Qld Labor refers embattled ministers to state corruption commission

Queensland Labor has referred embattled ministers Amanda Camm and Tim Mander to the crime and corruption commission.

The two ministers have been accused of failing to disclose an affair they conducted when they were appointed to cabinet in 2024, which the opposition claims created a conflict of interest. Labor has accused the pair of favouring each others’ electorates, which they have denied.

Opposition leader Steven Miles and deputy opposition leader Cameron Dick authored a 7-page letter requesting the body investigate the pair, and also the premier, David Crisafulli and a member of his staff.

“The Crisafulli LNP government is in the midst of a very serious integrity crisis, and you saw yesterday in the parliament, the premier and those ministers are unwilling to answer simple questions about what happened,” Miles said, on Wednesday.

“And so for that reason, we’ve written today to the crime and corruption commission to ask them to investigate every element of this integrity crisis”.

Mander and Camm say they maintained a relationship from June 2023 to May 2024, and then from June 2025. They were sworn in in October 2024.

The ministerial code of conduct obliges ministers to declare personal relationships within a month of being sworn in or whenever their circumstances changed “giving rise to a potential conflict of interest”.

The ministers and the Crisafulli government declined to comment.

Aircraft secured for Hantavirus passengers’ repatriation

Just an update on the progress of the repatriation efforts for the six people from Australia and New Zealand who were on the Hantavirus-affected cruise ship, and have been quarantining in the Netherlands.

The government has secured a suitable aircraft has been secured and the government is working to finalise clearances and approvals for their return to Australia.

The flight back to RAAF Base Pearce is expected to arrive later this week.

Our earlier coverage:

One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts causes confusion over Bondi terror attack clarification

One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts has caused further confusion in comments about the Bondi beach antisemitic terror attack, clarifying that he thought it was an “absurd proposition” to call the shooting a “false flag” but standing by his claim that he didn’t have “data” to rule it out.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Roberts was asked why he said he was “not ruling it out” in an interview when asked about the attack being a false flag.

“First of all, it’s an absurd proposition,” Roberts replied.

“Second thing is that I reinforce the fact that I make decisions and statements based on data, and I don’t have data.”

Asked for clarification, Roberts urged media to “look at it in context. The lady interviewing me was very naive and very young, very inexperienced. And I was just being gentle with her.”

Under sustained questioning from other journalists, Pauline Hanson stepped in to defend her colleague, claiming he’d been taken out of context.

New Senate inquiry into datacentres

Amid growing community concern about new datacentres being built across Australia, the Greens have established a new Senate inquiry into the sector, to report in mid-November.

The inquiry will examine the existing regulatory framework’s ability to manage the growth of datacentres, and the impacts of AI and datacentres on Australian communities, industry and the environment, water and energy.

The Greens communications spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, said:

Every day I am hearing from people who are concerned about the impacts of AI on our environment, water and energy supply.

Datacentres that use massive amounts of energy and water are being proposed all over the country and it’s important that we understand what the impacts will be on the energy transition and water supply, including drinking water.

We cannot repeat the mistakes that were made in failing to regulate the social media platforms before they got too big. Recently, we’ve seen the government has been cosying up to global AI companies and trying to lure them to Australia. We need proper transparency and parliamentary scrutiny of the deals being done to ensure that it is the Australian community who benefit most from the expansion of the AI industry here.

The NSW parliament is currently holding its own inquiry into the sector, and last week heard from local councils in Sydney concerned about the rapid number of new centres planned in their area.

PM aims to get budget changes through this sitting

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, continued his tour of media appearances on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing this afternoon, stating his aim is to get through the budget’s capital gains tax and negative gearing changes before parliament rises for the winter break.

He said he would try to sell the parliament on the package as it is.

When host Patricia Karvelas pointed out he would probably need Greens support to pass the bills because the Coalition will oppose it, Albanese said the Coalition had made themselves “not relevant”.

That is their problem, that they instinctively made themselves not relevant to public discourse because they just sit there and say no as they increasingly lose support and diminish and lose people in the parliament.

He said he would negotiate with those in parliament in private, not through the media.

On his pronouncements today that Labor is the only party of the “sensible centre” now, Karvelas asked if people aren’t that into the centre any more.

Albanese said:

People have a right to express their political views but I think the views of the extreme left and the extreme right are a cul-de-sac.

They don’t lead the country to where it needs to be.

I want to be a mainstream leader in a mainstream political party that seeks to govern for all Australians, that works with business, works with unions, works with civil society, advances the interest of people regardless of their gender or who they are or their race or their religion.

That represents everyone and brings the country together.

Robbie Katter to repeat Queensland abortion motion

Maverick Queensland MP Robbie Katter has signalled he will virtually repeat a parliamentary manoeuvre that saw a government MP cross the floor to back a ban on abortion.

Mackay MP Nigel Dalton crossed the floor of the state parliament in February to vote for a Katter motion overturning the government’s gag on debate on the subject.

On Wednesday, Katter gave notice that he will move a second motion on the same subject, which would reverse a move allowing nurses, midwives, pharmacists and other health practitioners to terminate a pregnancy by prescribing the drug MS-2 Step.

Katter said the state health minister, Tim Nicholls, introduced the new regulation in March, after it was passed into law under Labor.

It’s unclear when the motion will be brought on for a vote, but the Guardian understands it is not expected to pass, but is a symbolic motion intended to give potential turncoats another opportunity to cross the floor.

SBS appoints new managing director

The SBS board has appointed marketing executive Jane Palfreyman as managing director of SBS for a five-year term.

The former chief marketing and commercial officer for SBS has been acting in the top role since James Taylor stepped down in August 2025.

It’s a privilege to be appointed managing director of SBS and I’m grateful for the board’s confidence. I care deeply about SBS, its purpose and the role it plays in Australia’s pluralistic society, particularly at a time when our community is navigating growing pressures and the media environment is increasingly complex.

