Speaker 1: Today's biggest News from The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey with
Speaker 1: the Front's afternoon headlines. A suicide note purportedly written by
Speaker 1: the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was unsealed by an American
Speaker 1: federal judge on Wednesday. The document was part of a
Speaker 1: case involving one of Epstein's former cellmates, who claimed he
Speaker 1: found the document in mid twenty nineteen. Epstein died by
Speaker 1: suicide in a Manhattan jail a month later while awaiting
Speaker 1: trial on sex trafficking charges. The US Department of Justice
Speaker 1: has separately released a tranch of files from its investigation
Speaker 1: into the disgraced financiers alleged crimes. The purported handwritten suicide
Speaker 1: note wasn't included in the so called Epstein files and
Speaker 1: hasn't been verified by the authorities. It says, quote they
Speaker 1: investigated me for a month, found nothing. It's a treat
Speaker 1: to be able to choose one's time, to say goodbye.
Speaker 1: What you want me to do? Bust out crime, no fun,
Speaker 1: not worth it. Epstein's former cellmate, a convicted murderer named
Speaker 1: Nicholas Tatalione, said he found the letter in twenty nineteen
Speaker 1: and gave it to his lawyers. Twenty percent of gas
Speaker 1: extracted in Australia will have to be set aside for
Speaker 1: domestic use. It'll mean cheaper gas for business and households
Speaker 1: along the East Coast, according to Energy Minister Chris Bowen
Speaker 1: and Resources Minister Madeline King says the reserve will ensure
Speaker 1: gas prices here in Australia aren't affected by the wild
Speaker 1: fluctuations on international markets caused by conflict in the Middle
Speaker 1: East and Europe. Western Australia already has a gas reservation
Speaker 1: policy for gas extracted on shore. The new policy applies
Speaker 1: only to offshore extraction in waters controlled by the Commonwealth.
Speaker 1: Manufacturers love the new policy, and the government says it's
Speaker 1: been designed in close consultation with the gas producers who
Speaker 1: run offshore extraction rigs. They will be allowed to keep
Speaker 1: them current contracts as they are, but we'll need to
Speaker 1: set aside the twenty percent from July twenty twenty seven on.
Speaker 2: I'm sure there'll be gas companies. As I said, I'm
Speaker 2: not being critical of them. They would prefer let a
Speaker 2: rip do whatever you like, no government intervention. That's not
Speaker 2: our approach. Our approach is this is Australian gas, so
Speaker 2: Australian should have first go at it. I understand some
Speaker 2: companies would prefer no regulation. They're entitled to darent titled well,
Speaker 2: but of course they're going to argue that right. Of
Speaker 2: course they would say that, wouldn't they right? But well,
Speaker 2: they'd also just prefer no government involvement in the gas market.
Speaker 2: That's not our approach because we want to make sure
Speaker 2: it works on behalf.
Speaker 1: Of all Australians, Boe says. It means will no longer
Speaker 1: be subject to the regular warnings of blackouts because all
Speaker 1: our gas is going off shore. The government has rejected
Speaker 1: earlier plans for a new tax on gas. Check out
Speaker 1: those stories live right now at the Australian dot com
Speaker 1: dot au and come back to the front first thing
Speaker 1: in the morning for our look at why a senior
Speaker 1: coalition figure would be pushing and shoving with one nation
Speaker 1: volunteers at a country polling booth. That's right here, Friday morning,