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US slams Australia’s streaming quotas, PBS in new list of trade grievances

Michael Koziol - April 1, 2026

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Washington: The Trump administration has outlined serious concerns about the Albanese government’s new local content rules for streaming platforms and the “unfair” Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, in an escalation of US trade grievances against Australia.

The United States Trade Representative’s annual report, released on Tuesday evening (US time), adds several items to the list of trade “barriers” with Australia, chiefly concerning government interventions in the market that would largely impact American tech companies.

Of particular concern to President Donald Trump’s top trade officials is Labor’s move last year to require major streaming services to invest at least 10 per cent of their total Australian expenditure, or 7.5 per cent of Australian revenue, on local drama, documentary, children’s or arts content.

“US industry has expressed concern that the measure employs a narrow, outdated definition of Australian content and will distort important investment and production decisions,” the trade report said. “The United States has raised serious concerns regarding this issue and continues to monitor it.”

The report noted the US’ goods trade surplus with Australia decreased nearly 75 per cent in 2025 to $US4.6 billion ($6.65 billion), while the services trade surplus shrank by 5.5 per cent.

It also introduced a new section on the PBS, based on complaints from the US pharmaceutical industry that Australia “significantly undervalues American innovation through unfair drug pricing practices”.

Canberra was accused of using “slow and outdated monetary thresholds in its valuation process, leading to artificially low prices for innovative therapies” when setting prices for new medications.

Furthermore, it criticised the PBS for mandating price cuts for new drugs after a certain period if no generic or biosimilar competitor entered the market.

“These price cuts are applied without considering inflation, production costs or the ongoing therapeutic value of the medicine,” the USTR report said.

“Furthermore, Australia’s Risk Share Arrangements (RSAs) – with expenditure caps and a clawback mechanism, requiring drug manufacturers to reimburse the government for up to 100 per cent of expenditures exceeding the cap – shift financial risks to the manufacturers, including US pharmaceutical companies.”

Trump has accused other countries of free-riding on American innovation with subsidy schemes that cut the costs of medication, and demanded American consumers are offered the same prices as people elsewhere.

The Australian government has acknowledged the shift in US policy under Trump, saying it is in talks with the administration but pledging to protect the PBS.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s social media ban for children – which other nations are now exploring – was only lightly criticised in the new report.

“The United States continues to monitor enforcement of this [law] to ensure that US companies are not unfairly targeted,” it said.

The USTR said it was also monitoring the next steps of the News Media Bargaining Code, a mechanism aimed at forcing big tech firms to pay news outlets for the use of their content on social media platforms.

Albanese had intended to replace the voluntary system – including many lapsed agreements – with a mandatory scheme, but this was delayed amid Trump’s tariff threats and ongoing trade talks with the US.

The Australian Financial Review reported last year that US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau had directly raised concerns about the local content rules with Australian ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd – who will be replaced in coming weeks by defence department secretary Greg Moriarty.

While the grievances listed in the report are familiar to the Australian government, their formalisation in the document suggests the Trump administration will keep pursuing them in the course of ongoing trade talks.

The federal government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Health Minister Mark Butler has previously said the government wants Australians to pay less for medicine. “That means we’re going to have to continue to press the case for free trade with our trading partners, particularly the US,” he said. The PBS was “an utterly core part of our agenda”.

And Arts Minister Tony Burke has said local content obligations were necessary to guarantee that streaming services told Australian stories and not have it “drowned out” by foreign-made content.

The US Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, was a keynote speaker at last month’s superannuation summit at the Australian embassy in Washington, where he said the Trump administration’s approach to tariffs would not change despite the Supreme Court setback.

Greer told the audience his office was open for business but: “If your point is ‘take down all the tariffs’, we’re not going to get along.”

https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/us-slams-australia-s-streaming-quotas-pbs-in-new-list-of-trade-grievances-20260401-p5zkjy.html

https://ustr.gov/about/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2026/march/ustr-releases-2026-national-trade-estimate-report

https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/files/Press/Releases/2026/2026%20NTE%20Report%20_%20Final.pdf

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s social media ban for children – which other nations are now exploring – was only lightly criticised in the new report.

“The United States continues to monitor enforcement of this [law] to ensure that US companies are not unfairly targeted,” it said.

The USTR said it was also monitoring the next steps of the News Media Bargaining Code, a mechanism aimed at forcing big tech firms to pay news outlets for the use of their content on social media platforms.

