Fuel importers must hold at least 21 days of diesel or face heavy fines.

At 74 years old, Larry Allison's alarm clock still goes off at 5.15am two days a week. 

While many his age are enjoying a quiet retirement, the former merchant banker and removalist is climbing behind the wheel of a school bus in Port Stephens, on the north coast of New South Wales, for his part-time job.

Allison is one of a growing number of Australian seniors who have discovered that a lifetime of hard work isn't enough to keep up with a modern cost-of-living crisis. 

He told nine.com.au he simply couldn't survive the increases in all of his major expenses if he didn't keep working.

"Everything just keeps going up – more than the rate of inflation," he said.

"Over the last 12 months, our electricity is up 33 percent, insurance has gone up by 20 percent, and it just doesn't stop."

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Allison originally thought he would retire at 65. Now, he estimates he will have to keep working until he is at least 80.

In a recent Change.org petition started by Allison, the pensioner laid bare the reality of his "golden years."

"I wake up each week knowing that I still have to work two days just to keep my head above water," Allison wrote. 

"I am an age pensioner, and after a lifetime of hard work, it's disheartening to see that I can't afford to slow down and enjoy my golden years at home. 

"Instead, I am forced to continue working because the cost of living has become unbearable."

Pensioners working longer than ever

Allison's struggle is reflected in a nationwide trend of Australians delaying full retirement. 

According to the latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey data, retirement rates have plummeted over the last two decades.

In 2003, roughly 70 percent of women and nearly half of men aged 60 – 64 had fully retired. Today, those numbers have fallen to 41 percent and 27 percent respectively. 

Even for those in their late sixties (65–69), retirement is no longer a given: only 66 percent of women and 61 percent of men in this age bracket are fully retired, down from much higher levels twenty years ago.

The physical and mental toll of working into one's late seventies is significant. 

To keep his heavy vehicle licence, Allison undergoes annual driving tests and check-ups with an endocrinologist, a heart specialist, and a GP. This year, a cognitive test will be added.

"I had open-heart surgery three years ago… but I still managed to get back to work," he said.

Calls for reform: "Let pensioners work"

A common frustration for many working seniors lies with the pension income test. 

Currently, once a single pensioner earns over $218 a fortnight (or $380 for a couple), their pension payments are reduced by 50 cents for every dollar earned.

"When I was working three or four days a week, I was losing 50 cents in every dollar, plus paying 30 cents in tax," Allison said. "There was no point."

This sentiment is at the heart of the National Seniors Australia (NSA) "Let Pensioners Work" campaign. 

The NSA is lobbying the government to exempt employment income from the Age Pension income test entirely. 

They argue the current system effectively "taxes" seniors at a higher marginal rate than many high-income earners, discouraging them from filling critical labour shortages in sectors like aged care and agriculture.

Billy Pringle, Senior Policy Officer for the Combined Pensioners & Superannuants Association (CPSA), said the cost-of-living squeeze was becoming unbearable for many pensioners. 

While the pension is indexed to the CPI, Pringle points out that those increases always arrive after the prices have already spiked.

"Pensioners are always having to play catch-up," Pringle said. 

"We've heard from people who are eating less nutritious meals because they aren't able to get fresh fruit and vegetables… or they might be skipping meals altogether."

Pringle warns that for those who aren't physically able to "pick up an extra shift" like Allison, the situation is dire. 

"People have paid tax their whole life with the promise that they can retire, and then they are forced back into the workforce because of circumstance."

The shifting safety net

To prevent the pension from losing its value, the government uses a complex "triple-check" system for indexation every March and September. 

It compares the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures general inflation, with the Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index (PBLCI), which is tailored to the specific spending patterns of seniors – like higher healthcare and energy costs. The pension is increased by whichever of these two is higher. 

Finally, the rate is benchmarked against Male Total Average Weekly Earnings to ensure pensioners' living standards don't fall too far behind those of workers.

However, Pringle points out that these metrics often fail to capture the true financial burden on individuals, noting that while rent factors in at about 6 percent of the CPI and 20 percent of the PBLCI, "there's very few people for whom rent is only six or even 20 percent of their income and of their costs; mostly it's north of 30 percent."

