Top 10 at 11: ASX lifts 0.2pc against global market falls
Morning, and welcome to Stockhead's Top 10 (at 11… ish), highlighting the movers and shakers on the ASX in early-doors trading.
With the market opening at 10am sharp eastern time, the data is taken at 10:15, once trading kicks off in earnest.
In brief, this is what the markets have been up to this morning.
Global markets subdued as EU-US trade talks continue
Global markets fell across the board last night, as both Europe and the US digest the potential fallout of ongoing trade talks between the two trading blocs.
The Dow and the S&P 500 fell 0.6%, the Nasdaq 0.5%. The Euro FTSE 300 shed 0.7% and the UK FTSE 100 0.6%.
US President Trump threatened the EU with a flat 50% tariff just a few days ago, but has since extended the deadline for talks until July 9.
Diplomats and politicians on both sides of the negotiations have indicated they are progressing, perhaps moving toward something similar to the UK's trade deal with the US.
That left a 10% tariff in place but removed several other barriers to automotive and agricultural exports.
Court of International Trade rules tariffs unlawful
Adding another healthy dose of chaos to the mix, a three-judge panel at the Court of International Trade in New York has unanimously ruled President Trump's tariffs as 'contrary to the law'.
They found that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not give him 'unlimited' power to impose tariffs.
'Because of the Constitution's express allocation of the tariff power to Congress, we do not read IEEPA to delegate an unbounded tariff authority to the President. We instead read IEEPA's provisions to impose meaningful limits on any such authority it confers,' the ruling said.
Trump's new tax bill included a clause that could potentially limit the ability of the courts to enforce contempt citations for breaches of injunctions or temporary restraining orders.
The impact of the Court of International Trade's judgement may depend on whether the tax bill passes the US Senate in its current form.
Fed Reserve in 'wait and see' mode
Either way, the US Fed isn't happy with how things have evolved. The Fed's latest minutes revolved around the increasing threat of inflation, coupled with rising unemployment and falling economic productivity.
'The culprit is Trump's tariff plans,' Stockhead's Eddy Sunarto wrote earlier this morning.
'If they stick, they could jack up prices while slowing the economy, putting the Fed in a pickle: raise rates to cool inflation, or cut them to save jobs?'
Chair Jerome Powell has signalled the Fed has its hands tied until the dust settles around Trump's tariff plans.
It seems it's simply impossible to set monetary policy when the future impact to the economy is so uncertain.
The Fed will next meet on June 17-18, due to release new projections from policymakers on their outlook for employment, inflation and the wider economy.
ASX bucks global trend to gain in early trade
The ASX has lifted in the first hour of trade this morning, gaining 0.21% as of about 10.30am AEST.
Energy is leading the bourse up, riding higher on a 1% lift to oil prices overnight.
Tech and Bank stock indices are also in the green this morning, joined by 9 of 11 sectors.
The ASX All Ords Gold index is dragging, pushed lower by a cut to gold prices overnight as the US dollar recovered against major currencies.
Onto our winners and laggards for the morning...
WINNERS
Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap
BMO Bastion Minerals 0.002 100% 1299995 $903,628
AXP AXP Energy Ltd 0.0015 50% 50000 $6,574,681
MOM Moab Minerals Ltd 0.0015 50% 1042927 $1,733,666
TMK TMK Energy Limited 0.004 33% 36750 $30,667,149
BPP Babylon Pump & Power 0.005 25% 8000000 $11,082,268
BYH Bryah Resources Ltd 0.005 25% 2100000 $3,479,814
CAV Carnavale Resources 0.005 25% 16666 $16,360,874
EVR Ev Resources Ltd 0.005 25% 500000 $7,943,347
CCO The Calmer Co Int 0.003 20% 1351982 $7,528,289
FBR FBR Ltd 0.006 20% 3288732 $28,447,261
In the news...
Oncology biotech Invion's (ASX:IVX) non-melanoma skin cancer trial has shown early indications of strong promise, achieving an observable reduction in lesion size after a single treatment cycle.
