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Albanese calls opposition ‘Liberal One National party’
And now the niceties are over and the question time we know (and sometimes love) begins, with Angus Taylor asking the prime minister why migration is the government’s “only strategy to achieve economic growth” when GDP per capita is going backwards.
Anthony Albanese gives the Solomon Islands PM a nod and jokes, “I said that our parliament can often be a bit robust. It began well, and it’s headed downhill pretty quickly.”
Albanese says the economy is in fact growing, despite the breakout of war in the Middle East.
There is no country you would rather be than Australia, particularly if you talk to people in our region about what is happening, countries in our region where they have compulsory public holidays once a week, because there isn’t enough fuel.
The opposition tries to make a point of order on relevance, saying that they asked about migration, but Albanese continues, and gives us a new insult for the opposition that I’m sure we’ll be hearing more.
We have the leader of the ‘Liberal One National party’ over there who comes in here … in spite of the fact that they know that the migration rate has fallen by 45% and what they do is come in here, pretend that we’re immune from a global impact of a global war.
Key events
Hastie kicked out of question time, while Marles defies the Speaker
Over to the crossbench, Zali Steggall asks the government about a plan to sell off defence land, HMAS Penguin in her electorate, saying that Anthony Albanese himself said in 2021 that Sydney Harbour (which the land sits on) should remain in public hands.
The deputy minister and defence minister, Richard Marles takes the question and says that for too long the question of defence estates has been ignored
It was certainly ignored by those opposite when they were in government … Now we hear guffawing from those opposite, and we hear it because in their nine years in government they rotated Defence ministers through the portfolio so quickly that they could never get around to the business of actually managing defence.
Manager of opposition business, Dan Tehan makes a point of order, saying the question had literally nothing to do with the Coalition. Milton Dick tells Marles to stop talking about the opposition.
There’s a bit more back and forth, and then suddenly Andrew Hastie is kicked out by the Speaker for interjecting too much.
Marles gets back to the mic immediately ignores the Speaker’s instructions, which gets him promptly pulled up again by Dick, who says sternly, “you’re defying me. If you do it again, I will sit you down.”
Marles then goes back to the original question and says there will be “adequate time” to consult with the community over the defence estates.
‘It always pays to check the numbers’: Chalmers
Why is Labor introducing a productivity tax during a productivity crisis, asks the shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, citing comments from economist Richard Holden who called the CGT changes “a productivity-seeking missile”. Wilson adds that productivity has fallen 5% under Labor’s watch.
Jim Chalmers takes the question and says that 5% figure is inaccurate.
There’s a somewhat long-winded story here, but Chalmers says that the 5% drop includes the March quarter of 2022 before Labor was in office.
Why? Chalmers says:
It’s because productivity in the March quarter of 2022 fell by 2.3% and that was the biggest fall in productivity in more than 40 years.
It always pays to check the numbers. The shadow treasurer, he got the fuel excise wrong, he got his fuel security policy wrong, he got the amount of shareholders amongst young people wrong, he got the dual mandate wrong for the Reserve Bank, Mr Speaker, again and again and again …
He gets cut off as Dan Tehan, the manager of opposition business, stands up on a point of order, and Milton Dick tells him to be relevant. Chalmers continues:
I’ve explained why the number that the shadow treasurer used today is especially dishonest.
Albanese calls opposition ‘Liberal One National party’
And now the niceties are over and the question time we know (and sometimes love) begins, with Angus Taylor asking the prime minister why migration is the government’s “only strategy to achieve economic growth” when GDP per capita is going backwards.
Anthony Albanese gives the Solomon Islands PM a nod and jokes, “I said that our parliament can often be a bit robust. It began well, and it’s headed downhill pretty quickly.”
Albanese says the economy is in fact growing, despite the breakout of war in the Middle East.
There is no country you would rather be than Australia, particularly if you talk to people in our region about what is happening, countries in our region where they have compulsory public holidays once a week, because there isn’t enough fuel.
The opposition tries to make a point of order on relevance, saying that they asked about migration, but Albanese continues, and gives us a new insult for the opposition that I’m sure we’ll be hearing more.
We have the leader of the ‘Liberal One National party’ over there who comes in here … in spite of the fact that they know that the migration rate has fallen by 45% and what they do is come in here, pretend that we’re immune from a global impact of a global war.
It’s question time!
Josh Butler
Angus Taylor begins with a bipartisan question (before we get into the brunt of QT), by asking about the visit from Solomon Islands’ new prime minister, Matthew Wale.
He asks what the government is doing “to deepen this friendship and support the sovereignty of sovereign islands in the face of disruptions to peace in the Pacific?” (I suspect that the first dixer by the government will be a somewhat similar question.)
Anthony Albanese welcomes the prime minister who is sitting in the chamber for QT, and the delegation receives a round of applause.
Albanese says he is honoured that Wale has chosen Australia for his first visit overseas since taking office.
At the request of the Solomon Islands, our two nations will commence negotiations on a new comprehensive treaty underpinned by mutual trust, respect, and open dialogue. This new treaty will help us confront global and regional challenges together as equal partners in the pursuit of peace across the Pacific.