Palfreyman has worked for SBS for 13 years and held senior strategic and marketing leadership roles at Nova Entertainment, Global Radio (London) and Southern Cross Austereo.

That’s all from me today, thanks so much for following along!

I’ll leave you with the brilliant Josh Taylor, and see you tomorrow for the opposition’s budget in reply.

With a final dixer to Kristy McBain, that ends question time for another day.

Monique Ryan asks about overdue medical research strategy

The independent MP Monique Ryan, who is also a doctor, asks the government when it will release the long overdue national health and medical research strategy.

She says she’s “thrilled” that the budget includes an additional $508m for medical research, because disbursements from the medical research future fund will increase to $1bn a year from 2030, but that it is contingent on the government releasing that strategy.

It’s an issue Ryan has pushed with the government for quite some time.

Mark Butler says he knows many – including Ryan – want to see the strategy. He says he’ll have more to say about it in coming days.

Capital gains tax arrangement was ‘too generous to foreign investors’, Chalmers says

Back to the opposition, Nationals MP Kevin Hogan asks the treasurer why the government is giving a capital gains tax discount for foreign multinationals investing in renewable energy projects, saving them $450m?

Jim Chalmers says that’s not quite right, and that the opposition isn’t accurately portraying the situation.

He says that Hogan is referring to “transitional arrangements” and that that sector is also facing a transition to less generous tax incentives.

What we’re doing in capital gains for foreign investors is equalising the relationship, the arrangement. Because it was too generous to foreign investors, we’re making it more consistent with the tax paid by Australians, and that means, in some important areas of the economy, a transition from the existing arrangements to the new arrangements.

What consultation will the government do on capital gains tax changes?

Independent MP Kate Chaney says she supports CGT changes but has concerns over the impacts it will have on businesses – particularly on startups, and asks what consultation the treasurer will do and whether they might get a carve out.

Jim Chalmers agrees that startups and venture capital are an important part of the economy, and says that the budget is positive for them.

I do acknowledge that even before last night, this sector had raised some issues with us. We had been consulting privately with the sector already before last night to make sure that we can get the right arrangements in place. I say to this part of the economy, we think that you are a really important part of the economy in lots of ways.

Funding reduction to clamp down on practitioners ‘taking advantage’ of veterans

Nationals MP Michael McCormack, asks why the government has ripped $600m from essential health services for our veterans.

Anthony Albanese says the government has increased funding in this budget to respond to the royal commission into veterans’ suicides.

The PM says that the government has been working on improving the time that veterans receive their claims. Then the veterans affairs minister, Matt Keogh, takes the mic.

As he answers, Milton Dick kicks out Nationals MP Pat Conaghan, for interjecting too much (that’s MP number three).

Keogh says the funding reduction is to clamp down on practitioners “taking advantage” of veterans and overservicing. He adds:

We are increasing the fees that will be paid to allied health professionals … That means it’s easier for veterans to access healthcare. Veterans and health professionals have been saying to us for a long time, you need to increase fees. The royal commission said to us, increase the fees. And that is what this budget is delivering so that our veterans get better access to health care.

Multicultural community underrepresented in the NDIS, Butler says

Independent MP, Dai Le, is next from the crossbench and asks Mark Butler about the government slashing money from social and community supports, that she says is vital for people in her electorate from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Butler starts by saying that the constituents of Fowler are winners from the budget due to increased funding for their local hospitals.

He says the multicultural community is underrepresented in the NDIS, evidenced because just 9% of NDIS participants are from a CALD background, while 30% of Australians have a CALD background.

Our CALD strategy was codesigned with more than 800 people working with us called NDIS participants. Over the last few months of last year, we had 68 sessions with more than 3,000 CALD participants and other stakeholders to inform that work.

‘When he blows on the dog whistle they can hear it in Goldstein too’: Chalmers to Wilson

Back to the opposition, Tim Wilson asks the treasurer where new migrants are going to live, when 1.4 million migrants have arrived since Labor came into power, but the government’s housing target is 77,000 behind this year alone.

Jim Chalmers answers and immediately gets personal:

I hope the shadow treasurer is aware that when he blows on the dog whistle they can hear it in Goldstein too.

He then points out that when Labor came into office, migration was already surging (after Covid restrictions had been lifted).

Overall, net overseas migration has come down. I didn’t see you mentioning that when you’re traipsing from disappointed door to disappointed door in Farrer.

Katter calls for gas price caps to save phosphate plant

Over to the crossbench, Bob Katter asks his most normal question yet.

He says that the only phosphate plant in Australia (which is critical for fertiliser), in his electorate, is being squeezed by the major supermarkets and high gas prices. He welcomes the east coast gas reserve but asks if the government will introduce price caps to stop the “monopolistic” situation:

Will you save Australia’s phosphate plant and 17,000 jobs or so will your government continue with this free market teacher’s pet mentality and import 100% fertiliser.

Anthony Albanese says the government already worked with Queensland’s Crisafulli government to intervene and defend the industry last year, and if they hadn’t, “then we would have been in a really dire situation right now”.

The resources minister, Madeleine King, then takes the question and says that the government is working to secure the supply chain for urea – another critical fertiliser ingredient, and takes a shot at the opposition for not doing more when it was in government.

NSW Greens defend ‘principled work’ of committee investigating alleged Labor misconduct

The NSW Greens MLC Abigail Boyd has defended the “principled work” of a parliamentary committee investigating alleged Labor misconduct, after the premier described its inquiry into a controversial Labor grants scheme as a “kangaroo court” with less credibility than “Scooby Doo’s Mystery Incorporated”.

In response, Boyd, the chair of the public accountability and works committee, told Guardian Australia:

I stand by the principled work of the highly respected public accountability and works committee. The premier’s ad hominem attacks are textbook spin tactics – he is yet to rebut or refute any part of the reports findings or evidentiary basis. This is an entirely predictable and immature response from a government caught out doing demonstrably the wrong thing – attacking the messenger rather than grapple with their own profound shortcomings.

