What we learned, Wednesday 3 June
Thanks for staying with us through a busy news day. We’ll wrap up the live blog there.
Here were some of the day’s top stories:
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The Queensland childcare commission of inquiry has recommended controversial changes to adoption rules for Indigenous children.
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Victoria has announced a crackdown on the strata sector and real estate underquoting.
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Australian troops will be sent to Poland to train with Ukrainians.
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One of the Greens’ co-founders, Drew Hutton, has quit the party.
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The former ACT Liberal leader, Leanne Castley, quit the Canberra Liberals over what she described as a “toxic culture”.
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The Solomon Islands prime minister, Matthew Wale, says he will a review security pact with China and progress a treaty with Austalia.
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In Canberra, question time got fiery as Anthony Albanese labelled the opposition the “Liberal One National party” – an amalgamation of the Libs, Nats and One Nation – and dubbed Angus Taylor a “Temu Abbott”.
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Andrew Bragg, the Liberals’ shadow housing minister, has said house prices should fall.
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Pauline Hanson has been booked to deliver a “leader’s address” at the National Press Club later this month.
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Penny Wong said Donald Trump’s phone call opposing a planned Israeli attack on Beirut was “significant”.
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Australia is facing another 10% US tariff over “forced labour” claims.
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The OECD has recommended countries adopt more EVs and renewable energy to address fuel insecurity.
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The University of Melbourne changed its wifi terms of use to allow the network to be monitored by the university, a report found.
Krishani Dhanji will be back with you tomorrow morning. Have a good night.
Updated
Neo-Nazi party to learn fate over hate group listing
Neo-Nazi group White Australia faces “extinction” if its hate group designation is not overturned, the organisation has argued, ahead of a crucial legal judgment, AAP reports.
The group is challenging laws passed following the Bondi Beach terror attack, which the government has used to criminalise joining, supporting, fundraising or recruiting for White Australia.
At a high court hearing on Wednesday, lawyers for the organisation pushed for the hate listing to be put on ice, at least until the full case could be heard in September.
A decision on the injunction would be handed down at 2pm on Thursday, Chief Justice Stephen Gageler said.
“Unless restrained, there will be an extinction of the organisation,” White Australia’s lawyer Peter King told the court on Wednesday.
Allowing the neo-Nazi group to be designated a hate organisation would render the broader legal question about the hate laws moot, because White Australia, which had brought the case, would no longer exist, King said.
King also said the Victorian corporations registrar had sent a “show cause” notice which meant that because of the anti-hate laws, White Australia would effectively cease to exist on 25 June.
Commonwealth lawyer Brendan Lim SC said the party had other options, including asking for its registration to remain in place until the high court battle is resolved.
Lim argued granting the injunction would set a precedent that could have consequences far beyond the White Australia party.
As a result of overturning the current law, “persons may apprehend that they can commit crimes with no risk of punishment or detection”, he told the court.
He also warned the risks of allowing White Australia to continue in its current form, including the potential for its rhetoric to incite violence, far outweighed the harms of listing the organisation as a hate group.
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Context of neo-Nazi court battle
This context from AAP: in a video posted to encrypted messaging site Telegram on Tuesday night, notorious neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell said the move to ban his organisation breached the constitution’s implied right to freedom of political communication.
White Australia is also seeking to register as a political party.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke declared the neo-Nazi organisation a prohibited hate group in May after receiving advice from spy agency ASIO.
White Australia’s predecessor, the National Socialist Network, announced it was disbanding when the hate laws were introduced.
But in reality, Mr Burke said, the group had “phoenixed” - changing its name to White Australia and continuing operations with largely the same members.
Under the government’s declaration, it is now a crime to support, fund or join the group.
Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir has also been banned under the post-Bondi laws.
Cohealth responds to independent review finding ineffective management
Continuing from our previous post: in a statement, Cohealth responded to an independent review into its clinics which have been running at a loss and at risk of closure, saying:
The recommended reforms represent an important win for the communities of Collingwood, Fitzroy, and Kensington.
The clinics provide low-to-no cost health and social support services to members of the Victorian community most in need.
Following public pressure, the independent review into Cohealth was made public on Wednesday despite being delivered to the state and federal governments in March.
The review found: “ineffective governance and management … contributed significantly to cohealth’s financial problems”.
Medicare funding arrangements also need to change, the review found.
Cohealth said:
We reaffirm our commitment to rebuilding trust, strengthening services, and working towards a more stable and sustainable future for the communities who rely on these services.
cohealth will work to implement the review’s recommendations to deliver greater certainty, stronger local healthcare services and long-term community healthcare presence communities have been calling for, and need, to help keep people healthy, connected and well.
This includes significant work to redesign a more sustainable future model of care.
Financial details were redacted from the public version of the review.
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Ineffective governance and management driving cohealth woes, review finds
An independent review into the closure of three cohealth clinics in Melbourne has found ineffective governance and management contributed significantly to the financial problems affecting the low-to-no cost health and social support service.
“We met with about 100 people – patients, staff, community members, and leaders of cohealth,” the review, completed in March but only made public today, said.
We confirmed that the GP clinics were indeed running at a loss.
Contrary to the views expressed publicly by cohealth... that Medicare did not provide funding for appropriate services for the population served by cohealth ... we found that ineffective governance and management had also contributed significantly to cohealth’s financial problems.
Financial information was redacted from the published report.
The report acknowledged that “even with the best management in the world, the three clinics would still run at a marginal loss” and that the Medicare Benefits Schedule does need to change to better weight for complexity and need of patients.
Four key recommendations were made including inviting cohealth to show cause why the Victorian health minister “should not form the view that cohealth is ineffectively managed... and has failed to meet one or more performance standards”.
The federal government provided cohealth with $1.5m in funding across one year so the clinics could remain open while the review was underway and while the recommendations are implemented. The review recommended this funding be extended for a further two years while a new funding model is established.
AliExpress to take ‘corrective actions’ against vendors selling banned products after Choice report
Online retail giant AliExpress says it will take “appropriate corrective actions” against vendors who the consumer group Choice identified as selling banned products to Australians.
Earlier today, Choice formally asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to take action against several online retailers after it bought and received a range of toy-like novelty lighters, cigarettes and tongue piercings, as well as Sky Lanterns.
Guardian Australia contacted the retailers named by Choice for comment. We heard back from Shein, Amazon and Temu yesterday, but AliExpress and eBay responded today.
In a statement, AliExpress said it “strictly prohibits” non-compliant products on its platform and that:
Upon notification regarding the flagged products, we are taking swift action to remove the listings in question while thoroughly investigating the matter.
The sellers involved are being thoroughly reviewed, and appropriate corrective actions will be taken in accordance with our platform policies, up to and including store suspension or financial penalties.
In its own statement, an eBay spokesperson said:
After the listings were brought to our attention by Choice, we conducted a review and those identified as non-compliant with eBay’s product safety policy were promptly removed—including novelty lighters, toy cigarettes, and fake tongue piercings.
We continue to take proactive steps to monitor and prevent the sale of unsafe products in this category.
You can read more here:
Updated
Australian government, businesses to gain access to frontier AI models
Overnight, Anthropic announced it was expanding Project Glasswing - which gives companies and government early access to the frontier Mythos AI model - to 150 new organisations in 15 countries.
Mythos has not been released publicly as Anthropic has said it is too powerful, and can quickly find security vulnerabilities in software that were not previously as quick to discover.
The early access to companies and governments is designed to allow them to find those vulnerabilities and patch them first.
Australia did not get access to Project Glasswing when it was first announced - and the Australian government has denied questions on whether Anthropic was seeking a more favourable treatment under Australian copyright law in order to be added to the list.
The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, told reporters last week:
This notion that access to Mythos depends on Australia weakening its current copyright regime is a false one and will not be entertained by the government.
On Wednesday, the federal government confirmed it was now included in the project.
A spokesperson for the Australian Signals Directorate said:
We welcome Anthropic’s announcement to expand Project Glasswing to approximately 150 additional entities globally, including the Australian government and other Australian private companies.
OECD backs more EVs and renewable energy to address fuel insecurity
The OECD says Australia should respond to the global oil shock by accelerating our uptake of electric vehicles and renewable energy.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s chief economist, Stefano Scarpetta, recognised that governments had a variety of ways they could ease the strain of soaring fuel costs, particularly for the most vulnerable households.
“But this crisis also demonstrates that the need to wean our economies off the dependency on fossil fuel imports is increasingly urgent,” he said.
The Paris-based organisation, commonly referred to as the club of rich countries, pointed out that Australia among its member nations is “particularly” reliant on diesel.
But in contrast to the Coalition’s call to expand oil and gas production, the OECD said:
Australia’s vulnerability to fuel supply disruptions underlines the case for accelerating progress with electric vehicle adoption and renewables generation, with improved grid links and increased storage capacity.
The OECD also backed doing more to encourage the supply of new homes in well-located areas. The report said:
Other needed policies, such as easing restrictive land-use regulation, especially in urban areas, could also help to curb fuel consumption and improve energy security, while at the same time boosting productivity growth and addressing affordability challenges.
The OECD predicted higher inflation and “slightly” slower economic growth for Australia in this year and the next as a result of “the evolving Middle East conflict”.
Australian Greens co-founder Drew Hutton quits party
Guardian Australia understands Drew Hutton resigned today from the Greens, which he cofounded over 30 years ago.
Hutton and the party have fought over his membership for almost four years, over social media posts about trans people.
A Queensland Greens spokesperson said:
In years past, Drew Hutton made a significant contribution to progressive and green politics in Queensland, and we thank him for that.
The Greens will continue to defend the rights of trans and gender diverse people, just as we fight to protect the environment, climate, and people.Punching down on trans people is wrong, and billionaires use it as a distraction from the urgent fight to take back wealth and power from big corporations ripping off regular people.
We wish Drew well.
Hutton today shared a Facebook post promoting a rally in support of Sall Grover, founder of the Giggle for Girls app which in May lost its appeal after being found to have discriminated against trans woman Roxanne Tickle.
You can read context about Hutton’s clash with the Greens here:
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Defence reveals Australian aircraft providing intel to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain
An RAAF E-7A Wedgetail aircraft, currently deployed to the United Arab Emirates in the Israel-US war with Iran, is also providing intelligence information to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain, senate estimates has heard.