At the end of the answer, Angus Taylor makes his remarks in response to the PM, also welcoming Wale and says:
Australia is unwavering in its support for Solomon Islands’ sovereignty and freedom, particularly in an age of emboldened authoritarian regimes.
Australia faces another 10% US tariff over “forced labour” claims
Josh Butler
Australia is among dozens of countries worldwide potentially facing more American tariffs, after Donald Trump’s trade representative alleged about 60 nations weren’t doing enough about “forced labour”.
Trade representative Jamieson Greer announced today his claims that “the acts, policies, and practices of 60 economies related to the failure to prohibit the importation of goods produced with forced labor is unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce.”
His statement outlines that countries who do have a forced labour import prohibition, or a partial regime, may face an extra 10% tariff. “For all other economies, the U.S. Trade Representative proposes 12.5% as the rate of additional duty,” Greer’s statement said.
In an accompanying report, the “findings of investigation” relating to Australia contain no specific details, other than allegations that “Australia has failed to impose and effectively enforce a forced labor import prohibition”, which the US deemed “unreasonable”.
The same language is used in the “findings” claimed against nearly every other country. The rest of the list includes countries like Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
The US trade rep will hold hearings on its proposed actions early next month.
Government announces priority aged care support for people with MND following questions from independent MP
Sometimes things can happen quickly in Canberra.
Less than 24 hours after independent MP Rebekha Sharkie asked the aged care minister why her constituent with motor neurone disease (MND) will spend most of his remaining life on a waitlist for a Support at Home package, the government has now changed the rules.
The health and aged care minister, Mark Butler, has just announced Labor will amend aged care rules to recognise MND “as a discrete, specific condition warranting urgent priority for Support at Home”.
The government says the new rules will give older Australians with MND priority access to the program.
In a statement, Butler said:
Motor neurone disease is a cruel and fast-moving condition, and our care systems need to respond with the urgency it demands. Whether it’s aged care or the NDIS, our job is to get the right support to people when they need it – not after.
These changes do that, and they reflect a government willing to listen and adjust where the evidence tells us to.
Josh Butler
First home buyer help programs ‘not doing enough’, says Albanese
Backing in the changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, Albanese said that despite numerous government programs to help first homebuyers into the market, “we still are not doing enough”.
Albanese claimed that negative gearing and CGT settings had “turbocharged” property investment with those tax concessions.
“Too many young people will tell the story of turning up for an auction on a Saturday and simply being outbid by someone who has a partner at that auction, an investor, and the partner is every Australian taxpayer,” Albanese said.
Because if they’re in a bidding war at an auction, the investor knows that if they go for $20,000 more then that’s running off their tax, if they’re going to negatively gear that property, something that’s not available to the first home buyer, and that’s why the system has been simply working against them.
Since 1999 house prices have risen by more than 400%, more than two times as fast as the average income. In the same period, the rate of home ownership among Australians aged 25 to 34 has fallen by 7%. We owe the next generation better than this, and that’s what these reforms are about.
Most Australians have ‘never even heard of a discretionary trust’, Albanese argues
Josh Butler
Defending his government’s contentious tax changes, Anthony Albanese has argued that most Australians have never even heard of some of the tax arrangements which are being changed, let alone would ever get a chance to use them.
In a speech to the House of Representatives earlier today, as debate continues on Labor’s first batch of budget legislation, the prime minister defended the government’s moves to tax assets higher, arguing it would lead to a more level playing field for average workers.
For too long, Australia has taxed income earned through wages and work too heavily because we haven’t had the balance right with income derived from assets. This legislation recognises a very simple fact that the overwhelming majority of Australians earn their living by going to work.
Teachers and nurses and cleaners, police officers, people in retail and hospitality, millions of Australians who work their guts out to make ends meet and provide for their families have probably never even heard of a discretionary trust, and they will never have the means or the opportunity to use one to minimise the tax that they pay.
Entry level house prices ‘should go down’, Andrew Bragg says
Well here’s something you don’t hear every day … the shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg says that house prices, at least for the entry-level properties, should go down.
Bragg says that the government’s 5% deposit scheme for first home buyers has ballooned prices in a market where supply is already constrained.
Speaking to the media a little earlier today, Bragg said:
I think Australians are looking for authentic leadership. They’re over the bullshit. What they want to hear from their politicians are honest answers. And the honest truth is that house prices in this country are too high for young people and they should go down.
I think, at the entry level, certainly, that’s the case. And the fact that Canberra has a deliberate design feature to pump-prime prices at the bottom end, at the entry level, I think is wrong. The reason that the 5% deposit scheme has become such a wrecking ball is because it’s not means tested, it’s not place-capped, and it’s been put into an environment where supply is constrained.
Earlier, Jim Chalmers was asked about the comments and was pretty disparaging, saying: “I think he [Bragg] will say anything that gets his name in the paper.” The government has said it wants to see “sustainable growth”, with Treasury forecasts showing that growth in the housing market would slow 2% under their changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing.
