Labor planning to ‘ram’ tax changes through Senate with help of Greens, Hume says
One of the biggest questions on the capital gains tax changes is whether there will be a carve out for startups and some small businesses.
Time is ticking, with the first tranche of the legislation to be introduced to the House tomorrow.
The deputy Liberal leader, Jane Hume, says the government should allow the CGT changes to be scrutinised through a Senate inquiry. The Coalition has said that it will probably vote down the bill – despite the legislation also including the tax offsets (the $250 working Australians tax offset) that the opposition has said it does support.
Hume tells Sky News:
Why deny the Senate the opportunity to scrutinise possibly the most far-reaching cash grab tax that the parliament has seen in decades? Just the idea that you could ram this through with the help of the Greens is anathema to what it is that the Senate is here to do.
Hume is asked whether the opposition would support changes to the capital gains tax discount just for housing. She says, “there’s no way that this tax can go ahead as is. No way.”
Key events
Albanese declares free Mumford & Sons tickets, record cabinet
Josh Butler
Anthony Albanese’s latest declarations to his register of interests reveal he accepted free tickets to a concert and opera, as well as official gifts from other world leaders. We keep a close eye on the register, where politicians have to declare gifts and changes to their personal information.
Prime minister Albanese this week updated his register to disclose receiving an “Art Vinyl Record Storage Cabinet from Her Excellency Ms Sanae Takaichi, Prime Minister of Japan”.
He also noted receiving a “Celapa 4-Segi in Silver” from His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni AI-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali, the Sultan of Brunei, which he says was surrendered, which we understand is an ornamental metal box, that the PM said would be “donated to charity or non-for profit organisation”.
He also declared a “Framed Moon Kite” from YAB Dato’ Seri Anwar Bin Ibrahim, the prime minister of Malaysia, which has been “surrendered [to be donated to National Collections]”.
Albanese also noted he’d accepted “sponsored travel or hospitality” including tickets to Mumford & Sons in Sydney last month, from Live Nation; as well as tickets to Phantom of the Opera on Sydney Harbour from Opera Australia.
Albanese said in a radio interview a few weeks ago that he’d gone to Mumford & Sons with wife Jodie Haydon, telling Nova:
That was fantastic because we were in the dark so no one could see us, and no one hassled us. No one knew we were there … Fantastic gig.
Josh Taylor
No date set for social media ban court cases
Two high court challenges to Australia’s under-16s social media ban do not have a hearing date set yet, department officials have told Senate estimates.
Reddit, and the Digital Freedom Project – a group helmed by libertarian NSW MP John Ruddick – have sought to challenge the ban in the high court on implied freedom of political communications grounds. But communications department officials could not say when the cases were likely to be heard.
Christine McClure, first assistant secretary, legal and integrity division of the department, said the next directions hearing will come on or after 25 June but would not say whether the cases would be heard this year, stating it was a “matter for the court” to set a hearing date.
The department also declined to state what the government’s position on the litigation was, aside from that the government was defending its position.
Earlier in the hearing, Liberal senator Sarah Henderson sought to challenge the government’s claim that 5 million accounts have been deactivated or restricted on the 10 platforms given two-thirds of teens under 16 have remained on social media since the ban came into effect in January.
The department referred questions on these figures – and enforcement plans against platforms – to the eSafety commissioner, who is appearing this afternoon.
Ben Doherty
NSW police front royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion
The royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion is hearing from senior NSW police officers again, in its second block of public hearings, on Wednesday morning.
Today is likely to be the last day of public hearings this week, before the commission takes further evidence in camera.
The commission will hear from NSW police deputy commissioner, David Hudson, who holds responsibility for investigations and counter-terrorism, and assistant commissioner Kirsty Heyward, who is the commander of police prosecutions and licensing enforcement command.
Josh Butler
Advocates want employment overhaul to go even further
Welfare and employment groups say the government should be doing more to overhaul the mutual obligations system, ahead of Amanda Rishworth’s address to the National Press Club today.
The Community and Public Sector Union says the changes are welcome, but is “disappointed it has not gone further to overhaul the privatised model that has failed job seekers, employers and the government.”
National secretary Melissa Donnelly says Rishworth’s changes are a step in the right direction, but worries they don’t go far enough.
Australian job seekers are sick of being lectured by flashy ‘entrepreneurs’ who are milking the government for hundreds of millions of dollars and providing a broken, profit-driven service in return.
This privatisation fantasy has caused untold damage, and while today’s announcement is very welcome, progress must not stop here.
The Antipoverty Centre, which advocates for unemployed Australians and those in the welfare system, has again called for the mutual obligations system to be fully changed. Its spokesperson Jay Coonan said the “punishment” of penalties for compliance activities should be totally overhauled.