The safety review committee noted no adverse events, and patients experienced no pain during the treatment according to clinician feedback.
The trial also demonstrated IVX's INV043 treatment has potential as a diagnostic tool, with suspected cancers fluorescing (glowing) under violet light.
BPH Global (ASX:BP8) is preparing its first shipment of Indonesian seaweed biomass under a sales cooperation agreement with PT Kebula Raya Bestari, delivering 60 metric tonnes to South Korea-based food ingredient manufacturer MSC.
Eden Innovations (ASX:EDE) has sold just over $878,000 in EdenCrete® products between February 6 and May 23, with year-on-year sales for April and May 86% higher than the sales for all of Q4 FY 2024.
The EdenCrete product is designed to lower the cost of concrete and reduce the amount of Portland Cement used, the main driver of carbon emissions in the concrete industry.
A farm-in agreement with Condor Energy has furnished Red Sky Energy (ASX:ROG) with the funding to advance the KN2 well at the Killanoola Oil Project.
The farm-in participants will collectively fund 75% of drilling and completion costs of the KN2 well, while Red Sky retains a 55% interest in the well and full control of the licence, remaining as its operator.
Education technology platform ReadCloud (ASX:RCL) has boosted its organic revenue growth 13% in the first half of the 2025 financial year. The company also lifted its underlying EBITDA by 73%, holding cash of $3.5m with operating cash inflow of $1.9m.
Bryah Resources (ASX:BYH) has kicked off a flora survey for its manganese mining licences, held with joint venture partner OM Ltd. Manganese prices have lifted by about 4.52% since the beginning of 2025, prompting Bryah to push the project toward production.
LAGGARDS
Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap
FTC Fintech Chain Ltd 0.003 -50% 2185603 $3,904,618
ALR Altairminerals 0.002 -33% 1756764 $12,890,233
VML Vital Metals Limited 0.002 -33% 5110645 $17,685,201
OVT Ovanti Limited 0.003 -25% 378539 $11,174,060
CHM Chimeric Therapeutic 0.004 -20% 5476493 $9,253,431
EPM Eclipse Metals 0.005 -17% 1 $17,194,914
DTM Dart Mining NL 0.003 -14% 100000 $4,193,195
OLI Oliver'S Real Food 0.006 -14% 1663 $3,785,123
TMS Tennant Minerals Ltd 0.006 -14% 300000 $6,691,233
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The Age
31 minutes ago
- The Age
Trump rages at ‘hustler' judges with his tariff agenda at mercy of the courts
Washington: President Donald Trump's sweeping worldwide tariffs will remain in place while the government pursues an appeal that will almost certainly be decided by the Supreme Court, with the administration saying it expects America's trading partners to keep negotiating deals in the meantime. The Court of International Trade on Thursday struck down a large swath of Trump's tariffs, finding the president overstepped his legal authority by using emergency powers. Less than 24 hours later, a federal judge in Washington made the same finding in a separate case. However, on Thursday (Friday AEST) a federal appeals court agreed to temporarily preserve the tariffs – which include a 10 per cent levy on Australian goods – while the appeal is urgently held. The White House said it expected the matter to be settled by the US Supreme Court, which could receive an appeal as soon as Friday. The government will argue that Trump has the authority to enact the tariffs under his foreign affairs and national security powers. 'The courts should have no role here,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. 'There is a troubling and dangerous trend of unelected judges inserting themselves into the presidential decision-making process. 'America cannot function if President Trump – or any other president for that matter – has their sensitive diplomatic or trade negotiations railroaded by activist judges. These judges are threatening to undermine the credibility of the United States on the world stage.' Trump later issued his first public remarks on the initial Court of International Trade ruling – which found the US Constitution gave Congress exclusive authority to regulate commerce with other countries – calling it 'wrong' and 'political'.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Tariffs a sideshow to greater US problem: economist