Albanese had intended to replace the voluntary system – including many lapsed agreements – with a mandatory scheme, but this was delayed amid Trump’s tariff threats and ongoing trade talks with the US.

The Australian Financial Review reported last year that US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau had directly raised concerns about the local content rules with Australian ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd – who will be replaced in coming weeks by defence department secretary Greg Moriarty.

While the grievances listed in the report are familiar to the Australian government, their formalisation in the document suggests the Trump administration will keep pursuing them in the course of ongoing trade talks.

The federal government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Health Minister Mark Butler has previously said the government wants Australians to pay less for medicine. “That means we’re going to have to continue to press the case for free trade with our trading partners, particularly the US,” he said. The PBS was “an utterly core part of our agenda”.

And Arts Minister Tony Burke has said local content obligations were necessary to guarantee that streaming services told Australian stories and not have it “drowned out” by foreign-made content.

The US Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, was a keynote speaker at last month’s superannuation summit at the Australian embassy in Washington, where he said the Trump administration’s approach to tariffs would not change despite the Supreme Court setback.

Greer told the audience his office was open for business but: “If your point is ‘take down all the tariffs’, we’re not going to get along.”

https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/us-slams-australia-s-streaming-quotas-pbs-in-new-list-of-trade-grievances-20260401-p5zkjy.html

https://ustr.gov/about/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2026/march/ustr-releases-2026-national-trade-estimate-report

https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/files/Press/Releases/2026/2026%20NTE%20Report%20_%20Final.pdf

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Secret IBAC probe into Dan Andrews and UFU nears release

DAMON JOHNSTON - 1 April 2026

Victoria’s anti-corruption agency is poised to release the findings of its top secret investigation into dealings between former premier Dan Andrews and firefighter union chiefs in what looms as an election-year bombshell for Labor.

IBAC Commissioner Victoria Elliott has committed to tabling the Operation Richmond special report in parliament by June 30, in a move that threatens to ignite a fresh corruption crisis for Labor just five months before the election.

Operation Richmond, which has been running since 2019, has been probing the 2016 pay-and-conditions negotiations between the Andrews government and the United Firefighters Union and its state secretary Peter Marshall.

“IBAC is committed to publishing the Operation Richmond special report as soon as possible – with a view to publication before the end of the financial year,” Ms Elliott wrote in her April newsletter.

Operation Richmond has been dragging on for longer than World War II and Ms Elliott said the agency had reviewed its processes in an attempt to avoid future delays.

“We acknowledge the Operation Richmond special report process has been complex and has taken too long,” she wrote, adding that “there were a number of factors outside of our control which have delayed publication, including the pandemic and court matters”.

“We have reviewed our processes internally and made improvements to ensure what is within our control, is completed as efficiently as possible for future IBAC special reports.”

The Australian has previously reported during private examinations IBAC grilled witnesses about the role played by Mr Andrews in the negotiations which led to a favourable EBA deal with the UFU.

Mr Andrews, while still serving as premier, is believed to have been examined in a private hearing over the controversial events that handed the union generous allowances and effective operational control over the volunteer Country Fire Authority.

In a rare public statement about Operation Richmond, which has been conducted in complete secrecy, Ms Elliott confirmed the investigation was focused on “allegations of corrupt conduct during enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations between the Victorian government and United Firefighters Union in 2016”.

Ms Elliott said the report was in the natural justice phase, where witnesses and institutions referenced in the report are given the chance to respond before the final report is released in parliament.

In the newsletter, Ms Elliott has also renewed her push for IBAC to be granted broader powers to help the agency investigate corruption involving public funds.

“When a public body pays a contractor who hires subcontractors, and so on, the public funds move further down the line and into a gap – where any alleged corrupt conduct which occurs, is no longer within IBAC’s remit to investigate,” she wrote.

“Since 2016, IBAC has publicly advocated for ‘follow the dollar’ powers, which would provide IBAC the ability to follow the public funds through subcontractor arrangements and where evidence exists that suggests it was used corruptly, launch an investigation.

“I want to be clear, IBAC has many robust powers that allows us to thoroughly investigate what is within our jurisdiction. It is the jurisdiction, that we suggest, needs to evolve.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/secret-ibac-probe-into-dan-andrews-and-ufu-nears-release/news-story/67f97e6b0307be69d390431faaa02ce6

https://www.ibac.vic.gov.au/Commissioners-message-Insights-47

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Dezi Freeman’s final days and the clues that could lead police to his helpers

John Silvester - APRIL 1, 2026

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Those who chase fugitives use the expression: “You can run, but you can’t hide.”