Petra Stock
First three months of 2026 another record-breaking quarter for solar, wind and batteries, Clean Energy Regulator says
Rooftop solar installations set a new record in the first three months of 2026, as Australian households added 791 megawatts of new capacity, according to new data from the Clean Energy Regulator.
Renewables supplied 47% of grid electricity between January and March, which was also a new record for the quarter.
Growth in home batteries surged, with more than 400,000 batteries installed across the country by mid May – a total of 11.4 gigawatt-hours of storage capacity, the CER said.
New investment in large-scale renewables has also picked up, with investment decisions made on 2.4GW of new wind and solar projects so far this year – an amount that already exceeds 2025.
The regulator said distributed energy was reshaping grid dynamics, with real-world data showing solar‑battery households importing less from the grid and exporting more during evening peak periods.
The CER chair, David Parker, said strong growth in household batteries and solar was already changing the way distributed energy resources contributed to the grid.
As more Australians install solar and batteries, they are changing how they generate, store and use electricity.
Australian economy ‘not an environment for optimism or growth’, Tim Wilson says
Tim Wilson has gone on the attack following today’s national accounts data for the March quarter showing slowing economic growth and falling productivity.
Wilson says the economy was in a weaker position going into the war in the Middle East and the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, was making the situation worse with his latest budget.
It’s slightly a different view to Chalmers, who said any growth in the current global circumstances is a good thing.
Wilson told reporters:
Now we’re in a position where we’ve got higher taxes, higher inflation, and of course Australian households doing weaker and we have record small business insolvencies. This is not an environment for optimism or growth, Australians need hope and it’s not going to come from higher taxes, higher inflation and lower living standards.
These numbers show what is to come, and unfortunately the treasurer is making a bad problem worse through his budget.
Former ACT opposition leader quits Canberra Liberals over ‘toxic culture’
A former Australian Capital Territory opposition leader has quit the Liberal party, citing threats of violence and a toxic culture as reasons for leaving the organisation, AAP reports.
Canberra Liberal Leanne Castley announced she would leave the party and sit in ACT parliament as an independent on the crossbench. She said in a statement:
I have simply had enough of being part of an organisation with such a toxic culture … In the last 18 months, I have experienced bullying, intimidation, lies, and even a threat of physical assault. I can no longer be part of an organisation which tolerates this conduct.
Castley became ACT opposition leader after the party’s 2024 election loss.
However, she stepped down from leading the party in November after her decision to suspend two Liberals from the party room – Peter Cain and her predecessor in the role Elizabeth Lee – created turmoil.
Castley later told ABC Radio the bullying towards her had taken place from when she became opposition leader. She said:
It’s not one person, it’s not one issue, it’s been an 18-month campaign … At some point I had to put a line in the sand and say, OK, I’m walking away.
The Liberal leader, Mark Parton, denied the party had a toxic culture but said the organisation had treated bullying concerns, telling ABC Radio:
I don’t condone bullying, intimidation or inappropriate behaviour of any kind.
Cait Kelly
Greens say ‘no confidence’ in managing private employment provider sector
Greens senator Barbara Pocock has unleashed on the private employment provider sector in Senate estimates.
Addressing the employment department secretary, Simon Duggan, who was appearing before the education and employment legislation committee, Pocock said:
The revolution that John Howard made 30 years ago in privatising this service, and we have seen a number of individuals make an enormous amount of money out of this system, off the backs of some of the most vulnerable people in Australia.
What I see from the evidence I’ve heard today is that an enormous amount of this system will still remain in private hands.
Mr Duggan, you’re asking me to have confidence that we’ll better contract and manage that system. I don’t have that confidence.
At the end of these contracts are real people whose lives matter, an increasing number of them homeless, and all kinds of issues are complicating their lives. So I don’t share the Minister’s confidence.
One of the other committee members piped in: “That’s not a question” before the committee moved on.
Ben Doherty
Defence using Palantir software to help ‘select targets on the battlefield’
Australia’s contracts with US tech company Palantir have come under scrutiny in Senate estimates. Defence currently has two contracts with Palantir Technologies Australia Pty Ltd worth a combined $14m.
Greens senator David Shoebridge asked how many Palantir staff were “embedded” within defence. Maj Gen Richard Vagg, head land capability, said that Palantir staff were assisting defence but were not “embedded”:
The system that we’re using with Palantir is the Maven Smart Suite. … We use Palantir field service representatives to help us in some of the work to set the systems, but they are [in] no way embedded into the organisations that are currently trialling and using that system.
Shoebridge:
To be clear, that’s the same software or a variant of the same software that Israel has been using to identify targets in Gaza and Lebanon, that the US used to identify targets in Iran, including the bombing [of] the school that killed hundreds of Iranian schoolchildren.
Vagg:
Yes senator, it is the same suite of products. But it is a different system. And those systems you refer to, they have the AI function initiated in those: we don’t. We’re using it to understand how you would collate all the data to give commanders the right situational awareness and ability to select targets on the battlefield.
Shoebridge:
Did anyone in defence do an ethical check about buying a software platform from US company Palantir that has been used to commit genocide in Gaza, to target civilians in Lebanon, and was used to kill 200 schoolchildren in the opening 24 hours of the US war on Iran?
