What we learned, Sunday 17 May
And that’s where we’ll leave you this Sunday. Here are the main stories from today:
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, has conceded the inner-northern Brisbane seat of Stafford to Labor after a tight byelection race.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the opposition’s policy to index tax brackets would cost the budget a quarter of a trillion dollars over 10 years, while claiming that the government is returning bracket creep to taxpayers.
Opposition leader Angus Taylor has dismissed the defection of two high-profile Liberals to One Nation, saying it’s “their choice”.
Taylor also claims “billions” could be saved from removing social welfare entitlements from non-citizens – including permanent residents – but refuses to say how much.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has congratulated Delta Goodrem, who came fourth in the Eurovision song contest overnight.
A Qantas flight from Australia to the US was diverted to Tahiti on Friday after a passenger allegedly bit a flight attendant.
Police are investigating after a man died after a fall in Castle Hill in Sydney’s west overnight.
Thanks so much for your company today. Our live news blog will be back again tomorrow, bright and early for a brand new week. Look after yourselves til then.
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NSW asks private sector to pitch ideas to shore up fuel security
An extension to Australia’s fuel tax discount is still being weighed up as disruption to global oil shipments drives states to chase more control over petrol and diesel supplies, AAP reports.
The NSW government has called on the private sector to pitch projects that could safeguard against shocks to global supplies, as the government and the Investment Delivery Authority would help remove barriers to projects that met its criteria.
The NSW treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, told reporters on Sunday:
I don’t think anyone thinks that, even when this crisis is to come to an end, this will be the last time we are exposed to some of the uncertainty that is involved with such a heavy reliance on foreign oil.
We want to partner with the private sector to make sure that we have a bit more control over our own fuel supply.
The SA government recently announced a commercial deal with bulk fuel supplier IOR that would allow it to buy and store 10m litres of diesel.
Queensland has fast-tracked BP’s lease extension, which is expected to deliver 54m litres of extra commercial storage for diesel, petrol and aviation fuel in that state.
States agreed to work with the federal government to forgo extra GST revenue from higher fuel prices to put more downward pressure on costs at the bowser.
Mookhey said his working assumption was the windfall GST measure would be paired with the federal government’s fuel excise if the cut continues.
The nation remains at level 2 of the government’s fuel plan, which asks users to buy only what they need and take voluntary steps to use less.
The federal government’s three-month cut to the fuel excise kicked in at the start of April, reducing the cost of petrol and diesel by 26.3 cents a litre in response to soaring prices caused by the US-led war on Iran.
Anthony Albanese has neither ruled out nor confirmed he will extend the discount after a budget that included $3.2bn for a new, government-controlled fuel reserve, saying an assessment would be made in the lead-up to 1 July.
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Former Hobart barracks to be redeveloped into housing
More on housing from the prime minister today, as he has ducked down to Tasmania to launch a housing project with the state premier.
In a release this afternoon, Anthony Albanese and Jeremy Rockliff have announced that the state and federal government will redevelop military barracks at the Hobart suburb of Dowsing Point into “housing, open space and community infrastructure”.
In a statement this afternoon, the leaders said the 31-hectare site had been identified for divestment after an independent defence estate audit. They claim the site could support up to 1,000 new homes, and benefits from “established transport links, including proximity to main arterial roads, a future ferry terminal, the Intercity Cycleway, and the Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor”.
The process to transfer the 20 full-time defence personnel, and additional reservists and cadets, is expected to take at least 12 months.
Albanese said:
The Federal Government is delivering on its commitment of a fit for purpose estate for our Defence forces, while also opening up opportunities for better community use of divested land.
This announcement builds on the Federal Government’s decisive action to boost housing supply and deliver outcomes for Australian households, including in the Federal Budget.
All proceeds from property sales arising from the Defence Estate Audit will be reinvested back in Defence, to support the priorities outlined in the 2026 National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Program.
Tasmania’s premier Jeremy Rockliff said:
Our Government is supercharging the delivery of infrastructure and homes through Building Tasmania.
Dowsing Point has the potential to deliver far beyond the 1000 new homes through well-planned medium-density development.
Plans will also include open space, parks, local businesses and community facilities, creating a walkable, connected neighbourhood.