While these shifts happen twice a year, they are often overshadowed by the "Work Bonus" rules. 

In late 2023, the federal government made significant reforms to this scheme, permanently increasing the "Work Bonus Bank" limit from $7800 to $11,800. 

This allowed new pensioners to start with a $4000 credit, theoretically letting them earn more from a job before their pension began to dwindle.

However, for Allison and thousands of others, even these "banked" credits disappear quickly under the weight of bill shock coming in.

"We just got our last electricity bill, it was $954 for the last quarter, and we have also just paid our rates – there goes another $2700," Allison said.

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A family of four who sold everything they owned to travel Australia in a caravan have been left blindsided by the soaring cost of diesel.

Sydney couple Lisa and Blake Walsh put their house on the market last year and took their two children and dog on an adventure of a lifetime.

The past seven months of travelling the country have been bliss – but it has almost become too expensive to keep driving due to the astronomical prices at the pump.

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The family paid nearly $500 to fill up at a petrol station in Rosebery on Tasmania's west coast.

"We have two kids and a dog, we've got our whole lives with us, so we are very heavy and fuel was already our biggest expense," Lisa told Nine.com.au.

"And now that that's completely blown out of the water, our whole budget's shot.

"We've really got to go completely back to the drawing board."

Diesel at a Tas Petroleum station in Rosebery was priced at $3.09.9 per litre yesterday.

This is slightly above the average of $3 per litre for diesel in Tasmania, according to FuelCheck.

The couple didn't even fill up an entire tank and it still set them back a staggering $495.

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"We can't afford to pay much more than this. Realistically, we're going to drain our savings pretty quickly," Lisa added.

"We will just [have to] pull up somewhere and get some work."

Lisa and her family are aiming to stay on the road for another two years, using money from the sale of their house to keep afloat, provided that fuel doesn't deplete their savings too quickly.

Other travellers have already buckled under the financial pressure.

Caravan parks are under threat of sitting empty as regional operators worry travellers will simply stay home over the Easter break.

"Some people that we know have just said that they're going to stop and work," Lisa said.

"I've seen cancellations left, right and centre online.

"People posting on Facebook groups saying, 'Oh hey, I had this site booked over Easter, but we're not going anymore'."

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Sydney travellers Brad and Karen, who take their caravan out on holidays and over weekends, told Nine.com.au that their personal limit is $4 per litre for diesel.

Despite growing nationwide concerns that fuel could nudge this price, the couple desperately hope it won't come to that.

"We haven't cancelled trips yet, but now budgeting $1000 in fuel or $4/l – effectively doubling the budget to cover costs for our next short trip, then assess the next big trip on what happens with fuel costs," Karen explained.

"Our last tank was $120 for only 43 litres of diesel and 280km travelled."

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The National Australia Bank is set to slash 170 jobs as it adds roles in Vietnam and India, amid its ongoing restructuring.

A total of 447 jobs are set to be cut, with 277 new roles set to be created in Australia, bringing a net total of 170 redundancies.

At least 237 new roles are also set to be created at NAB's offshore centres in both India and Vietnam.

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While NAB has not confirmed which jobs will be cut, the decision is part of the major banks' strategy to modernise their workforce, creating new roles in Australia and overseas.

In a statement, an NAB spokesperson said the company will continue to support workers in finding new careers and practical career transitions.

"As NAB has said for some time, building a modern workforce that best supports our customers is an important part of our strategy," the spokesperson said.

"Our workforce has been evolving to ensure we can help customers more consistently at the times they need us, and to help us access great talent in key markets.

"We continue to hire and develop people in Australia – especially in customer-facing roles – to strengthen our capability."

In a quarterly business survey released today, the bank announced that business confidence has fallen to a 15-month low due to the intensification of costs and labour. 

Wage costs were cited as the biggest issue affecting business confidence, with labour being reported as a significant constraint by several firms.

"Wage costs remained the biggest issue affecting business confidence, and the share of firms reporting labour as a significant constraint rose in the quarter, highlighting that the labour market has remained tight to start 2026," NAB Head of Australian Economics, Gareth Spence, said.

