Australia news live: Plibersek condemns Israeli minister’s ‘disgraceful’ treatment of flotilla activists; Guzman y Gomez pulls out of US

From 2h ago 23.12 BST Plibersek says behaviour by Ben-Gvir ‘disgraceful’ as Greens call for stronger response Tanya Plibersek, minister for social services, said the behaviour by Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was “shameful” and “disgraceful”. Plibersek, speaking to RN Breakfast, had this to say: double quotation mark I think it was absolutely disgraceful behaviour and I’m very pleased to say that the foreign minister has said that in the strongest terms to the Israeli government. Our Australian ambassador in Israel has made the position of the Australian government very clear that this behaviour is acceptable, completely unacceptable. Greens senator Nick McKim went a step further, telling RN: double quotation mark That is abhorrent treatment of people by a senior figure in the Israeli government. People are being degraded. They’re having their human rights abused. It is effectively a form of torture. And the simple fact is that Israel is now a rogue state. They’re kidnapping people, including Australian citizens, from international waters on the high seas. It’s basically an act of piracy … I mean, this demands the strongest possible response from our prime minister and our foreign minister. A far, far stronger response than they’ve delivered to date. Nick McKim. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images Share Updated at 00.14 BST 7m ago 01.21 BST Lisa Cox Feral horse numbers surge in Kosciuszko national park Feral horse numbers in the Kosciuszko national park have surged, with new survey data estimating populations climbed by thousands after the New South Wales government paused aerial culling in 2025. Conservation advocates say the rebound in numbers demands an urgent rethink of retention zones that allow thousands of horses to remain in the park. View image in fullscreen Brumbies or feral horses on the plains above Kiandra in the Kosciuszko Park. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian The government’s annual survey of feral horse populations, released Friday, estimated there were between 6,476 and 16,411 feral horses in the national park in late 2025. This is a sharp increase on the previous year – the first survey after aerial shooting of horses resumed – when numbers dropped to an estimated 2,131-5,639 horses. Read more here: Feral horse numbers surge in Kosciuszko national park after pause in aerial culling, survey shows Read more Share 37m ago 00.52 BST Dan Jervis-Bardy Pauline Hanson announces Norway-inspired gas policy In case you missed it last night: One Nation has vowed to replace the contentious offshore gas profits tax and acquire 30% equity stakes in new ventures under an interventionist policy designed to extract “vastly greater returns” for Australian taxpayers from the resource. The proposal for the commonwealth to co-own gas projects drew a mix of criticism and cynicism from the government, industry and the Coalition, which accused One Nation of importing ideas from Venezuela. Pauline Hanson used a speech to a major gas industry conference in Adelaide on Thursday to detail a policy first flagged on the night of One Nation’s win in the Farrer byelection. Hanson said the public was “rightly unhappy” and “public unrest is building” about the return to taxpayers from the Australian oil and gas sector, voicing the same concerns as the broad coalition of groups campaigning to replace the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) with a 25% export levy. Read more here: Pauline Hanson announces Norway-inspired gas policy as she decries 25% export tax as ‘economic vandalism’ Read more View image in fullscreen Pauline Hanson. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images Share Updated at 00.54 BST 1h ago 00.33 BST Guzman y Gomez suddenly leaves the US market Guzman y Gomez, the Mexican-themed fast food chain, is pulling out of the United States in a spectacular turnaround on its American market ambitions, AAP reports. The decision was made because the financial performance of the US business was not acceptable or meeting targets. “I have always been confident in the differentiation of our food and guest experience, however this was not translating to an improvement in sales momentum,” founder and co-chief executive Steven Marks said. View image in fullscreen Photograph: James D Morgan/Getty Images Guzman’s US experiment lasted about six years, after it opened its first store in Chicago in January 2020. “I realised this was going to take significantly more time and capital than we had expected,” Marks said. Guzman on Friday reiterated that its Australian operation was still growing strongly. Share Updated at 00.36 BST 1h ago 00.13 BST Victoria police investigating fire at car dealership in Melbourne Victoria police are investigating the latest suspicious fire, at a car dealership in Richmond overnight. Police believe up to three offenders smashed their way into the business at around 11.20pm on Thursday night. Once inside, they allegedly used accelerant to light the fire before fleeing. Two cleaners inside at