Senate estimates has been asked about the information provided by the E7 Wedgetail, deployed in March after attacks on Iran. The E7 Wedgetail is an early warning and control, long-range surveillance aircraft.
“The support that the E7 is providing is the indications of airbase threats to those [Gulf] countries,” chief of defence force Adm David Johnston told estimates.
The information is also provided to the US Air Operations Centre in the Middle East.
We are not providing information to Israel. We do provide it into the Air Operations Centre.
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Joyce says ‘everyone in this building wants to be PM’ as Hanson talks up her chances
Barnaby Joyce has been careful not to talk up the chance of his party leader, Pauline Hanson, becoming prime minister.
Hanson has been doing the media rounds this week discussing whether she would be able to take the top job. Asked if she could do it, Joyce has told the ABC:
I think we are all getting way ahead of ourselves when we start talking about that … Everybody in this building wants to be the prime minister, probably including the cleaners.
The second thing is people who become prime minister develop in the role, and Pauline would definitely develop in the role because you have such incredible resources around you to assist you in that. In my working relationship with Pauline – we have a very good one – we talk through issues. She does take counsel, she’s very on the balls of her toes and pugilistic when she has to be, but when we shut the door, we talk things through and work out how we can get to the other end of a policy issue. And I think that would be no different if she was ever given the great honour. But the biggest thing is that is a discussion for a long, long way down the track, maybe … Don’t focus on hypothetical wonders that might happen in the future.
Joyce declined to directly answer when asked whether he wants to be deputy prime minister (again), and when asked whether he wants to run as a One Nation candidate in his seat of New England (which he was elected into as a Nationals MP).
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Joyce says he’s pro-life but denies he wants to ban abortion
Barnaby Joyce has denied he wants to ban abortion after appearing at an anti-abortion rally in Sydney.
Joyce told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing he wanted “sex-selective” abortions to be banned. New South Wales Health has reported there is little to no evidence such abortions are occurring.
Joyce was asked if he wants to ban abortion in general. He said:
No, I want to deal with this issue. I am pro-life, I have always said that … I don’t go out to engage in this debate to become popular. If I wanted to, I would stay away from it. I engage with it because i believe it is the correct thing to do and I would be an unsubstantial person if I step away from my belief. …
The whole point of a debate as to find who are not rock-solid, like, concrete in their views and have discussion with them. That’s what we do. But to say, ‘oh, you should never have that discussion, you’re not allowed to’, that is belligerent.
Joyce and the host, Patricia Karvelas, then spoke over each other for some time, disagreeing over Karvelas’ phrasing of a question. The exchange ended with Joyce saying:
We are in a liberal place where we can have discussions. You cannot shut people out and say ‘I don’t like what you are saying, stop saying it’. Rene Descartes would have something to say to you about that.
Earlier in the interview, Joyce dismissed criticism of social media post he made about the rally, which read: “This law in NSW must be passed or otherwise we all accept that sex selection is appropriate. Girls are not as good as boys.”
Joyce said:
The post was a rhetorical form and people who plain don’t like me do not have the complexity to understand it is rhetorical.
So that explains that. You can read more about Joyce’s rally appearance here:
Updated
Liberal housing spokesperson wants even bigger CGT discount than John Howard’s
Andrew Bragg says an even bigger discount for capital gains is needed to boost housing supply.
The shadow housing minister says he believes housing affordability should be addressed by building more homes, reducing migration and cutting taxes. He has told the ABC:
If I was running the show we’d be cutting taxes. I would look to accelerate the CGT discount. I would go the other way [to Labor].
Labor’s CGT discount reforms are expected to leave some investors worse off than the old 50% discount brought in by John Howard. Asked if he wanted to return to and enlarge the old discount, Bragg said:
[CGT] is retarding home building in certain ways, so those are the sort of things I’ll be looking to go in as a direction of travel.
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Liberal shadow minister doubles down on comments saying house prices should fall
Andrew Bragg, the Liberals’ housing spokesperson, has doubled down on his comments supporting a fall in house prices.
After Jim Chalmers scorned Bragg’s comments earlier today, Bragg has gone further, telling the ABC:
The 5% deposit scheme has pushed prices up at the entry level by over 6% since October, so at least that should go back to people. …
I think people are over the plastic politicians that say all these talking points. Surely people understand when young people look at a house, as a multiple of the salary, they’re like: ‘Wow, that’s really expensive’.
So do I think house prices are too high? Yes I do. Should they go down? They should go down at least as much as Labor’s 5% deposit scheme has pushed them [up].
Asked whether he was worried about homeowners in negative equity, where their house price falls below the amount of debt they took out to buy it, Bragg said:
Of course I am. I’m trying to be measured as I can be while being honest and frank about my appraisal of housing prices. I think the government have had a deliberate design policy to pump prime prices.
Updated
Queensland commission recommends controversial changes to adoption rules for Indigenous children
Continuing from our posts on Queensland’s childcare commission of inquiry: it also recommends controversial changes to adoption rules for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
At the moment adoption is a legislated last resort for Indigenous children. The rule does not apply to non-Indigenous children.
The inquiry recommends that should be abandoned and government ought to “entrench adoption as the third permanency option for all children regardless of cultural background”. It would sit behind being cared for by the child’s family, or secondly, being cared for by a relative.
Commissioner Paul Anastassiou said the rule “operates as a direct barrier to the court ultimately granting adoption orders” and that it is “rarely if ever considered for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, even where it may be culturally appropriate, supported by the child and/or their parents, or consistent with the child’s long-term wellbeing”.
He acknowledged in the inquiry that the recommendation came over the “strong submissions from First Nations stakeholders against adoption”.
Modern adoption practices operate with a fundamentally different legal and ethical framework, he said, characterised by openness, judicial oversight, and a focus on the child’s best interests.
Allowing historical wrongs to foreclose consideration of adoption entirely risks substituting one form or harm for another, and risks prolonged impermanence for children who cannot return home.
Updated
Queensland child safety inquiry recommends “immediate” end to housing kids in hotels and motels
Continuing from our previous post:
The commission of inquiry recommends an immediate suspension of the practice of placing children in out-of-home care in a hotel or motel, except in tightly defined emergency circumstances.
“These permissible emergency circumstances should not include youths exiting detention,” the commissioner says.
Numerous reports have warned that hotel and motel accommodation creates risks for children and families placed in out-of-home care.
Commissioner Paul Anastassiou also recommends the government consider creating its own out-of-home care scheme – effectively becoming a residential care provider. He says:
The purpose of undertaking this feasibility study is to consider whether there would be benefits of the Department entering the market, especially in regional, remote and other thin markets where competition is limited or non-existent.
He also recommends family-based care be preferred over residential care.
Minister Amanda Camm told parliament earlier today that she intends that “no children under the age of five are to remain in residential care”.
Updated
Queensland’s vast residential care system ‘a measure of failure’, commission of inquiry says
Queensland’s child safety system “continues to fail children and the community in serious respects,” according to a commission of inquiry tabled in state parliament today.
Commissioner Paul Anastassiou said the very size of the system was evidence it wasn’t working.
Residential care is the option used where adoption or care with other members of the family – known as kinship care – are not available.
The report said:
As at March 2025, there was approximately 13,568 children in care in Queensland, far higher in aggregate, and proportionately, than any other state in Australia. This is a measure of failure.
Minister Amanda Camm told media earlier today that Queensland’s residential care system was almost the equal to every other state’s systems combined, costs the taxpayer $1bn a year and “is delivering poor outcomes for children”.
She said:
The inquiry found, in particular, around critical incidences reported to the Department of Child Safety that 67% of reported incidents of sexual abuse involved children placed in residential care.
I am 100% committed to fixing the child safety system, that is the task the Premier has set me.
Updated
Police drop second charge against Herzog protester in court
Police have withdrawn their second charge against a protester from Sydney’s February rally against the visit of Israeli president Isaac Herzog, a court has heard, as 15 others are set to face a hearing next Thursday.
Fifteen of the 29 protesters charged in the wake of the Sydney protest on 9 February and who have plead not guilty had their matter heard before the Downing Centre local court earlier today. A joint hearing was set for 11 June.
The police prosecutor also withdrew a charge of assaulting a police officer against one of those protesters, 23-year-old Caelan Dixon Irrgang. He still faces one count of not complying with a police direction, which he has pleaded not guilty to.
He was the second protester to have a charge withdrawn after all charges against Eyad Shadid, a 25-year-old Palestinian Australian, were dropped three weeks ago.
On the same day, police prosecutors announced they were reviewing the charges laid against all protesters to determine which were charged under the now defunct protest assembly restriction declaration (Pard).
The police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, has said that any protester charged under the law, which was passed after the Bondi terror attack and found to be unconstitutional in April, would be dropped. But it was unclear how many of the protesters who face a range of offences would be affected by the decision.
Outside court Osman Samin, one of the lawyers representing 15 of the protesters, said they had been told that off the back of the review police were considering recommendations to drop charges against “approximately six people”.
He said this didn’t go far enough and that “all of the charges should be withdrawn”.
Earlier this week, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties and the NSW Liberties Defence Centre sent an open letter to the NSW government urging all changes be dropped because the Pard was “central to the policing approach that evening”.
The premier, Chris Minns, had said in the wake of the Pard being struck down that because the anti-Herzog protest was also covered by a major events declaration, charges would still stand for those who did not comply with police directions.
Updated
Queensland childcare commission of inquiry tabled in parliament
Queensland’s childcare commission of inquiry has been tabled in parliament.
The inquiry held 50 days of inquiries and heard from 70 witnesses. The document is more than 1,300 pages long, with the commissioner, Paul Anastassiou, making 52 recommendations.
The attorney general, Deb Frecklington, and child safety minister, Amanda Camm, spoke to media just minutes after the document was tabled in parliament.
Frecklington said the government had two months to respond to its recommendations. She said:
It is vitally important to the Crisafulli government that we take this seriously, and we action the recommendations as we will report on in two months’ time after the tabling of this document.
She said the government had already set up a cabinet subcommittee to consider the report.
Updated
Thank you Krishani Dhanji – I’ll be with you for the rest of today.