You can’t punish people into employment in an economy designed to keep at least 4% of us unemployed, especially with the RBA aggressively pursuing higher unemployment.
There are about 2.7 million payment suspension notices issued each year and a huge percentage of them are ultimately reversed because they were incorrect, at enormous personal cost to the people subjected to these penalties. If the use of suspensions is not paused immediately, any promises of a better system will ring hollow in the ears of unemployed people.
In pictures: Taylor visits the farm
NB: Am I sorry for these terrible puns? No.
Am I embarrassed? Only a little.
Labor has ‘rolled out the welcome mat’ to women and children returning from Syrian camp
The opposition is continuing its tirade on the government’s response to the women and children returning from the notorious Syrian al-Roj camp.
Angus Taylor has taken a little road trip to the regional NSW town of Bungendore, a short car ride from Canberra, this morning. He accuses the government of supporting the repatriation of the group – a claim that has been vehemently denied by the government many times.
The opposition leader tells reporters:
The government’s rolled out the welcome mat to people who have turned their backs on our country and our values to support ISIS. An organisation that has committed egregious brutality and atrocities.
The Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, who is also in Bungendore, takes aim at independent MP Monique Ryan who this morning said that the children returning from Syria should be treated “sensitively and gently”.
Labor planning to ‘ram’ tax changes through Senate with help of Greens, Hume says
One of the biggest questions on the capital gains tax changes is whether there will be a carve out for startups and some small businesses.
Time is ticking, with the first tranche of the legislation to be introduced to the House tomorrow.
The deputy Liberal leader, Jane Hume, says the government should allow the CGT changes to be scrutinised through a Senate inquiry. The Coalition has said that it will probably vote down the bill – despite the legislation also including the tax offsets (the $250 working Australians tax offset) that the opposition has said it does support.
Hume tells Sky News:
Why deny the Senate the opportunity to scrutinise possibly the most far-reaching cash grab tax that the parliament has seen in decades? Just the idea that you could ram this through with the help of the Greens is anathema to what it is that the Senate is here to do.
Hume is asked whether the opposition would support changes to the capital gains tax discount just for housing. She says, “there’s no way that this tax can go ahead as is. No way.”
Opposition tying negotiations on NDIS and CGT for ‘maximum leverage’: Wilson
How are the NDIS and capital gains tax changes related?
Well it’s because the opposition is trying to tie one to the other.
Sorry, how?
So, the opposition has said that the Coalition could withhold its support for the NDIS bill unless the government agrees to an inquiry to examine the CGT and negative gearing changes.
Is that a threat?
The shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, was asked that very question on Sky News this morning and wouldn’t say the ‘T’ word, but that it was just for “maximum leverage”.
What we’re going to do is go through parliamentary processes on both NDIS changes and budget changes and we’re going to use maximum leverage so Australians can have a say.
We’re going to use maximum leverage and if the government wants to have a conversation around NDIS changes … then they have to actually allow the Australian people to have their say about their tax changes that they didn’t take to the Australian community.
Earlier this morning, the shadow NDIS minister, Melissa McIntosh, told RN Breakfast she “gets” the move because the opposition only has a certain number of levers to play with:
By no means, from my perspective as the portfolio holder or shadow portfolio of the NDIS, would I allow this to be a political football for people on the NDIS. I’m completely focused on ensuring that a Senate inquiry goes ahead. And if the result of negotiations in the Senate means that the NDIS Senate inquiry goes for longer, well, that’s not a bad thing in itself. It means that people get longer to have a say.
Estimates sessions ‘like drawing teeth’, Shoebridge says
Shoebridge says there’s an even more fundamental problem at the heart of the Nacc – a lack of transparent hiring processes.
The crossbench – led by Helen Haines, a key architect of the body – have been calling for a proper merit based process for the anti-corruption body.
The Greens senator told RN Breakfast that the hiring of Brereton should not have been from “inside the Canberra club”.
It’s the fact that Labor chose to appoint somebody from inside the Canberra club and didn’t put in place and ensure that the checks and balances were there so that public confidence was maintained. And, you know, and still last night, commissioner Brereton, even after all, we know that he thinks he still has the full confidence of the Labor government and the Labor attorney general.
Shoebridge is scathing of Brereton’s answers to estimates last night, and said he “refuses to accept even the most basic propositions” and that after the session ended there were further revelations that a second investigation was under way on Brereton’s conduct.
Shoebridge says:
It’s in my experience, and it’s with many federal bureaucrats, it’s like drawing teeth. The idea that it would be a frank exchange, an open, transparent process, which is what it should be, I mean, that’s almost a dream. Like, what we get is, we get defensive non-answers, and commissioner Brereton was exhibit A in that.
