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Australian borrowing personal loans in record amounts
Australians are borrowing record amounts in personal loans as a long-term buildup in living costs wipes out savings buffers.
Continue reading...Most economists believe the chronic undersupply of homes will eventually push prices higher once interest rates ease and the tax changes are priced in
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The government’s property tax changes have become one of the defining political issues of Labor’s second term, drawing fierce criticism from opponents who argue they represent an “assault on aspiration” that will destroy home values.
In the three weeks after the negative gearing and capital gains tax changes were revealed in the 12 May budget, housing data has begun to show how they may affect Australia’s property market. Here’s what the data shows, and what could happen next.
Continue reading...Hanson’s party is leading in the polls, but it has a long way to go before being recognised as a serious political outfit
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When sent out to do a cleanup job, it usually helps to not make the mess even worse.
It took One Nation six separate attempts over nearly 24 hours to clarify the basic details of their policy on foreign ownership of housing. Between Thursday night and Friday afternoon, the story turned from bizarre to farcical, with attempts to clarify the policy just making the situation murkier as Australians watched:
a Barnaby Joyce interview;
a quick do-over on Sky News on Thursday;
a Pauline Hanson social media update on Friday morning;
a Sean Bell interview, again on Sky, on Friday;
and then a 2GB spot;
before a written press release from Bell on Friday afternoon
Continue reading...Nauran government says its citizens are ‘friendly’ after MP spoke of serious threats allegedly made against former Australian detainees
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The Nauruan government has issued a rare statement insisting it is a “friendly” and “welcoming” country after a whistleblower alleged “serious threats of physical violence” were made against a group of non-citizens removed there by the Albanese government.
The unexpected defence, sent shortly after midday Thursday, was mounted hours after independent MP Andrew Wilkie used his three-minute constituency statement to read claims from an anonymous whistleblower familiar with the arrangements of the secretive $2.5bn deal between Australia and Nauru.
Continue reading...Government hopes to rush NDIS and tax changes through parliament but opposition and crossbench push for more scrutiny
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The Greens want Labor to halt its plans to rush NDIS cuts through the Senate later this month, urging a longer inquiry process as the government seeks the minor party’s support for its contentious tax and housing changes.
It opens the possibility of the Greens and Coalition teaming up in parliament to support extending separate Senate inquiries into both the changes to the national disability insurance scheme and tax proposals, thereby delaying Labor’s hopes of passing those bills before the end of June.
Continue reading...Senate committee also hears Murray Watt needed personal security after sending the union into administration
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The federal government has paid millions of dollars in personal protection for the administrators of the CFMEU, and had to organise security for minister Murray Watt after he introduced the legislation that placed the union into administration, it has been revealed.
Under questioning from Liberal senator Jane Hume in the Senate committee on education and employment legislation, it was revealed that the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) has paid millions of dollars to keep the administrators safe.
Continue reading...Former Liberal senator initially labelled ruling by parliamentary expenses authority ‘patently ridiculous’, saying visits were necessary
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Former Liberal senator Linda Reynolds has paid back nearly $8,800 in parliamentary expenses after her partner claimed family reunion allowances to visit his son in Melbourne while en route to meet her in Canberra.
Reynolds accepted the ruling of the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) but initially disputed their ruling, saying her partner’s visits to his son – her stepson – were necessary after “high profile (and false) 2021 workplace allegations made against me”, seemingly a reference to her long-running court dispute with former staffer Brittany Higgins.
Continue reading...Instead of relying on tax-enhanced speculation, investors must now look at established properties based on actual profitability – leaving space for first home buyers
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For decades, Australia’s property market has been defined by relentless price rises, reinforcing the old adage that real estate investment is “as safe as houses”.
There’s now a wrinkle in that wisdom.
Continue reading...Australian Greens should ‘take on’ Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, Polanski tells Victorian conference, just as he took on Nigel Farage’s Reform UK
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Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green party of England and Wales, has told his counterparts in Australia that they need to start “connecting with people’s anger” and learn from the “storytelling power” of populist rightwing politics.
Speaking via video link at the Victorian Greens campaign conference on Saturday night, Zack Polanski said the party in Australia needed to start “taking on” Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, just as his own party had taken on Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
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Extra negative gearing limits could hurt market and family budgets, Labor says
Clare O’Neil has rejected calls from the Greens and others to put further limits on negative gearing access, saying the government should not interrupt “immediate arrangements”.
There’s people in the debate who want to see the government go further. I really understand that but I just think we need to step back.
Negative gearing is a very immediate impact on a household and family budget and it’s not something that governments, when they’re making tax changes, should do, to interrupt people’s immediate arrangements.
We need to land this. We’ll do that in the appropriate time given the need … This is not a political timeline. It is a policy timeline … It’s important this gets resolved speedily and that’s what the government is working towards.
I think there’s a range of things that are on the table in those conversations and I won’t speak about them in detail …
The government wants to get the right outcome here and we are not going to be driven by the politics of the moment. It’s really important we reach the right landing point for this and I think I have spoken in previous interviews this week about some of the issues we see.