Thank you all for joining me on the blog today.
I’ll leave you with the great Luca Ittimani for the rest of the afternoon and will see you back here tomorrow morning.
TLDR: here’s what happened in question time
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We had a few (what some would call) zingers from the PM today, labelling the opposition the “Liberal One National party” – an amalgamation of the Libs, Nats and One Nation, and dubbing Angus Taylor a “Temu Abbott”.
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The opposition went hard on the national accounts data showing growth slowing and productivity going backwards.
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They also asked the government about the impact of the tax changes on trusts that help fund community sports and not for profits – to which the government answered there were exemptions for charitable trusts.
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The Greens asked the PM if he would like to see more or fewer billionaires next year – a cheeky question that didn’t get an answer from Albanese.
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There were just two ejections from the chamber today – Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie and Labor backbencher Rob Mitchell.
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Victorian strata bill to make altering subdivision plans easier
Continuing from our last post …
Edbrooke also confirmed the bill will include changes to strata/owners corporations, alongside the public release of an independent review into the sector.
The bill will give unit owners struggling to pay their owners’ corporation fees a standardised right to a financial hardship payment plan and lower the threshold for enforcing basic rules in owners’ corporations from a vote by 75% of all owners in a building back to a vote by the smaller appointed committee.
It will also make altering subdivision plans easier. Edbrooke said previously, every single owner had to agree before changes could be made – meaning one person could block something everyone else wants.
The review, conducted by former Labor consumer affairs minister Marsha Thomson, economist Karen Chester and prominent strata lawyer David McKenzie, made 51 recommendations, including to scrap insurance commissions given to strata managers.
Edbrooke says the government supported the recommendation – which NSW is also exploring – in principle but it was not contained in the bill. Asked why, he says:
I think New South Wales has done the analysis for New South Wales. We think we’ve got the balance right here at the moment, but there are certain recommendations that we’ve approved in principle. There’s more consideration. They’re complex, they need complex answers, and we don’t want to run across any other legislation we’ve got. That doesn’t mean that we’re not actually on to that right now and considering that right now.
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Victoria announces crackdown on strata sector and real estate underquoting
The Victorian consumer affairs minister, Paul Edbrooke, has announced legislation will be introduced to parliament to crack down on both the strata sector and underquoting by real estate agents.
Speaking outside parliament this morning, Edbrooke says the bill will enact commitments the government announced late last year, which if passed, will require agents to publish a reserve price at least seven days before any auction or sale, and then publish the sold price.
The mandatory reserve prices would take effect on 1 October this year with publication of sold prices by 1 July 2027.
Edbrooke says agents who underquote already face fines of more than $48,000 and risk losing their commission. Now and under the changes, they’ll have “nowhere to hide”. He told reporters:
We’ll be making sure that people who don’t want to toe the line, people who want to make things less than clear for buyers and vendors that they will be found out, and they will be receiving those fines.
Other previously announced changes included in the bill include capping the cost of breaking a lease to a maximum of four weeks’ rent, guarantee renters the right to additional keys or fobs and allow them to pay their bond online directly to the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority.
Updated
Question time is over
After a final dixer to the emergency management minister, Kristy McBain, the PM stands up to call time on question time.
Before he can Michael McCormack stands up smiling, ready to ask his question, but Milton Dick tells him to sit down.
Anthony Albanese says it’s not the worst way he’s been sat down, referring to an altercation last week reported by Sky News.
Anyway, after that question time ends.
Updated
Resources minister asked about mine rehabilitation costs
Back to the crossbench, Andrew Wilkie asks the resources minister, Madeleine King, about the cost of rehabilitating mines. He refers to a 2023 CSIRO report which said there are 240 mines to be closed by 2040 at an annual cost of $4bn to $8bn. He asks whether the government can assure us that companies have provided for this expenditure.
King punts most of the responsibility over to the states and territories saying that they regulate much of the mining rehabilitation around the country.
But she says there is some commonwealth involvement
They [states and territories] are responsible for ensuring that regulatory requirements indeed exist, but also are met by mine owners.
There is a lot of work to do on rehabilitation. Taxpayers are not footing the bill, but the state and territory governments are primarily responsible, making sure that that rehabilitation happens, but we support them as we can.
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Aged care minister asked about waiting times for home care support
The deputy Nationals leader, Darren Chester, is up next and asks if the aged care minister takes responsibility for the 4,800 older Australians who have died while waiting for home care.
The minister, Sam Rae, acknowledges that it’s incredibly distressing for families when people pass away while waiting for the aged care system.
But he says that the latest data shows that waiting times for support at home are “decreasing across the board”.
It is always incredibly distressing for families … where people pass away or indeed die in circumstances where they aren’t provided the appropriate care.
We are seeing unprecedented demand for aged care services. I’ve discussed that many times in this parliament, and we released a report on Sunday that showed that waiting times to access home care under the Support at Home program, decreasing across the board. This is a significant step forward.
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Greens ask Albanese if he wants to see more or fewer billionaires this year
Greens MP, Elizabeth Watson-Brown asks the PM a cheeky: “should there be more or less billionaires next year?” – a reference to analysis by Oxfam showing there were 17 more billionaires this year than last year.
Australia now has its highest number of billionaires on record, at 178.
More on that story:
Milton Dick says questions aren’t supposed to be about ministers’ opinions, so he’ll be pretty lenient with the answer that Anthony Albanese gives.
Spoiler alert – he doesn’t answer the question.
Albanese thanks Watson-Brown for the “interesting” question but says he will talk about aspiration.
He brings out a story that he loves (really loves) telling, which was that billionaire Kerry Packer landed in the same hospital (the Royal Prince Alfred hospital) after a heart attack, and received the same care as Albanese’s “invalid pensioner” mum when she passed away.
My government is absolutely committed to a better quality of life overwhelmingly for Australians.
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‘Clear exemptions’ for charitable trusts from tax changes, assistant treasurer says
Nationals MP Alison Penfold has a similar question to Bell, and asks how much not-for-profits including donors’ trusts for non-government schools and churches stand to lose from the government’s tax reforms.
The assistant treasurer, Daniel Mulino, gets the question, and says – like Chalmers – there are a bunch of different exemptions in the legislation.
There are a number of very clear exemptions when it comes to trusts from the policies that have been announced, charitable trusts and fixed trusts.
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Labor MP Rob McEwan booted from the chamber
The shadow sports minister, Angie Bell, is next up and asks the minister for sport how many community sporting clubs will bear the brunt of Labor’s tax changes to trusts. Of the more than 70,000 community sporting clubs in Australia, many Bell says rely on donations from trusts (discretionary trusts will now be hit with a minimum 30% tax).
Tony Burke gets up to ask how that’s a relevant question for the sports minister when it’s about trusts.
Before we get any further, Labor MP Rob McEwan makes a poorly timed interjection and gets yeeted out of the chamber by Milton Dick.
After some back and forth, it’s decided that the treasurer will answer the question. And without several layers of preamble, gives us an answer:
Charitable trusts are exempt from the minimum [tax rate], and there are other exemptions as well, when it comes to fixed trusts, for example, they are exempt, and there’s other kinds of exemptions and concessions built into the proposal that we put in the budget.
He adds that consultation is ongoing.
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‘We have Temu Abbott over here’: Albanese takes aim at Taylor
Living standards are going down according to today’s national accounts numbers, says Angus Taylor, who asks if the prime minister will admit that his economic strategy has “failed”.
Anthony Albanese begins with a few well-rehearsed lines that we’ve heard a few times – about the government talking the economy up and the opposition taking “an opportunity to talk Australia down.”
Albanese then takes a swipe at Taylor:
We have Temu Abbott over here trying to press buttons … those in the Liberal One National coalition of the three parties speak about battlers from time to time, but give a battler a wage increase and they hate it.
Taylor laughs at the Temu label, but then Dan Tehan gets up to make a point of order on relevance.
Albanese continues and says that wages are relevant to living standards because the more people earn the better their living standards.
Updated
Hastie kicked out of question time, while Marles cautioned for defying speaker
Over to the crossbench, Zali Steggall asks the government about a plan to sell off defence land including HMAS Penguin in her electorate, saying that Anthony Albanese himself said in 2021 that Sydney Harbour (which the land sits on) should remain in public hands.
The deputy PM and defence minister, Richard Marles, takes the question and says that for too long the question of defence estates has been ignored.
It was certainly ignored by those opposite when they were in government … Now we hear guffawing from those opposite, and we hear it because in their nine years in government they rotated defence ministers through the portfolio so quickly that they could never get around to the business of actually managing defence.
The manager of opposition business, Dan Tehan, makes a point of order, saying the question had literally nothing to do with the Coalition. Milton Dick tells Marles to stop talking about the opposition.
There’s a bit more back and forth, and then suddenly Andrew Hastie is kicked out by the speaker for interjecting too much.
Marles gets back to the mic and immediately ignores the speaker’s instructions, which gets him promptly pulled up again by Dick, who says sternly, “you’re defying me. If you do it again, I will sit you down.”
Marles then goes back to the original question and says there will be “adequate time” to consult with the community over the defence estates.
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‘It always pays to check the numbers’: Chalmers
Why is Labor introducing a productivity tax during a productivity crisis, asks the shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, citing comments from economist Richard Holden who called the CGT changes “a productivity-seeking missile”. Wilson adds that productivity has fallen 5% under Labor’s watch.
Jim Chalmers takes the question and says that 5% figure is inaccurate.
There’s a somewhat long-winded story here, but Chalmers says that the 5% drop includes the March quarter of 2022 before Labor was in office.
Why? Chalmers says:
It’s because productivity in the March quarter of 2022 fell by 2.3% and that was the biggest fall in productivity in more than 40 years.
It always pays to check the numbers. The shadow treasurer, he got the fuel excise wrong, he got his fuel security policy wrong, he got the amount of shareholders amongst young people wrong, he got the dual mandate wrong for the Reserve Bank, Mr Speaker, again and again and again …
He gets cut off as Dan Tehan, the manager of opposition business, stands up on a point of order, and Milton Dick tells him to be relevant. Chalmers continues:
I’ve explained why the number that the shadow treasurer used today is especially dishonest.