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Economists expecting to see modest labour market growth in April
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will on Thursday publish labour force data for April, with some economists expecting the labour market to look positive despite global shocks caused by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, AAP reports.
In March, the unemployment figure remained steady at 4.3%. NAB head of Australian economics, Gareth Spence, told AAP the new data was expected to show growth of about 15,000 new jobs.
This is a good outcome for the labour market which is pretty resilient in the challenge that we have had for April. The data does lag for events in the economy a little but the labour force has generally held up well despite the shock and uncertainty earlier on this year.
Business and consumer confidence has taken a dive since the US-Israel war on Iran launched in February.
RBA assistant governor and chief economist, Sarah Hunter, will on Tuesday in Sydney deliver the central bank’s first speech since the presentation of the federal budget by the treasurer, Jim Chalmers.
The shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, will be grilled on Wednesday when he addresses the National Press Club in Canberra for the Coalition’s post-budget reply speech.
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Man dies after suspected balcony fall in Sydney
Police are investigating after a man died after a fall in Castle Hill in Sydney’s west overnight.
In a statement today, NSW police said emergency services were called after a man was heard shouting from the balcony of a unit complex.
NSW ambulance paramedics found a 44-year-old man seriously injured in a garden outside the building. They started treatment but he died at the scene.
A crime scene has been established and police said at this early stage in the investigation the death was being treated as suspicious.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
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‘Steven is absolutely the best person to lead us’: Queensland Labor heavyweights back Miles
Queensland Labor’s four most senior factional leaders have declared their support for Steven Miles as leader, amid speculation of a challenge.
Right-faction chief Cameron Dick, old-guard leader Grace Grace and fellow left-faction MP Shannon Fentiman joined Miles at a press conference on Sunday. All three said they backed him to remain leader until the next election.
There’s been speculation of a challenge against Miles, almost certainly by Fentiman, as a result of the swing against the party at the byelection.
Fentiman said Miles was the best person to lead the party to the next election and its MPs were united behind him:
Truly, there is more work to do. Steven is absolutely the best person to lead us, and we are 100% behind him.
Miles said he “absolutely” had every intention of leading Labor to the next election but conceded that the party’s primary vote had gone backwards:
Clearly Labor has a long way to go to keep listening to Queenslanders and developing our offering for them in 2028 and that’s the hard work that we’re all up for.
Stafford had been won by Labor at the 2024 election but two-term incumbent Jimmy Sullivan was expelled from the party last year and became an independent. A byelection was triggered after he died in April.
Labor candidate Luke Richmond – who also joined the press conference on Sunday – said he was likely to win the seat back for the party. Counting continues, but Labor is now 715 votes ahead on a two-party preferred basis.
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Taylor dismisses defection of two high-profile Liberals to One Nation
Angus Taylor has dismissed the defection of two high-profile Liberals to One Nation, saying it’s “their choice”.
Former NSW Liberal senator Hollie Hughes (who was dumped by her party before the 2025 election), and former Liberal vice-president Teena McQueen exited the party on Saturday – first reported by the Daily Telegraph.
Speculation was rife on Friday when my colleague Josh Butler reported that Hughes was hosting Pauline Hanson at her pub in regional NSW at the weekend.
Asked for his response on Sky News earlier, Taylor said, “Oh, it’s their choice,” before promptly pivoting. Then asked a follow-up, he said:
It’s their choice. I mean, they can. I love the fact in this country we have democracy and choice. It’s a great thing. They are strong Liberal values.
Hughes has been publicly scathing of Taylor after she was dumped from a winnable spot on the NSW Senate ticket. McQueen has previously attracted controversy over her attacks on the party’s moderate faction.
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Earlier we brought you the news that Labor is likely to have retained the seat of Stafford in Queensland despite a swing against it in this weekend’s byelection. Queensland state reporter Andrew Messenger has the full report here:
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Qantas removes passenger for allegedly biting flight attendant
A Qantas flight from Australia to the US was diverted to Tahiti on Friday after a passenger allegedly bit a flight attendant.
Qantas confirmed on Sunday that a disruptive passenger had caused the diversion of the QF21 Melbourne-to-Dallas service, which landed in Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia on the island of Tahiti, after the alleged assault.
Passengers and other crew came to the assistance of the attendant.
The flight was met by authorities on arrival in Papeete and the passenger was issued a no-fly ban by Qantas.
