What we learned, Thursday 14 May
Angus Taylor has delivered his first budget reply as Liberal leader, making some big policy promises.
Thank you all for following along on the blog with us today. Here’s what we learned:
The Coalition will index income tax brackets in a bold political move that will cost approximately $22.5bn over four years from 2028-29 onwards.
Taylor promised one of the biggest cuts to overseas migration “in Australian history”, cutting levels to below 200,000, and will tie immigration intake to new housing builds.
The Coalition would also strip migrants and all non-citizens from accessing social welfare support (most which they already have to wait four years or more for).
Taylor would “rein in spending” by scrapping the net zero agency, electric vehicle tax breaks and other climate incentives.
He also committed to developing a new national security strategy and appointing a national security adviser to government.
Labor has rubbished the announcements as “uncosted nonsense” and warned the Coalition can’t “out One Nation, One Nation”.
Refugee and migrant groups have also slammed the immigration policies, calling them “fearmongering” and “dog-whistling”.
You can read more here:
Updated
‘Labor has given up on Australia’: Canavan
The Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, has delivered his own budget reply tonight from the Senate (at least he let Angus Taylor go first).
Unsurprisingly, Canavan’s speech – while making the same promises like a new future generation fund – is even more focused on mining and abandoning climate targets and getting more people out into the regions.
He also heavily criticised Labor’s budget and the commitment to scrap negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts:
After four years of higher prices and lower wages, Labor has given up on Australia. This week they flew the white flag.
Labor’s budget disappears into a mess of unworkable tax increases that confuse Australians, punish aspiration and fail even to deliver the promised benefits.
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Coalition announcement ‘clearest sign yet it has abandoned migrants’: ASRC
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre has also excoriated the Coalition’s immigration announcement, warning the party not to chase votes with “dog-whistles, fear and division”.
The group says the policy and rhetoric around migration will have real-world consequences for communities, and that the announcement is the “clearest sign yet that [the Coalition] has abandoned migrants”.
The ASRC’s deputy chief executive, Jana Favero, said the budget reply was “pure political theatre”.
Not only did the speech attack and demonise migrants, but also undermined our protection system and the rights of refugees and people seeking asylum.
Taylor’s comments tonight are inflammatory and desperate.
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Tax bracket indexation to cost $22.5bn over four years
The opposition’s policy to index tax brackets would cost about $22.5bn over four years.
The indexation rate would be tied to inflation – so that figure would change depending on the inflation rate of the day.
The policy would see the lowest two tax brackets begin being indexed from 2028-29 while the highest two brackets would be indexed from 2031-32 onwards.
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‘Uncosted nonsense’: Labor rebukes budget reply
Labor frontbencher Clare O’Neil has come up to the press gallery to give the government’s response to the budget reply, and says the opposition came up with “uncosted nonsense”.
She says that the shadow finance minister, Claire Chandler, and the shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, promised that the budget in reply would be fully costed and fully offset – which it hasn’t.
Instead of real answers to these problems, what they [the public] got was uncosted nonsense that won’t build a single home or pay a single bill for an Australian family.
What a joke. Instead this blew a $100bn black hole in the Coalition’s plan for our country … it means they’re coming after Medicare, they’re coming after education and they’re coming after the services that your family relies on.
You might call these classic scare tactics, that we’ve seen in Labor campaigns past. O’Neil says that the tax bracket indexation plan looks like it was developed “on the back of a napkin”.
On the immigration plan, O’Neil warned Taylor:
You can’t out One Nation, One Nation. If people like what Pauline Hanson is putting down, they’re going to vote for them, not for you.
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Taylor says migration intake likely to be 40% below current levels
In his budget reply, Taylor said a Coalition government would link the number of migrants coming into the country with the number of houses being built.
Ferguson chases a hard number out of Taylor – he won’t give an exact figure, but a rough estimate.
That number is likely to be 70% down from the peak, roughly 40% down from where we are now.
I’ve given you a very clear principle. It will be a very substantial reduction, because there is no way that the government is going to get their housing completions up to a level that’s going to give a bigger number than that.
After some more pushing, he says the net overseas migration number will be below 200,000. The NOM was 306,000 in 2024-25, down from 429,000 the year earlier.
Who will make up those numbers – how many will be skilled migrants, how many will be temporary or international students – is unanswered.
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Taylor denies budget reply is a response to One Nation threat
Angus Taylor has quickly made his way from the chamber up to the press gallery to speak to the ABC’s 7.30 program.
Host Sarah Ferguson’s first question to Taylor is whether this is a plan to stop One Nation’s momentum.
“No,” Taylor says.
And she asks: why is the Coalition going after permanent migrants – who pay taxes and contribute to the country – and does the party risk demonising the groups it needs to win back to win government?
Taylor says “citizenship is a privilege”:
Citizenship is a privilege and it’s something we want people to get something from.
If you contribute to this country, we want to contribute back and that’s what citizenship is all about. But when someone can get all the benefits without that, it becomes meaningless. If you ask Australians whether people can get access to welfare programs, without being citizens, they’d say they can’t. But they actually are. It’s costing the country a great deal.
Ferguson asks if Taylor is forcing people from, for example India or China, to renounce their citizenship in order to become an Australian citizen. Taylor replies:
We’re not asking anyone to give up anything. We’re saying if you want access to the privileges which we believe should be privileges of citizenship, you need to become a citizen, you need to make a choice.
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Budget reply risks ‘deepening division and fearmongering’: advocacy group
Settlement Services International has slammed Taylor’s budget reply and his promise to strip welfare supports from non-citizens, including permanent residents.
The not-for-profit organisation said the proposals “risk deepening division and fearmongering” and undermining multiculturalism at a time when Australia needs unity.
SSI’s chief executive, Violet Roumeliotis, said that permanent residents already face lengthy wait times to access services, and called the move unnecessary.
It is deeply concerning that permanent residents who are actively contributing to Australia could be locked out of essential supports if they face hardship.
No one chooses to rely on income support. These are not ‘handouts’ – they are essential safety nets that prevent people from falling into poverty during periods of need.
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‘Believe in our promise’, implores Taylor
Taylor ends his speech on winning back voters the Coalition has lost, admitting that there’s plenty of work to do.
He says he hopes the policies and visions he’s outlined will help voters “begin to believe again”.
Taylor has suffered poor polling since he was elected, with the Liberal party trailing One Nation in popularity. His reply also comes after his party suffered defeat to the rightwing group last weekend at the Farrer byelection.
Taylor says:
There’s much work the Coalition must do to win your confidence. But with the policies I’ve announced tonight – and the vision I’ve outlined – I hope you can begin to believe again.
Believe in our promise of better government. Believe in the prospect of a fairer, freer and better Australia.
The fight starts tonight.
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Taylor vows to run coal power ‘as long and as hard as possible’
Angus Taylor says the Coalition will keep coal running for as long as possible – despite many coal-fired power stations shutting down across the country.
He says running more coal will get electricity prices down.
While Taylor isn’t suggesting cutting renewables altogether, we do know that it’s the cheapest form of energy generation, and using just coal and gas in the grid would make electricity 50% more expensive.
He says:
I announce that a Coalition government will work with coal-fired power plant owners to keep them running as long and as hard as possible.
To get electricity prices down. On fuel, the Coalition has said we will double our minimum reserves of fuel. We will invest $800m for new fuel storage to give us 1bn litres of additional capacity.
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Regulators ‘need to get out of the way’, Taylor says
Taylor has also announced a Coalition government would create a new “future generation fund” to help pay down debt. The fund would collect 80 cents in every dollar where resource revenues are higher than forecast, and 25% of the fund would be earmarked for regional Australia.
The Coalition would also significantly increase the instant asset write off for businesses. Businesses with a turnover of less than $10m would be allowed to deduct assets of up to $50,000 on a permanent basis, up from $20,000.
