1. PM dismisses claims he’s a bully
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has shrugged off Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells labelling him a bully and autocrat who has no moral compass and who is unit to govern.

Morrison blamed Fierravanti-Wells’ late-night Senate spray following Tuesday’s budget on her losing pre-selection on the NSW Liberal Senate ticket.

“I know Connie is disappointed having lost a pre-selection of some 500 members on the weekend,” he told the ABC’s AM program.

“Six years ago and I strongly supported her and ensured that she was able to be re-selected. She was very happy at that time. But now, after being unsuccessful on the weekend, I understand that she’s disappointed.”

Morrison said he joined “a long list of those that she’s said these things about at times like this”, noting the senator had been critical of former prime ministers Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull too.

2. Ukraine Update: US sceptical after Russia vows Kyiv pullback

The threat to Kyiv isn’t over despite Russian talk of pulling back, because Putin’s goals continue to stretch well beyond the eastern Donbas region, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

“Nobody should be fooling ourselves by the Kremlin’s now-recent claim that it will suddenly just reduce military attacks near Kyiv or any reports that it is going to withdraw all its forces,” Kirby said. It’s “a repositioning, not a real withdrawal” from positions around the Ukrainian capital.

President Biden shared such reservations: “I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are,” the president said at a news conference with Singapore’s prime minister. “We’ll see if they follow through on what they’re suggesting.”

In a call with the leaders of the UK, France, Germany and Italy earlier, Biden said, there also seemed to be “a consensus that, let’s just see what they have to offer. We’ll find out what they do.”

3. Elon Musk goes after the SEC of Tesla shares dispute
Elon Musk accused the US Securities and Exchange Commission of “misconduct” as the Tesla Inc. chief executive officer seeks to exit a 2018 deal with the regulator that limits his Twitter posts about the electric car maker. “Musk wants to block an SEC subpoena seeking information about Tesla’s public-disclosure controls and to undo a set of court orders he and his company agreed to in 2018, which led to reviews of his company-related tweets by an in-house official who’s been referred to as the CEO’s ‘Twitter Sitter’,” Bloomberg reports.

“The SEC argues that it has unfettered authority to subpoena whatever it wants, whenever it wants, so long as it obtains a formal order,” lawyers for Musk said in a New York court filing Tuesday. “But the SEC’s investigatory power has limits, especially once, as here, it is leveraging a binding order specially entered and superintended by this Court.” His lawyers went on further to say: “It is irrelevant whom the SEC has tasked with this duty; Mr. Musk’s speech is restrained as a result of the SEC’s prosecution just the same.”

4. Sony launches new PlayStation gaming subscription service to take on Microsoft
Sony is bundling its existing PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now services into one single subscription service called PlayStation Plus. The new PlayStation Plus will arrive in June and comes in three tiers: Essential, Extra and Premium. The move is viewed as Sony’s response to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s game subscription service.

5. ASX continues positive week as futures point to rise this morning
ASX futures up 56 points or 0.8% to 7503 near 7am AEDT, with the AUD +0.3% to 75.12 US cents. On Wall St at 4pm: Dow +1% S&P 500 +1.2% Nasdaq +1.8%. Brent crude -2.5% to $US109.72 a barrel. 2-year yield: US +0.03% (2.36%) Australia +0.12% (1.88%). 10-year yield: US -0.06% (2.39%) Australia -0.01% (2.89%).