As reported earlier, Chris Minns made the comments in question time in response to a question about a report published by the committee, which found that a minister had misled parliament in relation to the grants scheme, and called for two staffers to be considered for prosecutions.

The public accountability and works committee is also investigating the administration of donations in the premier’s seat of Kogarah between 2014 and 2016, including in relation to a fundraiser for Minns at the Sunny Harbour Seafood restaurant in Hurstville in 2014. The NSW Electoral Commission (EC) had reportedly reopened an investigation into the matter. Minns has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

NSW premier hits out at inquiry into Labor election ‘slush fund’

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has described an inquiry into a Labor election “slush fund” as a “kangaroo court”, after it recommended two Labor staffers be considered for prosecutions.

The scheme allowed Labor candidates in all 93 lower house electorates in 2023 to nominate projects for $400,000 of public funding, regardless of whether they won their seats. As of June 2025, $37m in grants had been approved.

As we reported yesterday, the crossbench- and opposition led-inquiry into the scheme found the minister responsible for its implementation, John Graham, misled parliament on multiple occasions during hearings. It described the scheme as “utterly inappropriate and anti-democratic”, and recommended two Labor staffers be considered for prosecutions for allegedly making false statements under oath to the inquiry.

Asked about the report at question time today, the premier said “Scooby Doo’s Mystery Incorporated has more credibility”, accusing the upper house Greens member Abigail Boyd of running a “kangaroo court”. Boyd has been contacted for comment.

Read more here:

Police formally identify body as Julian Ingram

Leaving politics for a moment, police have formally identified the body found next to a ute in NSW’s central west as Julian Ingram, the gunman suspected of killing his pregnant former partner, her boyfriend, and her aunt.

Ingram’s body was found in a “decomposed state” next to an abandoned ute 50km north-west of Lake Cargelligo on Monday, ending a four-month long manhunt that had been under way for the 37-year-old since January.

He was last seen on 22 January fleeing town in a ute after he allegedly shot and killed Sophie Quinn, John Harris and Nerida Quinn.

Police said in a statement on Wednesday that a postmortem examination would be conducted to determine the cause of Ingram’s death:

Investigations under Strike Force Doberta remain ongoing and a report will be prepared for the Coroner.

On Tuesday, assistant commissioner Andrew Holland said “there’s certain indications at this point” that Ingram, who was found next to a gun, took his own life “some time ago”.

Submarine agency budget blows out

Chalmers gets a final question on the blowout of the Australian submarine agency in the budget by 33% with the agency now growing to about $512m.

The reporter asks Chalmers if other parts of the defence force will be “cannibalised” if the bill on submarines and the Aukus program keeps escalating.

Chalmers says that he believes big investments in national security “make a lot of sense” and admits that defence projects often go over budget.

There will always be the risk in some of these big Defence projects that the cost blows out.

Drastic cuts to NDIS ‘difficult but doable’, says Chalmers

The lion’s share of the more than $60bn in savings in last night’s budget comes from drastic cuts to the national disability insurance scheme – changes that haven’t yet been introduced to parliament.

Nine newspaper’s Paul Sakkal asks how the government will bank all those savings when even the health minister, Mark Butler, has admitted that the changes to eligibility will be hard to work out and some of the states are dragging their feet.

Chalmers says he’s confident that the government can achieve the savings, and says that while there is “a level of trepidation” among commentators, the reform to the NDIS is necessary.

There are a number of elements of the budget which are difficult but doable … We’re very cautious about changes that we make to the NDIS, but our motivation there is really clear. We’re trying to save the thing from itself. It was growing too fast. It would have consumed itself. Some future government with different motivations to ours would have been tempted to end or effectively ruin the scheme.

I understand that it will take a lot of work, and not just at the Commonwealth level, to make sure that the numbers that we’ve accounted for in the budget come to a fruition, but I’m confident that we can

Migration increase due to ‘fewer people departing Australia’, says Chalmers

Migration numbers – which we know have been a huge political issue – have ticked up in the latest budget compared to the Treasury’s previous estimates.

SBS’s Anna Henderson asks Jim Chalmers why Treasury has repeatedly underestimated net overseas migration, which he disputes.

The treasurer says there is always volatility in those numbers, like other forecasts in the budget, and adds that some of the measures announced last night put “downward pressure” on migration numbers.

There’s the usual amount of uncertainty about forecasting a range of numbers in the budget, including that one, what we’re seeing this year and next year is more a reflection of fewer people departing Australia, rather than another spike in arrivals like we saw, which began before we came to office.

Will Chalmers target the ‘top end of town’?

One key language shift between the tax announcements now and Bill Shorten’s 2016 and 2019 election campaigns has been dropping rhetoric around hitting the “top end of town”.

ABC’s David Speers asks Chalmers if there’s more reform coming that will hit the top end of town – who if they already own investment properties, will still be able to access lucrative negative gearing tax incentives.

Chalmers won’t bite, and says that his focus (as he’s been saying all morning) is for future tax reform to be geared towards fixing ongoing bracket creep.

He says the $250 permanent tax offset is a mechanism to do that.

My ambition when it comes to future tax reform is to try and provide more tax relief for working people. That’s why I’ve set up this architecture …

We’ve been upfront about that, the architecture that we set up in recognising that we need to better align the tax paid by workers with the tax paid by people who make their living in other legitimate ways, as we set up this architecture to make that easier on the income tax side for workers, and so I would intend to make the most of that at some future point.

Big economic shocks ‘almost routine’, says Chalmers

Treasurer Jim Chalmers gives us a little taste of how this budget came together, saying at the National Press Club that while there were still big changes after war erupted in the Middle East, some of the core elements had been there since the summer when the bulk of budget planning began.