Lt Gen Susan Coyle, chief of joint capabilities, said:
The initial approach to market was done utilising our digital transformation agency’s software and enterprise resource planning panel. The company is listed on that panel as authorised for use.
The line of questioning was ended by committee chair, Labor senator Raff Ciccone.
Palantir, the $375bn tech company co-founded by Donald Trump-supporting billionaire Peter Thiel, supplies software to the US’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Israeli military, and the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
The Maven Smart System is an AI-driven, cloud-based command and control platform. It aggregates various streams of battlefield intelligence – satellite imagery, radar, drone footage, radio transmissions – into a single stream of information.
Ben Doherty
Australians only have ‘defensive roles’ in Iran war, defence chief says
Australian defence personnel embedded within the US military have been given orders limiting them to “defensive roles” in the US-Israel-led conflict with Iran, Senate estimates has heard.
The chief of the defence force, Adm David Johnston, said embedded Australian service personnel had a “clear understanding” of their duties “limiting them to defensive roles only”.
Three Australian naval personnel were onboard a US nuclear submarine that torpedoed and sank the Iranian frigate Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka in the first days of the conflict in March. More than 100 people were killed or drowned.
Johnston said there were currently 729 ADF personnel embedded in the US and UK militaries, with up to 60 presently serving on US nuclear boats.
Greens senator David Shoebridge asked Johnston:
Was it in Australia’s national interest for the US to sink an Iranian frigate on the high seas thousands of kilometres from the conflict zone and then leave the survivors to drown … was [it] in our national interest to have Australians part of that activity?
Johnston told the committee:
It was in our national interest to have our people on board US Virginia-class submarines training: learning, understanding and building their competencies so that as our Virginias enter service we have people who are safe and proficient operating those platforms.
Shoebridge asked how Australians would understand their orders and rules of engagement during combat situations.
“Senator, I am confident that our people have clarity on what they are authorised to do,” Johnston said.
I’m not aware of any circumstances you would describe of individuals finding it uncertain the manner in which they are to respond.
Cait Kelly
Numerous investigations into payslip harassment but no recent cases, estimates hears
In the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, DEWR’s First Assistant Secretary Lisa Schofield said there have “been a number” of investigations into payslip harassment, but no recent cases.
But welfare advocates say it is still one of the biggest complaints they get from people looking for assistance.
When about payslip compliance by Greens senator Senator Barbara Pocock, Schofield said:
Schofield: When we discovered that behaviour, we issued a lot of guidance, additional notifications, directions put to providers…. Probably over about four to six months from memory, and that really led to a drop in that behaviour.
Pocock: How do you know that behaviour dropped?
Schofield: We’re not seeing the complaints and the issues kind of coming through the system that we had been seeing before.
Advocate Jeremy Poxon has said this is “a lie”, saying he has been “helping multiple people who say they’re being bullied for their payslips”.
Chalmers tight lipped on Aukus cost saving
The government isn’t revealing how much money it will save by acquiring three used Virginia-class submarines from the US, instead of two second-hand and one new – as was announced over the weekend.
Chalmers is asked just how much will be saved – whether in the millions or billions – but won’t say.
This will make the investment a bit cheaper but we don’t update that from week to week, we do that from budget to budget and you can expect us to do that at the next opportunity.
Another journalist follows up and asks why the budget – handed down less than a month ago – didn’t include the discount, if the government was in talks with the US and knew the announcement was coming.
Chalmers avoids the question.
The standard way to account for changes in defence spending is from budget update to budget update.
We might find out in the mid-financial year budget update in December.
Global assumptions could be ‘even more severe’: Chalmers
Speaking of Pat Commins, our economics editor asks Jim Chalmers whether these numbers actually show a sharper slowdown in the economy that’s likely to get worse.
Chalmers starts off saying again that any growth is “really solid in the circumstances” when considering the impacts of the war in the Middle East.
The treasurer does note that this data from the March quarter does not capture the worst parts from the war, and warns that things could get even worse than what’s been predicted.
The fact we’ve got any growth at all given the challenging global circumstances I think is welcome.
We can expect some challenging times ahead … even the very serious global assumptions that feed our forecasts, they could be even more severe. We’ve made that clear, we’ve been very upfront on that.
Productivity drops 0.6% in March quarter, but fall ‘not surprising’, Chalmers says
Jim Chalmers says productivity “came off a bit” in the numbers – which show that productivity fell 0.6% in the March quarter.
The treasurer says that increasing private investment will help and that the government is using the budget to help improve productivity.
Productivity came off a bit, but increased through the year, and obviously we’re doing much more in the budget and elsewhere to try and turn that productivity performance around.
Despite all of the doomsayers and everyone who wants to talk the Australian economy down, we’re seeing a boom in private investment, that’s a good thing, and in time by seeing these investment figures flow through into our economy, that will be an important part of shifting what has been a couple of decades now of poor performance on productivity.
It is not surprising that the quarterly productivity number fell, but we did not see productivity go backwards for the preceding five quarters.
Why is productivity important, you might ask. Have a read here of this explainer from my colleague, Patrick Commins.