Updated
Albanese calls opposition ‘Liberal One National party’
And now the niceties are over and the question time we know (and sometimes love) begins, with Angus Taylor asking the prime minister why migration is the government’s “only strategy to achieve economic growth” when GDP per capita is going backwards.
Anthony Albanese gives the Solomon Islands PM a nod and jokes, “I said that our parliament can often be a bit robust. It began well, and it’s headed downhill pretty quickly.”
Albanese says the economy is in fact growing, despite the breakout of war in the Middle East.
There is no country you would rather be than Australia, particularly if you talk to people in our region about what is happening, countries in our region where they have compulsory public holidays once a week, because there isn’t enough fuel.
The opposition tries to make a point of order on relevance, saying that they asked about migration, but Albanese continues, and gives us a new insult for the opposition that I’m sure we’ll be hearing more.
We have the leader of the ‘Liberal One National party’ over there who comes in here … in spite of the fact that they know that the migration rate has fallen by 45% and what they do is come in here, pretend that we’re immune from a global impact of a global war.
Updated
It’s question time!
Angus Taylor begins with a bipartisan question (before we get into the brunt of QT), by asking about the visit from Solomon Islands’ new prime minister, Matthew Wale.
He asks what the government is doing “to deepen this friendship and support the sovereignty of sovereign islands in the face of disruptions to peace in the Pacific?” (I suspect that the first dixer by the government will be a somewhat similar question.)
Anthony Albanese welcomes the prime minister who is sitting in the chamber for QT, and the delegation receives a round of applause.
Albanese says he is honoured that Wale has chosen Australia for his first visit overseas since taking office.
At the request of the Solomon Islands, our two nations will commence negotiations on a new comprehensive treaty underpinned by mutual trust, respect, and open dialogue. This new treaty will help us confront global and regional challenges together as equal partners in the pursuit of peace across the Pacific.
At the end of the answer, Angus Taylor makes his remarks in response to the PM, also welcoming Wale and says:
Australia is unwavering in its support for Solomon Islands’ sovereignty and freedom, particularly in an age of emboldened authoritarian regimes.
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Australia faces another 10% US tariff over “forced labour” claims
Australia is among dozens of countries worldwide potentially facing more American tariffs, after Donald Trump’s trade representative alleged about 60 nations weren’t doing enough about “forced labour”.
Trade representative Jamieson Greer announced today his claims that “the acts, policies, and practices of 60 economies related to the failure to prohibit the importation of goods produced with forced labor is unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce.”
His statement outlines that countries who do have a forced labour import prohibition, or a partial regime, may face an extra 10% tariff. “For all other economies, the U.S. Trade Representative proposes 12.5% as the rate of additional duty,” Greer’s statement said.
In an accompanying report, the “findings of investigation” relating to Australia contain no specific details, other than allegations that “Australia has failed to impose and effectively enforce a forced labor import prohibition”, which the US deemed “unreasonable”.
The same language is used in the “findings” claimed against nearly every other country. The rest of the list includes countries like Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
The US trade rep will hold hearings on its proposed actions early next month.
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Government announces priority aged care support for people with MND following questions from independent MP
Sometimes things can happen quickly in Canberra.
Less than 24 hours after independent MP Rebekha Sharkie asked the aged care minister why her constituent with motor neurone disease (MND) will spend most of his remaining life on a waitlist for a Support at Home package, the government has now changed the rules.
The health and aged care minister, Mark Butler, has just announced Labor will amend aged care rules to recognise MND “as a discrete, specific condition warranting urgent priority for Support at Home”.
The government says the new rules will give older Australians with MND priority access to the program.
In a statement, Butler said:
Motor neurone disease is a cruel and fast-moving condition, and our care systems need to respond with the urgency it demands. Whether it’s aged care or the NDIS, our job is to get the right support to people when they need it – not after.
These changes do that, and they reflect a government willing to listen and adjust where the evidence tells us to.
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First home buyer help programs ‘not doing enough’, says Albanese
Backing in the changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, Albanese said that despite numerous government programs to help first homebuyers into the market, “we still are not doing enough”.
Albanese claimed that negative gearing and CGT settings had “turbocharged” property investment with those tax concessions.
“Too many young people will tell the story of turning up for an auction on a Saturday and simply being outbid by someone who has a partner at that auction, an investor, and the partner is every Australian taxpayer,” Albanese said.
Because if they’re in a bidding war at an auction, the investor knows that if they go for $20,000 more then that’s running off their tax, if they’re going to negatively gear that property, something that’s not available to the first home buyer, and that’s why the system has been simply working against them.
Since 1999 house prices have risen by more than 400%, more than two times as fast as the average income. In the same period, the rate of home ownership among Australians aged 25 to 34 has fallen by 7%. We owe the next generation better than this, and that’s what these reforms are about.
Most Australians have ‘never even heard of a discretionary trust’, Albanese argues
Defending his government’s contentious tax changes, Anthony Albanese has argued that most Australians have never even heard of some of the tax arrangements which are being changed, let alone would ever get a chance to use them.
In a speech to the House of Representatives earlier today, as debate continues on Labor’s first batch of budget legislation, the prime minister defended the government’s moves to tax assets higher, arguing it would lead to a more level playing field for average workers.
For too long, Australia has taxed income earned through wages and work too heavily because we haven’t had the balance right with income derived from assets. This legislation recognises a very simple fact that the overwhelming majority of Australians earn their living by going to work.
Teachers and nurses and cleaners, police officers, people in retail and hospitality, millions of Australians who work their guts out to make ends meet and provide for their families have probably never even heard of a discretionary trust, and they will never have the means or the opportunity to use one to minimise the tax that they pay.
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Entry level house prices ‘should go down’, Andrew Bragg says
Well here’s something you don’t hear every day … the shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg says that house prices, at least for the entry-level properties, should go down.
Bragg says that the government’s 5% deposit scheme for first home buyers has ballooned prices in a market where supply is already constrained.
Speaking to the media a little earlier today, Bragg said:
I think Australians are looking for authentic leadership. They’re over the bullshit. What they want to hear from their politicians are honest answers. And the honest truth is that house prices in this country are too high for young people and they should go down.
I think, at the entry level, certainly, that’s the case. And the fact that Canberra has a deliberate design feature to pump-prime prices at the bottom end, at the entry level, I think is wrong. The reason that the 5% deposit scheme has become such a wrecking ball is because it’s not means tested, it’s not place-capped, and it’s been put into an environment where supply is constrained.
Earlier, Jim Chalmers was asked about the comments and was pretty disparaging, saying: “I think he [Bragg] will say anything that gets his name in the paper.” The government has said it wants to see “sustainable growth”, with Treasury forecasts showing that growth in the housing market would slow 2% under their changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing.
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First three months of 2026 another record-breaking quarter for solar, wind and batteries, Clean Energy Regulator says
Rooftop solar installations set a new record in the first three months of 2026, as Australian households added 791 megawatts of new capacity, according to new data from the Clean Energy Regulator.
Renewables supplied 47% of grid electricity between January and March, which was also a new record for the quarter.
Growth in home batteries surged, with more than 400,000 batteries installed across the country by mid May – a total of 11.4 gigawatt-hours of storage capacity, the CER said.
New investment in large-scale renewables has also picked up, with investment decisions made on 2.4GW of new wind and solar projects so far this year – an amount that already exceeds 2025.
The regulator said distributed energy was reshaping grid dynamics, with real-world data showing solar‑battery households importing less from the grid and exporting more during evening peak periods.
The CER chair, David Parker, said strong growth in household batteries and solar was already changing the way distributed energy resources contributed to the grid.
As more Australians install solar and batteries, they are changing how they generate, store and use electricity.
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Australian economy ‘not an environment for optimism or growth’, Tim Wilson says
Tim Wilson has gone on the attack following today’s national accounts data for the March quarter showing slowing economic growth and falling productivity.
Wilson says the economy was in a weaker position going into the war in the Middle East and the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, was making the situation worse with his latest budget.
It’s slightly a different view to Chalmers, who said any growth in the current global circumstances is a good thing.
Wilson told reporters:
Now we’re in a position where we’ve got higher taxes, higher inflation, and of course Australian households doing weaker and we have record small business insolvencies. This is not an environment for optimism or growth, Australians need hope and it’s not going to come from higher taxes, higher inflation and lower living standards.
These numbers show what is to come, and unfortunately the treasurer is making a bad problem worse through his budget.
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Former ACT opposition leader quits Canberra Liberals over ‘toxic culture’
A former Australian Capital Territory opposition leader has quit the Liberal party, citing threats of violence and a toxic culture as reasons for leaving the organisation, AAP reports.
Canberra Liberal Leanne Castley announced she would leave the party and sit in ACT parliament as an independent on the crossbench. She said in a statement:
I have simply had enough of being part of an organisation with such a toxic culture ... In the last 18 months, I have experienced bullying, intimidation, lies, and even a threat of physical assault. I can no longer be part of an organisation which tolerates this conduct.
Castley became ACT opposition leader after the party’s 2024 election loss.
However, she stepped down from leading the party in November after her decision to suspend two Liberals from the party room – Peter Cain and her predecessor in the role Elizabeth Lee – created turmoil.
Castley later told ABC Radio the bullying towards her had taken place from when she became opposition leader. She said:
It’s not one person, it’s not one issue, it’s been an 18-month campaign … At some point I had to put a line in the sand and say, OK, I’m walking away.
The Liberal leader, Mark Parton, denied the party had a toxic culture but said the organisation had treated bullying concerns, telling ABC Radio:
I don’t condone bullying, intimidation or inappropriate behaviour of any kind.
Updated
Greens say ‘no confidence’ in managing private employment provider sector
Greens senator Barbara Pocock has unleashed on the private employment provider sector in Senate estimates.
Addressing the employment department secretary, Simon Duggan, who was appearing before the education and employment legislation committee, Pocock said:
The revolution that John Howard made 30 years ago in privatising this service, and we have seen a number of individuals make an enormous amount of money out of this system, off the backs of some of the most vulnerable people in Australia.
What I see from the evidence I’ve heard today is that an enormous amount of this system will still remain in private hands.
Mr Duggan, you’re asking me to have confidence that we’ll better contract and manage that system. I don’t have that confidence.
