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Federal budget 2026 live updates: treasurer Jim Chalmers to present budget speech tonight – latest news

12 May 2026 at 02:56

Treasurer says housing market ‘isn’t working’ and tax system around it is ‘out of whack’. Follow the latest updates

‘Let’s build more houses … not start taxing them’, shadow finance minister says

Claire Chandler, the shadow minister for finance, spoke a moment ago.

You don’t make more of something by increasing taxes on it. Taxes are inherently a disincentive to create more of something.

If we need more houses in this country, let’s build more houses. Let’s not start taxing them.

It’s all of our housing programs, 5% deposit, the Housing Australia Future Fund, the partnership we’ve had with the states and territories, the announcement made … on the weekend or yet around enabling infrastructure, $2bn to do the kind of the back end of housing development, all the connections and all of that kind of thing that state and territory and local government struggle with.

I think there is a lot of understanding across the community about governments needing to respond to try and make housing more affordable.

This isn’t about generation versus generation.

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© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Jim Chalmers says budget to address economic anxieties ‘driving’ Australians to One Nation

12 May 2026 at 02:08

Farrer win casts shadow over budget as government signals it’s alive to populist rightwing threat

One Nation has cast a shadow over the federal budget and influenced decisions to reform negative gearing and taxes, with Jim Chalmers admitting many Australians are feeling economic anxieties that are “driving them to consider” rightwing populist parties.

The treasurer and Anthony Albanese have conceded that many people are locked out of the housing market and that the problem is getting worse, not better, under Labor. With Pauline Hanson’s party winning a historic byelection in Farrer – its first lower house seat win in its 30-year history – the government was alive to the threat of a populist wave of grievance similar to those in the United States, Britain and Europe.

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© Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images

© Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images

© Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images

Why does everyone hate Keir Starmer? – podcast

Aditya Chakrabortty on the Labour leader’s predicament – and if he may be the last prime minister of the two-party system

In these highly polarised times, dunking on the prime minister – and this PM in particular – is the one thing that seems to unite people in fury, disappointment and loathing. So as he rolled his sleeves up to address the nation on Monday morning, after one of the worst election results in Labour’s history, Keir Starmer had quite the job on his hands.

The Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty was watching – and wincing. “There are times when I watch Keir Starmer promising he’s going to change,” he said. “He looks to me like a guy on the verge of divorce, holding flowers from the nearest petrol station and saying: 'Trust me. Honestly, it’s going to be different this time. Honestly, love, stick with me.’” But why does there seem to be such antagonism towards the Labour leader – and can anyone guide the party out of the mess they have found themselves in?

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© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Mayor of California city resigns over charges of being a foreign agent of China

12 May 2026 at 01:22

Eileen Wang, 58, mayor of Arcadia, agreed to plead guilty over the felony count brought by the justice department

Eileen Wang, the mayor of a southern California city, resigned suddenly on Monday after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced she had been charged with acting as an illegal foreign agent of China.

Wang, 58, agreed to plead guilty to the felony count and could face a sentence of 10 years in prison.

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© Photograph: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

© Photograph: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

© Photograph: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

  • ✇The Guardian World news
  • Trump officials cancel rule that made conservation a ‘use’ of public lands Associated Press
    Move comes as administration seeks to boost drilling, logging, mining and grazing on taxpayer-owned landThe interior department is canceling a rule that put conservation on equal footing with development, as Donald Trump’s administration eases restrictions on industries and seeks to boost drilling, logging, mining and grazing on taxpayer-owned land.The 2024 rule adopted under former president Joe Biden was meant to refocus the interior department’s Bureau of Land Management, which oversees about
     

Trump officials cancel rule that made conservation a ‘use’ of public lands

12 May 2026 at 00:50

Move comes as administration seeks to boost drilling, logging, mining and grazing on taxpayer-owned land

The interior department is canceling a rule that put conservation on equal footing with development, as Donald Trump’s administration eases restrictions on industries and seeks to boost drilling, logging, mining and grazing on taxpayer-owned land.

The 2024 rule adopted under former president Joe Biden was meant to refocus the interior department’s Bureau of Land Management, which oversees about 10% of land in the US. It allowed public property to be leased for restoration in the same way that oil companies lease land for drilling.

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© Photograph: Matthew Brown/AP

© Photograph: Matthew Brown/AP

© Photograph: Matthew Brown/AP

Paratrooper dies after mid-air collision at Jervis Bay – the second training death in two years

12 May 2026 at 00:41

Defence department says another ADF soldier was injured on Monday evening, but didn’t require hospitalisation

An army soldier has died during a parachuting training course at Jervis Bay airfield, Defence has announced.

The Special Air Service Regiment warrant officer Lachlan Muddle, 50, died following a mid-air collision with another paratrooper on Monday evening after their parachutes had deployed.

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© Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

© Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

© Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

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