A few of the policies are also Dutton-era promises – including $5bn for infrastructure for roads, water and sewerage to build more housing (which Labor has also committed $2bn to in its budget). Taylor also promises to slash the 2,000-page national construction code by 90% and make it just 200 pages – as part of a broader move to cut down and rewrite regulations.
With such infrastructure supported, we will unlock 400,000 new homes … We will cut red tape, which will take up to $70,000 off the cost of a new home.
Regulatory bodies created by government set rules and enforce laws – and that’s important. But under Labor, these regulators have become bigger, more powerful and overbearing. They’re regulating for regulation’s sake. They need to get out of the way.
There’s also a promise to scrap net zero and focus on extracting more resources:
We have an abundance of resources beneath our feet. We could be self-sufficient and re-industrialise in key areas – if we stopped locking up our resources and turbocharged digging and drilling.
Updated
Coalition will ‘rein in spending’ says Taylor
Taylor is announcing billions in tax cuts – by promising to index the income tax rates to stop bracket creep. But how will the Coalition pay for it?
The opposition promises to work with the government to cut funding from the NDIS – which under Labor’s plan will save the budget more than $36bn.
Some of the other savings will come from scrapping climate policies – or “climate bureaucracy”.
Taylor promises to cut:
It’s [Labor’s] net zero agency. It’s power lines to nowhere. And it’s tax on the family car and you. We will end tax breaks for electric vehicles, which are overwhelmingly going to high-income Australians.
But there are other expensive measures that Taylor is committing to – like building the whole $45bn inland rail project, and scrapping Labor’s negative gearing, capital gains tax and trust reforms.
Updated
Taylor promises ‘one of the biggest cuts to immigration in Australian history’
As heavily foreshadowed, the opposition has promised to drastically cut immigration, and will tie intake to new housing builds.
Taylor says that immigration will need to be significantly below the Coalition’s cap for several years to “allow the housing market to catch up”.
He uses the phrase “mass migration” – a controversial term that has been heavily disputed, including by members of his own party.
By inviting in too many people too quickly, we’ve seen some come with the wrong values. People who don’t want to join and embrace Australia, but people who want to change Australia to suit them …
The Coalition will deliver one of the biggest cuts to immigration in Australian history. Our immigration cut will complement our plan to lift immigration standards.
Immigration has been a core issue for the new Liberal leader – though he has already been accused (including by One Nation) of copying Pauline Hanson.
Updated
Taylor announces income tax bracket indexation, promising ‘generational tax reform’
Angus Taylor will promise to index income tax brackets – a bold move that will be welcomed by many, but will be enormously costly (in the billions each year).
The opposition leader begins his address outlining his “vision for a fairer, freer and better Australia for all”, and giving us a few familiar lines attacking Labor’s budget, which he again calls an “assault on aspiration”.
If you’re feeling poorer under this government, it’s because you are. Labor is stealing from you with inflation.
Labor’s budget isn’t intergenerational fairness – it’s intergenerational fraud.
The Tax Back Guarantee, as he calls it, will begin indexing the bottom two tax thresholds to inflation from 2028-29, and the top two brackets from 2031-32.
It’s a big policy announcement, and would cost billions of dollars each year. Taylor says the first tranche of the policy will “fully protect 85% of income earners, with relief of around $250 in year one, growing to more than $1,000 a year in year four”. The second stage would cover all taxpayers.
This is generational tax reform. It’s fair, simple and honest.
Any government that wants to tax Australians more should have the courage to front up and to take that tax increase to an election. Under Labor, Australians work harder, pay more and fall behind. Under the Coalition, Australians will keep more and get ahead.
Updated
Passengers from hantavirus ship depart Netherlands for Perth
Before we get into the address, the government has provided an update that the six passengers being repatriated from the hantavirus ship have now left the Netherlands.
The flight is due to arrive in Perth tomorrow.
The government is repatriating four Australian citizens, one permanent resident and one New Zealand citizen who are being accompanied by medical personnel.
All have tested negative to hantavirus.
The passengers will be transported to the WA Centre for National Resilience in Bullsbrook for an initial three week quarantine period.
Updated
Welcome back to our coverage of the budget reply.
Angus Taylor will begin speaking shortly at 7.30pm AEST, and we’ll bring you live updates of his address and all the reaction.
Updated
What we've learned (so far), Thursday 14 May
We’re going to take a short break on the blog, and come back for Angus Taylor’s budget-in-reply speech at 7.30. The Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, will also be doing his own budget reply speech in the Senate after the opposition leader.
In the meantime, here are all the key moments of today:
Independent Tasmanian senator, Tammy Tyrrell announced she would join Labor in a surprise move.
Pauline Hanson said the opposition was copying her policy on migration, while the Greens said the One Nation leader was living “rent-free” in Taylor’s head.
The Greens also accused the government of pushing “immoral” reforms to the NDIS through parliament, in an impassioned speech.
A federal court found Coles misled shoppers with its “Down Down” promotions.
The NSW government took a swipe at federal Labor over its budget allocations to the states, and promised not to “go quiet”.
See you shortly.
Updated
Targeting migrants not politically risky, Wilson says
Tim Wilson has denied that targeting migrants by stripping social welfare supports and tying migrant intake to housing build is politically risky for the Coalition.
The Liberal party was warned in the last election review to not target migrants, who had left the party in droves – both in 2022 and 2025.
Also joining the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, the shadow treasurer backed the announcements that Taylor will make in his speech tonight.
I don’t think [the policy is politically risky] at all. As a principle, it is whether the access of these programs are there for Australian citizens …
Many European countries are heading in a similar trajectory because it is under in part of the social licence of the migration program, increasingly a lot of countries are saying that if they want to continue to support people to come in, to be building the future of the country, it has to be on the basis of they come, commit and contribute.
Wilson says that money will be saved by the policy – but won’t yet reveal the figure.
Updated
Tyrrell jumping on the ‘nearest life raft’ with Labor move, says Duniam
Jonathon Duniam has accused fellow Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrrell of trying to “save her job” by joining the Labor party this morning.
The opposition education spokesperson says Tyrrell has misled voters, after initially being voted into parliament in 2022 on Jacqui Lambie’s ticket, before leaving and becoming an independent.
Duniam, the shadow home affairs minister, said that without Labor, Tyrrell was unlikely to get re-elected in the next election, and could be replacing Labor veteran Helen Polley on the ticket.
She went to the election where she was elected as a Jacqui Lambie candidate and is now, on the sniff that she may not be re-elected, has jumped on the nearest life raft which happened to be a Labor Senate seat. Tammy Tyrrell, who, of course, has railed against [Hobart AFL] stadium funding, she’s railed against cuts to the NDIS, she’s railed against cuts to any funding that would go to Tasmania, is going to be forced to vote for bills that will reduce NDIS funding. She will have to support stadium funding.
Updated
Tendency to demonise immigration ‘deeply distressing’
Independent MP Monique Ryan has also accused the opposition of trying to “demonise” immigration in response to the policy that Angus Taylor will announce tonight, to stop non-citizens getting access to welfare and social supports such as the NDIS.
We’re in countdown mode to Taylor’s address, which he will make in the House of Representatives at 7:30pm.
Speaking to Afternoon Briefing, Ryan says migration is an issue that needs to be dealt with sensitively – not just by the Coalition, but also by the government.
The tendency of the conservative side of politics to demonise immigration is deeply distressing.
Taylor is also expected to announce a plan to index income tax brackets – to stop bracket creep. Ryan supports that plan.
She says it is a longstanding issue that should be addressed by government.
It is expensive for a government to do. (And also makes it harder for them to go to the election offering voters tax cut sweeteners).
Ryan added:
Indexation is a good idea. We know bracket creep across Australians, they pay more tax because of it and the political parties haven’t done it before because it is politically inconvenient for them.
Updated
Coalition policy has gone from ‘dog-whistling’ to ‘demonising’: Labor MP
Labor is digging into Angus Taylor’s budget reply speech, ahead of his address later tonight, calling it “divisive” and “poor politics”.
Frontbencher Daniel Mulino, tells the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that Taylor is chasing down One Nation (who have also said that the Coalition is copying their homework).