At the end of these contracts are real people whose lives matter, an increasing number of them homeless, and all kinds of issues are complicating their lives. So I don’t share the Minister’s confidence.
One of the other committee members piped in: “That’s not a question” before the committee moved on.
Updated
Defence using Palantir software to help ‘select targets on the battlefield’
Australia’s contracts with US tech company Palantir have come under scrutiny in Senate estimates. Defence currently has two contracts with Palantir Technologies Australia Pty Ltd worth a combined $14m.
Greens senator David Shoebridge asked how many Palantir staff were “embedded” within defence. Maj Gen Richard Vagg, head land capability, said that Palantir staff were assisting defence but were not “embedded”:
The system that we’re using with Palantir is the Maven Smart Suite. … We use Palantir field service representatives to help us in some of the work to set the systems, but they are [in] no way embedded into the organisations that are currently trialling and using that system.
Shoebridge:
To be clear, that’s the same software or a variant of the same software that Israel has been using to identify targets in Gaza and Lebanon, that the US used to identify targets in Iran, including the bombing [of] the school that killed hundreds of Iranian schoolchildren.
Vagg:
Yes senator, it is the same suite of products. But it is a different system. And those systems you refer to, they have the AI function initiated in those: we don’t. We’re using it to understand how you would collate all the data to give commanders the right situational awareness and ability to select targets on the battlefield.
Shoebridge:
Did anyone in defence do an ethical check about buying a software platform from US company Palantir that has been used to commit genocide in Gaza, to target civilians in Lebanon, and was used to kill 200 schoolchildren in the opening 24 hours of the US war on Iran?
Lt Gen Susan Coyle, chief of joint capabilities, said:
The initial approach to market was done utilising our digital transformation agency’s software and enterprise resource planning panel. The company is listed on that panel as authorised for use.
The line of questioning was ended by committee chair, Labor senator Raff Ciccone.
Palantir, the $375bn tech company co-founded by Donald Trump-supporting billionaire Peter Thiel, supplies software to the US’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Israeli military, and the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
The Maven Smart System is an AI-driven, cloud-based command and control platform. It aggregates various streams of battlefield intelligence – satellite imagery, radar, drone footage, radio transmissions – into a single stream of information.
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Australians only have ‘defensive roles’ in Iran war, defence chief says
Australian defence personnel embedded within the US military have been given orders limiting them to “defensive roles” in the US-Israel-led conflict with Iran, Senate estimates has heard.
The chief of the defence force, Adm David Johnston, said embedded Australian service personnel had a “clear understanding” of their duties “limiting them to defensive roles only”.
Three Australian naval personnel were onboard a US nuclear submarine that torpedoed and sank the Iranian frigate Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka in the first days of the conflict in March. More than 100 people were killed or drowned.
Johnston said there were currently 729 ADF personnel embedded in the US and UK militaries, with up to 60 presently serving on US nuclear boats.
Greens senator David Shoebridge asked Johnston:
Was it in Australia’s national interest for the US to sink an Iranian frigate on the high seas thousands of kilometres from the conflict zone and then leave the survivors to drown … was [it] in our national interest to have Australians part of that activity?
Johnston told the committee:
It was in our national interest to have our people on board US Virginia-class submarines training: learning, understanding and building their competencies so that as our Virginias enter service we have people who are safe and proficient operating those platforms.
Shoebridge asked how Australians would understand their orders and rules of engagement during combat situations.
“Senator, I am confident that our people have clarity on what they are authorised to do,” Johnston said.
I’m not aware of any circumstances you would describe of individuals finding it uncertain the manner in which they are to respond.
Updated
Numerous investigations into payslip harassment but no recent cases, estimates hears
In the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, DEWR’s First Assistant Secretary Lisa Schofield said there have “been a number” of investigations into payslip harassment, but no recent cases.
But welfare advocates say it is still one of the biggest complaints they get from people looking for assistance.
When about payslip compliance by Greens senator Senator Barbara Pocock, Schofield said:
Schofield: When we discovered that behaviour, we issued a lot of guidance, additional notifications, directions put to providers…. Probably over about four to six months from memory, and that really led to a drop in that behaviour.
Pocock: How do you know that behaviour dropped?
Schofield: We’re not seeing the complaints and the issues kind of coming through the system that we had been seeing before.
Advocate Jeremy Poxon has said this is “a lie”, saying he has been “helping multiple people who say they’re being bullied for their payslips”.
Chalmers tight lipped on Aukus cost saving
The government isn’t revealing how much money it will save by acquiring three used Virginia-class submarines from the US, instead of two second-hand and one new – as was announced over the weekend.
Chalmers is asked just how much will be saved – whether in the millions or billions – but won’t say.
This will make the investment a bit cheaper but we don’t update that from week to week, we do that from budget to budget and you can expect us to do that at the next opportunity.
Another journalist follows up and asks why the budget – handed down less than a month ago – didn’t include the discount, if the government was in talks with the US and knew the announcement was coming.
Chalmers avoids the question.
The standard way to account for changes in defence spending is from budget update to budget update.
We might find out in the mid-financial year budget update in December.
Updated
Global assumptions could be ‘even more severe’: Chalmers
Speaking of Pat Commins, our economics editor asks Jim Chalmers whether these numbers actually show a sharper slowdown in the economy that’s likely to get worse.
Chalmers starts off saying again that any growth is “really solid in the circumstances” when considering the impacts of the war in the Middle East.
The treasurer does note that this data from the March quarter does not capture the worst parts from the war, and warns that things could get even worse than what’s been predicted.
The fact we’ve got any growth at all given the challenging global circumstances I think is welcome.
We can expect some challenging times ahead … even the very serious global assumptions that feed our forecasts, they could be even more severe. We’ve made that clear, we’ve been very upfront on that.
Updated
Productivity drops 0.6% in March quarter, but fall ‘not surprising’, Chalmers says
Jim Chalmers says productivity “came off a bit” in the numbers – which show that productivity fell 0.6% in the March quarter.
The treasurer says that increasing private investment will help and that the government is using the budget to help improve productivity.
Productivity came off a bit, but increased through the year, and obviously we’re doing much more in the budget and elsewhere to try and turn that productivity performance around.
Despite all of the doomsayers and everyone who wants to talk the Australian economy down, we’re seeing a boom in private investment, that’s a good thing, and in time by seeing these investment figures flow through into our economy, that will be an important part of shifting what has been a couple of decades now of poor performance on productivity.
It is not surprising that the quarterly productivity number fell, but we did not see productivity go backwards for the preceding five quarters.
Why is productivity important, you might ask. Have a read here of this explainer from my colleague, Patrick Commins.
Updated
Economic growth ‘very solid under the circumstances’, Chalmers says
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is responding to today’s national accounts and says the numbers are solid considering the circumstances.
Speaking to reporters in Parliament House, Chalmers points to increasing business investment which he calls “incredibly welcome”, and says that annual growth in Australia “is faster than almost every major advanced economy, and it’s above the OECD average”.
Our economy has got no shortage of challenges, but it has also got some very sturdy foundations, and you can see that in today’s data.
This is the equal fastest annual growth in almost three years, it shows how resilient our economy is at a time of very substantial global economic volatility and instability, but the really big story here is about the private sector, and particularly when it comes to business investment. Private sector investment in Australia is booming.
He adds that it’s the “sixth consecutive quarter that new private final demand has contributed more to growth than public demand”. It’s a point the government has been very keen to keep talking about, in response to criticism that government spending is fuelling inflation.
Updated
More than 3,000 payment suspension notices each day
In the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, the stats have come out about how many payment suspensions are being notified each month – and it’s in the hundreds of thousands.
Between January and March, there were 299,305 notices of suspension of welfare payments – which works out to be just over an average of 3,325 each day.
Notices are the first part of the suspension process. The department said in 90% of cases, the suspension notice did not result in a payment suspension.
DEWR first assistant secretary Lisa Schofield said:
There are different types of events within the system for which a person’s payment can be suspended.
They include failure to meet PBAS, points based activation system points targets. In Workforce Australia Online, that accounted for 22,085 events. In Workforce Australia Services, that accounted for 90,240 events. Other event types include failure to accept job plans. In Workforce Australia Online that was 11,415, and Workforce Australia Services [that was] 167,785 events.
The median duration of a payment suspension is four days, and roughly 75% of all applied payment suspensions reconnect within seven business days.
Updated
Centrelink illegally cancelled about 300,000 people’s incomes, department says
In the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee DEWR has admitted that about 300,000 Australians have had their income illegally cancelled.
In September last year, Guardian Australia published an analysis from Economic Justice Australia showing that about 310,000 people had their Centrelink payments unlawfully cancelled between 2020 and 2024.
Asked if the department’s estimate, which has not been public, is similar to the EJA estimate, DEWR first assistant secretary Lisa Schofield said:
EJA used publicly available data on Employment and Workforce Australia’s website to look at that number. It is in the vicinity of that, but there are a couple of things that we need to consider and why there’s complexity.
One of the complexities is people who have gotten a job, so do not need to reconnect, with the amount of people who had their payments illegally cancelled when they were eligible (i.e. out of work) would be a “much smaller cohort”.
Updated
Economic growth slowed in early 2026
Real GDP growth slowed to 0.3% in the three months to March, from 0.9% in the previous quarter, according to the release of national accounts data that mostly pre-dates the expected blow from the global oil crisis.
Annual growth was steady at 2.5% versus December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed.
The start of the US-Israel war on Iran at the end of February triggered a surge in fuel costs that has sent inflation sharply higher and shaken household and business confidence.
Climbing interest rates are also dragging on activity, and unemployment unexpectedly jumped to 4.5% in April – the highest level since late 2021.
The Reserve Bank’s latest set of forecasts predicted real GDP growth will slow to 1.9% in the year to June, and 1.3% by December.
Updated
Pauline Hanson booked for ‘leader’s address’ at National Press Club
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is scheduled to appear at the National Press Club, providing her a nationally televised platform to sell her plan for the country.
Hanson has been booked to deliver a “leader’s address” to the Canberra-based institution on 17 June, according to the club’s website.
The speech will mark another example of the mainstreaming of Hanson, whose rightwing populist party is the most popular in the country according to some opinion polls.