Brereton had an ‘inability to accept his own role in his downfall’: Shoebridge
Greens senator David Shoebridge was front and centre last night interrogating the outgoing National Anti-Corruption Commissioner Paul Brereton at Senate estimates, and has some choice words for the conduct of the public servant.
For a catch up on what went down last night – take a look here.
Shoebridge tells the ABC’s RN Breakfast there has been a huge amount of frustration from the Australian public around the handling of robodebt by the Nacc and the subsequent fallout.
He also says Brereton “absolutely should have recused himself from defence matters”.
This is a man who left office in the way he came into office with a huge amount of hubris and an inability to accept his own role in, I think, his downfall and in his resignation three years into a five-year term.
But more fundamentally, his role in setting the tone for the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which, if you were to go out and ask people across the country, you know, do they support it? I think most people would say it has utterly failed to meet the moment.
Government funds 2026 Rugby League World Cup
The prime minister has the fun job of spruiking something a lot lighter this morning – he’s talking to commercial radio stations about the government’s support for the 2026 Rugby League World Cup.
The government is putting $12.4m towards the planning, logistics and delivery of the event, which will have women’s, men’s and wheelchair tournaments.
Games will begin in Sydney in October – but will also be played in a couple of neighbouring countries. There will be 26 teams from 16 nations playing across five weeks.
Anthony Albanese told Triple M Sydney this morning:
There’s going to be games in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Townsville, and of course the great city of Newcastle as well, alongside games in PNG and New Zealand, so it will extend the rugby league season even further. And we’re investing to provide some support for those teams for the NRL, so it will be a great way to continue to back this great game after the NRL season ends.
‘Is this just a cost shifting exercise?’, McIntosh asks on NDIS
The Coalition has agreed to support the seismic NDIS legislation through the House, but pushed for a rapid Senate inquiry to consider the changes.
The shadow minister for the NDIS, Melissa McIntosh, told the ABC’s RN Breakfast this morning she fought hard for the inquiry, to probe some of the issues and questions still unanswered over the details of the legislation.
McIntosh said she’s hearing some participants already facing cuts to their plans, well before the legislation has been passed and the changes are scheduled to take effect.
She’s also concerned about whether the states will pick up their responsibilities for providing foundation supports – a key program which will support participants who aren’t eligible for the NDIS with more moderate needs.
How do you build a foundation from nothing, which is where it is at in the state regards right now? And then the question Mark [Butler], as well, is this just a cost-shifting exercise? Are we just moving the budget, the NDIS budget, on to the health budget? … But if it’s a cost-shifting exercise, at the end of the day, Australian taxpayers still have to pay for it.
Property tax changes will have a ‘modest affordability effect’ on house prices, O’Neil says
Continuing her media rounds across the press gallery, Clare O’Neil tells the ABC’s News Breakfast that the tax changes will have a “modest” impact on affordability.
The housing minister acknowledges that the changes are “difficult” for some people, but that “they’ll mean about 75,000 rental households become first home owning households.”
Treasury modelling in the budget estimates that the changes will slow house price growth by 2% over two years, compared to the current tax settings.
O’Neil says:
What it says is that this will have a modest affordability effect on house prices in Australia.
But at the end of the day, the thing that is driving house prices is actually not our tax sets, it’s a fundamental mismatch between how many homes we’re building and how many homes we need.
On supply, building more homes is the best thing to put downward pressure on house prices. At the moment, that project is being hit from all sides. You’re got the conflict in the Middle East, which is driving up construction costs, you’ve also got big surge in interest rates as well.
Outgoing Nacc boss says ‘sorry’ for robodebt inquiry delays
Tom McIlroy
Paul Brereton, the outgoing boss of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc) has defended his controversial tenure but hit back at suggestions he contributed to the major suffering of robodebt victims.
Facing Senate estimates for the last time before he leaves the role in July, Brereton said he was wrong to be involved in consideration of referrals related to the illegal welfare debt scheme, which was the subject of a landmark royal commission.
But he hit back at Greens senator David Shoebridge, who asked if he would apologise to the victims of robodebt and the families of people who died after being issued debt notices.
In October 2024, the Nacc inspector found Brereton had engaged in misconduct when he involved himself in proceedings that rejected further investigation into senior public servants involved in robodebt, including the then human services department secretary Kathryn Campbell, who was an army reserve colleague of Brereton’s.
He defended his actions.
My involvement, such as it was in the preliminary stages of the initial robotic consideration, was entirely in good faith, in the interests of the then infant commission in providing guidance, how a very complex issue might be addressed without suggesting the outcome of that issue.
As I have said earlier, with the benefit of hindsight, it would have been better if I was not involved in that at all. And, of course, I am sorry for the delay that that has caused.
However, to suggest that that is the main cause of the appalling tragedy that the robodebt victims have suffered, is, I suggest, gilding the lily on your part.
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