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Albanese calls opposition ‘Liberal One National party’
And now the niceties are over and the question time we know (and sometimes love) begins, with Angus Taylor asking the prime minister why migration is the government’s “only strategy to achieve economic growth” when GDP per capita is going backwards.
Anthony Albanese gives the Solomon Islands PM a nod and jokes, “I said that our parliament can often be a bit robust. It began well, and it’s headed downhill pretty quickly.”
Albanese says the economy is in fact growing, despite the breakout of war in the Middle East.
There is no country you would rather be than Australia, particularly if you talk to people in our region about what is happening, countries in our region where they have compulsory public holidays once a week, because there isn’t enough fuel.
The opposition tries to make a point of order on relevance, saying that they asked about migration, but Albanese continues, and gives us a new insult for the opposition that I’m sure we’ll be hearing more.
We have the leader of the ‘Liberal One National party’ over there who comes in here … in spite of the fact that they know that the migration rate has fallen by 45% and what they do is come in here, pretend that we’re immune from a global impact of a global war.
Key events
Hastie kicked out of question time, while Marles defies the Speaker
Over to the crossbench, Zali Steggall asks the government about a plan to sell off defence land, HMAS Penguin in her electorate, saying that Anthony Albanese himself said in 2021 that Sydney Harbour (which the land sits on) should remain in public hands.
The deputy minister and defence minister, Richard Marles takes the question and says that for too long the question of defence estates has been ignored
It was certainly ignored by those opposite when they were in government … Now we hear guffawing from those opposite, and we hear it because in their nine years in government they rotated Defence ministers through the portfolio so quickly that they could never get around to the business of actually managing defence.
Manager of opposition business, Dan Tehan makes a point of order, saying the question had literally nothing to do with the Coalition. Milton Dick tells Marles to stop talking about the opposition.
There’s a bit more back and forth, and then suddenly Andrew Hastie is kicked out by the Speaker for interjecting too much.
Marles gets back to the mic immediately ignores the Speaker’s instructions, which gets him promptly pulled up again by Dick, who says sternly, “you’re defying me. If you do it again, I will sit you down.”
Marles then goes back to the original question and says there will be “adequate time” to consult with the community over the defence estates.
‘It always pays to check the numbers’: Chalmers
Why is Labor introducing a productivity tax during a productivity crisis, asks the shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, citing comments from economist Richard Holden who called the CGT changes “a productivity-seeking missile”. Wilson adds that productivity has fallen 5% under Labor’s watch.
Jim Chalmers takes the question and says that 5% figure is inaccurate.
There’s a somewhat long-winded story here, but Chalmers says that the 5% drop includes the March quarter of 2022 before Labor was in office.
Why? Chalmers says:
It’s because productivity in the March quarter of 2022 fell by 2.3% and that was the biggest fall in productivity in more than 40 years.
It always pays to check the numbers. The shadow treasurer, he got the fuel excise wrong, he got his fuel security policy wrong, he got the amount of shareholders amongst young people wrong, he got the dual mandate wrong for the Reserve Bank, Mr Speaker, again and again and again …
He gets cut off as Dan Tehan, the manager of opposition business, stands up on a point of order, and Milton Dick tells him to be relevant. Chalmers continues:
I’ve explained why the number that the shadow treasurer used today is especially dishonest.
Albanese calls opposition ‘Liberal One National party’
And now the niceties are over and the question time we know (and sometimes love) begins, with Angus Taylor asking the prime minister why migration is the government’s “only strategy to achieve economic growth” when GDP per capita is going backwards.
Anthony Albanese gives the Solomon Islands PM a nod and jokes, “I said that our parliament can often be a bit robust. It began well, and it’s headed downhill pretty quickly.”
Albanese says the economy is in fact growing, despite the breakout of war in the Middle East.
There is no country you would rather be than Australia, particularly if you talk to people in our region about what is happening, countries in our region where they have compulsory public holidays once a week, because there isn’t enough fuel.
The opposition tries to make a point of order on relevance, saying that they asked about migration, but Albanese continues, and gives us a new insult for the opposition that I’m sure we’ll be hearing more.
We have the leader of the ‘Liberal One National party’ over there who comes in here … in spite of the fact that they know that the migration rate has fallen by 45% and what they do is come in here, pretend that we’re immune from a global impact of a global war.
It’s question time!
Josh Butler
Angus Taylor begins with a bipartisan question (before we get into the brunt of QT), by asking about the visit from Solomon Islands’ new prime minister, Matthew Wale.
He asks what the government is doing “to deepen this friendship and support the sovereignty of sovereign islands in the face of disruptions to peace in the Pacific?” (I suspect that the first dixer by the government will be a somewhat similar question.)
Anthony Albanese welcomes the prime minister who is sitting in the chamber for QT, and the delegation receives a round of applause.
Albanese says he is honoured that Wale has chosen Australia for his first visit overseas since taking office.
At the request of the Solomon Islands, our two nations will commence negotiations on a new comprehensive treaty underpinned by mutual trust, respect, and open dialogue. This new treaty will help us confront global and regional challenges together as equal partners in the pursuit of peace across the Pacific.
