The services index dropped to 46.0 in March, its third straight month of decline.

The letter described the FTA as a ‘strategic necessity’ but NZ First disagrees.

The head of Australia's Navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, will take over as the next Chief of Defence as part of a major overhaul of the Defence Force's most senior roles.

It comes after two of Australia's most senior military leaders – current Chief of Defence Chief Admiral David Johnston and Chief of Army Lieutenant General Simon Stuart – announced their retirement.

Chief of Joint Capabilities Susan Coyle will be taking over as Chief of Army – the first woman to hold the position – while Rear Admiral Matthew Buckley will fill Hammond's shoes as Chief of the Navy.

LIVE UPDATES: Trump calls Pope 'weak' in remarkable spray

In accepting his position this morning, Vice Admiral Hammond said he was looking forward to his new role during "the challenging times ahead".

He also noted that his appointment reflected the "more amphibious" direction that the ADF was taking.

Australia's acquirement of nuclear-powered submarines over the next decade under AUKUS will form a key focus of his position, in a move the government hopes will secure national security as well as drive economic prosperity.

Hammond has been Chief of Navy since his appointment to the role in 2022.

He has served in the navy for the past 40 years, at first in frigates, and then in and later commanding submarines and the Australian Fleet.

READ MORE: 'Blown to hell': Trump announces US blockade of Strait of Hormuz

Hammond, Coyle and Buckley will commence in their new roles in July when the current Chief of the ADF, Admiral David Johnston, will step down after more than 48 years in the armed forces.

"The Australian Defence Force is tireless in its efforts to keep Australians safe – and I am so pleased to announce these new appointments," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

"From July we will have the first ever female Chief of Army in the Australian Army's 125-year history."

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When he was elected, US President Trump gushed about him being "the first American pope".

Now it appears that warmth has faded as Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV, who was elected last May, continued his criticism of the US President's war in the Middle East.

The American president launched an extraordinary spray on the pontiff after the Pope blasted Trump's Iran vow that "a whole civilisation will die tonight."

LIVE UPDATES: Peace plans shattered as Trump weighs more strikes

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While the Vatican has a tradition of diplomatic neutrality, the Pope said the US President's vow was "truly unacceptable", adding any attacks on civilian infrastructure violate international law.

"Today as we all know there was this threat against all the people of Iran. This is truly unacceptable," Leo said as he left his country house in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.

Trump has now called the Pope "weak" and "terrible" and made confusing claims related to COVID, Venezuela and Barack Obama.

In a rant on his site, Trust Social, Trump said the pope was "weak on crime" and "terrible on social policy" before going on an incoherent rant which seemed to criticise the church over "arrests" during COVID involving social distancing.

"I like his brother Louis much better than I like him because Louis is MAGA," he said.

"We don't like a pope that says it's okay to have a nuclear weapon," he later told reporters."I don't like it. I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo."

He also said "I don't want a Pope who criticizes a president of the United States because I am doing exactly what I was elected in a LANDSLIDE to do."

Trump also brought up Venezuela, which the US attacked in January, in his remarkable post.

"I don't want a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.

WORLD: Bombshell election win in Hungary will ring alarm bells in the Kremlin

"I don't want a Pope who thinks it's terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country," he said.

He also claimed Leo was only chosen because he was president.

"Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise.

"He wasn't on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.

"If I wasn't in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican."

He also claimed the Pope "meets with Obama Sympathizers like David Axelrod, a LOSER from the Left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested."

Axelrod was an adviser to Obama.

"We don't like a pope that says it's okay to have a nuclear weapon," Trump later told reporters.

"I don't like it. I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo."

Trump, who just days before provoked the ire of Catholics around the world by posting an AI-generated image of himself as the pope, was quick to congratulate Leo last year when he was chosen to lead the Catholic Church.

"It is such an honour to realise that he is the first American Pope," Trump, who is Christian but not Catholic said, on Truth Social.

READ MORE: 'Blown to hell': Donald Trump announces US blockade of Strait of Hormuz

"What excitement, and what a Great Honour for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!"

Trump attended the funeral of Pope Francis.

The American pope has also recently urged Americans and other "people of good will"to contact their political leaders and congressional representatives to demand they reject war and work for peace.

He used his Easter appeal to plea for "peace and to reject war, especially a war which many people have said is an unjust war, which is continuing to escalate, and which is not resolving anything."

Leo has also publicly named Trump in saying he hoped the US president was truly "looking for an off-ramp."

Also last week Leo didn't cite Trump by name but in comments in English he urged people to contact their political leaders and congressional representatives "to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war."

He said the message to political leaders should be: "Come back to the table, let's talk, let's look for solutions in a peaceful way and let's remember especially the innocent children, the elderly, sick, so many people who have already become or will become victims of this continued warfare."

The Vatican is particularly concerned about how the Iran conflict has spread to a renewed war in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant Hezbollah group.

The Vatican fears for Christians in southern Lebanon.

The Pentagon has said reports of a meeting between senior Department of Defence officials and the Vatican's representative in the US are "highly exaggerated and distorted".

The Free Press reports the Pentagon summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre for a meeting with Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby.

At the January meeting, Pentagon officials reportedly criticised a speech made by Pope Leo XIV and told the cardinal the Vatican needed to get on board.