The aircraft was refuelled and the flight resumed its journey to Dallas, arriving on Saturday morning.
The Qantas spokesperson said:
The safety of our customers and our crew is our number one priority and we have zero tolerance for disruptive or threatening behaviour on our flights.
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Canvas hack: is it ever a good idea for companies to pay hackers a ransom?
After a week of outages, hundreds of millions of students’ data stolen, delayed assignment due dates and school login pages being defaced by hackers, the US tech firm Instructure – which operates the education platform Canvas, used by education providers worldwide – announced it had “reached an agreement with the unauthorised actor” behind the ransomware attack.
Experts read the careful language as a sign that a ransom has been paid. The company has not confirmed this.
The question of whether firms should pay ransomware attackers to regain access to their systems, and potentially prevent further harm from the release of personal information of – in some cases millions – is one that thousands of companies face each year. Although governments across the globe advise against it, many ultimately do.
Read the full story here:
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Five Melbourne men facing charges over alleged violent extremist material
A fifth man Melbourne man has been charged as part of a federal police investigation into the alleged access and distribution of violent extremist material online, just over a week after another four men were charged.
On Saturday, a 25-year-old Meadow Heights man was arrested on arrival at Melbourne international airport on a flight from Malaysia and charged with possession of violent extremist material, which has a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment, the Australian federal police said.
Two Roxburgh Park men aged 20 and 21, and two Clyde North men, aged 19 and 29, were arrested and each charged with possession of violent extremist material on 7 May.
The charges came after investigations that began when one of the Roxburgh Park men was intercepted at Melbourne international airport on 29 November 2024 after returning to Australia on a flight from Turkey, police said.
During an examination of the man’s mobile phone, border force officers located suspicious content and reported it to the AFP, police said. A second Roxburgh Park man was searched at Melbourne airport on 1 June 2025, and his luggage searched before his departure to Turkey.
Police alleged forensic analysis of their devices revealed the men had been sending, sharing and receiving suspected violent extremist material, which included images and videos of previous terrorist attacks and other Islamic State propaganda.
Four search warrants were executed at homes in the Melbourne suburbs of Roxburgh Park, Clyde South and Meadow Heights on 7 May when the men were arrested.
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Albanese congratulates Delta Goodrem after Eurovision fourth-place finish
Anthony Albanese diverged briefly from housing in his press conference this morning to congratulate Delta Goodrem, who came in fourth in the Eurovision song contest earlier this morning, after being widely tipped as a likely winner:
Can I just give a shout out to Delta Goodrem who finished fourth in Eurovision this morning and did Australians proud? We were all cheering on, watching SBS, watching the coverage as the votes rolled in and Delta Goodrem I think is someone who can be very, very proud of her efforts, and all Australians are proud of Delta. Well done.
You can find the full story about the Eurovision results here:
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CGT changes ‘designed to assist young people’ secure housing, PM says
Anthony Albanese has been speaking with the housing minister, Clare O’Neil, in Melbourne this morning, reiterating his government’s claim that the capital gains tax changes are “designed to assist young people”.
The PM said:
People have written in the newspapers in this country for years have spoken about the need for tax reform. What we’re doing is delivering tax reform, real tax reform that treats in a fair way income that people earn from their work, better aligns it with income that people legitimately earn from assets and from their wealth that they own.
So, better aligning those things is a sensible thing to do.
The capital gains tax changes are about real gains. That is the amount in which an asset increases less inflation. That is the system that occurred right up until 1999. Before 1985, of course, there was no tax in this country about capital at all.
So what it is, is it is only Labor that makes the big reforms. This is a difficult reform, but it’s one that people have spoken about for a long period of time. People have said that we need tax reform in this country. What we’re doing here is delivering tax reform, but with a clear objective tax reform to better align those income from assets compared with income from working. But importantly as well, tax reform that will result in 75,000 Australians getting access to their first home.
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Some style for your Sunday: Guardian Australia’s lifestyle team have captured the bright colours, homemade garments and vintage gems worn by the crowd in Sydney at this year’s Australian fashion week.
Chalmers says Labor returning bracket creep in a ‘responsible way’
Jim Chalmers says the opposition’s policy to index tax brackets would cost the budget a quarter of a trillion dollars over 10 years, while claiming that the government is returning bracket creep to taxpayers.