For double police killer Dezi Freeman, the opposite was true – he could hide, but he couldn’t run.

Backed by a grab bag of loyalists and sovereign citizen conspiracy believers, Freeman was able to avoid police for seven months by living off the grid and moving as little as possible.

But lacking the network to be supported interstate and the resources to flee overseas, he was effectively trapped and waiting out time.

Freeman’s desperate hope was that he could outlast the police investigation, but Chief Commissioner Mike Bush made it clear that Taskforce Summit would continue until resolution.

Using multiple police sources, not authorised to be identified, we can reconstruct the final days of Australia’s most wanted man – one who police believed, until less than two weeks ago, had probably taken his own life in the bush.

The first tip was well-informed but vague. Freeman was hiding on a property somewhere near Walwa.

Using electronic resources and sources cultivated since Freeman shot and killed two police in August, investigators found his hideout near the Murray River at Thologolong.

Three ageing shipping containers and a cobbled-together campsite were discovered. On the roofs of the containers were apparently newly fitted spinning air ducts, fitted to make them habitable in the summer heat.

More than one person was likely needed to attach the additions. The crime scene shows that a new ladder was placed at the container near the ducts.

Detectives will be checking where the units were purchased and if there is CCTV of the buyers.

Police believe Freeman only recently moved to the remote bush site, perhaps as little as two weeks ago. Three camp chairs and an open box of beer are visual proof that the double killer had external support.

Once the hideout was discovered, the isolation that had protected Freeman became his enemy. He was trapped in his camp with the police having 360-degree access. If they could have chosen any place to find the dangerous offender, this was it.

So isolated he couldn’t take hostages and so open that he couldn’t slip away, he was a sitting duck.

The spot, near heavily wooded national park, provided ideal spots for police surveillance to conceal themselves, while the open camp dotted with trees could provide cover for the police arrest team.

Freeman was living rough, surviving off dam water and supplies dropped in by supporters. He now had a beard and long hair.

Once police were satisfied that the man at the camp was Freeman and that he was alone, the Special Operations Group brought up a mobile team capable of making an intercept if he tried to move.

Then, more than 24 hours before they confronted Freeman early Monday, they moved into their preliminary locations. Some SOG officers remained hidden in their go positions for more than a day. It is believed that electronic surveillance was used to confirm Freeman was alone.

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It is not known if the elite team had a chance to practise the raid at their indoor training headquarters, but they do routine arrest drills using one of six purpose-built containers.

Once they had mapped the arrest area, SOG commanders drew up an operational order covering all known contingencies.

Using darkness as cover, a team of eight – consisting of ground troops armed with military, heavy calibre semi-automatic weapons, and snipers with long-range specialist rifles – moved in, all having a line of sight to the camp.

Another sniper was on board the police helicopter, lying on a purpose-built external platform protruding from the aircraft.

A police negotiator made contact with the man in the container about 5.30am, ordering him to surrender and telling him that he would not be harmed if he complied. In conversations, the man said things only Freeman would know – final confirmation to police that he was the fugitive.

Using an armoured vehicle, police cut an opening in the container, using a snorkel to deploy flash bang grenades and gas.

Freeman left the container using a doona to try and protect himself from the devices deployed by police.

Told to surrender, he instead raised the police-issue 15-shot Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol he had stolen from one of the police he murdered, and then fired. This time, he couldn’t ambush police as they all sheltered in predetermined positions.

The ground troops and the snipers all returned fire. Freeman was shot more than 20 times.

An SOG dog was also unleashed.

The gun used by Freeman was found metres from his body, indicating it may have been shot from his hand.

Two burner phones found at the scene are being examined to try and establish who was assisting him.

The extent of the fatal injuries means DNA and/or fingerprint tests will be needed for confirmation of what is already known: that police found their man.

On August 26, 10 police went to Porepunkah to arrest Freeman over historical sex charges. Freeman had told friends and family it was over a skinny-dipping incident 20 years ago.

That is a lie. It was a serious child sex allegation.

Police knew Freeman was a difficult and obnoxious offender, but not necessarily dangerous. One of the arrest team, Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, had dealt with Freeman previously, and it was hoped his presence would help prevent any escalation.

Instead, Freeman opened fire, killing Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 35, and Thompson, 59.