He adds that there are already substantial waiting periods before people can get access to benefits – including 10 years for people to get the aged pension.
It has gone beyond dog-whistling. It is now just straight out demonising a significant group in our community that contribute ... This is nothing more than really divisive and poor politics.
It’s about Angus Taylor chasing Pauline Hanson to the right. I think it’s really, really concerning.
Mulino says that he hasn’t seen the speech (and neither have we), but believes that it will undermine the “broad-based support for multiculturalism”.
On the announcement to tie migration numbers to new housing builds, Mulino says that the approach is “simplistic” and that the government is dealing with the issue in a more holistic way.
Updated
Universities Australia says it will ‘consider’ Craven’s assessment of antisemitism on campuses
Craven said “antisemitic intimidation” was continuing on campuses, including the use of chants like “globalise the intifada” and “from the river to the sea”.
He said “confronting flags” were also routinely flown on campus and “antisemitic statements” were being made in classrooms.
Craven conceded that with few exceptions, universities had “recited” a definition of antisemitism orally, in writing, or both. But he said they had not “embedded” an antisemitism definition “as a fundamental conceptual and binding principle of a university’s character”.
Many universities deal with antisemitism either by curt reference in their racism policies, or even by an assumed anonymous inclusion within racial discrimination as expressed within those policies.
He singled out the University of Canberra, Swinburne University, Southern Cross University, the University of Southern Queensland and Charles Darwin University as displaying “evidence of progress” towards embedding an antisemitism definition in their policies.
A spokesperson for Universities Australia said it would continue to work closely with Segal to combat antisemitism and “carefully consider” Thursday’s report.
Universities across the country have strengthened policies, complaint pathways, support services, education programs and codes of conduct in response to instances of antisemitism on campuses.
In 2025, Universities Australia worked with the sector to adopt a definition of antisemitism to help guide universities’ responses and support safer and more inclusive campus environments.
Updated
Australian universities accused of ‘sectoral failure’ in not adequately adopting an antisemitism definition
Universities have failed to meaningfully adopt a definition of antisemitism, constitutional lawyer Greg Craven has found.
Craven was hand-picked by the antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal, to lead the initiative as part of a wide-ranging plan handed down to the federal government last July to combat antisemitism.
Craven wrote in his assessment that without universities failing to “adequately address” an antisemitism definition, he could not issue individual report cards for universities assessing their policies and procedures. He wrote:
This in and of itself represents a grave inability of Australian universities in addressing the substantial emergence of antisemitism on their campuses, amounting to sectoral failure. Antisemitism is a continuing and very serious problem within Australian universities.
The failure of Australian universities to adopt a definition of antisemitism is indeed sectoral … The result for the Report Card process as a whole is that it has in a sense “short circuited”.
Segal said Craven’s assessment made for “sobering reading” and that she remained “convinced that the adoption of a definition of antisemitism is absolutely essential for combating antisemitism”.
She said she had written to all vice-chancellors asking them to “continue to engage and take the necessary steps to properly adopt and operationalise a definition of antisemitism”, with a view to individual report cards being issued next year.
Craven said if universities continued to display “further sectoral definitional failure”, the minister should intervene and funding and registrations could be withdrawn.
Updated
TLDR: here’s what happened in question time
The Coalition went down the integrity path over Labor’s broken promise not to touch negative gearing and CGT, but were forced to rejig their questions, after speaker Milton Dick ruled they couldn’t accuse Labor of lying in their questions. Instead Angus Taylor and Tim Wilson said Labor mislead, deceived, bent the truth and accused them of “untruths”.
The government fired back, justifying the moves, and attacking Taylor’s integrity.
Independent MP Nicolette Boele asked when the government would introduce a gas export tax – she didn’t get much of an answer, while the prime minister said that taxing exports could come back to “bite”.
Liberal MP Tony Pasin was ejected from the chamber after a dramatic exchange where he screamed at the PM. Soon after, Liberal MP Phil Thompson was also booted from the house.
And Anika Wells got a non-budget question, grilled on her use of taxpayer funded travel where she held a “sideline meeting” at a friend’s 40th birthday.
Updated
In pictures: the final question time for the week
New One Nation MP says banning ABC from press conference either a mistake or a ‘lesson’
Newly elected One Nation MP David Farley says ejecting ABC journalists from attending a press conference during the campaign for Farrer was either a “mistake” or a “lesson”.
At a surreal press conference given not in Canberra, but at state parliament in Sydney, Farley joined with the independent state MP for Murray, Helen Dalton, to criticise the Minns government’s water management legislation, which passed parliament this morning, as we reported earlier.
Amid speculation about state MPs defecting to One Nation, Dalton quickly dispelled the notion that she was joining the party, saying she had turned down a request by Pauline Hanson to run in the past.
Farley says he and Dalton are “very much aligned, both on policy, both on intent, and more importantly, we’re aligned on the aspiration of the future for both Murray and Farrer”. He would not be drawn on which western Sydney seats the party might target, as signalled by Barnaby Joyce.
Asked if the party’s decision to eject local ABC journalists from a Farrer press conference with Hanson was a mistake, Farley says:
It may have been, you know, you could consider it a mistake, but I suppose it could be a lesson as well. But, you know, I was engaged with the ABC during the campaign and immediately after the campaign. So the regional ABC has been very equitable in Farrer and across Murray.
Asked by the ABC’s state political reporter if the same was true at state level, Farley says: “That’s a question for Helen”.
Updated
Question time ends
After a final dixer to the prime minister, question time (extended edition) ends for the week.
Updated
Anika Wells asked about ‘sideline meeting’ at friend’s birthday party
We’re moving away from the budget for a moment, as Liberal MP Mary Aldred asks the communications minister, Anika Wells, about where she was when she held a “sideline meeting” at a 40th birthday party that she used to claim travel expenses for.
Was the meeting “at the bar, the garden kiosk or the room with the pinball machine?”, asks Aldred.
Wells looks as if she’d rather be anywhere else and rushes through her answer.
She says that she provided a full account to the travel watchdog (and repaid $10,000 of incorrect travel expenses earlier this month).
Wells says:
I have a full account of that a full report available published online, and you can refer there to the full account of the trip, which was considered completely within the rules.
Updated
Question time is still going … ?
We’re up to 90 minutes of question time, which is a bit longer than it normally runs – usually over by 3.10, we’re now past 3.30pm. On the Thursday of a sitting week, when everyone is itching to go home, normally it’s a brief affair. Why would they keep it running longer than normal today?
We couldn’t possibly speculate, but there’s been accusations in the past of the government seeking to extend question time on budget reply day – to give their opponent, the opposition leader, less time to prepare and practice their budget reply speech at 7.30pm.
The prime minister controls how long or short QT runs for. Anthony Albanese could keep it going all afternoon if he felt like it. The government seems very happy to keep chatting about their budget and all their new policies, so they might just be keen to keep unpacking all the new funding promises.
But every minute QT runs for is one minute less for Angus Taylor to get ready for his big moment.
Updated
Back to the crossbench, independent MP Nicolette Boele asks about the impact changes to capital gains tax will have on renewable energy investment.
Jim Chalmers says the government is doing consultation and that there are transitional arrangements in place that will protect renewables investments.
The purpose of it is to make sure that we are not providing additional tax breaks that are not enjoyed by Australians.
The budget we handed down took further steps to transform our energy system, making it easier to build easier to invest.
Albanese and Taylor trade barbs over integrity
Angus Taylor is back, accusing Labor of having misled, deceived, and bent the truth on housing taxes, investment taxes, and breaking a previous promise not to change taxes on farmers and small businesses.
He asks, “When did the prime minister decide that the truth does not matter?”
The Coalition is going hard on the integrity line, trying to pin the prime minister down for lying (without saying the L-word).
The PM thanks Taylor for the broad question – which means he can give a very broad answer – and tries to turn the spotlight back on to the opposition leader.
The Member for Hume [Taylor] promised they would be better off if they made him leader. That’s going really well.