Samantha Donovan: Well up until the last couple of weeks, the financial markets have swung wildly after Donald Trump's every utterance on tariffs. Recent reaction to the President's trade policy shifts has been more muted though. Australian Justin Wolfers is a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. He told our business correspondent David Taylor, tariffs are now a sideshow to a much greater concern for the international community. Justin Wolfers: The Constitution gives the power over tariffs to Congress, not the White House. Now over the years, Congress has given some of that power, handed it off to the White House, but only in a very limited and constrained way. So a simple reading of the rules would say the President can't do this. So in order to have across the board tariffs or what he calls reciprocal tariffs on every country in the world, he's had to call it a national emergency and invoke the Emergency Powers Act, which is interesting, first of all, because that act says nothing about tariffs. And secondly, there's no emergency. The so-called emergencies, the US has trade deficits with many countries. Bilateral trade deficits are not themselves a problem. So it's been in the works that this was going to get knocked down and it finally hit court last night. The court said this is quite clearly unconstitutional. It was a three judge panel, an Obama judge, a Reagan judge, and a Trump judge. So it seems like a pretty clear decision. So that all seemed pretty clear until the US federal government, the Trump administration, filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals unsurprisingly agreed to hear the case. And while it's waiting to get its work done, so while they're reading the documents and so on, it decided to stay, that is to say reinstate the Trump tariffs. All of this is going to be on a pretty expedited schedule. So within a couple of weeks, they're going to come back with their decision. If, as I expect, they find this to be unconstitutional, then the tariffs will be back off again. Then we'll be off to the Supreme Court. We'll see the same drama play out one more time. And then what happens after that is what's really interesting. Because this is saying you can't have across the board tariffs, but recall Congress delegates certain tariff powers to the White House. And it turns out there's a lot of other statutory authorities that they could use. They're a little narrower. And so for instance, that's why the tariffs on steel and aluminium and cars are going to persist because they did not come through this overreach. And it would be easy to get further tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals and so on. So my guess is the White House lawyers are just going to find other ways of creating international trade havoc. David Taylor: That kind of goes to my next question though, Justin Wolfers, based on your understanding of recent history and Donald Trump, what is, and I know this is a very complicated and difficult question to answer, but where is Donald, where would you think that Donald Trump's mind is at? What do you think his next move is likely to be? Justin Wolfers: His lawyers will be telling him as of this afternoon, Mr. President, the statutory authority we were using will come under question. But if you want to push ahead with tariffs, I've got lots of other ways that you can do it. My guess based on past history is he'll say that's terrific. Let's keep going. David Taylor: Given that, and given how much you know that financial markets can't stand uncertainty, the market reaction, the financial markets reaction over the past 24 hours, I would describe as being quite muted compared to... Justin Wolfers: I agree. David Taylor: Yeah, why? Why? Justin Wolfers: Yeah, I've given this a lot of thought. So the S&P 500 rose one and a half percent when this was announced. That's quite muted given that the day that Trump... So, and this announced all of these tariffs are illegal and they're off. Compare that to seven days after Liberation Day when Trump announced a 90-day pause on the tariffs that led US stocks to rise by about 9%, like six times more for a pause as opposed to it's unconstitutional and you can't do it. So a few thoughts here. One is perhaps this is markets betting that this is going to be overturned at a later point. Another possibility is markets, even if markets don't think it's going to be overturned, and I don't think it's going to be overturned, I think the use of the Emergency Powers Act will be ruled unconstitutional. But even so, Trump has other ways of imposing tariffs. So I suspect that this is markets understanding someone's getting in the way of Trump creating tariffs the way he wants to, but he's probably just going to come back and do it a different way. If you're really interested in this, I'm going to give you one more interpretation. So the markets were incredibly volatile in early April when he announced Liberation Day tariffs, they tanked. When he paused, they soared. They acted like this was a huge thing. Now there's two interpretations of that. One, markets believe that tariffs are so fundamentally important to the profitability of American businesses they have no choice but to rise and fall dramatically every time something happens. If that were true, then you would have thought that the Supreme Court making it unconstitutional should have caused markets to absolutely soar today, and they merely rose a little. So the other possibility is that the original policy announcement was so incoherent, so poorly thought through, so dramatic, so unconstitutional on its face, so absurd, so much overreach in both the economic, political, and legal domains that it signalled an administration that's out of control, and that could do a lot of damage. And so maybe that's what markets were learning in early April. They reacted a little bit to tariffs and a huge amount to learning that this is an economically unhelpful administration. And if that's the case, then all that we learned today, when the courts say Trump wasn't allowed to do tariffs in a particular way, you're only going to see a small reaction because it's still true that the White House is full of lunatics, and that still weighs on people's minds. Samantha Donovan: Professor Justin Wolfers from the University of Michigan. He was speaking with our business correspondent, David Taylor.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Trump's tariffs given reprieve
