Good morning,

Australia will never be able to compete internationally on price due to our high tax burden and elevated wages, the head of major manufacturing company Brickworks Lindsay Partridge said, responding to the federal government’s announcement of new umbrella legislation supporting Australian critical industries and the energy transition.

Meanwhile, a major Woodside Energy institutional investor will vote against the re-election of chairman Richard Goyder, ratcheting up tensions ahead of the annual general meeting, as the energy giant shelves a $1bn deal to sell two major oil and gas projects.

And mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has accused Facebook owner Meta of “knowingly advertising the content of criminals” as he prepares to confront the tech giant in Californian and Perth courts over the proliferation of scams on its social network.

And for those in the legal field, The Australian is launching a new, free newsletter Ipso Facto with scoops, analysis and comment each week. Sign up here.

Five things to know this morning

1. ASX may waver. Cooling US producer prices ease inflation jitters on Wall Street, but keep the Dow Jones index on edge and lift bond yields. Morgan Stanley sinks on wealth arm probe. ECB holds rates, signals June cut.
2. Investment house HMC Capital has become a substantial shareholder in embattled developer Lendlease and is pushing for it to take a more focused approach to lifting returns but is not backing the push for a dramatic split of the business. 
3. The nation’s largest supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles have been accused of using their financial muscle and dominant market power to scoop up land, properties and shopping centres, in a practice known as ‘land banking’, to shut out competition and gain a stranglehold on a neighbourhood.
4. An imminent inquiry into whether Sydney’s Star Casino was fit to hold its licence won’t examine the company’s regulator, as a who’s who of the Pyrmont venue were set to be grilled on Monday.
5. Former EverBlu Capital chair Adam Blumenthal has tried to make amends for his mistakes and would likely be able to “reform”, a court has heard.