At the end of the answer, Angus Taylor makes his remarks in response to the PM, also welcoming Wale and says:
Australia is unwavering in its support for Solomon Islands’ sovereignty and freedom, particularly in an age of emboldened authoritarian regimes.
Australia faces another 10% US tariff over “forced labour” claims
Josh Butler
Australia is among dozens of countries worldwide potentially facing more American tariffs, after Donald Trump’s trade representative alleged about 60 nations weren’t doing enough about “forced labour”.
Trade representative Jamieson Greer announced today his claims that “the acts, policies, and practices of 60 economies related to the failure to prohibit the importation of goods produced with forced labor is unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce.”
His statement outlines that countries who do have a forced labour import prohibition, or a partial regime, may face an extra 10% tariff. “For all other economies, the U.S. Trade Representative proposes 12.5% as the rate of additional duty,” Greer’s statement said.
In an accompanying report, the “findings of investigation” relating to Australia contain no specific details, other than allegations that “Australia has failed to impose and effectively enforce a forced labor import prohibition”, which the US deemed “unreasonable”.
The same language is used in the “findings” claimed against nearly every other country. The rest of the list includes countries like Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
The US trade rep will hold hearings on its proposed actions early next month.
Government announces priority aged care support for people with MND following questions from independent MP
Sometimes things can happen quickly in Canberra.
Less than 24 hours after independent MP Rebekha Sharkie asked the aged care minister why her constituent with motor neurone disease (MND) will spend most of his remaining life on a waitlist for a Support at Home package, the government has now changed the rules.
The health and aged care minister, Mark Butler, has just announced Labor will amend aged care rules to recognise MND “as a discrete, specific condition warranting urgent priority for Support at Home”.
The government says the new rules will give older Australians with MND priority access to the program.
In a statement, Butler said:
Motor neurone disease is a cruel and fast-moving condition, and our care systems need to respond with the urgency it demands. Whether it’s aged care or the NDIS, our job is to get the right support to people when they need it – not after.
These changes do that, and they reflect a government willing to listen and adjust where the evidence tells us to.
Josh Butler
First home buyer help programs ‘not doing enough’, says Albanese
Backing in the changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, Albanese said that despite numerous government programs to help first homebuyers into the market, “we still are not doing enough”.
Albanese claimed that negative gearing and CGT settings had “turbocharged” property investment with those tax concessions.
“Too many young people will tell the story of turning up for an auction on a Saturday and simply being outbid by someone who has a partner at that auction, an investor, and the partner is every Australian taxpayer,” Albanese said.
Because if they’re in a bidding war at an auction, the investor knows that if they go for $20,000 more then that’s running off their tax, if they’re going to negatively gear that property, something that’s not available to the first home buyer, and that’s why the system has been simply working against them.
Since 1999 house prices have risen by more than 400%, more than two times as fast as the average income. In the same period, the rate of home ownership among Australians aged 25 to 34 has fallen by 7%. We owe the next generation better than this, and that’s what these reforms are about.
Most Australians have ‘never even heard of a discretionary trust’, Albanese argues
Josh Butler
Defending his government’s contentious tax changes, Anthony Albanese has argued that most Australians have never even heard of some of the tax arrangements which are being changed, let alone would ever get a chance to use them.
In a speech to the House of Representatives earlier today, as debate continues on Labor’s first batch of budget legislation, the prime minister defended the government’s moves to tax assets higher, arguing it would lead to a more level playing field for average workers.
For too long, Australia has taxed income earned through wages and work too heavily because we haven’t had the balance right with income derived from assets. This legislation recognises a very simple fact that the overwhelming majority of Australians earn their living by going to work.
Teachers and nurses and cleaners, police officers, people in retail and hospitality, millions of Australians who work their guts out to make ends meet and provide for their families have probably never even heard of a discretionary trust, and they will never have the means or the opportunity to use one to minimise the tax that they pay.
Entry level house prices ‘should go down’, Andrew Bragg says
Well here’s something you don’t hear every day … the shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg says that house prices, at least for the entry-level properties, should go down.
Bragg says that the government’s 5% deposit scheme for first home buyers has ballooned prices in a market where supply is already constrained.
Speaking to the media a little earlier today, Bragg said:
I think Australians are looking for authentic leadership. They’re over the bullshit. What they want to hear from their politicians are honest answers. And the honest truth is that house prices in this country are too high for young people and they should go down.
I think, at the entry level, certainly, that’s the case. And the fact that Canberra has a deliberate design feature to pump-prime prices at the bottom end, at the entry level, I think is wrong. The reason that the 5% deposit scheme has become such a wrecking ball is because it’s not means tested, it’s not place-capped, and it’s been put into an environment where supply is constrained.
Earlier, Jim Chalmers was asked about the comments and was pretty disparaging, saying: “I think he [Bragg] will say anything that gets his name in the paper.” The government has said it wants to see “sustainable growth”, with Treasury forecasts showing that growth in the housing market would slow 2% under their changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing.