Samantha Donovan: Hello, welcome to PM. I'm Samantha Donovan coming to you from the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation in Melbourne. Tonight, Donald Trump's tariffs remain in place after another court ruling. But the uncertainty about his trade agenda continues. Also, health experts warning a new strain of COVID is spreading across the country. And Inala Springs calls for an independent investigation into the death of a disabled Indigenous man in police custody. Thalia Anthony: There are concerns in the community about police investigating police. And I think the only way to change this record is to do something different. Samantha Donovan: Donald Trump's tariff regime has been given a reprieve after a US federal court ruled the import taxes will remain in place while it considers an appeal by the White House. A US trade court had blocked the tariffs by deciding the President had exceeded his authority in imposing them. Mr Trump has continued to rail against that decision, declaring it was a threat to the country and would quote, completely destroy presidential power. Luke Radford reports. Luke Radford: A lot can happen in a day, including yet another twist in the battle over Donald Trump's tariffs. A Manhattan court struck them down yesterday, arguing the power to levy tariffs in this case belongs to Congress, not the President. But after the Trump administration launched an appeal, the federal court has temporarily reinstated them. Something White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was quick to celebrate. Karoline Leavitt: The courts should have no role here. There is a troubling and dangerous trend of unelected judges inserting themselves into the presidential decision-making process. America cannot function if President Trump, or any other president for that matter, has their sensitive diplomatic or trade negotiations railroaded by activist judges. Luke Radford: It's important to note that the administration hasn't actually won its appeal. The courts just decided the tariffs can stay while that's being figured out. And despite what the White House says, experts say the court does have a role here. Nick Ackerman is a former assistant US attorney and was a member of the Watergate prosecution team. Nick Ackerman: I think ultimately, if you read the opinion, it's pretty well written, it's well reasoned. I think it's going to be affirmed by the Federal Circuit Court and most likely to be confirmed by the Supreme Court. I mean, I've been saying for a long time that this act just doesn't give him the power to impose the kinds of tariffs that he was imposing and doing it the way he did. Luke Radford: In the meantime, the US is continuing its negotiations with other countries. US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent told Fox News while discussions with China have stalled, yesterday's decision has had no notable impact. Scott Bessent: They are coming to us in good faith and trying to complete the deals before the 90-day pause ends. So we've seen no change in their attitude in the past 48 hours. As a matter of fact, I have a very large Japanese delegation coming to my office first thing tomorrow morning. Luke Radford: It's a small victory in what has been a tough week for the president. On Wednesday local time, he reacted angrily after he was asked about a new acronym coined on Wall Street. TACO. Short for Trump Always Chickens Out. Donald Trump: And in many ways, I think we really helped China tremendously because, you know, they were having great difficulty because we were basically going cold turkey with China. We were doing no business because of the tariff, because it was so high. But don't ever say what you said. That's a nasty question. Luke Radford: While this case is going to appeal, it's unlikely to be the end of the legal challenges. Another case lodged by 13 US states is still underway. Dan Rayfield is attorney general of Oregon. Dan Rayfield: When you have a president who thinks that you're above the law and above following the laws and is trying to corral power in this way, that is one of the most undemocratic things you can do. The Constitution of the United States gives the power to set tariffs solely to our Congress. Congress then delegates some of that power to the president. So it's not even his role. If we are going to have a healthy democracy