Hanson on Monday fielded media questions about the possibility of becoming prime minister despite One Nation holding just two of the 150 seats in the lower house.
“Do I have the ability? You bet I have,” she told 2GB on Monday.
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‘Everyone is interested in ports’: Wale
Wale says there are ongoing discussions around expanding the number of external partners – including the US and Australia – to work on key projects in Solomon Islands.
He gives Albanese a verbal nudge, suggesting Australia “give us some good rates so we can build critical infrastructure and have sovereign control over them.”
Everybody is interested in ports. We like it.
He says that his nation will also look to the US, to speed up the ascension into the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
The MCC is a US foreign aid agency established in 2004 by Congress. Other Pacific nations including Fiji have signed funding agreements with the MCC.
Updated
Solomon Islands PM to review security pact with China
Matthew Wale says he hasn’t reviewed the Solomon Islands’ security pact with China, that he previously called to be made public. That pact was signed by the former prime minister Jeremiah Manele.
The Solomon Islands PM says he “had to remove certain people from key positions” in regards to the pact, but only received a copy of it the day before he flew to Australia.
I have not been afforded a copy even of that agreement until the day before I left so I have not had a good look at it. I have had a look at it, I will be honest with you, but I have not had a good look at it.
Cabinet will need to have a look at these things. There is a nondisclosure clause in it so I could not show it to you right away but we are going to be reviewing, as we are reviewing the security agreements we have with many other countries.
Albanese is also asked whether the document should be made public, but he says that Australia “respect the sovereignty of nations in the Pacific and we respect the decisions that will be made by the prime minister.”
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Australia the ‘security partner of choice’ for the region, Albanese says
Australia should be the “security partner of choice” in the Pacific, Anthony Albanese says when asked whether the government would seek to limit the building of critical infrastructure with other parties.
He says that the comprehensive strategic treaty will be built on mutual trust and respect.
Today is of course day one, and we’ve agreed to develop the comprehensive strategic treaty between us and we’ll work through the issues, but it will be one which identifies our mutual trust, our respect for each other, the sovereignty of both of our nations as we go forward.
We have said very clearly we want Australia to be the security partner of choice in our region, and we want the Pacific family to look after our security in this region.
Solomon Islands prime minister Matthew Wale, who as we noted below has taken a far more cautious approach compared to his predecessor on China, also says, “the first reference point in these matters is within the region, that I think is very important going forward”.
Updated
‘Solomon Islands is Australia’s friend’, prime minister Wale says
The Solomon Islands prime minister, Matthew Wale, begins his address to the media saying he expected it to be colder, to which Albanese quickly chimes in saying, “it’s cold enough!”
On a more serious note, Wale acknowledges that there have been issues in the past in the relationship between Solomon Islands and Australia.
As prime minister, Wale is taking a different approach to Australia and China compared to his predecessor, Jeremiah Manele, who was voted out of office after a no-confidence motion on his leadership. Wale has advocated for a more cautious approach to Beijing.
Wale says that Australia and Solomon Islands are now resetting their relationship.
We have sought to reset in this relationship. We acknowledge there have been problems in the last few years, I will be honest.
And we thank the honourable prime minister that we are able to elevate our relationship to a comprehensive strategic one where both sides will benefit by having trust in each other’s decision-making and that would be good also for the region.
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Albanese announces Australia and Solomon Islands will progress on treaty
Anthony Albanese and the Solomon Islands prime minister, Matthew Wale, are announcing steps towards a treaty, and progress on a previously stalled policing deal between the two nations.
Albanese says additionally, Australia will provide a package of support to Solomon Islands.
That package will include supporting recovery from tropical cyclones, the energy crisis, education and stills development.
This treaty will allow Australia and the Solomon Islands to confront global and regional challenges as partners. This is a significant body of work [and] we have asked our foreign ministers to lead and drive this forward.
We have also agreed to move to the next phase of the Royal Solomon Islands police force.
Albanese later clarifies that the government will provide $200 million Solomon for the cost of recovery from Tropical Cyclone Ita and to deal with the current energy crisis.
Updated
‘I wouldn’t overdramatise it’: Sharma on Trump-Netanyahu call
Liberal senator and former ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, says he wouldn’t “overdramatise” the reports of a tense call between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Speaking to Sky News, Sharma says the two nations while working closely together on “Operation Epic Fury” (as the Trump administration calls it), they have different national interests which is “bound to cause some friction”.
Sharma suggests that Trump has blow ups with “all sorts of leaders” but those relationships remain in tact.
I wouldn’t overdramatise it … In an operation of this intensity and scale of course there’s going to be points of difference and disagreement but fundamentally I think they’re still in alignment, we’re talking about tactical decisions there that are causing points of difference.
This is part of the modus operandi for the Trump administration … I don’t think this is a rupture or the crisis.
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Today marks the 34th anniversary of landmark Mabo case
Today – 3 June – marks Mabo day, in honour of the legacy of Torres Strait Islands man Eddie Koiki Mabo, who with five others launched a land rights claim in court in 1982, AAP reports.
Five months after his death aged 55, the high court on 3 June 1992, recognised Mer Islanders had continuing rights to their land, paving the way for land rights claims across Australia.
The Mabo decision overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius, or “land belonging to no one”, a concept used by British settlers to justify their taking of land.
Following the Mabo decision, federal parliament passed the Native Title Act 1993, which established a legal framework for native title claims by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
A free Mabo day celebration concert is being held in Melbourne on Wednesday, hosted by the Koorie Heritage Trust in partnership with the City of Melbourne and Federation Square.
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Employment department details three streams as part of jobseeker reforms
There hasn’t been a lot of extra information so far this morning on the government’s reforms to mutual obligations in Senate estimates. But the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations has said the three streams will be broken down to:
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Stream one – for jobseekers who need no extra assistance in applying for a job.
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Stream two – for jobseekers who are “a little bit more distant” from the labour market and may need more training.
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Stream three – for Australians who are longterm unemployed and have more “challenging circumstances”, who would start with connection to a job provider.
Asked if outcome payments for employment jobseekers find independently would still be paid to providers, first assistant secretary Bronwyn Field said:
We would see job outcome payments continuing to be a feature of the streams, but it’s the relative loading we put on that. Because that really incentivises the providers and the support.
We’re looking at a range of things like blended funding models, which may be a mix of flat fee for service, job outcome payments and may also look at progress payments.
A previous Guardian Australia investigation revealed many job services providers were hounding jobseekers for payslips.
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‘Pause and take a breath’ on budget legislation, Spender says
Allegra Spender wants changes to the capital gains tax but she argues the government is rushing through its legislation, and should “slow down”.
Speaking to Sky News, the independent MP – who has been a key advocate for tax reform – says that there are known problems with the capital gains tax reform model, and the government should look at other models before ramming the bill though the House. The legislation was introduced yesterday and the government aims to pass it through the House tomorrow.
Spender says that she does believe that the government has been “genuinely” consulting with the tech and venture capital sectors, saying “there is effective engagement with them”.
It should not be rushed through like this. The government can’t say on the one side that this is some of the most significant tax reform in 25 years and then push it through the parliament as it is doing at the moment
I think they’re [Labor] really aware of those issues but my frustration is they know that there are those issues but they still want to push through this legislation and deal with those in the future and I just don’t think that’s the right way to do it.
Pause, take a breath, look at the model they’ve chosen, and take a look at other models.
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Solomon Islands PM arrives at Parliament House
The Solomon Islands prime minister, Matthew Wale, has arrived at Parliament House ahead of a meeting with Anthony Albanese.
Wale received a welcome ceremony outside parliament with service men and women, before being greeted by school students inside.
The two leaders will shortly meet, with discussions of a treaty very likely on the agenda.
They’ll address the media a little later this morning.
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Impact of PHI changes ‘modest’ for over 65’s
An estimated 44,000 people are projected to come off private health insurance in 2028-29 under the federal government’s plan to reduce private health insurance rebates for those over 65, Senate estimates has heard. It’s the same number the health minister, Mark Butler, referenced when he made the announcement at the National Press Club in April.
Health officials said the money saved could be reinvested into aged care. Labor anticipates the move could increase private health insurance costs for the cohort by up to $250 a year.
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing assistant secretary Paul McBride, under questioning from Senator Anne Ruston about the impact on pensioners, said:
I don’t think it’s fair to say we haven’t considered the impact.
The modelling we do looks at how people behave to price changes and other changes in private health insurance, and how they will react to that … based on that modelling, we think very few people will actually choose not to take out private health insurance because of the value proposition to them.
He said most people over 65 derive “far more in terms of private health insurance benefits than they pay in premiums”.
So we think the impact on them of this measure will be modest.
Read more:
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Liberals must offer ‘a blue sky horizon of hope’, Wilson says
Tim Wilson, who loves regularly raiding the thesaurus to craft a flowery turn of phrase, is at it again, while telling us it’s not his plan for the Coalition to join with One Nation.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, the shadow treasurer was asked about recent polling showing the minor rightwing party overtaking both the Coalition and Labor in its primary vote.
Asked whether the rise of Pauline Hanson’s party is remaking the right, Wilson says it’s not, but it’s a challenge for the Liberal party to “do better”.
The pathway for us to win is to make sure we’re offering a blue sky horizon of liberal hope. It’s not simply to wallow in the orange paddock of despair.
That’s not my plan [to join One Nation]. My plan is to see a Liberal-led Coalition government with the National party storm to victory, remove the worst government in Australian history, one that’s built on a house of broken promises and lies. And what the orange paddock decides is up to them.
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‘I have confidence in all my ministers’: Allan
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, says she has confidence in her minister, Luba Grigorovitch, who has admitted to writing character references for six individuals that she now regrets.
The individuals include a taxi driver who assaulted female passengers, two men accused of family violence and a supporter of former Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Grigorovitch admitted she took each request for a reference on “face value” and neither she nor her office searched for further information on the individuals prior.
Asked whether she had confidence in Grigorovitch, Allan said:
Well, I have confidence in all of my ministers. Minister Grigorovitch yesterday did acknowledge she made a mistake, she shouldn’t have done what she did, she’s apologised for that and has processes in place to ensure that that will not be happening again.
