Australia news LIVE: Royal commission exposes gun registry intelligence gap; Coalition criticise ‘rush’ to pass tax changes; five divers found alive in Laos cave

The ABC’s managing director says the broadcaster will refocus its news division to do less, but to a better standard during a senate estimates hearing, the day after the executive leading the division abruptly resigned.

This masthead revealed Stevens’ departure after four years in the role on Wednesday, and Marks said it presents an opportunity to look forward at a “refreshed and rejuvenated output”.

“I think it’s an opportunity, obviously, for the ABC to enter into a new phase of operations, where we look to [...] the next 20 years to make sure that we’re fit for the future,” Marks said.

“I think we keep asking our people to do more to occupy more platforms to be in more places at more times, and that pressure of more is something that we’ve got to solve for and be very specific and focused on what we think is going to be our best and most effective output.”

“Doing more is not necessarily doing things better.”

An elderly man has allegedly been murdered in one of a string of violent unprovoked attacks in a regional town north of Brisbane.

A 36-year-old man is accused of deliberately reversing his vehicle into another car on the main street of Childers, a rural town near Bundaberg, about 2.30pm yesterday.

When a 65-year-old man emerged from the second vehicle to check for damage, the younger man allegedly reversed his car into him, then exited his car and assaulted the man before driving away.

Minutes later, the man pulled his car over and launched a second unprovoked attack on an elderly pedestrian, punching the 78-year-old man in the head before hitting him with a metal pole.

The pedestrian, from North Isis, sustained critical injuries and died at the scene.

A group of more than 30 former federal judges are urging a sitting US jurist in Florida to investigate whether the $US1.8 billion ($2.5 billion) agreement reached by the Trump administration to resolve the president’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service was “a fraud on the court”.

US District Judge Kathleen Williams had closed President Donald Trump’s case after his personal attorneys withdrew the lawsuit, which sought to hold the IRS liable for a past leak of his tax information.

The Justice Department separately announced it had agreed to launch an “anti-weaponisation” fund to settle the matter, but didn’t present that agreement to the judge.

In a court filing on Wednesday, the former judges – a mix of Republican and Democratic appointees – asked Williams to let them participate in the case and for her to undo the dismissal of Trump’s lawsuit and reopen the proceedings.

A Google software engineer was charged with insider trading on Polymarket, where he allegedly made more than $US1 million ($1.4 million) betting on one of last year’s most popular internet searches.

Michele Spagnuolo was charged in a complaint unsealed in federal court in New York. Spagnuolo, 36, appeared before a federal magistrate and was released on a $US2.25 million bond.

A lawyer for Spagnuolo didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the charges.

The case comes amid growing concern about insider trading on prediction markets.

Opposition defence spokesman James Paterson has accused the government of rushing through its tax change reforms to shelter itself from public criticism.

“They’re saying ‘just trust us, we’ll rush it through now, and then we’ll negotiate with you afterwards to repair the mistakes we’ve made’. Well, that’s an outrageous approach to legislating,” the senator told Sky News.

“I understand why they’re trying to do it because every day this debate goes on, it gets worse for the government, more people speak out … We’ve now got two Labor premiers on the public record panning Jim Chalmers’ budget, and Labor MPs are getting very, very nervous.”

Paterson said the prime minister had changed his mind on reforming negative gearing settings after promising before the last election not to touch the incentive, and he could do it again.

“If this is rushed through parliament, if it is slammed through, why wouldn’t he change his mind again and not go back and fix the problems that have been identified?” Paterson said.

“Once this is legislated, only the government can fix it.”

Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino says tax changes being introduced to parliament today will be a test for the Coalition, who have vowed to oppose the bill.

“What I’m increasingly hearing from the opposition is that when it comes to the housing market, when it comes to the way that [capital gains tax] and negative gearing operates to keep young people out of the housing market, they’re the party of the status quo,” Mulino told ABC News Breakfast this morning.

“Changes to the taxes in relation to how they’re keeping young people out of the housing market is one of the overarching rationales for the budget,” he added.

As the government is accused of rushing in the changes, Mulino said it was normal for tax legislation to come in waves, with an “overarching framework piece of legislation” followed by consultation on “particular issues”.

The government is undertaking “thorough and meaningful” conversations about potential carve-outs, Mulino said, after proposed capital gains tax changes prompted some backlash.

President Donald Trump asserted that no one nation would control the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway, highlighting a key sticking point in resolving the war with Iran.

Trump was asked during a meeting of his cabinet officials if he was comfortable with a short-term deal that would open the strait but under Iranian control.

“Nobody’s going to control it. It’s international waters,” Trump said Wednesday at the White House. “The strait’s going to be open to everybody” and the US will “watch over it.”

Oil remained lower on the day as traders stayed optimistic that a deal was in sight, even after Trump said he was “not satisfied” with the negotiations.

Education Minister Jason Clare has defended the government’s rush to legislate its budget tax changes, the first tranche of which will be put before the parliament today.

Clare said the winding back of negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, which the Coalition opposes and which has received backlash from an online campaign, would be done in stages.

“The first bill gets introduced today, but there’ll be a series of bills to implement these reforms, as there always is with big tax reform,” he told Sunrise.

Clare left the door open to widening capital gains tax exemptions for businesses as the consultation process continues.

Asked whether the government might increase the threshold so businesses with a turnover of $10 million, rather than the current $2 million, would be exempt from the capital gains tax, Clare said: “That’s what those conversations are about right now.”

“The bill today is about cutting income tax and about making it easier to buy a house, and it sets the foundations for these tax changes, but the second bill that we introduced will have all of that detail,” he said.

Victorian senator Jane Hume says the Coalition will oppose tax changes due to be introduced to parliament today.

Hume told Nine’s Today this morning a hypothetical future Coalition government “absolutely will” repeal the government’s changes if passed.

“They’re ramming through these changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing … without the appropriate scrutiny,” Hume said.

Hume said the Coalition will vote against the changes.

The opposition’s housing plans would focus on supply and enabling infrastructure as well as tying migration levels to housing completions, she said.

NSW Premier Chris Minns is hopeful Sydney’s Vivid festival drone show will return, after a “pretty embarrassing” failure that sent 89 devices into Darling Harbour.

The incident during the 7.30pm Star-Bound drone show on Monday night cancelled a later show that night and four others scheduled on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The issue was caused by an unforeseen change in the “radio frequency environment”, UK drone show operator Sky Magic said. The company called it an “anomaly” that had not been encountered during previous site visits and rehearsals.

Minns said he had received a report on the incident and was hopeful the show would return as scheduled on Sunday.