He says that while negative gearing, capital gains tax and trust changes weren’t finalised back then, the government was committed to tax reform months ago.

We did agree that to deliver intergenerational fairness and rebalance the system there needed to be tax reform, even if we hadn’t concluded what every element of the final package would look like.

Chalmers adds that a government can’t wait for global stability to make significant policy changes, because stability is now rare.

These big shocks and big shifts aren’t rare any more – they’re almost routine – but their impacts are still profound.

If you wait for perfect stability to reform, you’ll be waiting for ever. This global turbulence is no excuse to roll up into a little ball and hope it passes quickly, if anything it’s a reason to do more on resilience and more on reform, more urgently.

Greens undecided on whether to support tax changes

The Greens will be the government’s key to passing its capital gains tax and negative gearing reforms through the Senate, but they say that they’ll have to wait for the legislation before deciding whether the give the government the green light.

This is usual process, and the reforms don’t go as far as the Greens have been calling for, so they might try to use a bargaining chip or two to tighten up the changes further.

The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, told journalists the government is keeping tax incentives for wealthy individuals, and using vulnerable Australians and people with a disability to pay for the budget.

This will be a test for the Labor government in two years’ time, will these reforms actually help to ease the housing crisis? That will be a question for the government to answer at the next election, because there was nothing in this budget for renters, and they have grandfathered in all of those property investor tax perks, and they’re finding money for weapons and war while punching down on the disability community.

We’re going to take a look at the details of the legislation once the government puts it forward, and if it’s a small step forward, that will factor into our decision making, like grandfathering in the inequality of property investor tax perks.

Continuing from our last post on the NSW premier …

Minns says there is “less good news” when it comes to infrastructure spending, after NSW was allocated $2.8bn of federal funding in 2026-27, equivalent to $344 per person. Minns says Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia will receive $582, $756 and $878 per person respectively, while Victoria will receive $657, after an additional $3.8bn allocated for the Suburban Rail Loop. He says:

NSW will receive $344 per person, which is less than half than what they will be receiving in Victoria, so money received from NSW taxpayers to the federal government [is] going down the Hume Highway into the Victorian government effectively subsidising some of their spending in their recent Victorian budget at the expense of New South Wales taxpayers.

Now, that’s not fair and that’s not equitable. There needs to be an urgent agreement between the federal and the state government on infrastructure spending in NSW.

Minns says budget ‘good start’ for taxpayers, but ‘less good news’ for NSW infrastructure

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, says changes in yesterday’s budget were a “good start” for taxpayers, but has lamented the state receiving less infrastructure funding per person then other states, adding to ongoing tensions over the allocation of GST.

Speaking at question time just now, Minns said while changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax were important for young people struggling to get on the property ladder, the NSW Labor government wanted to see “more done when it comes to PAYE [pay-as-you-earn] taxpayers”, including those in the top tax bracket.

That needs to be an essential element of taxation reform if there’s going to be changes in relation to the taxes as it applies to assets, there has to be a concurrent reduction as it applies to labour. I saw that there’s a discount that’s applying in the federal budget from the federal treasurer. That’s a good start.

NAVA says budget fails to address ‘precarious’ working conditions for artists

The federal budget will do little to address artist working conditions, according to the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). Penelope Benton, executive director of NAVA, said:

Artists continue to contend with precarious incomes, unpaid labour and rising costs, while many of the underlying issues affecting the sector remain unresolved.

In a statement, NAVA acknowledged that making the $20,000 instant asset write-off permanent will help artists buy equipment and encourage businesses to purchase artwork. But, it urged for greater tax reform, superannuation changes, AI regulation and the overall sustainability of arts careers.

As consultation begins on the next National Cultural Policy, there is an opportunity to focus more directly on the economic conditions of arts work and the sustainability of arts careers.

NDIS cuts criticised for asking disabled Australians to pay for budget repair

The acting CEO of People with Disability Australia, Megan Spindler-Smith, has addressed media outside parliament. She said the budget is asking disabled Australians to pay for its repair.

The government says these NDIS changes are urgent and necessary. We disagree.

There was another choice available. The government could have focused on fixing waste, delays, poor decision-making and safeguarding failures within the NDIA and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. They could have redesigned the system in genuine partnership with our community.

Instead, it is balancing the books on support workers, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, home modifications and the supports disabled people rely on to get out of bed, work, study, raise children and stay connected to community life.

She said states do not have the funding systems to replace what will be cut.

It is devastating that the most coordinated government response since the disability royal commission has been to cut supports that are proven to reduce abuse, neglect, exploitation and isolation in our community. We deserve better.

Queensland treasurer says state ‘let down’ in federal budget

We’re getting more reaction from the states to the federal budget.

The Queensland treasurer, David Janetzki, says the state was “let down” and “overlooked” last night, with several infrastructure projects left unfunded.

But he struck a more reserved tone on the commonwealth changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing, refusing to be drawn on whether he supported them or not.

Queensland was overlooked, and it was overlooked in a variety of ways.

Best example Inland Rail, a nation-building project. That funding has now been given to Victoria for their suburban rail loop.

The transport minister, Brent Mickelberg, said a stage of the planned Sunshine Coast bus rapid transit project known as the Wave had missed out on funding altogether, with a north Brisbane road project being short-changed, among others.

Janetzki said the state had also been “jibbed” by the GST system. He said the state’s GST take had increased just 37% in the last decade, compared with an increase of the overall revenue of 80%.

He didn’t answer questions about whether he supported federal Labor government’s changes to capital gains and negative gearing.

I’ll let the federal government determine their approach, right? My tests are clear. We need more supply, and anything that drives more supply is what’s necessary.

NSW police say Sydney protest charges under struck down laws will be dropped

The NSW police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, says any charges laid under struck-down laws following the Sydney protest against Israeli president Isaac Herzog in February will be dropped, pending a police review.