Allan say she’d never given a reference to “criminals”:
If I can give an example, when a student does work experience in my office … I’ll vouch for the time they’ve been in my office. On the very rare occasion, I am asked as a local member of parliament to provide a letter of support for people’s order of Australia nominations, and I do so for those people who I know.
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‘Rewriting of history’ on Aukus caucus vote, defence industry minister says
The defence industry minister, Pat Conroy says there’s been a rewriting of history on how the Labor caucus came to support Aukus in 2021, telling RN Breakfast this morning that the Virginia-class submarines weren’t even in the picture at the time.
Labor MP Ed Husic yesterday called for a fresh caucus vote on Aukus, saying the terms of the deal had changed, after defence minister Richard Marles announced that Australia would be getting three second-hand submarines, rather than two used and one new (and the government has since argued that that was always the preferred option).
Conroy today says that in fact, the Virginia-class submarines only came into the picture more than a year later in late 2022.
There’s a bit of a sort of misunderstanding or rewriting of history around the caucus vote. The caucus vote in late 2021 was in response to the Morrison announcement of an intention to build nuclear-powered submarines in Adelaide. There was no mention of Virginias because that wasn’t part of the plan.
The Morrison government had no plan on how to bridge the capability gap that they’d left us by chopping and changing submarines so much. So the Virginias only came on the picture in late 2022. So, the caucus vote was about Aukus as a broad approach.
Later, on Sky News, Conroy added that any claims that any change in approach to the Virginia-class “undermined” the caucus vote in 2021 has “no resemblance to reality”.
What I can say to you is the caucus cabinet national conference have overwhelmingly endorsed this [pact].
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Victorian government to fast-track donation laws through parliament this week
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference to outline new donation laws the government will try to fast-track through parliament this week.
There have been no limits on political donations or any disclosure requirements since the high court struck down the state’s donation laws in April, removing the previous cap of $4,970 over a four-year term.
After the judgment, Allan promised to “immediately move to restore Victoria’s electoral integrity regime” with fast-tracked legislation. But the government had been struggling to reach an agreement with either the opposition or the Greens and other crossbenchers for weeks.
Today, she’s announced a bill which Guardian Australia understands will have the support of the crossbench. Under the proposed new laws:
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Political donations will be capped at $7,500 per donor over four years – though new candidates and parties will be able to receive $15,000
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All foreign donations will be banned
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Donations above $1,250 must be disclosed in real time
The laws will also be retrospective. Allan says:
I’ve always said, since that decision of the high court in mid-April, that the legislation I’d be bringing to the parliament would be effective as of the date of the high court decision, and that all donations that have been made since that time will be required to comply with these new rules.
That’s why the laws around donations aspects of the laws will apply from the 15th of April. These changes make sure that elections are determined by voters – not big money, not billionaires.
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National strategy to tackle impacts of AI
A national media literacy strategy is one step closer after the Albanese government appointed a research firm to work with the University of Melbourne on developing tools for vulnerable people navigating the challenge of AI.
Minister for communications Anika Wells:
It’s never been more important to engage critically with what we see in the media and online.
The National Media Literacy Strategy will identify the skills and tools Australians need to fully engage with the ever-changing media landscape in a digital world.
It will help Australians to understand emerging technologies like AI and how to identify trustworthy sources of information, which will help people be savvy media consumers.
The strategy is part of the government’s $153.5m investment in the news media assistance program to support the media sector.
After a competitive tender process Melbourne-based consultancy Whereto Research was engaged to develop the strategy.
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‘Normal practice’: O’Neil bats away questions on CGT campaign funding
Jumping back to Clare O’Neil on Sunrise this morning, the housing minister was asked about reports in the AFR that MPs have been asked to use their communications budgets to fund an ad campaign promoting the federal budget.
O’Neil says there’s nothing unusual about MPs pooling their resources together, and argues that other parties do it too.
It’s a really normal practice in politics for us to pool our resources to talk to voters about different things. Michaelia [Cash] and her party do that. Pauline Hanson and One Nation probably do that.
She adds that MPs are “really looking forward to getting home” and talking to their constituents about the budget.
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Labor a ‘reluctant partner’ to Aukus: Canavan
The Nationals leader, Matt Canavan says he has concerns over Australia ceding its sovereignty in the Aukus partnership, but that it’s still the best pathway for our national security.
Speaking to the ABC’s RN Breakfast a little earlier, Canavan said the Labor party hasn’t had its “heart” in Aukus, and needs to boost the defence force and our capability around the deal to help maintain our sovereignty.
He adds that the breakout from the Labor backbench (referring to Ed Husic’s criticism of the deal yesterday), is also concerning.
The Labor party’s never really had its heart in this deal. It’s always been a reluctant participant here.
Obviously, America has its own priorities, it’s got its own volatility. But you can see with this breakout from the backbench of their caucus that there’s always been bubbling below the surface a degree of scepticism from the Labor party about this. And I think that’s a little concerning because if they’re not being upfront with the Australian people about what they want to do for our defence needs, then they don’t really have a strategy for our defence needs at perhaps the most volatile geopolitical environment since World War II.
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‘No evidence’ of sex selection in NSW: state health minister on abortion vote
The NSW health minister, Ryan Park, says there’s no evidence abortions related to sex selection are occurring in NSW, ahead of a vote on an anti-abortion bill in the state.
The bill, moved by Libertarian upper house member, John Ruddick, is a ban only on sex-selective abortion. It’s received support from One Nation, with federal MP Barnaby Joyce attending a rally last night, pushing attenders to campaign with One Nation to put pressure on the major parties.
This morning, Park told ABC radio Sydney that he doesn’t want to see “abortion back into the criminal code”. He said as it was a conscience vote, he was speaking for himself, not on behalf of the government.
I won’t be supporting the bill, and there is no evidence that sex selection is occurring in New South Wales, and from my perspective, as I said, it’s a conscience bill, I don’t want to see abortion back into the criminal code.
It would make it the only part of healthcare that is done through that type of criminality and I don’t want to see that.
NSW only fully decriminalised abortion in 2019.
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‘I don’t think any Australian is now believing the crap that you are trying to spin them’: Cash
We’re almost always guaranteed a heated exchange between Labor minister Clare O’Neil and Liberal shadow minister Michaelia Cash, who front up with fists up on Sunrise every Wednesday – and this morning was no different.
Cash says Labor lied to the public 50 times before the election over promises not to touch CGT and negative gearing and they’re now facing the consequences.
She calls on the government to split the bill so the Coalition can vote for the tax cuts, and against the more contentious elements.
Clare, I don’t think any Australian is now believing the crap that you are trying to spin them. Now, this is what happens when you lie to the Australian people 50 times before an election.
O’Neil says the tough choices in the budget, “pay for the tax cuts that we’re giving to every single Australian worker watching right now”.
Cash counters with, “so you rob Peter to pay Paul” – which O’Neil tries to ignore.
Host, Nat Barr then gets stuck in, trying to get O’Neil to say whether she wants house prices to go up or down.
O’Neil says the government wants “sustainable growth” and there’s a lot (and I mean a lot) of back and forth over whether that means up or down. O’Neil keeps saying sustainable growth but not “400% growth over 20 years”, and Barr eventually settles on that meaning that the government supports prices going up a little bit.
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National accounts to reveal state of pre-Iran war economy
National accounts later this morning will show the economy slowed in early 2026, experts say, ahead of the global oil shock that rocked the world and sent fuel costs soaring.
CBA analysts reckon the data, out at 11.30am, will reveal the economy may have even stalled in the three months to March.
But their counterparts at ANZ and UBS estimate growth of more like 0.5%, which speaks to the uncertainty.
If we split the difference, NAB economists predict the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures will show real GDP grew by a soft 0.3% in the March quarter.
That would bring the annual growth rate down to 2.4%, from 2.6% in the year to December.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers set a low bar yesterday, saying: “Any growth in the current circumstances would be welcome”.
I think any through-the-year growth with a two in front of it would be a particularly welcome outcome, when you consider all of the global economic uncertainty and volatility that we are confronting.
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Labor ‘deeply concerned’ by KPMG allegations, Gallagher says
Katy Gallagher says the government is deeply concerned by the allegations raised over KPMG, and tells RN Breakfast she’s held several meetings with her department over the issue.
Last week, KPMG’s Australian chief, Andrew Yates, stepped down, after taking responsibility for the consultancy firm’s failure to properly respond to whistleblower allegations around the misuse of client information.
Gallagher says:
We are deeply concerned by the allegations that have been made about KPMG … Some of the concerns that have been raised don’t relate to a contract with the government, but we do have arrangements with them. We’ve put in place a whole range of new [measures], like a supplier code of conduct, new arrangements post the PWC issue that was raised. And we are absolutely firm on making sure that suppliers with government have the highest ethical standards. If they don’t, we will respond to that.
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Government distances falling house prices from tax changes
Katy Gallagher says that she knows tax reform is hard, and is trying to distance the proposed changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing from cooling and falling house prices around the country.
Facing public backlash over the reforms, the government has focused its messaging around doing the “right” thing rather than the “easy” thing – which is the line Gallagher is using too.
Gallagher says there’s a lot of support for maintaining and protecting the status quo, “but we don’t think that’s the right approach to take with all the information we have”.
I’m not really a commentator on house prices … the tax reform that we have announced, the Treasury expects that it will have about 2% slower growth on house prices. But there are other factors that contribute to house prices and auction clearance rates. For example, some of the interest rate increases that we’ve seen in recent months.
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Why are we now hearing that it was Australia’s preference to receive three second-hand subs?
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, says Australia will be getting three nuclear submarines from the US as promised, but can’t say why we’re only now finding out that it was Australia’s intention in the first place to receive three used ones.
This all came out over the weekend, when the defence minister, Richard Marles, revealed that Australia won’t receive one new and two used submarines as previously stated, but three second-hand ships. Since then, the question has been “what changed?”, but it was then revealed at Senate estimates that it was the government’s preference in the first place for all to be second hand.
On the ABC’s RN Breakfast, Gallagher is asked why the public wasn’t told that in the first place. She doesn’t really say.
These estimates are obviously going through the budget, but this is something that we’ve been talking about for a long time. This is a capability that Australia needs. We’re going through discussions with the US and the UK as we progress Aukus, but this is a capability that we are needing and we’re needing it through the Aukus partnership. So we’ll continue to talk through Aukus. Estimates will continue.