Of course what we know is the Member for Hume has had himself the best indicator of future performances is past performance … That is why you can look at past performance because they managed to go to an election saying there would oppose or reverse tax cuts.
Dan Tehan tells the prime minister to be respectful of the opposition leader, but Milton Dick quips, “unfortunately we are well down the path of showing respect today.”
Albanese ignores Tehan and says Taylor is an endangered species – under threat from Andrew Hastie.
The Member for Canning will give him what he deserves very soon, Mr Speaker.
Updated
Spender calls for legislated bracket creep returns
When will the government legislate returning additional tax takes from negative gearing and CGT changes to reduce income tax, asks independent MP Allegra Spender.
She’s a fan of the changes, but wants to see the extra revenue go directly into reversing bracket creep.
Jim Chalmers has been giving us a forward sizzle on future tax cuts, by saying that the working Australian tax offset (WATO) included in the budget gives the government, and future governments, additional ways to return bracket creep. But it might not be through legislation as Spender is calling for. The WATO will give all workers $250 when they lodge their 2027-2028 tax returns.
He says the government has already given workers five tax cuts – including the stage three tax cut changes, the $1000 instant tax deduction (which will come into effect this year) and the WATO.
It means a future government either political persuasion has a broader range of options when it comes to returning bracket creep as this government has been doing enthusiastically and regularly.
This is a government that looks to give bracket creep back when it is affordable to do so. We would like to get the opportunity to do that again into the future.
Liberal MP Phil Thompson booted from chamber
Before Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh can ask the next question, her colleague Phil Thompson is kicked out of the chamber for interjecting too much during a dixer to Richard Marles (that brings our ejection count to two).
McIntosh says the PM declared last year that changes to negative gearing would increase rents, which was also confirmed in Tuesday’s budget papers. (Treasury estimated the changes would make the average household rent increase about $2 per week).
Anthony Albanese is really milking Tim Wilson’s book today, which he’s been quoting from since yesterday – and it gets another plug in this answer. The shadow treasurer wrote that capital gains tax discounts have been unjust for younger Australians.
The change that we brought in will allow negative gearing to still exist, and of course people will invest, if they are looking to use negative gearing, in new builds rather than old properties … What it will do is to also boost supply.
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Butler justifies cutting private health insurance rebates for over-65s
Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie is next, and says that pensioners in her electorate who have been hit with the removal of private health insurance rebates, will see their premiums soar “by up to $1600 for a couple”.
The change was announced by the health minister, Mark Butler, last month alongside changes to the national disability insurance scheme and were included in Tuesday’s budget.
Butler disputes the figure that he says has been “bandied about”, and that the change will increase private health insurance fees somewhere between $230 and $250 a year.
We don’t think there is a strong policy rationale to pay different Australians different levels of support for private health insurance when they are on the same income simply because of age.
If there are two households next to each other on the same income, one household working age, raising kids, taking up private health insurance, we don’t see any rationale for paying them a lower level of support than a household next door that happens to be on the same income but of an older age.
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Coalition puts the spotlight on migration numbers
Labor is 77,000 homes behind on its 1.2m home target, while 1.4 million migrants have entered the country since Anthony Albanese became prime minister, says Nationals MP Alison Penfold, and asks where the government is housing all the migrants.
It’s not a surprising line of questioning – with the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, to focus on restricting immigration in his budget-in-reply address tonight.
The prime minister says the government is “throwing everything” at its housing targets, and introduced measures like forcing universities to build additional accommodation for international students (which he says was opposed by the Coalition).
He doesn’t engage on the migration numbers, and focuses on increasing supply, and levelling the playing field to enter the housing market. The budget also includes an extension on banning foreign investors from buying homes.
Albanese says:
The shadow treasurer said that the current system, to quote him, “favours well-off established interests against those trying to get ahead”.
Mr Speaker, we want people to get ahead we want people to be able to live with the security of their own roof over their head.
Updated
Nationals MP Anne Webster is up next and says 40,000 nurses, 38,000 teachers, and almost 10,000 police officers have negatively geared properties – so why is the PM pulling up the ladder on them when he’s been climbing it himself?
Anthony Albanese says he disagrees with the premise of the question, because all those teachers, nurses and police officers can continue to negatively gear their properties. They can also negatively gear more properties if they buy new dwellings.
He adds that the policies will help younger emergency and frontline workers who aren’t in the property market compete with fewer investors to buy their own homes.
People go out there and they invest in investment properties in order to increase their assets and their wealth during their lifetime. Good on them …
Not by having investments hidden behind trusts, not by having investments through the Cayman Islands, but by investing here in properties here and we encourage that and celebrate that.
Updated
Liberal MP Tony Pasin booted from chamber in heated exchange
Why do 20 out of the 23 cabinet ministers that own more than two homes get to keep negatively gearing those properties, but young people wanting to get into the market can’t, asks Liberal MP Simon Kennedy.
Anthony Albanese turns the question back to the opposition, asking why Angus Taylor didn’t ask the question, instead of the “new kid” Kennedy. A quick look at Taylor’s register of interests shows he has two family trusts, and owns one property with his wife, who also owns an additional property.
The PM – famously – bought a $4.3m home with his new wife, Jodie Haydon, on the Central Coast, for “down the track”, he says.
There’s a bit of a scuffle as the PM says something unparliamentary which causes the House to erupt. It gets even more heated as Liberal MP Tony Pasin shouts at the PM to withdraw it (we didn’t hear what Albanese said), but Pasin’s interjections see him promptly kicked out of the chamber.
Albanese then withdraws, and continues with an attack on the Coalition’s line of questioning:
It is extraordinary and shows their failure to actually have any legitimate criticism of our policy that they chose to go down this road.
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When will Australia get a gas export tax?
Over to the crossbench, independent Sophie Scamps asks the prime minister why the revenue promised by the petroleum resource rent tax is always “around the corner” and isn’t ramping up, and if the government will tax gas exports.
Anthony Albanese says that right now the government is focused on fuel, and that gas companies are already paying tax through a range of mechanisms.
Indeed the budget on Tuesday night, contrary to the suggestion in the member’s question, PRRT revenue was revised up by $1.6bn in this budget.
A bit of context here – the PRRT actually brought in $100m less money than forecast in the last financial year, but saw a small revise upwards in the forecasts for PRRT take over the forward estimates compared to the last budget.
The PRRT (bearing in mind that it’s not the only tax mechanism) still only reclaims just over half the revenue that the beer excise does.
Albanese continues, saying that Australia is a reliable international gas partner, and that the east coast gas reservation scheme will help keep domestic gas prices lower.
We will introduce the domestic gas reservation scheme, so more Australians’ gas stays in Australian homes and businesses and I note as well the gas prices are down, not up at the moment.
We’re engaging with our partners in the region and we honour of course our existing export contracts because that is the way that you engage in international trade. If you don’t do that, then it comes back certainly to bite you.
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Labor ‘misled, deceived, untruthed’ Australians, shadow treasurer says
Tim Wilson is up next and again accuses Labor of lying – but speaker Milton Dick isn’t having it, and tells the opposition to use a different word.
Dan Tehan stands up with rules in hand, and says the use of the word is being directed to the party, not an individual (which would be unparliamentary).
We’re into the semantics here – bear with me. Dick counters and says he’s now done his “own research”, and argues that the question should be rephrased. Tehan says that previous speakers have allowed it, and hits Dick with “but it’s actually true”.
Dick makes a final call to say that Wilson can’t say Labor lied. So the shadow treasurer gets out the thesaurus:
Labor misled, deceived, untruthed Australians about plans to tax them more. Will the prime minister rule out changing his mind about introducing a death tax?
From the Coalition benches, Darren Chester shouts out to the PM, “your pants are on fire”. I’m glancing over at the crossbench and they’ve never looked so bored.
Anthony Albanese, after all that, stands up to answer and says that Labor are the party of home ownership.
What we’ve had in here is two questions, the first about taxing the family home, which, we want more family homes. They want to lock young people out of home ownership.
