Aukus submarine supply chain capacity.

Labor says the funding will support about 125 businesses across the country, to build industry capacity, and help get domestic products into US and UK supply chains.

The Aukus agreement, signed in August last year, officially came into force over the weekend, which will see US Virginia-class submarines transferred to Australia from the 2030s.

The defence minister, Richard Marles, said in a statement:

We are continuing to build and invest in an Australian submarine industrial base capable of supporting our future nuclear-powered submarine fleet and underpinning a strong local economy over the coming decades … This is a further demonstration that Aukus is happening now.

Natasha May

Mysterious grey debris which closed Sydney beaches similar to that found last year

The Northern Beaches council says early test results show mysterious grey ball-shaped debris which closed nine beaches are similar to those which washed up on eastern suburbs beaches last year.

The council is waiting on the full analysis of the testing it commissioned but the preliminary results show traces of hydrocarbons and other materials which appear to be consistent with some of the chemicals found in debris at other eastern suburbs beaches last year.

Those balls were revealed by testing coordinated with the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to be consistent with human-generated waste.

The EPA has also commissioned its own analysis of the balls on the northern beaches. Read more about what experts think is to blame here:

Albanese says Trump promised ‘perfect’ relationship

Natasha May

Australia has not received any explicit assurance from president-elect Donald Trump that Australia will not suffer any adverse tariff actions ahead of the inauguration, but Anthony Albanese told the ABC he is “confident” the two countries can work through economic issues.

I had a very constructive discussion with the incoming president when I wished him well on his election. I made the point to President Trump that the United States has enjoyed a trade surplus with Australia since the Truman presidency.

It’s been there for a long time, and the United States is, of course, a major investor here in Australia, and the relationship between our two economies is so important. So I’m very confident that we will work these issues through, because they’re in the interests of both Australia and the United States.

Laura Tingle:

But no explicit assurance at this stage, by the sounds of things?

Albanese:

Well, to be fair, he hasn’t been through the inauguration yet, but very clearly it was a positive discussion that we had. He said that we will have a perfect relationship, and I expect that the relationship between Australia and the United States will remain strong.

Natasha May

Albanese welcomes hostage release

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has welcomed the release of Israeli hostages, and wants to see more aid into Gaza “as quickly as possible”.

Speaking to ABC’s 7.30 program Monday evening, Albanese said “this is a fragile situation, but it is a step forward.”

The government continues to be concerned about the escalation of antisemitism here in Australia, he said, especially serious attacks such as the fire that was deliberately lit at the Adass synagogue in Melbourne and the attempted fire at the synagogue in Newtown.

Asked about the calls for a national cabinet meeting about the rise in antisemitism, Albanese said:

The important discussions that are taking place, the ones between the security and police agencies every day, and we’re also speaking with the premiers and chief ministers right around the country. We had a coordinated report through with the New South Wales acting premier and the Victorian premier, along with the AFP commissioner, because that is where the events, these incidents of violence and of criminal activity, have been concentrated.

Asked about Peter Dutton’s proposal for tougher anti-terror laws in response, including mandatory jail time of six years for anyone who attacks a place of worship, Albanese said it had the potential to be counterproductive.

Welcome

Martin Farrer

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Emily Wind with the main action.

Rupert Murdoch was among the parade of tech billionaires and influential business figures in Washington DC to mark the inauguration of Donald Trump. The media tycoon was spotted at a church service on the morning of the event – as well as the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Fifa’s Gianni Infantino – and in the select audience at the inauguration itself.

Hours before Trump was sworn in, Anthony Albanese told 7.30 that he had not received any explicit assurance from his camp that Australia would not suffer any adverse tariff actions. But Albanese said he was “confident” the two countries can work through economic issues. More coming up.

Australians are feeling more optimistic in 2025 about the fortunes of the economy and their families, our latest Essential poll shows, delivering Anthony Albanese a welcome boost. The prime minister’s approval was strongest among young voters, with 54% of those aged 18-34 giving the prime minister a positive rating, compared to only 36% of those over 55.