Speaking to ABC radio this morning, Lanyon said in addition to review of charges, flagged after the court of appeal struck down public assembly restriction declaration (Pard) laws last month, police were investigating if directions given by police under a separate “major events” declaration were lawful.

They were charged under various sections, so our prosecutors are reviewing the evidence, and also the lawful nature of the directions given. You’d be aware that there was a major events declaration in place at the time where that was used for giving the directions ... the decision of the Pard does not invalidate that. So we’re working through each one of that but certainly, if it is reflective of a Pard decision which has since been overturned, those matters will be withdrawn. So we’ve got to work through each and every one, because there was a different basis for charging … people.

NSW police say 30 people have now been charged in relation to the protest, while investigations of actions of protesters under Strike Force Laine continue.

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (Lecc) is investigating alleged police brutality at the protest. Several protesters have indicated they plan to bring civil cases against the police. Derek Jones, known informally as “white shirt guy”, became the first to launch legal action over an alleged unprovoked assault by police.

Victorian treasurer welcomes changes to negative gearing and CGT

The Victorian treasurer, Jacyln Symes, has described the federal budget as a “great budget for Victoria”.

Speaking to reporters outside parliament this morning, she said:

It’s really focused on helping young people get a foothold in the property sector – really complementary of the Victorian government’s policy settings – [and I’m] also very appreciative of finally having a federal government that recognises the needs of the Victorian community, particularly in finally seeing some of that investment in our much needed infrastructure.

Asked about the changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, she said she welcomed the changes.

What I like about the announcements from the federal government last night is it’s all about ensuring supply. It is encouraging investment into new builds and ensuring that the established homes, particularly for first home buyers, they’re going to options and they’re not competing with as many investors as they have previously been in the past.

She denied the changes would “pull the ladder” for young people interested in investing, saying that negative gearing was still an option on new builds:

The good balance here is enabling negative gearing for new investors. We want to increase supply. It is been a priority of this government to build more homes, particularly in places where young people want to live. So we think that anything that is done to increase supply, anything that is done to make it easier for young people to buy their first home, or indeed their first investment property ... that’s a good thing.

Welfare groups criticise government for leaving jobseekers behind in budget

Welfare groups have called out the government for refusing to lift jobseeker in this budget, pointing to the fact one in seven Australians were living below the poverty line, with the poverty rate for children having climbed to one in six.

Economic Justice Australia said one of the new “top-up” payments to be made available to some people who receive Youth Allowance and Abstudy to address youth homelessness would not address the issue.

EJA chief executive, Kate Allingham, said:

The maximum rate for Youth Allowance equates to just $47 per day. This is not enough to cover food, utilities, medicine, internet and transport, let alone housing.

The recent Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee reported highlighted that deprivation is much more prevalent among people receiving income support payments than among Australia’s population more generally. Without lifting payment rates to levels that actually allow people to survive, this gap will only continue to widen.

EJA welcomed the government’s announcement of extensive reform to the child support system, including $64.9m to provide greater protections for parents in private arrangements.

The Antipoverty Centre has also warned the budget comes at a time when the RBA has pushed for higher unemployment, while keeping people on Jobseeker in poverty.

Antipoverty Centre spokesperson, Jay Coonan said:

The Albanese government has again ignored the popular and necessary demand to increase the rate of social security payments. As inflation and unemployment continues to rise, at the same time housing and bills are hurting people on higher incomes, the poorest drowned long ago … It is evident that there is nothing but contempt for no and low income people from the Albanese government.

Sowing division v social cohesion

One of the key frames of the political messaging around this budget is that the government is arguing that rebalancing the tax scales will be good for social cohesion and stop young people being pitted against older people.

The PM told Adelaide radio station 5AA this morning:

We don’t want for the future generation and the current generation of young people to be locked out of the market, and for there to be the development in Australia of a two-tiered society.

But in contrast, the opposition is framing the budget as one that sows division, and is still pitting generations against each other, as well as people with aspiration.

The shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson told ABC radio Melbourne this morning:

At the moment, this budget is just about sowing division and decline.

I find it just absurd that the government is pitching this budget as being in favour of young people. They’re going to increase rent, they’re then going to tax their invested deposits – first-home deposits – further and then they’re going to build fewer homes. They are literally going to kneecap young Australians on the journey.

The Treasury estimates rents will increase by about $2 per week for the average household, while house prices are expected to still increase, but by approximately 2%, or $19,000 for a couple of years.

Negative gearing and CGT gains should be returned in income tax cuts

Allegra Spender says the government should give the money raised from tax changes back as an income tax cut down the road.

The independent MP last night said the changes were sensible – though had concerns over the impact of CGT changes on startups.

She tells Sky News the government’s $250 permanent tax offset is good, and should go further.

I think it’s not a bad mechanism, but I do think it needs to be broader. And with any of these tax changes there, there’s some transitional arrangements, which means that most of the tax raises is in five to 10 years. I think that’s where the government should commit now. It’s $77bn they should commit now to giving that back as lower tax cut, particularly reducing bracket creep.

Jim Chalmers suggested this morning that the tax offset was a mechanism that could be used in the future to return some bracket creep.

Anglicare says government’s tax reforms will help tackle inequality

Anglicare Australia has welcomed the federal government’s reforms to the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing in the budget, describing them as some of the most significant steps to tackle inequality in decades.

Anglicare Australia Executive Director Kasy Chambers:

For years, governments have avoided touching unfair tax concessions that deepen inequality and drive up housing costs. Tonight’s Budget changes that. Reforming the Capital Gains Tax discount is a significant and overdue step toward a fairer tax system.

These reforms recognise that Australia cannot keep subsidising wealth accumulation while millions of people struggle to afford the basics. This principle matters: governments should not be using the tax system to fuel speculative investment at the expense of everyone else.

Chambers said the reforms would help slow the growth in housing inequality over time, but warned they were not enough on their own to solve the housing crisis.