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An Islamic State (IS) speech that called on religious celebrations to be turned "into bloody massacres" could have inspired the Bondi terror attack, terrorism experts say.

The 2024 speech released by IS' main spokesperson called on sympathisers to intentionally target Jewish and Christian people, urging supporters to "kill them by the worst of means".

In a paper published in the West Point Combating Terrorism Centre, two Australian scholars believe the speech titled "And Kill Them Wherever You Find Them" was a call to arms for renewed attacks by IS supporters on Israeli and Western targets, and claim the Bondi attack carried similar themes to the ones outlined in the speech.

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"The speech included an explicit call to arms," the report from Andrew Zammit and Levi J. West said, adding it was reminiscent of a similar speech in 2014 that preceded a spate of Islamic terrorist attacks across Europe.

"[It] sought to inspire sympathisers to undertake terrorist attacks in their home countries and provided sanction for a range of tactics, suggesting that perpetrators, 'detonate explosives … [and] shoot them with bullets.'"

Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram, are accused of shooting and killing 15 people at Bondi Beach on December 14 last year, targeting a Hanukkah celebration.

They also allegedly threw IEDs towards the celebration before the shooting started, but the devices failed to detonate.

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Sajid was shot and killed by police, while Naveed was wounded and remains before the courts.

The authors say other aspects of the attack matched the callout in the IS speech, which called on followers to "pick easy targets".

"It explicitly stated that its targeting advice sought to ensure that any resulting attacks matched the movement's strategic and ideological logic," they said.

"[Followers were] being told to 'target synagogues and churches over military targets… [and to] carry out daring and courageous operations targeting Jewish and Christian gatherings and neighbourhoods everywhere, especially in Crusader European countries,'" the report said, quoting some phrases from the speech.

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The authors believe the Bondi Massacre is a consequence of IS' plans for resurgence in the aftermath of the war in Gaza, saying the group wanted to "remobilise its transnational support."

"[It] took care to not let the Israel-Palestine conflict overshadow the movement's global revolutionary goals and wider range of enemies," they said, saying the group wanted to renew attacks in the West, with a greater emphasis on attacking Jewish targets.

The Akram's allegiance to IS is alleged by police in its statements of facts relying upon a video they filmed in October last year, where they stand in front of an IS flag and claim responsibility for an upcoming "Bondi attack", evidence from the New South Wales Joint Counter Terrorism Team said.

The pair also travelled to the Philippines in November just before the attacks, which is alleged to have been done in their preparations for the attack.

An article in one of the organisation's publications also acknowledged the attack, saying the Akram's allegedly "answered the call and carried out the recommendations to target holidays and gatherings."

"They armed themselves with the Prophetic methodology and set off without looking back, plunging unarmoured into the Hanukkah celebration and turning it into a scene of mourning," the article said.

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A powerful militia in the Arabian country of Yemen has threatened to cut off one of the world's most important shipping routes in solidarity with Iran, a major Iranian news outlet claims.

Tasnim News Agency, which is connected to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, reports Yemeni Ansarullah, also known as the Houthis, "is on full alert and ready to join the battlefield".

The Houthis floated the possibility of cutting off the Bab al-Mandab Strait which separates the Arabian Peninsula and Africa.

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"If there is a need to control the Bab al-Mandab Strait to further punish the enemy, the heroes of Yemeni Ansarullah are fully prepared to play a key role," Tasnim quoted a source as saying.

The strait is a major chokepoint in global trade, the narrowest point of the journey between Europe and Asia.

If cut off, vessels would need to sail all the way around Africa's Cape of Good Hope rather than taking the Suez Canal, adding about two weeks to a journey.

Going via the Suez through the Bab al-Mandab Strait takes about 8000 kilometres off a trip.

The Houthis began to strike ships going through the strait in 2023, causing a major headache for global trade.

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"For the amount of missiles and drones they fired, their hit rate on ships was not particularly high, and they only sunk a few," Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia Jennifer Parker told nine.com.au.