When we introduced tax cuts in our budget last year, they said they would oppose it and repeal it. Now they say they oppose these changes as well to assist young people into home ownership and they pretend that they care about the family home.
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It’s question time
Angus Taylor (who’s gearing up for his budget in reply address tonight) begins the final QT for the week – asking if the prime minister will rule out taxing the family home when “Labor lied” about its plan for new taxes.
Anthony Albanese doesn’t even bother with the premise of the question, and goes straight into taking jabs at the opposition for promising to reverse tax cuts that Labor introduced before the last election.
Naturally, Taylor isn’t impressed.
He tries to make a point of order to get the PM to answer the question, saying Albanese wasn’t asked about “compare and contrast” approaches.
Albanese counters saying that he was “asked about tax policy” and what the government can “rule out”.
The truth is they have no credibility on tax, cost of living, on the budget or the economy.
Dan Tehan then has a crack at getting Albanese to answer the original question, but it doesn’t work.
He ends his answer with: “They asked about something that isn’t in our budget rather than anything that is.”
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Good afternoon, Krishani Dhanji here with you, thanks so much to the brilliant Nick Visser for a huge day so far.
I’m here to take you through the rest – there’s plenty to come.
It’s nearly question time, which means it’s time for me to go, and political blogger extraordinaire Krishani Dhanji to take things from here.
Have a good arvo, you’re in good hands.
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Watch: Greens senator says ‘immoral’ NDIS reforms being rushed through Senate
Greens senator Jordon Steele-John delivered an impassioned speech earlier, saying the Albanese government’s proposed changes to the national disability insurance scheme are “the largest cut made by a government to a government program in the history of the commonwealth”.
Watch his speech below:
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Queensland Labor leader held in contempt of parliament
Queensland Labor leader, former premier Steven Miles, has been held in contempt of parliament.
The parliamentary ethics committee tabled a report into three opposition MPs on Thursday. The other two Labor MPs were not held in contempt.
All three made claims on 19 February, last year, that deputy premier Jarrod Bleijie had allegedly failed to disclose a conflict of interest about a new rail line to the Sunshine Coast. He owns a home near to the project.
“The member for Kawana did not disclose his conflict before the election when he was carrying out that con on the people of the Sunshine Coast …” Miles claimed in parliament said, last year.
“I clarify that the impact of the project on his property was never disclosed at any point in time”.
Miles apologised in April 2025, but was referred to the ethics committee. He argued to the committee that the deputy premier had failed to inform the electorate of the conflict of interest and that he had not meant to mislead the parliament.
But the bipartisan committee found that Bleijie had “abided by his parliamentary obligations in respect of disclosures of conflicts of interests”. It ruled that Miles had committed a contempt and recommended he apologise.
Miles did so on Thursday.
Greens senator says ‘immoral’ NDIS reforms are being rushed through Senate
In an impassioned speech to the Senate, Greens senator Jordon Steele-John said the federal budget’s NDIS cuts are “immoral” and being rushed through the parliament. He put forward an amendment for the bill go to an inquiry that would see a report in August and provide a “sensible amount of time to engage disabled people”.
Steele-John said:
This is outrageous and it is wrong. Fellow senators, this is wrong. These cuts are immoral. This is not what you were elected to do, to cause this harm to cause this pain, to put these lives at risk …
Many in this place may not have a lived experience of disability. But I do hope that the majority of us have not lost our capacity for empathy, and our commitment to curiosity, and a belief that we should understand the laws that we are passing … And the impacts that they will have on people.
160,000 people now face removal from the NDIS.
The amendment failed.
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Government quietly releases response to diabetes inquiry, does not adopt any proposals
On budget night the government quietly released its response to the parliamentary inquiry into diabetes, which concluded in July 2024.
The final report from that inquiry made 23 recommendations, including that the government introduce a levy on sugary drinks to encourage manufacturers to reduce sugar content; to regulate unhealthy food marketing to protect children including ads on TV, online and in gaming; and for improved food labelling targeting added sugar.
In its response published on Tuesday night, the government noted these recommendations, but did not commit to adopting them. This is despite the measures having significant support from public health experts and the Australian community, the executive manager of the Food for Health Alliance, Jane Martin, said.
More than a quarter of Australian children are above a healthy weight and more than 40% of children’s total energy intake comes from unhealthy foods.
“It’s imperative that the government takes action to push sugary drinks companies to cut the sugar in their products through a tax on sugary drinks companies,” Martin said.
A government-funded feasibility report on limiting unhealthy marketing to kids was published last week.
The government provided “support in principle” for nine of the inquiry’s recommendations and “noted” 14, but stopped short of adopting any proposal.
The Public Health Association of Australia CEO, Adjunct Prof Terry Slevin, said: “The public health community was hoping for a government response that committed to more direct action”.
He called for the government to commit to a high-level government taskforce to determine how to implement the recommendations.
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Cowlishaw told the court that gambling companies “derive significant revenue from individuals who gamble at excessive or problematic levels”.
He continued:
Governments also derive significant revenue from gambling taxation and thus have vested interests in maintaining weak regulatory environments and existing policy settings. The gambling industry has adopted tactics that have strong parallels with tobacco industry tactics and include sponsorship and support of research and evidence production that aligns with commercial objectives rather than public health goals.
The inquest continues.
Inquest witness criticises federal government response to Murphy gambling report
An expert witness in the inquest to the death of a young Melbourne man who bet nearly $900,000 over four years has described the federal government’s response to Peta Murphy’s report on gambling as “extremely disappointing”.
Assoc Prof Sean Cowlishaw, a psychologist and expert in gambling harm, gave evidence at the Victorian coroner’s court on Thursday as part of the inquest into the death of 22-year-old Kyle Hudson, who killed himself in July 2021.
The coroner is investigating the circumstances and likely contributing factors to Hudson’s death, including whether betting companies Sportsbet, Entain and bet365 accurately assessed his risk of gambling-related harm.
Cowlishaw was asked his opinion on the federal government’s response to the Murphy report, after the Labor government released its contentious, much-delayed response on Tuesday, the day of the federal budget.
Cowlishaw told the court:
In absolute terms, there were 31 recommendations that were made in that report. It looks like the government has addressed three of those, so under, just under 10%. Some of the key recommendations that I think as relates to this court have been completely ignored. This includes the recommendation for the banning of gambling related inducements and inducement advertising.
There are recommendations in there that relate to restrictions on gambling advertisements in a broad sense, which are positioned as strong, but fall very far below the comprehensive ban that was indicated in the report … So I interpret these as a partial ban with a lot of caveats and again, very far below what was initially recommended in the Murphy report.
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Australian hantavirus cruise passengers to return home in full PPE after government secures repatriation flight
The health minister, Mark Butler, confirmed Dfat has secured a suitable aircraft and crew to transport the five Australians and one New Zealander on board the hantavirus-affected cruise ship MV Hondius.
The aircraft is due to land in the Netherlands at 4pm Sydney time, and then take off with the passengers about 90 minutes later. They are expected to land in Perth tomorrow and will be subject to a quarantine order, remaining at WA’s Bullsbrook quarantine facility for at least three weeks.
Butler said:
… obviously Foreign Affairs and Trade have also secured all of the necessary clearances and approvals to travel from the Netherlands to Perth …
Six passengers are still in good health, they have all tested negative for hantavirus and are showing no symptoms as well.
Passengers and crew members will travel this flight for its duration in full PPE …
The quarantine order remains in place for three weeks but we will be reviewed during those three weeks to determine what will take place for the remainder of the 42-day period of potential incubation at the World Health Organization has advised.
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Mal Lanyon has said police are looking into whether directions made under the major events declaration for the protest were lawful.
Minns said he was ready for a potential legal challenge to the use of the major events declaration, as signalled by protest groups. Asked if he had spoken with the police commissioner about charges being withdrawn, he said:
No. I mean we’ve got separation of powers, we think that’s important, and after police make their decisions, we don’t have anything to do with it.