The biggest gap in tonight’s Budget is the lack of new investment in public and community housing. Australia’s housing crisis will not be solved without building many more homes people on low incomes can actually afford. We still need to see a major expansion of public and community housing if we want to tackle this crisis.

Victorian minister for Suburban Rail Loop defends Indigenous artwork on tunnel boring machines

The Victorian minister responsible for the Suburban Rail Loop, Nick Staikos, says critics of the commissioning of Indigenous artwork on the project’s tunnel boring machines were engaging in “petty politics”.

The Herald Sun reported on Wednesday that artist Hayden Roberts was commissioned to paint the cutter heads of two tunnel machines before their launch later this year, in a move the opposition’s transport spokesperson, Matthew Guy, labelled “stupid” during a cost-of-living crisis and “not value for money”.

But Staikos told reporters at parliament the artwork didn’t cost the project any additional money – though he would not provide a figure. He said:

I’m not going to engage in any petty politics on what is the largest transport project in our nation’s history – one that is going to change this great global city of Melbourne.

Asked if he’d been asked to approve it the artwork, he said: “I wasn’t asked to approve this piece of artwork, and it is a hypothetical to ask me if it was put in front of me if I’d approve it.”

Last night’s federal budget included another $3.8bn for the first stage of the project – known as SRL East – a 26km stretch of tunnels between Cheltenham and Box Hill. The project is billed as a 90km line between Cheltenham in the south-east and Werribee in the south-west, stopping at Melbourne airport.

‘As the facts change, you’re allowed to change your mind’: Shorten backs tax changes

Bill Shorten, who this morning said he felt vindicated over last night’s budget proposing significant changes to negative gearing, capital gains tax and discretionary trusts, says that times change, and the housing crisis doesn’t wait three years for an election, in response to questions on why Anthony Albanese didn’t take this policy to the polls.

He says he regrets that the policy took 10 years to do, but that 40% of people in Sydney and Melbourne are now renters, which means that how the population feels about the issue has changed.

He tells Sky News it will give younger people a “fighting chance”.

I think the population’s changing. And as the facts change, you’re allowed to change your mind … things have got tougher.

It was a good idea 10 years ago and it’s an even better idea now.

Shorten says he currently uses negative gearing – having moved states from Melbourne to Canberra to take on the vice-chancellor position at the University of Canberra. He criticises the Coalition’s argument that the changes will now “kneecap” young people and aspirational Australians.

I think the Libs are sort of clutching at straws a little bit here, as they’re sort of looking for their identity when I get their logic. And good people can disagree with what happened last night. I respect that, but I think grandfathering is the sensible way. If you retrospectively change tax laws, that would be a bad law.

‘No wonder people don’t trust politicians’, Hume says

Jane Hume says it’s no surprise that people don’t trust pollies when the government can do a U-turn on their commitments and break election promises.

The opposition is going hard on this “broken promises” line against last night’s budget, accusing the government of a lack of honesty and integrity.

Speaking to Sky News, the deputy opposition leader accuses the government of “lies”.

No wonder people don’t trust politicians when they can look you in the eye and tell lies, whether it’s about $275 off your energy bill, whether it’s about fiscal responsibility, whether it’s about no changes to superannuation, no changes to taxation, this government lies.

Labor has built 660,000 homes in government, Albanese says

The government is past halfway on its target to build 1.2m homes, according to the PM – although it’s quickly running out of time with the deadline of 2029 fast approaching.

Anthony Albanese tells Nova Perth radio that Labor has built 660,000 homes since coming into office in 2022.

But it’s still far behind its target, agreed in late 2023, to build 1.2m homes by 2029.

Albanese is on the budget hard sell, and has been forced to justify breaking his promise to not touch negative gearing or capital gains tax, while also trying to increase supply. The PM has said (many many times this morning) that the government’s thinking has changed, and so have the times.

The number of homes that have been built since we’ve been elected is 660,000 now, the 5% deposit that we said at the last election was a big measure, more than 240,00 Australians have invested in that as a result …

So many stories you would have heard it, and you know people you’ve gone to options, they get outbid by investors. That takes away that and provides an opportunity for people, if it’s existing homes, whilst at the same time allowing investors to invest in that new supply as well. They’re helping not just themselves, but helping the nation as well, and helping boost that supply

CBA profits slip as it sets aside $200m for recession risk

The Commonwealth Bank has seen its profits slip slightly to $2.7bn for the first three months of 2026, down 1% from the previous six months’ average, on an unaudited cash basis.

Australia’s biggest bank said it had attracted more deposits and issued more loans but faced growing operating expenses as cloud computing, software licensing and AI investment grew.

Like other banks, CBA has begun preparing for the economy to slow as the Iran war hits, today lifting its provisioning for potential borrower collapses by $200m.

The share of CBA personal loan customers who are 90 days behind on repayments picked up markedly in the March quarter, to 1.71%, its highest since 2019, which the bank said was in part due to deliberate business settings.

Home loans and credit card arrears have also picked up but only slightly, to 0.69% and 0.68%, returning to where they were a year ago.

CBA’s chief executive officer, Matt Comyn, said:

The Australian economy continues to demonstrate resilience, but supply chain disruptions, higher prices and interest rates are expected to weigh on household spending and business activity.

NDIS not ‘the only lifeboat in the ocean’, Shorten

Bill Shorten, who was most recently the minister for the national disability insurance scheme, says that the NDIS was growing too quickly and did need to be made more sustainable.

When the government came into power in 2022 the growth rate was about 22% per year, which Shorten brought down to 9%, but he told RN Breakfast earlier “that was never going to be the destination.

.Shorten says that someone doesn’t have to be on the NDIS to receive support for their disability, as long as they are receiving the support that they need.

At the core of the NDIS, it’s changing lives for the better, but it wasn’t ever meant to be the only lifeboat in the ocean. And so, the government’s saying that they want to create more limited services outside the NDIS for people who don’t need the full NDIS orchestra of services.

