In this bulletin;
- Top US official issues stark warning to Hamas after it allegedly releases an unidentified body;
- The opposition leader criticises the government's response to Whyalla steel;
- And in cricket, Test captain Pat Cummins says he's surprised by Matthew Kuhnemann's bowling review.
A top US official has issued a stark warning for Hamas following its alleged decision to release an unidentified hostage body.
The Israeli military is claiming one of the bodies released overnight by Hamas, reported to be that of Shiri Bibas, is not the Israeli woman.
Special envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler has told CNN the act is horrific, warning Hamas will face total annihilation if it doesn't release the rest of the hostages.
It remains unclear whether the next scheduled hostage exchange will still take place on Saturday.
Hamas has yet to comment on the allegation.
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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has criticised the government's support package for Whyalla steelworks and says he is completely opposed to nationalising it.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday announced a $2.4 billion joint state and federal government support package for Whyalla and its steelworks after the site was forced into administration.
Mr Albanese says safeguarding Australia's steel production is essential for the nation's construction industry as he announced the package alongside South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas.
When asked if the opposition would provide the same amount of money for upgrades to the steelworks, Mr Dutton has said the company is not going to be sustainable.
"If the Prime Minister proposes to own an airline and to own a casino and to own a steelworks and to own a glass manufacturer he should be very frank with the Australian people because all of this comes at a cost. And when people like Anthony Albanese run out of their own money they come after yours."
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Australia's Treasurer has called on landlords to take the Reserve Bank's interest rate reduction into consideration when setting rents.
The RBA eased the cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.1 per cent on Tuesday – the first official interest rate cut in more than four years.
It follows a run of 13 punishing increases for mortgage-holders in the last 18 months.
Simultaneously, renters have been struggling with record low vacancies and spiralling rents.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he wants to see landlords ease some pressure on tenants.
"When there are changes to interest rates, we want to see landlords factor that in when it comes to rent, but we're helping renters in other ways as well. Two rounds of rent assistance, when we re-wrote the tax cuts, we wanted to make sure that renters and people on low and middle incomes got a fairer go in those tax cuts which began in July. A whole range of our cost-of-living help is motivated by the fact that we understand people with a mortgage have been under pressure because of interest rates but people who are renting too."
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Australia's largest industry superannuation provider has been fined $27 million for failing to notify members of their duplicate accounts.
A federal court judge on Friday made the ruling against AustralianSuper, after it admitted more than 90 thousand of its members had multiple accounts that should have been merged over an eight-year period.
Affected members incurred approximately $69 million in losses through multiple administration fees, insurance premiums and lost investment earnings.
Chief executive Paul Schroder apologised for the conduct, saying that the company had compensated those affected.
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In cricket,
Australian test cricket captain Pat Cummins says he's surprised by the review into Matthew Kuhnemann's bowling action.
Mr Kuhnemann was reported during Australia's 2-0 Test series win in Sri Lanka and was put through intensive tests on his bowling action in Brisbane over the weekend.
Tests were observing whether the spinner had extended his elbow by more than 15 degrees on his stock ball.
Mr Cummins told ABC News Breakfast on Friday he is not an expert on the rules but hopes Mr Kuhnemann will be back to the game soon.
"Yeah really surprised, I think he's had testing in the last week or so. I must say I haven't really been following along but hopefully get the all clear and straight back to cricket but he was fantastic during the series in Sri Lanka like most of, all the guys were really. So, fingers crossed gets the all clear and can move on."
A determination from the International Cricket Council is expected within the next week and the spinner could be banned from bowling until he can prove he has remedied the issue.
Otherwise, Mr Kuhnemann could be cleared to continue bowling for Tasmania and will be available for Australia's tour of West Indies in June.