"Most companies made the decision that it was more appropriate to go around the Cape of Good Hope."

On one side of the strait is a large swathe of territory in Yemen controlled by the Houthis.

During Yemen's long civil war, Iran's government has supplied the Houthis with missiles and drones.

The Houthis have learned from Iran's example and begun to keep their weapons underground to avoid missile and air strikes.

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"It's harder to have a material impact on air campaigns against them," Parker said.

"You'll never disable them unless you send in ground forces, which nobody's about to do."

But Parker suspected Iran was seeking to draw the Houthis into the war to expand the battlefield.

"The fact that Iran has said this doesn't mean the Houthis will actually do it," she said.

"What (the Houthis are) actually trying to achieve is to take over Yemen versus supporting Iran."

Parker said the Houthis relied less on Iran than Hezbollah or Hamas, both of which receive much of their support from the regime.

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"The Houthis will weigh that up based on how influential they think the Iranian regime are going to be moving forward," she said.

"Even though you're not going to have regime change, there's a lot of evidence to say that the Iranian regime is significantly weakened."

Parker served as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy for 20 years and was deployed to the Middle East three times.

At its narrowest point, the strait is 26 kilometres wide.

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Truck drivers are facing dangerous situations as diesel shortages in Australia's remote outback leave them stranded on isolated stretches of highway.

Long-distance driver Robert Cook has been stuck twice on his Melbourne to Perth run, first for over 24 hours on the Nullarbor Plain and again in Keith in South Australia's south-east.

Cook waited hours alongside five other drivers for a fresh supply of diesel to be delivered to a remote fuel station on SA's Limestone Coast yesterday evening.

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He had been driving for around 500 kilometres without seeing a single drop of diesel at any service station.

"Some of the guys I've been speaking to have said, 'Look, we're thinking about hanging our keys up'," Cook, who runs his own heavy haulage company Helco Group, told Nine.com.au.

"I've had to stand down two trucks. It's a struggle."

After filling up late yesterday, Cook said he may only manage to make it to Brisbane before needing to fork out for another tank, if he drives "conservatively".

Diesel fuel costs for Cook's regular Melbourne to Perth drive have now doubled from $5000 to $10,000.

The cost of diesel is now over $3.15 per litre at some petrol stations.

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Although the ballooning price of keeping his trucks on the road is not the biggest problem.

Careful fuel management is crucial even without a global oil crisis – at one point, there is a 192-kilometre gap between fuel stops on the Nullarbor, which is among the longest straight stretches of road in the country.

Cook is now worried for the safety of his drivers.

"I tell our drivers, minimum 20 to 30 litres of water, enough canned food and stuff… because our trucks have microwaves and inverters, so they're completely self-reliant," he said.

"It can go south very quickly, especially out there in the summertime.

"It's very dangerous."

Cook is on the road for a job with freight carrier Loadshift.

Loadshift's Operations Coordinator Alex Randall said drivers like Cook are being left "high and dry", despite trucking companies being the backbone of Australia's supply chain.

"There's no system telling them which servos have fuel and which don't. They're driving blind," Randall said.

"What makes this even worse is that a third of trucks on Australian roads are running empty at any given time. "

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The Transport Workers Union (TWU) and Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation (ARTIO) have also warned surging diesel prices have now reached "deadly" new heights.

The unions have called on the government to pass emergency laws to keep truck drivers in business.

"Businesses are at imminent risk of collapse and workers are under deadly pressure because there are huge retailers and other clients out there refusing to pay their fair share for skyrocketing fuel costs," TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said.

"The federal government must act now to put in place emergency powers to ensure the industry can cope with the current crisis – otherwise we will see more transport workers die on our roads, more businesses go under, and our supply chains at breaking point."

The time spent waiting for diesel to arrive has put Cook almost two days' behind schedule.

He warned the knock-on impact is not "sustainable" and that prices will inevitably rise across the board.

"The problem is that we have to pass that on to somebody, and unfortunately, it's going to be the consumer," he said.

"It's double for us, it's going to be double for them, just to stay afloat. It's going to affect a lot of people, like, without a doubt."