Continue reading...Minister at Singapore defence summit also reveals Australia to buy only secondhand Aukus submarines from US
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The defence minister, Richard Marles, has said the “seabed is a battlefield” in a combative speech urging Beijing to be more transparent about its maritime operations, and taking aim at weak international controls over so-called “shadow-fleet” vessels.
The warning came as the US, UK and Australia announced a new Aukus project to develop new underwater drone technology to protect undersea cables.
Continue reading...As the budget fight plays out fiercely online, Labor senator Ellie Whiteaker turns to a zebra and a giraffe for help
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Selling a complicated federal budget isn’t exactly child’s play, but Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers could do worse than following the example of their colleague’s toy giraffe and zebra to help explain their contentious tax changes.
The budget fight is dominating parliament and Senate estimates, but it’s being fought just as fiercely online. The weapons of choice? Memes, fluffy animals and a questionable reference to a serial killer cannibal.
Continue reading...Employment minister Amanda Rishworth plans to move system from a ‘one size fits all’ employment services model to three streams of support
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The Albanese government has flagged a major overhaul of Australia’s employment system, with minister Amanda Rishworth on Wednesday expected to outline plans to ease Centrelink’s much-maligned mutual obligations regime.
Rishworth is expected to tell the National Press Club that mutual obligation requirements were not helping Australians find work in a system that was “ill-equipped” and wasting the time of people who use welfare.
Continue reading...Regulators and gambling harm advocates have been closely watching the rise in popularity of Polymarket and Kalshi
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US-based “prediction market” websites are taking tens of thousands of dollars in bets on Australian elections and even specific words the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says in parliament, with gambling harm advocates and the wagering lobby raising alarm.
Australian financial and media regulators said they were monitoring the explosion in popularity of platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket, which operate financial exchanges where users buy “shares” in contracts on the outcome of events.
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Climate activists say they have blocked two coal ships from entering Newcastle port
Climate activists say they have stopped two coal ships from entering the Port of Newcastle this morning after kayakers and a small boat entered the channel.
I grew up in the best years economically in Australia’s history, and I can’t sleep at night thinking about my 5 great-grandkids trying to live on a dead planet if we keep mining coal. I want to see more people my age standing up for what’s right.
There’s plenty of conversations going on all the time.
I think there’s so many people in politics for the right reasons and, when you’re in there, you want to say, well, how do we actually ensure that people can elect people that are going to come here and really deal with the root causes of the problems that we’re facing, because we haven’t seen that.
How do you be part of changing our country for the better? For me at the moment, that is serving people in the ACT, engaging on each issue, bringing solutions, using whatever power I have in the Senate to actually work on behalf of the people that have sent me there. As to what that looks like in the future, who knows?
Continue reading...Australia joins the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands and New Zealand in condemning illegal settlements
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The Israeli government is undermining stability in the West Bank as settler violence reaches unprecedented levels, a coalition of western countries says, as its leaders call for an end to construction of Israeli settlements it says breach international law.
In a joint statement issued on Friday, Anthony Albanese and the leaders of the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands and New Zealand said:
Continue reading...Prime minister launches impassioned argument in favour of much-maligned reforms announced in last week’s federal budget
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A visibly emotional Anthony Albanese has launched an impassioned defence of Labor’s proposed changes to negative gearing, the capital gains tax discount and family trusts, saying he will “not allow Australia to become a country where aspiration is only for some”.
The prime minister has faced sustained criticism to the reforms, which include limiting negative gearing to new-builds while grandfathering existing properties, changing how CGT is calculated and imposing a new 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Documents seen by Guardian Australia also show new branches and members will be subject to strict gag orders
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One Nation’s rapid expansion of local branches across the country is in disarray, with the party being forced to dissolve and re-establish its new network less than eight months after the ambitious roll out began.
Documents seen by Guardian Australia show the party’s new general manager, Kelvin Morton, issued a directive to the party’s branches in April ordering committee members to properly reconstitute their branches after an internal review uncovered “significant risks”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Any attempt to use the budget measures as an excuse to raise rent is opportunistic profiteering, housing advocates say
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Australia’s peak community and housing groups have urged federal parliament to quickly pass Labor’s changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, saying the reforms would improve fairness for renters and young homebuyers.
The government may introduce its negative gearing and CGT changes into parliament as soon as the coming sitting fortnight, with hopes of passing the legislation soon after with the support of the Greens.
Continue reading...Lawyers of Hazara man who was allegedly sexually abused by carer launch bid to prevent imminent deportation to Pacific island
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The Albanese government’s $2.5bn deal with Nauru, under which hundreds of non-citizens will be sent to the tiny Pacific island, will face another legal challenge prompted by an alleged child abuse survivor.
Legal representatives for Abdul*, a Hazara man who was re-detained in immigration detention earlier this month, have launched a bid to prevent the 29-year-old’s imminent deportation to Nauru by challenging its compatibility with Australia’s constitution.
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