A combination of luck and good work kept the toll from being higher. The third policeman who was shot was at risk of dying before paramedics were cleared to treat him.

Freeman also pointed a gun at the head of a female sergeant and pulled the trigger several times. It failed to discharge.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/no-shock-announcements-albanese-to-deliver-first-pm-address-to-the-nation-in-six-years-20260401-p5zkmf.html

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‘The months ahead may not be easy’: PM urges Australians to save fuel, catch bus

James Massola and Paul Sakkal - April 1, 2026

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has warned Australians the economic shocks of war in the Middle East will be felt for months to come, urging people not to take more fuel than they need for Easter road trips and to consider taking public transport in coming weeks.

In a rare address to the nation broadcast across TV and radio stations at 7pm, hours before US President Donald Trump is due to deliver his own address to Americans on Thursday morning (AEDT), Albanese reassured Australians they could go about their business as normal and enjoy the Easter break.

But his three-and-a-half minute address from his office in Parliament House in Canberra made plain that the government expects months of economic pain, potential shortages and supply chain disruptions as the global oil crisis enters its second month, even as the Trump administration suggests that its war with Iran could be coming to an end.

“If you’re hitting the road, don’t take more fuel than you need – just fill up like you normally would,” Albanese said.

“Think of others in your community, in the bush and in critical industries. And over coming weeks, if you can switch to catching the train or bus or tram to work, do so. That builds our reserves and it saves fuel for people who have no choice but to drive,” he said.

“Farmers and miners and tradies who need diesel every single day. And all those shift workers and nurses who do so much for our country.”

The prime minister listed the measures the government had taken, including a 26¢ cut to the fuel excise for motorists and suspending the heavy vehicle road user charge, convening the national cabinet and adopting a national fuel security plan, and urged Australians to do their bit.

“No government can promise to eliminate the pressures that this war is causing. I can promise we will do everything we can to protect Australia from the worst of it,” he said.

“These are uncertain times. But I am absolutely certain of this: we will deal with these global challenges, the Australian way. Working together – and looking after each other.”

Albanese’s address is the clearest signal yet that while the government is publicly optimistic about Australia’s ability to handle the shortfalls and supply pinches affecting the availability of petrol, diesel and fertiliser around the world, privately there is mounting concern within government about shortages beyond April.

Ahead of the prime minister’s address on Wednesday night, several Labor MPs, who asked not to be named, flagged the potential for fuel rationing in the future or even the parliament reverting to remote parliament arrangements.

Albanese has emphasised several times that COVID-style emergency measures and lockdowns were not being considered.

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Then-prime minister Kevin Rudd gave an address to the nation in 2008 about the global financial crisis and Scott Morrison used an address on March 12, 2020, to say the nation was “well-prepared and well-equipped” to handle the coronavirus threat – just days before his government closed the borders and the first national lockdowns began.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also brief his nation overnight, Australian time.

The Commonwealth and state premiers agreed on Monday to a national fuel security plan that may include rationing if tankers stopped arriving, but such measures are not yet in play because supply remains steady. There is a greater chance of shortages from May. Currently, fuel outages are exacerbated by excess demand and panic buying, while big firms such as miners have also increased bulk orders.

If Australia were to move to the next stage of the phased plan, level three, that could include restrictions on how much fuel people can purchase to ensure vital industries keep running. Working from home would be more strongly encouraged for people who are able to do so too.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Wednesday: “This is a significant economic shock, a bit like the others, including COVID-19, but it’s not the same, and we go to great lengths to make sure that people understand that we are doing our best to avoid COVID-style interventions.”

Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US could see “the finish line” in the conflict in Iran.

“It’s not today, it’s not tomorrow, but it is coming,” Rubio said on Fox News.

The United Arab Emirates is willing to use force to help the United States open the Strait of Hormuz, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

According to the report, which cites Arab officials, the UAE is lobbying the United Nations Security Council to authorise the action. A UAE official told the Journal the country was reviewing how it could play a military role in securing the crucial oil choke point, including helping clear it of mines.

The UAE has been subjected to drone strikes from Iran. Australian troops are stationed at a military base in the country, and the Australian government has deployed troops and weapons to the Gulf state to provide protection.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/no-shock-announcements-albanese-to-deliver-first-pm-address-to-the-nation-in-six-years-20260401-p5zkmf.html

https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/hub/media/tearout-excerpt/56032/PrimeMinistersAddresstotheNation_76uuid9w.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8p2YS4Rrf0