It’s a slightly tricky position, as Angus Taylor argues that Labor is “betraying” itself because the high figure is actually how much the government is keeping and spending through bracket creep ever year.
Bracket creep is where inflation and wage rises push taxpayers into higher tax brackets, so they get taxed more but are still paying more for goods, so end up going backwards.
Chalmers told the ABC’s Insiders program that the government is “enthusiastic” about returning bracket creep but is doing it in a responsible way:
This is a government that returns bracket creep when it is responsible to do that.
That [policy] would cost tens of billions of dollars in extra debt interest, because he’s got these uncosted, unfunded, tax announcements that he [Taylor] made in his budget reply, which was all about trying to stave off One Nation.”
Host, David Speers, kept pushing Chalmers on the figure, and whether Labor is returning all of the bracket creep accrued by the government. Chalmers skirted the question and says that it’s being returned in a “responsible and affordable” way.
Chalmers added that Taylor’s proposed measure would stoke inflation in Australia:
What Angus Taylor is proposing to do is to pump the most money into the economy when inflation is already at its highest.
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Taylor rebukes claims his tax bracket indexation will cost $250bn over 10 years
Angus Taylor says claims by Labor that his commitment to index tax brackets will cost $250bn over 10 years “betrays” how much the government will be claiming in income tax over that period.
Taylor committed to indexing tax brackets to inflation in his budget reply, which he says will cost about $22.5bn over four years, not $35bn as the government has claimed.
The measures would begin for the first two tax brackets from 2028-29 and then for the higher two brackets from 2031-32.
Taylor says:
“This betrays the fact that the government plans to raise income tax rates to the tune of $35bn. This says more about their plan than our plan …
If Labor’s saying that they plan to raise income taxes to the tune of $250bn in the next 10 years … [if] that is their tax hike, that’s their planned income tax increases.”
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Chalmers acknowledges debate on gas export tax
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the government is not contemplating changing its position on the introduction of an export tax on gas.
Labor had been under pressure internally and externally to introduce a 25% export levy as part of the budget, which would have produced an estimated $17bn revenue.
Asked whether the party would change its position on that tax, Chalmers said:
Well, not something that we’ve been contemplating.
Obviously, that’s been a lot of public debate about that and a lot of strong views about that but we’ve made it clear that there are good reasons to prioritise our gas reservation policy and the two-way supply arrangements with Asian partners.
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Action against ‘big distortion’ in housing market
Jim Chalmers says the changes to capital gains taxes for property and non-property investments are designed to take “one of the big distortions out of the market”:
A really big mistake was made in 1999 and it introduced this massive distortion in the way that Australians invest in our economy. It made fixed housing much more attractive and it made other kinds of investment less attractive.
So by taking that distortion out of the system, it is a fairer, more neutral treatment of investment, capital gains in particular, and if you look at the average over a couple of decades, since that policy mistake was made by Howard and Costello, what you can see on average is that established housing was overcompensated. Shares were undercompensated. That’s one of the reasons we had this big spike in prices.
It’s one of the reasons why so many people, particularly young people, have been locked out of the housing market and also why shares over time have become relatively less attractive.
In response to polling this week that suggested voters weren’t particularly thrilled with the economic outlook, Chalmers said:
We didn’t do this to get a bounce in the polls.
We did it to get a boost in first home-ownership, particularly among younger Australians who have been locked out.
If you think about it, you know, we’ve got this budget full hard decisions, not handouts.
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Chalmers on tax changes
Jim Chalmers claims the tax reform elements of this week’s budget are “broadly neutral” over the forward estimates.
Asked by Insiders host David Speers how much extra tax the changes to negative gearing, capital gains tax and trusts actually raise, Chalmers says the changes will also return “what we are raising to workers and businesses, principally small businesses”:
Now, over the 10-year period, the capital gains and negative gearing changes are a little bit over $40bn and the trust changes are also a little bit over $40bn.
But there’s also the tax cuts in there, the working Australian tax offset, over the course of the next 10 years, there’s loss-carryback tax cuts for business.
So, overall, we’ve pointed out, David, that if you look at that 10-year period, there’s about three times as much savings as there is tax changes in net terms but those two specific categories are a little bit over $40bn each.