In pictures: the budget sell

Taylor and Wilson differ on negative gearing approach

Angus Taylor and Tim Wilson appear to have slightly different views on whether the opposition will repeal changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, announced in last night’s budget.

Last night, the shadow treasurer said that the opposition would “repeal if necessary” the changes.

But this morning Taylor wasn’t so clear cut, and would not commit to yanking back those reforms if elected.

Speaking to AM earlier, Taylor said “let’s see”.

Let’s see, because if you take their small business taxation, for instance, they’re saying they’re going to do a review because they realise there’s a whole lot of criticism they’ve had. They’re going to do a review of their own capital gains tax measures … So we don’t even know what final form this is going to come in. What I do know is we are dead opposed to those increases and we’ll fight them.

Housing tax changes will make ‘no meaningful difference’ to young Australians, opposition argues

Changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, which the opposition will fight, won’t shift the dial on young people getting into the property market, and will only increase home ownership by 0.1%, Angus Taylor says.

A little earlier, Taylor also spoke to the ABC’s AM program and continued to blame low housing supply and high migration for the housing crisis.

For a little fact check on whether slashing migration would help the housing crisis, read here. (Spoiler alert, it could well make the problem worse).

Taylor says that the tax changes will mean fewer homes are built and allow just a fraction of extra young people into the market.

The first is they admit that this is going to drive up rents. That’s in their own budget papers. There’s going to be less supply, higher rents. The numbers of owner-occupation are – if you believe them, 7,500 a year, that’s 0.1% increase, Mel. It will make no material difference to young Australians.

Just on that point about rents – the Treasury estimates the impact to be minimal: an extra $2 a week for a household paying the median rent.

Budget an ‘assault on aspiration’, Angus Taylor says

Angus Taylor says the opposition does not support *most* of the budget, and will fight until the election to stop the government from changing negative gearing, CGT and discretionary trust tax incentives.

The opposition leader is also out and about this morning in the Canberra cold, and spoke to the ABC’s News Breakfast.

He says the budget is an “assault on aspiration” and won’t build more houses.

We absolutely don’t support the assault on aspiration in this budget through hiking taxes on small businesses, on savings, on houses, on the government’s own admission.

We’re going to get less houses as a result of these taxes.

He does, however, say the opposition will support the $250 income tax offset for workers, but like his shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, did last night, argues that the offset will be eaten up within six months by inflation and calls it a “fraud”. And a reminder, that offset only comes into your wallet at tax time in 2028.

So what would the opposition do? Taylor says the opposition wants to clamp down on overseas migration to reduce demand and make it easier to build houses.

I’ve already said that central to this has to be getting immigration into balance with our housing supply. It’s out of balance.

Why would anyone believe you now? Albanese faces grilling over integrity

Anthony Albanese says it’s not the first time the government’s position has changed – just look at the U-turn on halving the fuel excise.

Speaking to Sky News, the prime minister says the thinking has changed, to address both supply and demand in the housing market.

You might also remember the PM doing a 180 after promising not to touch the Coalition’s stage-three tax cuts. He fronted up at the National Press Club in early 2024 to give the lowest-paid workers more money, and those in the higher tax bracket less.

Host Pete Stefanovic asks why the government didn’t take these changes to an election, rather than putting them in the budget. Albanese replies “our position has changed” (if I had a dollar for every time I heard that phrase this morning).

He’s now also facing questions on whether there will be death taxes or inheritance taxes now. No, Albanese says, but Stefanovic asks “why would anyone believe you now?”

Albanese replies:

We are putting in place changes for the future. We are quarantining, grandfathering, whatever way you want to call it, the existing arrangements, which are there for investors, because that’s the right thing to do. We are doing the right thing here.

The Coalition is ‘a rabble’, Albanese says

The prime minister says the opposition are a “rabble” but won’t say whether the chaotic state of the Coalition gave the government an opportunity to take on these broad tax reforms.

Anthony Albanese has moved over to ABC News and is asked whether the Coalition being a rabble has made it easier to put this budget together.

The Coalition is facing terrible polling and just lost the seat of Farrer, which it had held since its inception, to One Nation in last weekend’s byelection (and doesn’t that already feel like an eternity ago).

So the PM knows that the Coalition is badly bruised and might not have as much muscle as they would otherwise have to get the public angry about the changes. (The PM has probably also realised that a lot of households have been calling for the changes for some time.)

He says:

Well, they are a rabble, and they have – not surprisingly – just said no to everything, because they say no to everything and that’s what they’ve been doing for four years.

This was about doing the right thing by the country, so that, when you look back and you go, is this the right thing to do? People will say, ‘Yes’. We firmly believe that.

Albanese defends grandfathering tax incentives

The budget finally deals with both supply (boosting housing) and demand (reducing incentives for investors to give first home buyers less competition) and says that it will lead to an additional 75,000 people getting into the market over 10 years.

That’s just 7,500 additional people each year. Is that enough, the ABC AM program’s Melissa Clark asks the prime minister?

Anthony Albanese says it will make a “substantial difference”. He also tries to justify the decision to grandfather the policy, by allowing current investment owners to continue to use negative gearing incentives.

What it will do is to make a substantial difference by giving people that opportunity to aspire to their own home. It will also, of course, boost supply over time as well.

We do have to have a transition and that’s because we wanted to look after people who had made decisions based upon a system that had been there for a while, but a system that increasingly simply wasn’t working.

Australia to send military plane to strait of Hormuz reopening mission

Australia will join an international mission to reopen the strait of Hormuz, with plans to contribute a hi-tech surveillance plane to the effort.

The defence minister, Richard Marles, confirmed the news this morning in a statement, after an overnight meeting of defence ministers from 40 other countries. He said the meeting had resolved to back “collective diplomatic, economic and military capabilities to support freedom of navigation through the strait of Hormuz”.

