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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...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.
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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...The premier is offering 2,000 apprenticeships at the revived State Electricity Commission as part of a pre-election push
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Jacinta Allan has used Labor’s final state conference before the election to announce a plan for a government-owned electricity body to hire apprentices to address significant workforce shortages and job insecurity.
The Victorian premier announced the plan in a speech that drew on her father’s experience as a linesman at the State Electricity Commission (SEC), which was revived by Daniel Andrews in 2023 after being privatised by former premier Jeff Kennett in the 1990s.
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Wilson promises Coalition will be ‘very clear’ on migration
Wilson is asked about comments made by the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, after the byelection that hinted at a rightward shift toward “ending mass migration” and stopping net zero policies.
I can assure you in the coming weeks we’re going to make it very clear what we’re for. Australians need to know that we’re in favour of families, community, small business and self-starters.
My focus on migration is how we make sure we get new Australians integrated successfully.
One of the reasons Australians have become very nervous about migration is they feel that people are coming to Australia and getting the benefits without making the contribution. And I want the best, boldest, most confident new Australians we can have.
There would be some nervous Labor MPs because what people want to see is change.
One of the most consistent messages is that people want someone who is going to fight for them and their future.
Continue reading...Parents of Australian who was detained by IDF call for stronger government response. Follow updates live
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Canavan defends Coalition decision to preference One Nation ahead of independent in Farrer: ‘Socialists and communists always go last’
Matt Canavan said he understood why voters in Farrer, set for a byelection next Saturday, were disillusioned with the federal opposition.
I‘ve been down there for 20 days, 15 nights – and 10 of those I’ve been in a swag – over the past month.
I’m doing everything I can to fight for them. I’d love to fight for that great part of our country again, it’s a wonderful part of our nation where we pioneered the use of irrigation and dams. It still produces 40% of our food, 60% of our fruit.
Under my leadership, [in] my view, socialists and communists always go last.
I think we need to really see how the overseas conflict evolves, how prices evolve for oil. But I think, you know, it is doing what it was intended to do. It’s not a silver bullet, but it is providing material support for people. And as I said, it’s providing support for people who are really doing it tough when they can’t shift away from using petrol.
Continue reading...Anthony Marsh appears to be in commanding position in significant boost to opposition leader Jess Wilson
The Liberals have claimed victory in a key Victorian byelection seen as a preview of what to expect when the rest of the state hits the polls in November.
As counting continued in the Mornington peninsula seat of Nepean, the Liberal candidate, Anthony Marsh, appeared to be in a commanding position in a significant boost to opposition leader Jess Wilson.
Continue reading...Reversal of fortune comes just one week after she was dumped in favour of Dinesh Gourisetty, who then withdrew his nomination
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Moira Deeming will secure a top spot on the Victorian Liberal party’s upper house ticket unopposed – less than a week after members voted to dump her – after the withdrawal of candidates from a re-run ballot.
Deeming was on Sunday ousted from the number one spot for the western metropolitan region by Dinesh Gourisetty.
Continue reading...Moderate-backed Dinesh Gourisetty won nomination for upper house seat
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Moira Deeming has lost her spot on the ballot for the Victorian Liberal party at the November state election, after a successful challenge by a moderate-backed candidate.
Liberal members gathered at party headquarters in Melbourne’s CBD on Sunday for the western metropolitan region convention, where Deeming was defeated by Dinesh Gourisetty, a prominent figure in Melbourne’s fast-growing Indian community.
Continue reading...Jess Wilson’s party has made a splash on social media but will they work together in the state election race?
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Jess Wilson doing bombs into a swimming pool. Brad Battin in a muscle shirt curling 20kg, tattoos on show. John Pesutto throwing a discus, clad in blue jeans. Matthew Guy running, clutching a pink baton.
The current Victorian Liberal leader and three of her predecessors feature in a social media video to mark what would have been the opening ceremony of the regional Commonwealth Games on Tuesday – if the state government hadn’t cancelled them.
Continue reading...Carston Woodhouse, running for Wright in Adelaide’s north, also claimed gender transitioning is an ‘illusion’
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The South Australian Liberal party is standing by an election candidate who said same-sex marriage is not real, homosexuality can open up “demonic realms” and gender transitioning is an “illusion”.