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‘Many billions of savings’ from stripping welfare from non-citizens, Taylor says
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, says “billions” could be saved from removing social welfare entitlements from non-citizens – including permanent residents – but refuses to say how much.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, Taylor says the costings will be released before the next election:
There’s many billions of savings. There’s no doubt about that. We’ll put all our costings out, as is the convention, in the lead-up to the election, but it’s many billions of savings in this. And this is all about making sure Australian taxpayers’ dollars are well spent, are focused on the benefits of Australians and making Australians better off.
There’s a few key costings and numbers that the opposition’s plan is missing. Taylor also still won’t confirm how much the Coalition would cut the net overseas migration target to, after announcing that he would tie immigration intake to new housing construction.
When probed on Thursday night after his budget reply, Taylor said the number would be about 40% below current levels and under 200,000. The number for the financial year 2024-25 was 306,000:
What we’re proposing here is each year the housing minister would say we’ve built this many houses, and so the immigration number, the net overseas migration number, can be X.
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‘Angus Taylor would be adding a quarter of a trillion dollars to national debt’
Opposition leader Angus Taylor was on Sky News this morning suggesting Labor’s plan to index tax thresholds might cost the budget as much as $250bn over a decade.
Jim Chalmers, responding to Taylor’s comments on ABC’s Insiders, said Taylor’s proposed budget approach was “irresponsible”:
Last time we cut income taxes, Angus Taylor voted against it and said he would repeal it.
Chalmers continued:
Angus Taylor would be adding a quarter of a trillion dollars to national debt. That would cost tens of billions of dollars in extra debt interest, because he’s got these uncosted, unfunded, tax announcements that he made in his budget reply, which was all about trying to stave off One Nation.
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Some federal politics for you coming up: we’re expecting to hear the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, speaking on ABC’s Insiders shortly – we’ll bring you that when it happens.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is in Melbourne today and doing a press conference at about the same time as his treasurer is speaking on the telly. We’ll let you know what comes out of that presser too.
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LNP concedes Stafford byelection
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, has conceded the inner-northern Brisbane seat of Stafford to Labor after a tight byelection race.
While the final result was not declared on Saturday night and the outcome could come down to postal votes, Crisafulli acknowledged the Liberal National party candidate, Fiona Hammond, was unlikely to win, but claimed his party had received a substantial swing towards it:
I do think we’re going to fall agonisingly short, guys. I think we’re going to fall agonisingly short, but boy, oh boy, what an incredible campaign from an incredible, incredible candidate.
With almost 80% of ballots counted on Saturday evening, Labor’s Luke Richmond was ahead by 768 votes on late Saturday night. Labor was likely to retain the seat despite a 4.1% swing against it, chief ABC analyst Casey Briggs said on X:
Labor is likely to retain Stafford. There has been a 4.1 per cent swing against Labor with additional postal votes still to be counted. But for the LNP to win from here, those postal votes would need to break very strongly in its favour. That is very unlikely to happen.
Polls closed at 6pm, with more than 14,000 people casting ballots on the day. Almost 42% of people chose to vote early, 13,530 in person and 3,860 by post.
The byelection in the marginal electorate was called after the sudden death of former independent MP Jimmy Sullivan on 9 April. Sullivan was expelled from Labor in May 2025 over medical concerns.
The opposition leader, Steven Miles, told Labor’s packed election night party last night:
I am so thrilled to tell you that Luke Richmond is the new member for Stafford.
The byelection was widely seen as a test of former premier Miles’ leadership. He has led the party since taking over from Annastacia Palaszczuk in December 2023.
Asked if Labor would do better if it were led by someone else, Miles said on Saturday night that would be “a decision for the caucus but I have the support of the caucus right now to be leader”.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our Sunday live news blog. I’m Stephanie Convery and I’ll be bringing you all the top stories today.
First up, Labor has likely won a Queensland byelection despite a 4.1% swing against it. The party was ahead with almost 80% of ballots counted for the inner northern Brisbane seat of Stafford late on Saturday evening but the final determination could come down to postal votes. More on that shortly.
And five men have now been charged by the Australian federal police as part of an investigation into the alleged access and distribution of extremist material online.
Grab yourself a coffee, and I’ll bring you more on all these events shortly.
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