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The estranged wife of a celebrity dentist who was shot dead by police after attacking two women in Sydney's inner city has penned an open letter to him on social media that reveals the "affairs", "secrets" and "abuse" she suffered in the pair's marriage.

Cassandra Lin, who had separated from her husband Steven Lin more than a year before his death, wrote in the letter that she was carrying the "pain of betrayal", but vowed to raise the pair's children in his honour.

She revealed he had fathered a child without her knowledge, which had "shattered the trust" between the pair.

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"The truth is that my world came crashing down when I discovered the life you had been living behind my back," Cassandra wrote.

"The affairs. The secrets. The abuse. The child you fathered that I knew nothing about.

"It shattered the trust I had placed in you and the future I thought we were building together.

"The pain of that betrayal is something I'm still learning how to carry."

Steven, aged 41, broke into a Potts Point apartment complex on March 3 while under the influence of drugs and attacked two women, Chloe Paul and Christine Campeau, as they were at home.

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Police rushed to the building and shot Lin with a Taser, which was ruled "ineffective". He was then shot with one round and declared dead at the scene.

The two injured women were rushed to hospital and underwent surgery for extensive facial injuries.

In her letter, his estranged wife described him as "complicated" and "flawed".

"Standing here today, I'm reminded that people are never just the worst thing they've done, nor only the best," she wrote.

"You were complicated. You were flawed. You made choices that hurt me deeply and changed our lives forever.

"I know you've heard it all before, so I don't say it anymore, I had to stand back and let you fight your secret war. A war which you lost in the end."

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Cassandra ended her letter by pledging to care for the couple's children without him.

"They deserve to know that their father loved them. Your story doesn't end here, because it lives on in them," she wrote.

"And while our path together didn't end the way either of us imagined, I will carry forward the responsibility we began together – raising the beautiful children we brought into this world."

Steven, author of The Dental Diet, had amassed a prominent social media presence with more than 250,000 Instagram followers.The Dental Diet.

He was a former principal of Helix Dentistry on the NSW Central Coast. He separated from his wife Cassandra in early 2024.

His involvement with Helix Dentistry ended around the same time.

It has been previously reported that the 41-year-old had faced court for a raft of offences in recent years, including stalking, assaults, choking and breaching apprehended violence orders.

Cassandra Lin's full open letter

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732)

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Police have released CCTV footage of the moment two men stormed into a kebab shop in Sydney's west and opened fire, hitting three people and leaving two with long-term injuries.

The footage shows two men dressed in black getting out of a dark blue Audi and running inside the kebab shop on South Parade in Auburn on June 16 last year.

The two men pulled out guns and fired eight shots, before quickly fleeing in the same Audi.

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Images later show the car being abandoned and set on fire in Harris Park, with two other cars also being found burnt out in various locations in Western Sydney.

Three people were wounded, with a 26-year-old man being hit in the shoulder and arm, a 47-year-old woman was shot four times in the torso, while a 25-year-old man was shot in the face.

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The three victims were taken to hospital and have since been released, but the woman and the 25-year-old man are expected to face long-term complications from their injuries.

Police have released CCTV footage of the Audi Q7 arriving at Main Lane in Merrylands about an hour before the shooting, having travelled from the Guilford area.

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It is seen parking on Auburn Road, with two men leaving the car, the men believed to have carried out the shooting.

The two men have not been identified, with police urging anyone with information to come forward.

Police investigations into the shooting continue.

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Exclusive: The fuel crisis is hitting tradies harder than most and the rest of Australia could soon feel the sting as businesses are forced to raise prices or go bust.

Jac Northam, 26, recently started his joinery company Jac Design and used to spend about $150 a week on fuel.

Now it's nearly double that at $285 a week – and the cost just keeps rising.

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It could have dire consequences for the young tradesman.

"I've had to reduce what I pay myself and avoid tolls as much as possible to make sure I've got extra money in my business to cover it," he told nine.com.au.

"This is going to have a major knock-on effect not just in my life, but within the industry."

Have you got a story? Contact reporter Maddison Leach at our breaking newsletter here