Asked about Ed Husic’s call for a rethink of Aukus, Gallagher echoes her colleague, Penny Wong, and says “he’s entitled to his view”, but adds that the public remarks are not a surprise:
I don’t think it’s particularly surprising that Ed’s talking publicly. He does on a number of matters. He’s entitled to his view. He’s made that clear. But the government remains committed to the agreement that we signed up to in opposition and that we are implementing in government.
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Fair Work Commission sees surge in claims
At the end of April, the Fair Work Commission had 44,039 application claims for this year, just 36 claims under the total amount received in the 2024-25 financial year.
This is a 70% surge in workload over the past three years, with unfair and unlawful dismissal both seeing a sharp increase.
The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations said the increase may be the result of claimants using AI, with workers able to quickly fill out claims online.
Asked why the Dept thought the claims had exploded, the DEWR deputy secretary, Greg Manning, said:
I don’t think we have a view separate from the commission. Other than to say I think there’s a range of factors.
We’ve discussed the ability for unrepresented litigants to use AI to write claims that, clearly, the commission says that’s an issue for it. We have no reason to doubt it.
There are issues that go to greater awareness; there have been discussions around paid agents. There’s a business model of certain people who can assist applicants to make certain claims. Again, that’s something which the commission has taken some action to.
I think generally, there’s some demography [aspects]. There are more people in work than ever before. There’s a range of factors.
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Chaney said:
AI companies should be able to unlock the majority of global content with a handful of individual deals – in the same way that every other industry licenses copyrighted content.
Government could further work to facilitate this process for the remainder of the copyrighted content, either directly or through a centralised mechanism.
AI companies are reluctant to enter into licensing agreements, claiming they will have to sign many agreements to cover all bases, while the creator sector is arguing against any weakening of copyright law to allow AI to train in Australia.
Chaney calls for AI regulation, circuit-breaker in copyright fight
Independent MP Kate Chaney has released a discussion paper calling for stronger regulation of artificial intelligence, and a circuit-breaker in the standoff between AI companies and creators over training AI data on copyrighted material.
Chaney surveyed her constituents in the electorate of Curtin, and it is understood she has met with a number of stakeholders in the development of the proposals.
The paper says the federal government has implemented “very little actual policy” on AI, and the growing community backlash against AI is due to worry “that this new industry will steal jobs, supercharge online deepfakes and scams, breach their privacy, and use up energy, land and resources – all for the profit margins of international AI companies.”
Among her proposals, Chaney suggests including AI in new digital duty of care legislation that is planned for social media platforms, extending the under-16s social media ban to AI chatbots, beefing up privacy law, and more resources for AI institutes, and taxing international tech and AI companies.
Chaney also says the current stalemate on copyright is a “lose-lose” situation, with creators not being rewarded, and AI companies reluctant to train AI locally and risk breaching the law.
Chaney’s paper suggests the government could progress the issue by “facilitating and accelerating the negotiation of licensing agreements between AI companies and rights holders.”
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Government open to ‘elevation of relationship’ with Solomon Islands
Penny Wong has moved to the other side of the ABC offices, to the ABC AM studio, where she’s trying to be very diplomatic over the push for a new treaty with Solomon Islands.
The new prime minister, Matthew Wale replaced former PM, Jeremiah Manele, who was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote earlier this month. The contest was widely seen as a choice between Solomon Islands continuing close ties with China, or a rebalancing of relations toward Australia and western allies.
The foreign minister says the government will be “led by the priorities that [Wale] articulates as prime minister”, but plugs the deals Australia has made with other neighbours in the region.
You’ve seen us through this term and the last term engage in building trust with Pacific nations and developing transformative relationships and agreements with him, such as the Papua New Guinea alliance … So, yes, of course, we are open to the elevation of the relationship and will be led by his priorities.
It’s in our interest to have secure arrangements throughout our region that contributes to Australian security.
Asked if the government would be disappointed if there’s no agreement on forming a new treaty, Wong says “I don’t like hypotheticals”.
We welcome him. We want to work with him. It’s a new government, it has a very clear agenda, and we want to work with that government to deliver that agenda.
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Trump’s call opposing planned Israeli attack on Beirut ‘significant’: Wong
Penny Wong says she won’t comment on President Donald Trump’s reportedly colourful call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but says that his expression of opposition over plans to bombard or attack Beirut was “significant and important”.
Wong says the government has made clear its opposition to attacks on Lebanon and has voiced those concerns with Israel.
She adds that the ceasefire should have included Lebanon from the beginning.
I’m not going to comment on what President Trump said, other than to say it was significant and important that the US made clear its opposition to Mr Netanyahu’s plans to bombard or to attack Beirut. We oppose Israel’s escalation in Lebanon. We’ve made our views about prime minister Netanyahu, Netanyahu’s agenda quite clear. You saw that prior to the last election, and he had some things to say about us. We have a clear view about, in this circumstance, about the escalation, which we do not support.
Asked about the new sanctions on Israeli entities and individuals over settlements in the West Bank announced yesterday, Wong says the Israeli settlements are “an obstacle to peace and inconsistent with progress towards a two-state solution.”
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‘Individuals will have their views’, Wong brushes off Husic’s Aukus call
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has brushed off concerns from Labor MP Ed Husic, who has called for a rethink of the Aukus pact, and says the government still believes the deal with the US and the UK is the best course.
Wong is in the hot seat this morning doing the media rounds, and she starts at the ABC’s News Breakfast.
She says the former Coalition governments kept “changing course on submarines” and left a capability gap in Australia’s defence force.
I understand individuals will have their views, but obviously I speak as a member of the cabinet and the government, and we believe it is in the best interests of our country for this project to continue to proceed … We believe chopping and changing will only set the country back.
Asked about the growing criticism within Labor’s inner and outer ranks – including former Labor MP Peter Garrett, Wong says that Labor is the “only political party that has an open debate in front of the media.”
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Good morning
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you for another busy sitting day – thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
Debate on the government’s bill to change capital gains tax and the tax offset will continue today, with the opposition calling for the bill to be split. We’ll also be keeping a close eye on estimates – with defence and the submarine agency set to front senators this morning.
The Solomon Islands prime minister, Matthew Wale, will attend parliament today for talks with Anthony Albanese. There are reports this morning from Nine newspapers that Albanese will use the time with the new prime minister to begin discussions on a treaty agreement and revive a policing deal.
There’s plenty happening so let’s get stuck in!
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University changed wifi terms to monitor for ‘breaches of policies’, report finds
The University of Melbourne (UoM) changed its wifi terms of use allowing the network to be monitored by the university to help detect “suspected unlawful behaviour” or “breaches of university policies”, a new report into campus free speech has found.
The final report, released on Wednesday, was the result of a people’s inquiry into campus free speech on Palestine, initiated in 2025 by students and academics with support of the Greens. It had 150 written submissions and three public hearings.
An investigation found the UoM breached Victoria’s Privacy and Data Protection Act when it used its wifi network to surveil students and staff holding a pro-Palestine protest. It quietly introduced new terms of use in January, despite the state’s deputy information commissioner describing the surveillance as a “breach of trust”.
A spokesperson for the UoM said it was the university’s “responsibility to foster a secure and respectful environment, while upholding compliance with our policies”.
The wireless terms of use were revised after community feedback and reissued in January 2026 and now include more information on how wireless network data may be used.
The report found there had been widespread restrictions on free speech and academic freedom since pro-Palestine encampments were established in 2024, including disciplinary action, protest crackdowns and surveillance.
The Greens deputy leader and patron of the inquiry, senator Mehreen Faruqi, said the findings were “chilling”.
The harsh measures to silence dissent are quite reprehensible when universities should be upholding academic freedom and free speech.
Bart Shteinman, executive officer of the Jewish Council of Australia, which participated in the inquiry, said universities were facing a “rightwing culture war”.
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Australian troops will be sent to Poland to train with Ukrainians
Australian troops will be sent to Poland in coming weeks to train Ukrainian soldiers in the latest effort to support its fight against Russia’s illegal invasion.
Australian Defence Force personnel have since January 2023 been based in the UK helping to train Ukrainian soldiers in basic infantry tactics, leadership and military skills.
But in coming weeks, the ADF personnel will be shifted to Poland as part of a Norwegian-led operation, bringing Australian troops closer to the conflict zone.
Making the announcement last night, the defence minister, Richard Marles, said:
Australia is continuing to adapt our contributions to Ukraine to ensure our support remains practical, relevant, and aligned with their most urgent needs.
ADF personnel trained more than 3,650 Ukrainians in the UK under Operation Kudu.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Australian government has provided more than $1.7bn in support for Ukraine, including $1.5bn in military assistance.
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Australia always preferred used submarines, defence secretary claims
Australia’s preference was always to receive second-hand nuclear powered submarines under the Aukus deal, defence officials have revealed, prompting the Coalition to question if the original arrangement was “imposed” on the Albanese government.
The defence secretary, Meghan Quinn, was grilled at Senate estimates on Tuesday night about the announcement that Australia would buy three used Virginia-class submarines from the US rather than a combination of new and old vessels.
Under questioning from the shadow defence minister, James Paterson, Quinn said it was a “joint idea” from Australia and the US to rework the deal.
Pressed on which country proposed the alternative plan first, Quinn said:
Australia’s position is that we would have always … had a preference for three in-service [submarines].
A surprised Paterson asked why the Albanese government accepted the original deal if that wasn’t its preference.
They imposed a new submarine on us and said you must take a new submarine even if you want three in-service?
Quinn replied:
This is a joint exercise over many decades, working collaboratively with an alliance partner to deliver a capability which is significant and is very important for Australia’s national defence. So there are many reasons why three in-service [submarines] would be simpler, lower-cost through the training of staff, the sustainment arrangements, the maintenance requirements, and all of those considerations.
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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 Krishani Dhanji will be your guide.
Australia’s preference was always to receive second-hand nuclear powered submarines under the Aukus deal, the defence secretary told Senate estimates last night. More coming up.
And Australia is going to send ADF troops to Poland to help train Ukrainian fighters. More on that, too, soon.
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