long term, you have to have a president that is willing to follow your constitution. He takes an oath. You got to follow it. You got to take it seriously. Luke Radford: The White House says it has other ways of levying tariffs, even if this case goes against them. Samantha Donovan: Luke Radford reporting. Well up until the last couple of weeks, the financial markets have swung wildly after Donald Trump's every utterance on tariffs. Recent reaction to the President's trade policy shifts has been more muted though. Australian Justin Wolfers is a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. He told our business correspondent David Taylor, tariffs are now a sideshow to a much greater concern for the international community. Justin Wolfers: The Constitution gives the power over tariffs to Congress, not the White House. Now over the years, Congress has given some of that power, handed it off to the White House, but only in a very limited and constrained way. So a simple reading of the rules would say the President can't do this. So in order to have across the board tariffs or what he calls reciprocal tariffs on every country in the world, he's had to call it a national emergency and invoke the Emergency Powers Act, which is interesting, first of all, because that act says nothing about tariffs. And secondly, there's no emergency. The so-called emergencies, the US has trade deficits with many countries. Bilateral trade deficits are not themselves a problem. So it's been in the works that this was going to get knocked down and it finally hit court last night. The court said this is quite clearly unconstitutional. It was a three judge panel, an Obama judge, a Reagan judge, and a Trump judge. So it seems like a pretty clear decision. So that all seemed pretty clear until the US federal government, the Trump administration, filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals unsurprisingly agreed to hear the case. And while it's waiting to get its work done, so while they're reading the documents and so on, it decided to stay, that is to say reinstate the Trump tariffs. All of this is going to be on a pretty expedited schedule. So within a couple of weeks, they're going to come back with their decision. If, as I expect, they find this to be unconstitutional, then the tariffs will be back off again. Then we'll be off to the Supreme Court. We'll see the same drama play out one more time. And then what happens after that is what's really interesting. Because this is saying you can't have across the board tariffs, but recall Congress delegates certain tariff powers to the White House. And it turns out there's a lot of other statutory authorities that they could use. They're a little narrower. And so for instance, that's why the tariffs on steel and aluminium and cars are going to persist because they did not come through this overreach. And it would be easy to get further tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals and so on. So my guess is the White House lawyers are just going to find other ways of creating international trade havoc. David Taylor: That kind of goes to my next question though, Justin Wolfers, based on your understanding of recent history and Donald Trump, what is, and I know this is a very complicated and difficult question to answer, but where is Donald, where would you think that Donald Trump's mind is at? What do you think his next move is likely to be? Justin Wolfers: His lawyers will be telling him as of this afternoon, Mr. President, the statutory authority we were using will come under question. But if you want to push ahead with tariffs, I've got lots of other ways that you can do it. My guess based on past history is he'll say that's terrific. Let's keep going. David Taylor: Given that, and given how much you know that financial markets can't stand uncertainty, the market reaction, the financial markets reaction over the past 24 hours, I would describe as being quite muted compared to... Justin Wolfers: I agree. David Taylor: Yeah, why? Why? Justin Wolfers: Yeah, I've given this a lot of thought. So the S&P 500 rose one and a half percent when this was announced. That's quite muted given that the day that Trump... So, and this announced all of these tariffs are illegal and they're off. Compare that to seven days after Liberation Day when Trump announced a 90-day pause on the tariffs that led US stocks to rise by about 9%, like six times more for a pause as opposed to it's unconstitutional and you can't do it. So a few thoughts here. One is perhaps this is markets betting that this is going to be overturned at a later point. Another possibility is markets, even if markets don't think it's going to be overturned, and I don't think it's going to be overturned, I think the use of the Emergency Powers Act will be ruled unconstitutional. But even so, Trump has other ways of imposing tariffs. So I suspect that this is markets understanding someone's getting in the way of Trump creating tariffs the way he wants to, but he's probably just going to