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NSW premier says he expects majority of Herzog protest charges to remain
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, says he expects the majority of charges laid following the Sydney protest against the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, in February to remain.
As we reported yesterday, police have withdrawn their first charges against a protester following the rally. It came hours after the NSW police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, said any charges made under the struck-down public assembly restriction declaration (Pard) laws would be withdrawn, pending a review.
Asked today if charges being dropped showed the Pard laws had not helped police, Minns said:
No, absolutely not, they were the right laws at the right time … No one should believe that the vast majority of charges are going to be withdrawn. It should also be remembered that there was a [major] event declaration that was in place for very good reasons.
We had a head of state in Sydney that we had to keep safe. We also had to keep people that were going to that public event safe in the immediate aftermath of the worst terrorism event the country has ever seen. And most of the charges related to that … major event declaration being in place, and police acted reasonably in the circumstances.
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NSW parliament passes bill to restore water flows to wetlands where turtle rescue unfolded
The New South Wales lower house has passed legal amendments to allow water flows to resume to parched wetlands where scientists had to rescue turtles in the state’s north-west.
WaterNSW stopped flows to the Gwydir region in March after concerns were raised about flooding of private land. Scientists were filmed digging turtles out of mud in a rapidly drying waterhole in the Gingham watercourse, while a grazier described the deaths of birds, frogs and sheep on separate wetlands on his property.
Environmental flows refer to water released by the government from dams and tributaries into rivers and ecosystems to restore their health.
The amendments, which passed the upper house last week after they were introduced by water minister Rose Jackson, protect WaterNSW from civil liability claims when it is carrying out its usual functions. Jackson last week described the environmental impact of the halt to flows in the Gwydir region as “devastating”.
The bill’s passage through the lower house on Thursday morning means flows can resume which is expected to occur within weeks.
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First block of antisemitism inquiry hearings wraps up
That’s a wrap on today’s antisemitism hearing. Dr Dave Rich (Community Security Trust) and Peggy Dwyer (Jewish Council of Australia) have had a long discussion about what is and is not antisemitic. They agreed it is not antisemitic when people are upset and angry about deaths of Palestinians, including children.
In other cases, Rich says antisemitism is very often a “shadow form of legitimate discussion”, and that sometimes “we have to tread delicately in teasing them apart”.
There could also be inadvertent use of antisemitic language, he said.
“It’s a very emotive debate,” he said, adding:
People have very strong feelings which are often very linked to their personal identity. I think it is only right that when a complaint is made and an investigator comes to that complaint, all these things are taken into account … rather than just branding someone an anti-semite because they used a particular word or a particular phrase.
Rich also answered some questions from John Sheahan KC acting for law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler, which is representing a range of Jewish organisations. Sheahan asked whether the IHRA definition has had a chilling effect on free speech. Rich said there were a couple of examples from 2017 that get used repeatedly, and that in another case it’s been used to exonerate people.
The next block of hearings will start on Monday, 25 May.
NSW prison population hits record high
The number of people in prison in New South Wales has reached a record high, growing more in four months than it did in the previous four years, according to data released by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (Bocsar) on Thursday.
The total number of people in prison reached more than 14,000 in March, rising by more than 1,000 prisoners in over the four months from November 2025 to March 2026.
The data showed the rise is being driven by an increase in the remand population, and Aboriginal adults in custody, which again reached record highs after reaching record numbers in December as well.
There is also now a record number of people in prison for domestic violence offences, which makes up 28% of the prison population, according to the data.
Data previously obtained by Guardian Australia from Bocsar shows bail refusal rates for domestic violence offences have increased since reforms to the system in the wake of Molly Ticehurst’s murder by her former partner while he was on bail.
This includes for offences considered less serious, which were not targeted in the reforms.
Last year, there was a record number of Indigenous deaths in custody.
On Sunday, as revealed by Guardian Australia, a 19-year-old man took his own life in a Sydney prison unit that an independent watchdog previously recommended be closed because it “simply cannot provide a safe environment”.
More on this story here:
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Australia can’t ‘kick the can down the road’ on housing any longer, PM says
Albanese was just asked about the next election, and how voters should feel about the shift in position. He said:
We have been upfront about the fact we have changed our position, like we changed our position on the fuel excise which was a major issue at the last election.
It is the right thing to do, when it comes to this substance of the policy. And we’re not prepared to sit back and say, we know that there is an ongoing issue with first home buyers and with young people getting into housing … and say we’re just going to kick this can down the road.
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Albanese again defends budget and housing efforts: ‘clearly we needed to do more’
The presser is quickly moving on to the budget and the Albanese government’s shift on the capital gains tax discount and changes to negative gearing.
Albanese said:
We have changed our position, but we are still making sure that we look after people who have existing investments by making sure that there is a grandfathering of negative gearing, but also we are making sure that negative gearing can continue …
We have thrown everything that we can at supply. Clearly we needed to do more.
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Tyrrell says she wants to have a ‘seat at the table’ after change
Anthony Albanese is speaking about the move in Canberra now, saying Tammy Tyrrell will join a “strong” team in Tasmania. He said:
People across Tasmania know her as a fighter. She is someone who is warm, genuinely funny and compassionate. She also never gives up on people.
She is someone who does not mince her words. She stands up for people stop and now she will bring that advocacy into the Labor party as a member the Labor caucus.
Tyrrell said she is proud to join Labor, and as a senator she wants to have a “seat at the table where I can make the most change”:
I know exactly what Tasmanians are wanting out of this current government and the people that represent it.
She said she won’t apologise to “anybody” for joining Labor.
“It’s a good fit,” she said. “I’m very proud to be a Labor girl.”
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Independent senator Tammy Tyrrell joins Labor
Tasmanian independent senator Tammy Tyrrell has joined the Labor party, a coup for Anthony Albanese.
Tyrrell, who was elected in 2022 as the Jacqui Lambie Network’s lead candidate, is about to speak alongside the prime minister in Canberra.
Tyrrell left the JLN to sit as an independent in 2024.
Tyrrell is the second crossbench senator to join Labor since the 2025 election, after WA senator Dorinda Cox defected from the Greens in June last year.
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Victorian premier responds to criticism from states over federal budget allocations
Jacinta Allan has also responded to criticism from the New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australian premiers about the federal government’s budget allocating $3.8bn to the Victorian government’s Suburban Rail Loop project.
Yesterday, Chris Minns said 17.7% of federal infrastructure funding was going to NSW despite the state making up 31% of the nation’s population. He said “money received from NSW taxpayers … [is] going down the Hume Highway into the Victorian government, effectively subsidising some of their spending”.
Allan responded:
What [do] New South Wales, Queensland and WA have in common? They’ve all got revenues and budgets that are propped up by the mining industry, it goes back to that point that I made before, Victoria collects the lowest tax revenue per head of population than any state.
And as our economy is not propped up by the mining industry like it is in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, it’s great to have a partner in Canberra. For year upon year upon year, Victorians, who are, I remind you are federal taxpayers as well, watched buckets of money being shovelled into projects in New South Wales. We were dudded our fair share from the former federal Liberal National government. Time and time again. We went alone on Metro tunnel. We went it alone on the Westgate Tunnel. We went it alone on removing level crossings.
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Victoria premier says state on ‘unity ticket’ with federal government to get more young people into homes
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference in Kew this morning to demonstrate how her government is on a “unity ticket” with the feds to get more young people into homes.
Speaking at a pub in Kew Junction – the site of one of the government’s “activity zones” earmarked for redevelopment and the seat of opposition leader Jess Wilson – she congratulated Anthony Albanese and treasurer Jim Chalmers on their budget:
[The federal budget] has that shared focus of getting more young people into more homes, but understanding that to do that, you’ve got to shake up the status quo. You’ve got to change the system to make it fairer for more young people to have the opportunities that previous generations have had.
Allan said through the government’s fast-tracked development pathway and other planning reforms, the state now has more first home buyers than anywhere else in the country. She didn’t mention the tax increases on investors, which have also contributed.