READ MORE: Young woman drowns at famous Aussie swimming hole

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Two people are missing after a horror house fire in Queensland on Saturday.

Both are in their 70s and reside at the property in Good Night, a remote rural area about an hour south-west of Bundaberg.

The home on Booyal Crossing Road went up in flames on the evening of April 11.

LIVE UPDATES: Peace plans shattered as Trump weighs more strikes

Multiple Queensland Fire Department crews attended the blaze, which had fully engulfed the home by 9.15pm, based on initial investigations.

The fire was put out before midnight but not before the roof of the home fell in.

Police established a crime scene and work is underway to make the ravaged property safe for investigators to enter.

READ MORE: 'Blown to hell': Donald Trump announces US blockade of Strait of Hormuz

Police continue to investigate the cause of the blaze.

Anyone with information or footage that may assist investigations has been asked to come forward.

Contact Policelink using the online suspicious activity form, or report crime information anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online.

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There is a strong possibility Australia could be headed for a recession if the war against Iran spills into the second half of 2026, economists have warned.

Fears of a recession loom large as the battle for control over the Strait of Hormuz enters a dramatic new phase and dashes any hope of a swift end to the conflict in the Middle East.

If a peace agreement is reached by the end of June, economic growth in Australia would still be slashed by more than half to 0.7 per cent, pushing unemployment to over five per cent for the first time since 2021, according to Deloitte modelling conducted for the Australian Financial Review.

LIVE UPDATES: Peace plans shattered as Trump weighs more strikes

READ MORE: 'Blown to hell': Donald Trump announces US blockade of Strait of Hormuz

Any longer than that, unemployment could teeter dangerously close to above six per cent, driving Australia to its first recession since the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The longer this conflict drags on, the worse it looks, including for Australia," AFR's Economic Editor John Kehoe told Today.

"If it drags onto mid-year, the Strait of Hormuz doesn't get open and the oil doesn't start flowing through, there is a real possibility of a recession in Australia."

Kehoe said this worst-case scenario is edging closer to reality as US President Donald Trump struggles to find a solution to Iran's blockade of the critical waterway.

He warned a recession in Australia becomes more likely every week that commercial vessels are locked out of the Strait.

A prolonged war would spell bad news for the global economy, as well as local job and inflation data.

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"Becoming more plausible because we're not seeing a lot of good news coming out of the Middle East," Kehoe added.

"We'd want to see something in terms of the Strait of Hormuz opening within the next few weeks.

"If it drags on much beyond that, you'd have to say the economic outcomes in Australia are not going to be good."

While Treasurer Jim Chalmers has flatly denied any suggestion of a recession, the RBA has flagged that a domestic recession could be a necessary evil to drive inflation down.

"We don't want to have a recession, but if it's hard to get inflation down, then we're going to have to deal with that, possibly," RBA governor Michele Bullock said.

READ MORE: Young woman drowns at famous Aussie swimming hole

Chalmers said over the weekend that the Australian economy was weathering the Middle East fallout "from a position of relative strength".

"[We] know the effects of this crisis will be felt for a long time and as I've said, we are considering that as we prepare the budget," Chalmers said.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has flagged major structural changes to the estimated $55 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the scrapping of key investor tax breaks in the May Federal Budget.

The PM suggested the surging costs of the NDIS mean it requires an overhaul to remain "sustainable" and that this could form a large part of Labor's cost-saving strategy in next month's budget.

"The NDIS was there to assist people who have a permanent incapacity to fully participate in society – that's something we need to value and cherish," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

LIVE UPDATES: 'Blow them to hell': Trump to blockade Strait of Hormuz

READ MORE: Government faces backlash over $20m fuel campaign

"It's undermined if four out of 10 kids in a class are on the NDIS.

"That wasn't why it has that public support, and we need to make sure that we maintain public support by ensuring it's sustainable."

Health Minister Mark Butler last year claimed that one out of every 10 six-year-olds are on the NDIS in Australia while announcing plans to scale back young people with mild autism on the scheme.

The cost of operating the NDIS – believed to be the government's largest budget blow-out – has doubled since 2021, even outpacing spending on defence.

Spending on the NDIS hit $46.1 billion during the 2025/26 financial year and is forecast to reach $55.1 billion in the next financial year.

But the PM ruled out introducing means-testing for the disability scheme.

"No. Well, we support the universality of the system," he told the Australian Financial Review.

"Eligibility should be about people's disability and enabling them to fully participate in society."

Nine newspapers last month reported that Labor was working to a lesser five per cent growth target for the NDIS this budget.

READ MORE: Lydia and Wehan were ready to buy a house after travelling Australia. Property prices drove them back to the road

Albanese's pre-budget schedule has been derailed by his urgent trip to Singapore and tour through Asia this week, which will see the PM meet with the Sultan of Brunei and Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to ensure Australia has a healthy supply of fertiliser and fuel.

The PM said fuel security would also be a focus in the May budget, described as his government's "most important budget to date".

He also flagged the possibility of ending property tax breaks for investors, which may include winding back the capital gains tax (CGT) discount.

Rumours of the government making changes to Australia's generous tax incentives for property investors in the May budget have been growing since the start of the year.

"The system needs to work for people," the PM added.

"You don't change that by rhetoric and by dividing people, which is, what is some of the populist rhetoric.

"You do that by giving people a stake in the economy."

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