come back and do it a different way. If you're really interested in this, I'm going to give you one more interpretation. So the markets were incredibly volatile in early April when he announced Liberation Day tariffs, they tanked. When he paused, they soared. They acted like this was a huge thing. Now there's two interpretations of that. One, markets believe that tariffs are so fundamentally important to the profitability of American businesses they have no choice but to rise and fall dramatically every time something happens. If that were true, then you would have thought that the Supreme Court making it unconstitutional should have caused markets to absolutely soar today, and they merely rose a little. So the other possibility is that the original policy announcement was so incoherent, so poorly thought through, so dramatic, so unconstitutional on its face, so absurd, so much overreach in both the economic, political, and legal domains that it signalled an administration that's out of control, and that could do a lot of damage. And so maybe that's what markets were learning in early April. They reacted a little bit to tariffs and a huge amount to learning that this is an economically unhelpful administration. And if that's the case, then all that we learned today, when the courts say Trump wasn't allowed to do tariffs in a particular way, you're only going to see a small reaction because it's still true that the White House is full of lunatics, and that still weighs on people's minds. Samantha Donovan: Professor Justin Wolfers from the University of Michigan. He was speaking with our business correspondent, David Taylor. Well back to Australia now and in the Northern Territory, police have ruled out an independent investigation of the death of an Indigenous man in their custody this week. 24-year-old Kumunjai White was disabled and in state care. He died after being arrested in an Alice Springs supermarket for suspected theft. His family held a vigil there today and they're adamant his death must be investigated by someone other than the NT police. Myles Houlbrook-Walk reports. Myles Houlbrook-Walk: In the same aisles of the supermarket where Kumunjai White died, his family today have held a vigil mourning the loss of the 24-year-old Waltbury man. Ned Hargraves: No more. No more! We are saying enough is enough! Hear our words. Myles Houlbrook-Walk: His grandfather, Ned Hargrave, spoke of sorrow for his family and the remote Aboriginal community of Yundamoo in Central Australia where Kumunjai White was from before moving to supported accommodation for his disabilities in Alice Springs. Earlier this week, several senior Waltbury leaders had called for an independent investigation. Ned Hargraves: We want justice for my jaja, my grandson. I'm sure there is another way, another better way of dealing with things, dealing with people. Myles Houlbrook-Walk: Robin Japanagka Granites called for those in the supermarket when Kumunjai White died to come forward to assist the investigation. Robin Japanagka Granites: When we get everyone together, we need everyone to tell us what had happened. The truth will tell us and get us all back to normal. And in a normal way, we will talk to each other and tell us what can we do about it. Myles Houlbrook-Walk: There's been limited detail so far about the nature of the arrest. Northern Territory Police have said the young Waltbury man was placing items down the front of his clothes at the Cole's supermarket in Alice Springs when he was confronted by security guards. Two police officers in plain clothes were in the supermarket at the time and restrained the man. One person who says they were an eyewitness and asked to remain anonymous told the ABC they heard a lot of shouting and a lot of commotion. Opinion: What it was, I can't be sure, but yeah, it looked pretty violent. And then, yeah, they slammed into the ground. There's just like lots of shouting. Myles Houlbrook-Walk: As for calls for an independent investigation, they were today rejected by Police Commissioner Martin Dole, who in a statement confirmed he'd spoken to both officers. He extended sincere condolences to the family, friends and community of the man who died. He contacted both officers directly involved in the incident on Tuesday evening and understood the high level of public interest in the matter. However, said he would respectfully reject calls for the investigation to be handed to an external body. The statement went on to say. Martin Dole: This incident is being investigated by the major crime division which operates under strict protocols and with full transparency. The investigation will also be independently reviewed by the NT coroner who has broad powers to examine all aspects of the incident and make findings without interference. Myles Houlbrook-Walk: Thalia Anthony is a professor of law at the University of Technology, Sydney. Thalia Anthony: There are concerns in the community about police investigating police. We know for Aboriginal people that has not given them a sense of