Allan was joined by her planning minister, Sonya Kilkenny, who also announced she had fast-tracked the approval of a new development at the former site of the Leo’s Supermarket around the corner. The development will include four buildings, ranging from three to 18 storeys, including 194 apartments, a supermarket, shops and office space.
She also announced draft plans to rezone “priority sites” around Macaulay in North Melbourne, Fitzroy and Collingwood, Richmond and Alphington to allow for 30,000 homes. Kilkenny said:
In those areas there are many, many homes, but there’s also many areas that need to be unlocked, so we’re working very closely with the City of Melbourne and City of Yarra to look at those sites.
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Minns won’t ‘go quiet’ over budget infrastructure allocation: ‘It’s state before party’
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has again criticised the federal budget’s allocation of infrastructure spending, which has seen the state receive less funding per person in 2026-27 than other states.
The funding, which also saw an additional $3.8bn allocated to Victoria’s Suburban Rail Loop, has come at a time of lingering tension between NSW and federal Labor governments over the allocation of GST. NSW, Australia’s richest and most populous state, received its lowest ever share of the tax in the 2026-27 carve-up.
Asked at a press conference this morning if he had received an explanation about the infrastructure funding allocation, Minns said:
I haven’t received an explanation from the commonwealth as it relates to the discrepancy between what the states are getting. The truth is, if everybody was copping a haircut, if everybody’s infrastructure was being cut, if the federal government had said, ‘Look, we have to reduce spending across the board,’ then maybe I’d grumble about it, but I’d accept it …
The preference from the federal government would be for us to be good soldiers and salute and to do what we’re told, but we can’t go quiet. My obligation is to the people of NSW and it’s state before party. We have to put NSW first. Our taxpayers deserve a fair go from Canberra, and at the moment, too much of it is heading to other states, particularly a wealthy, big state like Victoria.
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Australian government wishlist from Anthropic meeting revealed
The Australian government went into a February meeting with Anthropic chief executive, Dario Amodei, seeking for Anthropic’s investments in Australia to include being “additive to the energy grid”, according to documents released under freedom of information law.
On a list under the title “what we want”, the government also was seeking to ask Amodei if it would make the same commitments that it has in the US, on covering grid infrastructure costs, net-new power generation, reducing strain on the electricity grid, and local community investments.
The government also sought to understand Anthropic’s “issues with Australia’s copyright regime”, and a commitment to work with Australia on frontier AI safety and security.
What Anthropic was seeking was redacted from the document, and it is notable that in the memorandum of understanding between the federal government and Anthropic from April, the sole mention of energy is a recognition from Anthropic of “the importance of expanding Australia’s energy supply and transmission, with a focus on firmed renewables”.
Copyright does not appear in the memorandum.
Independent senator David Pocock in March asked Anthropic executive in its safeguards policy team, Evan Frondorf, about energy use, and Frondorf said he expected Anthropic would adopt a similar approach to its US commitments in other markets.
Former Queensland premier’s partner’s rape case mentioned in court
A prominent Brisbane surgeon – and partner of former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk – charged with rape has had his first mention in court.
Vahid Reza Adib was excused from attending Southport courthouse on Thursday morning, where magistrate Jane Bentley ordered a brief of evidence be made available to Adib by 23 June and adjourned the matter to be next heard on 7 July.
He is charged with three counts of rape, two counts of deprivation of liberty and one count of sexual assault.
Adib, a bariatric surgeon who runs an obesity clinic at the private Wesley hospital in Brisbane’s western suburbs, attended the Southport police station on the Gold Coast voluntarily on 1 May.
A statement released by Adib’s lawyers said he would “vigorously defend the charges”.
Adib’s bail was enlarged.
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Greens senator says Pauline Hanson living ‘rent-free’ in Angus Taylor’s head
Greens senator David Shoebridge said One Nation’s Pauline Hanson is living “rent-free” in Angus Taylor’s head, criticising the Coalition’s proposal to limit migration and restrict welfare payments to citizens.
Shoebridge spoke to Sky News this morning, saying Taylor’s plans would create a system of “unequal rights”. He went on:
Well, Angus Taylor clearly has Pauline Hansen living rent-free in his head. Like, this is an extraordinarily, you know, I think, unprecedented move from someone who pretends they want to be the alternative government, throwing, what, hundreds of thousands of our friends and our neighbours, our workmates, people we may have worked next to for 10 or 15 years.
If they get injured, if they fall sick, saying, ‘Well, actually, we’re not going to support you.’ You’ve been paying taxes into this system, into the country for maybe 10, 20, 30, 40 years.
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Federal court judge finds Coles misled shoppers with ‘Down Down’ tickets that weren’t genuine
Coles misled shoppers with its “Down Down” promotional tickets, the federal court has ruled in a landmark decision for the supermarket industry.
Justice Michael O’Bryan has just handed down his judgment in the federal court in Melbourne, delivering a significant blow to Australia’s second-largest supermarket chain, which had argued the discounts represented genuine savings.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) accused Coles of misleading shoppers regarding 245 products that it sold at one regular price for at least six months which it temporarily inflated the prices of and then dropped slightly as part of a “Down Down” promotion.
The strategy is known as “was/is” comparative pricing.
The Coles trial in February, which examined 12 products in detail, heard their first price was on offer for a median period of a year, before being increased to its second price, for a median of 28 days, before being reduced to a third “Down Down” price which was actually more expensive or equal to the first price.
Delivering his judgment this morning, O’Bryan said if the average shopper had known the “Was” prices on the items’ promotional tickets had been in place for such a short amount of time, they would not have thought the discounts were genuine.
He found the supermarket giant engaged in misleading conduct, in contravention of the Australian Consumer Law.
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NDIS among programs targeted by Coalition’s proposed welfare changes
Taylor’s plans to restrict welfare payments solely to citizens would include the NDIS, AAP reports.
People already on it would be grandfathered in if the proposal were ever made official.
“We have got, right now, a government that is slashing support for private health insurance for older Australians, and at the same time dishing out billions and billions of dollars to people in this country who are not citizens for welfare,” Taylor told reporters in Canberra earlier.
As we reported earlier, Taylor said the Coalition’s plans will target 17 types of welfare support.
Antisemitism present across political spectrum, inquiry told
Back to the antisemitism royal commision, where Dr Dave Rich was asked about Zionism, anti-Zionism and antisemitism. He described Zionism as:
The idea that the Jewish people are a people, that their ancient homeland is the land of Israel, that they have a right to national self-determination, and that the modern state of Israel is the manifestation of that right in the modern world.
The meaning has changed to mean support for Israel’s ongoing existence and wellbeing, he said, and is wrapped up in people’s Jewish identity. Zionism now has multiple strands, he said, and is different from supporting the Israeli government or policies.
Anti-Zionism is the idea that Israel shouldn’t exist, that it’s not a real nation, that Jewish people aren’t real, Rich told the antisemitism inquiry.
He said the slogan “from the river to the sea” (which has a contested meaning) was anti-Zionist because it meant that Israel shouldn’t exist, but that many other statements that are called anti-Zionist are really anti-Israel, against the government and its policies.
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Taylor’s budget reply speech to include dramatic cuts to number allowed into the country
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, will deliver his first budget reply speech on Thursday evening, unveiling a dramatic cut to the number of people allowed into the country, AAP reports.
Taylor in his speech will say Australia should only bring in as many people as it can house. A limit would be placed on net overseas migration, equivalent to the number of homes built in the previous year.
Tuesday’s budget forecasts the figure at 295,000 for this financial year, dropping to 225,000 by 2027/28.
That’s well below the post-pandemic high of more than 550,000, when a flood of migrants re-entered the country as borders reopened, but still higher than pre-Covid levels.
Last financial year, about 175,000 new homes were built. If Taylor’s policy were implemented, that would mean a cut to net migration of about 40% for this financial year.