Petra Stock
First three months of 2026 another record-breaking quarter for solar, wind and batteries, Clean Energy Regulator says
Rooftop solar installations set a new record in the first three months of 2026, as Australian households added 791 megawatts of new capacity, according to new data from the Clean Energy Regulator.
Renewables supplied 47% of grid electricity between January and March, which was also a new record for the quarter.
Growth in home batteries surged, with more than 400,000 batteries installed across the country by mid May – a total of 11.4 gigawatt-hours of storage capacity, the CER said.
New investment in large-scale renewables has also picked up, with investment decisions made on 2.4GW of new wind and solar projects so far this year – an amount that already exceeds 2025.
The regulator said distributed energy was reshaping grid dynamics, with real-world data showing solar‑battery households importing less from the grid and exporting more during evening peak periods.
The CER chair, David Parker, said strong growth in household batteries and solar was already changing the way distributed energy resources contributed to the grid.
As more Australians install solar and batteries, they are changing how they generate, store and use electricity.
Australian economy ‘not an environment for optimism or growth’, Tim Wilson says
Tim Wilson has gone on the attack following today’s national accounts data for the March quarter showing slowing economic growth and falling productivity.
Wilson says the economy was in a weaker position going into the war in the Middle East and the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, was making the situation worse with his latest budget.
It’s slightly a different view to Chalmers, who said any growth in the current global circumstances is a good thing.
Wilson told reporters:
Now we’re in a position where we’ve got higher taxes, higher inflation, and of course Australian households doing weaker and we have record small business insolvencies. This is not an environment for optimism or growth, Australians need hope and it’s not going to come from higher taxes, higher inflation and lower living standards.
These numbers show what is to come, and unfortunately the treasurer is making a bad problem worse through his budget.
Former ACT opposition leader quits Canberra Liberals over ‘toxic culture’
A former Australian Capital Territory opposition leader has quit the Liberal party, citing threats of violence and a toxic culture as reasons for leaving the organisation, AAP reports.
Canberra Liberal Leanne Castley announced she would leave the party and sit in ACT parliament as an independent on the crossbench. She said in a statement:
I have simply had enough of being part of an organisation with such a toxic culture … In the last 18 months, I have experienced bullying, intimidation, lies, and even a threat of physical assault. I can no longer be part of an organisation which tolerates this conduct.
Castley became ACT opposition leader after the party’s 2024 election loss.
However, she stepped down from leading the party in November after her decision to suspend two Liberals from the party room – Peter Cain and her predecessor in the role Elizabeth Lee – created turmoil.
Castley later told ABC Radio the bullying towards her had taken place from when she became opposition leader. She said:
It’s not one person, it’s not one issue, it’s been an 18-month campaign … At some point I had to put a line in the sand and say, OK, I’m walking away.
The Liberal leader, Mark Parton, denied the party had a toxic culture but said the organisation had treated bullying concerns, telling ABC Radio:
I don’t condone bullying, intimidation or inappropriate behaviour of any kind.
Cait Kelly
Greens say ‘no confidence’ in managing private employment provider sector
Greens senator Barbara Pocock has unleashed on the private employment provider sector in Senate estimates.
Addressing the employment department secretary, Simon Duggan, who was appearing before the education and employment legislation committee, Pocock said:
The revolution that John Howard made 30 years ago in privatising this service, and we have seen a number of individuals make an enormous amount of money out of this system, off the backs of some of the most vulnerable people in Australia.
What I see from the evidence I’ve heard today is that an enormous amount of this system will still remain in private hands.
Mr Duggan, you’re asking me to have confidence that we’ll better contract and manage that system. I don’t have that confidence.
At the end of these contracts are real people whose lives matter, an increasing number of them homeless, and all kinds of issues are complicating their lives. So I don’t share the Minister’s confidence.
One of the other committee members piped in: “That’s not a question” before the committee moved on.
Ben Doherty
Defence using Palantir software to help ‘select targets on the battlefield’
Australia’s contracts with US tech company Palantir have come under scrutiny in Senate estimates. Defence currently has two contracts with Palantir Technologies Australia Pty Ltd worth a combined $14m.
Greens senator David Shoebridge asked how many Palantir staff were “embedded” within defence. Maj Gen Richard Vagg, head land capability, said that Palantir staff were assisting defence but were not “embedded”:
The system that we’re using with Palantir is the Maven Smart Suite. … We use Palantir field service representatives to help us in some of the work to set the systems, but they are [in] no way embedded into the organisations that are currently trialling and using that system.
Shoebridge:
To be clear, that’s the same software or a variant of the same software that Israel has been using to identify targets in Gaza and Lebanon, that the US used to identify targets in Iran, including the bombing [of] the school that killed hundreds of Iranian schoolchildren.
Vagg:
Yes senator, it is the same suite of products. But it is a different system. And those systems you refer to, they have the AI function initiated in those: we don’t. We’re using it to understand how you would collate all the data to give commanders the right situational awareness and ability to select targets on the battlefield.
Shoebridge:
Did anyone in defence do an ethical check about buying a software platform from US company Palantir that has been used to commit genocide in Gaza, to target civilians in Lebanon, and was used to kill 200 schoolchildren in the opening 24 hours of the US war on Iran?