justice or accountability. And I think the only way to change this record is to do something different. Myles Houlbrook-Walk: She says the nature of the man's arrest, given his disability, needs to be closely examined. Thalia Anthony: Given that he was already under state care, I think it's going to be asked by the coroner, why did he get to this situation where he was in a supermarket allegedly hiding food? And then that triggered not only the security officer to get involved, but also the police to get involved. Myles Houlbrook-Walk: Thalia Anthony pointed to the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody and its findings regarding the importance of independent oversight of police. Thalia Anthony: The 1991 Royal Commission to Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was concerned with reinvestigating 99 Aboriginal deaths in custody because of the flawed nature of police investigating police. And so one of their most strident recommendations was that within 48 hours, an officer attached to the coroner should investigate the root cause of a death in custody. And the imminence of this investigation was essential. Samantha Donovan: Law Professor Thalia Anthony from the University of Technology, Sydney. Myles Houlbrook-Walk, the reporter. This is PM. I'm Samantha Donovan. You can hear all our programs live or later on the ABC Listen app. Ahead, Australians urge to get booster jabs as a new COVID variant sweeps the country. Dr Lara Herrero: It is now really being seen all over the world at various degrees. And there is a bit of a prediction that this might start taking over other strains. So this is why the WHO is saying, oh, we just need to keep an eye on this one. Samantha Donovan: Up to eight people have been detained by Border Protection Authorities after reaching a remote part of the Northern Territory coast by boat. They were found walking near the town of Maningrida, east of Darwin. The ABC understands they're Chinese nationals. Their arrival has set off another stoush between the government and opposition over border security. Andrew Green is the ABC's Defence Correspondent. Andrew, what can you tell us about these people who've arrived in Australia? Andrew Greene: These details have started emerging in perhaps the past 24 hours or so, but what we have established is that earlier this week on Tuesday, authorities in a remote part of the Northern Territory in Arnhem Land, around 500 kilometres east of Darwin, were alerted to the presence of a group of men believed to be from China who had made their way onto the Australian mainland in a very remote part of the northern coast of Australia. But they were detected and then apprehended by authorities. And then a day later, another two men, also believed to have come to Australia from China originally, were spotted by some local rangers and they too, we understand, are now in the custody of the Australian Border Force, but their precise location is not known. Samantha Donovan: Have the authorities had much to say about their arrival, Andrew? Andrew Greene: Following their usual course of action, they've said very little. In fact, in a statement, the Australian Border Force tells the ABC that it does not either confirm or deny operations or comment on them. But what we have established is that authorities are yet to locate a boat that may have taken these people to Australia. Now that points to a few things. It suggests that perhaps they were dropped off close to the mainland by perhaps even an Indonesian fishing vessel or by another party that's brought them to Australia. Apart from that though, very little known. We know that it's up to eight individuals who are, we believe most of them are from China, but that is of course not confirmed by the authorities. Samantha Donovan: And what's been the reaction from politicians? Andrew Greene: Well, the newly appointed Shadow Home Affairs Minister, Andrew Hastie, has said that this is another example of the underinvestment by the Albanese government in border protection. The fact that a boat carrying unauthorised arrivals had made it to the Australian mainland. And in response to that, the Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke, took aim at his new opposition counterpart. And he said that two days into the job, Andrew Hastie had already helped the cause of people smugglers by making those comments. So while not officially commenting on whether the arrivals had happened at all, Tony Burke did take a swing at his opponent. Samantha Donovan: Andrew Greene is the ABC's Defence Correspondent. A new strain of COVID-19 is surging in Australia and accounting for a large portion of cases across the country. Called NB 1.8.1, the variant is now the dominant strain in China and Hong Kong. Medical experts say it's a timely reminder for people here to get their booster vaccines. Kimberly Price has more. Kimberley Price: While many Australians will have thought COVID-19 was a thing of the past, a new variant of the virus has been detected across Australia and abroad. Dr