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Holding Jewish people responsible for Israel a ‘building block’ of racism, inquiry hears
There will always be “edge cases”, Dr Dave Rich has told the antisemitism royal commission, where there are good faith disagreements on whether something is antisemitic.
He talked about the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which has been picked up by many groups, including in Australia and has been criticised for seeming to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
He said it’s a “practical tool” to identify antisemitism and people shouldn’t get hung up on it as a “definition”.
Its imprecision is its strength, he said, and people on both sides misread and over-interpret it.
The “fundamental building block of racism” was the idea of collective guilt, he said:
Holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel is the justification provided by terrorists who murder Jews around the world, who attack Jews around the world while shouting abuse about Israel, about Gaza.
Housing minister says first home buyers should be on better footing as soon as this weekend’s auctions
Clare O’Neil, the housing minister, said the recent budget is a “housing budget” meant to help first home buyers.
O’Neil spoke to ABC News Breakfast, saying buyers hoping to the enter the property market should be on better footing nearly immediately. She said:
I’m not pretending anything is going to get fixed tomorrow or next weekend, but they will be a difference at auctions this weekend. These changes will mean that there will be just a bit fewer investors at every auction and that that younger person who is trying to get into their first home in a better position.
O’Neil said, however, the changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount were not about removing investors entirely and Australians should still be able to build wealth through the housing market:
We’re not trying to remove investors from the Australian housing market.
We want people to get ahead, and if you are doing well and you are able to do well through investing and property, then good on you. We want you to succeed and build wealth for your family.
All we are saying is that we want to make sure that when people are making those investments that they are actually helping with the biggest national challenge we face on housing, and that is building new homes for the country.
Read more here:
Taylor unveils plan to block welfare payments for noncitizens
Angus Taylor is outlining a new plan from the Coalition to block many welfare payments for noncitizens, part of the opposition’s rebuttal to the government’s budget on Tuesday.
Taylor had this to say to Sky News earlier this morning of the proposal, which is meant to curb migration figures and therefore help address the housing shortage:
Dishing out billions and billions of dollars to people in this country who are not citizens for welfare. That’s not fair on hard-working Australian citizens, that’s not fair on people who have committed to this country for many years.
The simple principle is this: if you commit to this country, we’ll commit to you. That’s the Australia I grew up in, and it’s the Australia I want to see again.
He said the plan to exclude all but citizens encompasses 17 programs, including paid parental leave, which would save the budget “many, many billions”.
And what I will say about this is that hard-working Australians out there now: I think many of them will be surprised to hear that non-citizens, as soon as they arrive here, can get access to family tax benefits.
If you are not an Australian citizen, then you don’t get the privileges of an Australian citizen. And I’d encourage people who are committed to this country to become a citizen.
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Royal commission investigates how to define antisemitism
The antisemitism royal commission is off to an early start this morning, crossing to Dr Dave Rich in London. He’s the policy director at the Community Security Trust, a charity that aims to protect Jewish people from terrorism, and has written an expert report on antisemitism.
He described antisemitism as “prejudice, discrimination, hostility or hatred towards Jewish people, Jewish organisations, Jewish institutions, or people perceived to be Jewish” that can manifest in both violent and non-violent ways.
He said:
Broadly speaking, it’s built on a set of negative stereotypes, attitudes and tropes about Jews.
He also took the commissioner through the long history of antisemitism, where those tropes (he particularly mentions the trope of Jews as greedy and stingy moneylenders) developed. For a thousand years, up to a 1965 papal decree that Jews were not permanently responsible for the death of Jesus Christ, Jews were frequently accused of being Christ killers, he said.
He also talked about the blood libel myth, entirely false and “bizarre” accusations that Jewish people committed infanticide against Christian children that have continued since the Holocaust, and the “ridiculous”, fraudulent and debunked Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
A more recent trope, he said, was that Jews were modern-day Nazis, showing how antisemitism adapted after the Holocaust.
Governments must define antisemitism in order to develop policies against it, he said.
Court to rule on ACCC case against Coles
Australians who shop at Coles are about to find out whether the federal court agrees that the supermarket intended to deceive them with “illusory” and “utterly misleading” discounts on many everyday products.
The federal court justice Michael O’Bryan will hand down his judgment this morning in the case the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) brought against Coles.
The ACCC accused Coles – and rival Woolworths – of temporarily hiking prices, then putting products on “sale” on their respective promotional programs, at prices that were higher than their previous long-term shelf price.
The ACCC alleges the supermarkets misled shoppers by using their “Down Down” and “Prices Dropped” and promotions to deliberately disguise price increases on hundreds of products between 2021 and 2023.
The Coles case, heard in the federal court in Melbourne in February, focused on a sample of about a dozen products, including Rexona deodorant, Arnott’s Shapes and 2L bottles of Coca-Cola.
During the trial, Coles conceded that by the time it raised the price of an item from the original to the “was” price, the supermarket had already planned and agreed with the supplier on what the third “Down Down” price would be.
Legal counsel for the supermarket, however, argued that the promotional prices were genuine discounts offered to shoppers after an increase in wholesale costs charged by suppliers during a period of rising inflation.
O’Bryan is expected to hand down his judgment at 9.30am. We’ll bring you more updates then
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Angus Taylor says Coalition will ‘fight like hell’ to oppose budget tax changes
Angus Taylor, the opposition leader, said his rebuttal to the budget later tonight will be about putting Australians first, not about countering a surge in support for One Nation.
Taylor is speaking to Channel Seven’s Sunrise this morning, saying he plans to fight “every day” until the budget legislation gets to the parliament to “stop this from happening in the first place”. He went on:
We’ll be working with small businesses, with those who are trying to save a nest egg, because they’re going to get punished under this, those trying to grow a business, for those who are trying to buy a home or get ahead owning a home.
We’re going to be working with them to fight against this rotten legislation, a toxic set of taxes that are going to hurt aspirational Aussies and are an assault on aspiration.
He said the Coalition would “absolutely” do what’s necessary to repeal the changes to the capital gains tax discount if elected.
“Frankly, we’re going to fight like hell [against] this because this is an assault on aspiration,” Taylor said.
Good morning, Nick Visser here to pick up the blog. Let’s get to it.
PM expects productivity gains from CGT reforms
Albanese also said he expected productivity gains from the capital gains tax changes, arguing the current system “distorted the market towards housing away from equities”.
Investment won’t be distorted by the way the tax system operates, he said.
He said some of the negative reaction from the investor community has not been “based upon the policy” and he committed to consulting on the change.
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PM denies housing and investment changes linked to new gen Z voters
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has said that the additional 700,000 gen Z voters being added to the electoral roll by the time of the next federal election were not a factor in deciding on the negative gearing and capital gains tax changes in Tuesday’s federal budget.
Asked by Sarah Ferguson on ABC’s 7.30 about the additional voters, Albanese said he only considered the merits of the policy change.
He said:
If you concentrate on good policy, the politics will look after itself.
What we’re concentrating on here is good policy in the interest of young Australians, but also in the interest of that social cohesion. In the national interest as well.
He said the government could not “sit back and continue to watch” income from labour treated differently to income from assets.
On deciding to grandfather existing negative gearing arrangements, Albanese was asked how he would explain to a young person that the negative gearing advantages are “locked in” for older generations now.
Albanese said negative gearing is still available for new builds, and the average time negative gearing operates is a little over five years because people either dispose of the property or it becomes positively geared.
He said the government is also making sure “we don’t change the basis of people who have gone into investing in a property, on the basis of arrangements that were made available to them”.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Nick Visser will take the helm (with Krishani Dhanji ready to take over this afternoon in the lead-up to tonight’s budget reply speech from Angus Taylor).
Anthony Albanese has denied that the additional 700,000 gen Z voters being added to the electoral roll by the time of the next federal election was a factor in deciding on the negative gearing and capital gains tax changes in Tuesday’s federal budget. More coming up.
Australians who shop at Coles are about to find out whether the federal court agrees that the supermarket intended to deceive them with “illusory” and “utterly misleading” discounts on many everyday products. More details coming up.