Carston Woodhouse is running for the seat of Wright in Adelaide’s north in the state’s upcoming elections, with early voting beginning on Saturday.
Continue reading...Andrew Hastie, Basil Zempilas and Warren Mundine were among the guests at the conservative convention, which focused on immigration and housing
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The rightwing Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) made its foray into Western Australia on Friday evening, with no sign of One Nation on a stage dominated by Liberal politicians.
The event, dubbed Reset the West, was a rallying call for conservatives to work together, but what emerged was a Liberal party attempt to rebuild the centre-right with itself at its core.
Continue reading...Jenny Ware says party is ‘at crisis point’ and cannot be competitive at election time unless it selects candidates who better reflect the makeup of Australia
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The former Liberal MP Jenny Ware says her party must implement gender quotas for candidates for office, warning the opposition “cannot get back into government” without putting forward candidates who are more reflective of the broader community.
Ware, who lost her seat of Hughes at the 2025 election, said it was “deeply embarrassing” that the Liberal party executive had not released its own review of the electoral wipeout, and which was then tabled in parliament by Anthony Albanese this week.
Continue reading...It is Hanson’s second censure within four months, this time over comments questioning whether there were ‘good’ Muslims
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Pauline Hanson has been censured again by the federal Senate, with two Liberal senators crossing the floor to support a motion calling out the One Nation leader’s “inflammatory and divisive” recent comments about Australian Muslims.
Hanson dismissed the motion – her second censure within four months, after her stunt of wearing a hijab in the parliament last year – as a “joke”, theatrically slapping herself on the wrist before storming out of the chamber prior to the final vote. The Greens and much of the crossbench backed Labor’s censure motion, while the Coalition resolved to oppose it, saying censures should be reserved for the most serious conduct.
Continue reading...Opposition leader suggests 23 children and 11 women attempting to leave al-Roj are Islamic State ‘sympathisers’
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Angus Taylor has suggested the Australian children remaining in a Syrian detention camp are “Isis sympathisers” as the Liberal party ramps up its rhetoric against the families of dead or jailed Islamic State fighters.
The opposition leader also chided a member of the press for attempting to force his response on why the group of 23 children and 11 women should be another country’s responsibility.
Continue reading...Independent MP Zali Steggall says it’s not always clear who is behind disorderly behaviour – and sometimes it can be a whole section of a political party
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Sweeping behavioural standards have now been in place in Australia’s parliament for years, but crossbench MPs have warned question time is still rife with bullying and a “mob mentality” that needs to be stamped out.
Data obtained through the speaker’s office shows 21 MPs across the Coalition and Labor have been booted out of question time 31 times, under standing order 94a during the first six months of the 48th parliament.
Continue reading...Higher education regulator investigates Catholic institute after comments by academics, including endorsing the White Australia policy
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An influential Catholic college in Sydney is under investigation by the higher education regulator over a series of comments made by two of its prominent academics supporting the White Australia policy and calling for Anglo-Celtic Australians and Europeans to become a “supermajority” in the country.
The federal education minister, Jason Clare, said the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Teqsa) was “undertaking a compliance process” with Campion College in relation to a number of comments made by Stephen McInerney, a dean of studies, and Associate Prof Stephen Chavura, a senior lecturer.
Continue reading...The former journalist and first-term MP had Speakman’s endorsement and support across the factions
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Kellie Sloane has become the third woman to lead the NSW Liberal Party after a party room meeting agreed on Friday morning to make her leader of the opposition.
The right’s Alister Henskens, the shadow attorney-general, did not stand.
Continue reading...Sources say shadow treasurer Jess Wilson has received enough support to test leadership of the party a year out from state poll
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A group of Victorian Liberal MPs has told the party leader, Brad Battin, they no longer have confidence in his leadership, paving the way for a vote on whether to replace him.
The intervention on Monday afternoon – delivered almost one year before the state goes to the polls – could trigger a ballot on his position as early as Tuesday morning.
Continue reading...As Liberals join Nationals in abandoning a 2050 emissions target, we unpick some of the opposition’s talking points
Are you trying to make sense of some of the big claims made by Liberal and National party MPs for abandoning their support for Australia reaching net zero emissions by 2050?
We’re here to help.
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