Lara Herrero is a virologist at Griffith University. Dr Lara Herrero: So our new variant is NB 1.8.1, that's a mouthful and aren't all these variants named ridiculously I have to say. Kimberley Price: The World Health Organisation has declared the strain a variant under monitoring after it was first detected in January. Dr Herrero says NB 1.8.1 is now the dominant variant in China and Hong Kong. Dr Lara Herrero: It is now really being seen all over the world at various degrees and there is a bit of a prediction that this might start taking over other strains but this is early days for that so we'll just have to wait and see how that goes. But the new variant has come from a long range of lines and it's a descendant of JN1 which is what our current vaccines are actually made of. Kimberley Price: And it's made an impact here in Australia. Currently, the new variant makes up more than 40% of total COVID cases tested in Victoria. It's about 25% in Western Australia and New South Wales, about 20% in Queensland and less than 10% in South Australia. More than five years on from the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Herrero says there are still regular infections. Dr Lara Herrero: We've got particular mutations that are in the spike protein that seems to be making it easier for this virus to attach to our cells and it seems to be making this virus evade our antibodies a little bit better. So this is why the WHO are saying we just need to keep an eye on this one. Kimberley Price: The mutation of COVID-19 is not a new phenomenon. Professor Paul Griffin is the Director of Infectious Diseases at Mater Health Services in Brisbane. Prof Paul Griffin: This is what COVID has done many times and will keep doing. It's changed again and this new sub-variant has some properties that are a little bit concerning. We've seen cases go up potentially as a result. So it's really a timely reminder that we can't just forget about COVID. It's not over and we need to keep doing the good things we did for a little while to protect each other so we get this under control again. Kimberley Price: Early reports show NB1.8.1 has a high infection rate, but existing vaccines are effective against it and it can be detected through home and lab test kits. Prof Paul Griffin: This new sub-variant, whilst different in terms of protection from immunity, still is able to be detected by our current testing. So you can get a rapid antigen test at home that will find COVID as well as flu and RSV. Keep in mind though that at home tests aren't quite as good as a lab-based test. So if you have symptoms and your RAT is negative, still consider getting a laboratory-based test. Kimberley Price: However, in the past six months, less than 7% of adults have received a COVID vaccine according to federal data. Prof Paul Griffin: There was a new COVID booster that came out late last year and that looks to still provide excellent protection against this new sub-variant. So it's still going to keep working really well. The single biggest thing that determines what sort of symptoms you get or how sick you are is whether you're vaccinated or not. Kimberley Price: Health Minister Mark Butler is encouraging everyone to roll up their sleeves and get a booster shot. Mark Butler: I do encourage, particularly as we head into winter, for people to think about the last time they got a COVID vaccine. If it's more than six months since you had your last booster, if you're 65 to 74, if it's more than 12 months, and for everyone else, have a serious think. I've just got my booster over the last couple of weeks and I think that puts me in a good position. Kimberley Price: For Melbourne woman Maddy Ruskin, a new variant of COVID-19 is worrying. Maddy Ruskin: COVID can affect people regardless if they have pre-existing issues or not. So it makes me worried about the future of people's health because I wouldn't want anyone to end up like what I've been through. Kimberley Price: Maddy Ruskin has been chronically ill since she was 15 years old, but contracting COVID-19 in 2022 changed everything for her. Maddy Ruskin: I was experiencing symptoms that I'd never had before, developed allergies that I'd never had before, and my quality of life has really plummeted. It's been a really hard adjustment. I was used to being sick, but this is pretty severe. Kimberley Price: Now living with long COVID, Maddy Ruskin hopes more people think about their health by wearing a mask and getting booster vaccines. Maddy Ruskin: Don't risk your life. Don't risk the life that you enjoy living because just one infection, I only had one infection and just one infection can completely change your life. Kimberley Price: COVID-19 vaccines are free for all people in Australia, including those without a Medicare card. Samantha Donovan: Kimberly Price. And that's PM for this week. Thanks to producers David Sparkes and Gavin Coote. Technical production by Joram Toth, Nick Dracoulis and David Sergent. I'm Samantha Donovan. I hope you have a happy and safe weekend. Good night.