“Australia stands ready to support an independent and strictly defensive Multinational Military Mission, led by the United Kingdom and France, once it is established,” Marles said.

Our intention is to contribute Australia’s world-leading E-7A Wedgetail aircraft to this defensive effort.

That plane, which was deployed to the United Arab Emirates about two months ago, is accompanied by about 85 Australian defence force staff. The plane has been in the region in a defensive capacity, to help protect Gulf nations from Iranian attacks after the US-Israel strikes on the nation began. The E7 has already had its deployment extended once and appears as though it will remain in the region for some time.

While this platform [the Wedgetail] is already doing work in the region, providing this capability would make a valuable contribution to the multinational mission and efforts to secure freedom of navigation in the strait of Hormuz.

We want to see this conflict end, the strait of Hormuz open and freedom of navigation resume. The longer this conflict goes on the more significant the impact on Australia will be. Our government is doing all we can to shield Australians from the impacts.

‘We’ve changed our position’, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers are being grilled over why they have changed their minds on tax incentives – ie why they broke an election promise not to touch negative gearing and CGT.

It’s a question they’ll continue to face for a while – and one the opposition will try to corner them on.

We knew coming into the budget that intergenerational inequality would be a big focus, and they’re saying now that they can’t watch another generation of Australians miss out on owning a home.

Albanese is facing a pretty combative line of questioning on the Today show. He’s asked whether he’ll next be introducing a “death tax”.

No, he says – but host Sarah Abo counters that he already promised the government wouldn’t change negative gearing or CGT. Albanese says:

We have put forward these changes, we’re being upfront about that. We are saying we’ve changed our position and why we have changed our position. And we have changed our position because we don’t want a generation of people who watch your program to be sitting there and thinking they’re going to be renting for the rest of their lives.

Chalmers says negative gearing will phase itself out over five to ten years

Heading over to the ABC’s News Breakfast program, Jim Chalmers says that while negative gearing tax perks won’t change for properties that people already hold, that doesn’t mean the perks will be used forever.

People that buy new properties after the changes have come into effect will still be able to use some negative gearing incentives.

The budget tells us that the government believes that this will keep house prices growing, but 2% less than they otherwise would.

Chalmers adds though that the government’s main focus on housing supply.

Typically it depends on which modelling you rely on but, between five and 10 years, typically a property will tip over from negatively geared to positively geared, and so that will phase out of the system.

The emphasis for most of the life of this government has been on building more homes and that’s still the primary focus.

Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you for the budget washup. Thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.

While I feel like I’ve had a quick turnaround from last night, the prime minister and treasurer are undoubtedly on less sleep, having already begun to do media interviews this morning.

Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers are on the budget sell (which you can read all about here and here), doing a range of TV interviews from the prime minister’s courtyard at Parliament House and some radio interviews too.

There has been some political backlash to the changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax but the government has also received a fair bit of applause from economists and others for the bold reforms, and we’ll be seeing plenty more reaction to it today.

It’s going to be a hectic and several coffee day so let’s get cracking.

Australian Medical Association gives mixed verdict to budget

The Australian Medical Association has praised the budget for locking in “much-needed” additional funding for public hospitals but said there was “little else” in the budget to address the critical issues facing Australia’s health system.

The AMA president, Dr Danielle McMullen, said the additional $25bn for the next national health reform agreement was very welcome but it left a funding gap, and other opportunities to tackle healthcare system problems had been missed.

She said:

Our modelling shows a remaining gap of at least $9.6bn – a gap that must be bridged if the cycle of crisis our public hospitals are in is to be broken.

We are also pleased to see $120.9m set aside to support the role of general practice in the early identification of children with development delay or neurodevelopmental difference through a Medicare funded three-year-old health assessment and expanded Comprehensive Health Assessment Program. It will be critical for all governments to ensure that appropriate support for eligible children is available on GP referral.

But McMullen said the budget provides little else to celebrate.

While we welcome a commitment to undertake consultation on private health reform, cuts to the private health insurance rebate for people who are 65 years and over are likely to see older Australians on modest incomes drop or downgrade their cover and this may put more pressure on the public hospital system.

Government deserves credit for spending political capital on reform says CEDA

Last night’s budget contained a warning that Australia could be thrown into recession if the Middle East crisis continues and the price of oil doesn’t fall back to pre-war levels.

Against this difficult background, the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) says the budget makes good progres towards reform by delivering modest savings, and support for households and businesses partially offsetting higher revenue from commodity prices, inflation and a still strong labour market.

It also applauded measures to address housing supply, productivity growth, tax reform, cost of living and intergenerational fairness as “welcome steps towards a stronger, more resilient economy and social compact, but will require more targeted and stronger attention into the future”.

The CEDA’s chief executive, Melinda Cilento, said.

This was a genuinely difficult budget to calibrate and it contains many moving parts.

While higher commodity prices have boosted national income, the cost of living is biting, inflation remains too high and the global outlook remains highly uncertain. A government willing to spend political capital on productivity, housing, tax reform and intergenerational fairness deserves credit.

Climate Council says budget gives ‘free kick’ to fossil fuel companies

The Climate Council came out of the blocks quickly to decry a “massive free kick” in the budget for fossil fuel multinationals while consumers are “left exposed” to global energy price spikes and climate harm.

The council said last night that by maintaining more than $19bn in annual fossil fuel subsidies and foregone gas tax revenue, the budget ignored “major opportunities to expand clean energy solutions that shield Australians from global fossil fuel chaos”.

YouGov polling showed most Australians want the government to invest in expanding renewable energy solutions over fossil fuels to secure our energy future, the council claimed.

The Climate Council chief executive, Amanda McKenzie, said:

This budget maintains the $19bn gravy train for big fossil fuel corporations. That is $19bn in the wrong direction, keeping us tied to foreign oil rather than supporting the expansion of renewable energy solutions that Australians want to deliver a safer, cleaner, more secure energy future.