Lt Gen Susan Coyle, chief of joint capabilities, said:
The initial approach to market was done utilising our digital transformation agency’s software and enterprise resource planning panel. The company is listed on that panel as authorised for use.
The line of questioning was ended by committee chair, Labor senator Raff Ciccone.
Palantir, the $375bn tech company co-founded by Donald Trump-supporting billionaire Peter Thiel, supplies software to the US’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Israeli military, and the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
The Maven Smart System is an AI-driven, cloud-based command and control platform. It aggregates various streams of battlefield intelligence – satellite imagery, radar, drone footage, radio transmissions – into a single stream of information.
Ben Doherty
Australians only have ‘defensive roles’ in Iran war, defence chief says
Australian defence personnel embedded within the US military have been given orders limiting them to “defensive roles” in the US-Israel-led conflict with Iran, Senate estimates has heard.
The chief of the defence force, Adm David Johnston, said embedded Australian service personnel had a “clear understanding” of their duties “limiting them to defensive roles only”.
Three Australian naval personnel were onboard a US nuclear submarine that torpedoed and sank the Iranian frigate Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka in the first days of the conflict in March. More than 100 people were killed or drowned.
Johnston said there were currently 729 ADF personnel embedded in the US and UK militaries, with up to 60 presently serving on US nuclear boats.
Greens senator David Shoebridge asked Johnston:
Was it in Australia’s national interest for the US to sink an Iranian frigate on the high seas thousands of kilometres from the conflict zone and then leave the survivors to drown … was [it] in our national interest to have Australians part of that activity?
Johnston told the committee:
It was in our national interest to have our people on board US Virginia-class submarines training: learning, understanding and building their competencies so that as our Virginias enter service we have people who are safe and proficient operating those platforms.
Shoebridge asked how Australians would understand their orders and rules of engagement during combat situations.
“Senator, I am confident that our people have clarity on what they are authorised to do,” Johnston said.
I’m not aware of any circumstances you would describe of individuals finding it uncertain the manner in which they are to respond.
Cait Kelly
Numerous investigations into payslip harassment but no recent cases, estimates hears
In the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, DEWR’s First Assistant Secretary Lisa Schofield said there have “been a number” of investigations into payslip harassment, but no recent cases.
But welfare advocates say it is still one of the biggest complaints they get from people looking for assistance.
When about payslip compliance by Greens senator Senator Barbara Pocock, Schofield said:
Schofield: When we discovered that behaviour, we issued a lot of guidance, additional notifications, directions put to providers…. Probably over about four to six months from memory, and that really led to a drop in that behaviour.
Pocock: How do you know that behaviour dropped?
Schofield: We’re not seeing the complaints and the issues kind of coming through the system that we had been seeing before.
Advocate Jeremy Poxon has said this is “a lie”, saying he has been “helping multiple people who say they’re being bullied for their payslips”.
Chalmers tight lipped on Aukus cost saving
The government isn’t revealing how much money it will save by acquiring three used Virginia-class submarines from the US, instead of two second-hand and one new – as was announced over the weekend.
Chalmers is asked just how much will be saved – whether in the millions or billions – but won’t say.
This will make the investment a bit cheaper but we don’t update that from week to week, we do that from budget to budget and you can expect us to do that at the next opportunity.
Another journalist follows up and asks why the budget – handed down less than a month ago – didn’t include the discount, if the government was in talks with the US and knew the announcement was coming.
Chalmers avoids the question.
The standard way to account for changes in defence spending is from budget update to budget update.
We might find out in the mid-financial year budget update in December.
Global assumptions could be ‘even more severe’: Chalmers
Speaking of Pat Commins, our economics editor asks Jim Chalmers whether these numbers actually show a sharper slowdown in the economy that’s likely to get worse.
Chalmers starts off saying again that any growth is “really solid in the circumstances” when considering the impacts of the war in the Middle East.
The treasurer does note that this data from the March quarter does not capture the worst parts from the war, and warns that things could get even worse than what’s been predicted.
The fact we’ve got any growth at all given the challenging global circumstances I think is welcome.
We can expect some challenging times ahead … even the very serious global assumptions that feed our forecasts, they could be even more severe. We’ve made that clear, we’ve been very upfront on that.
Productivity drops 0.6% in March quarter, but fall ‘not surprising’, Chalmers says
Jim Chalmers says productivity “came off a bit” in the numbers – which show that productivity fell 0.6% in the March quarter.
The treasurer says that increasing private investment will help and that the government is using the budget to help improve productivity.
Productivity came off a bit, but increased through the year, and obviously we’re doing much more in the budget and elsewhere to try and turn that productivity performance around.
Despite all of the doomsayers and everyone who wants to talk the Australian economy down, we’re seeing a boom in private investment, that’s a good thing, and in time by seeing these investment figures flow through into our economy, that will be an important part of shifting what has been a couple of decades now of poor performance on productivity.
It is not surprising that the quarterly productivity number fell, but we did not see productivity go backwards for the preceding five quarters.
Why is productivity important, you might ask. Have a read here of this explainer from my colleague, Patrick Commins.
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