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Federal budget 2026 winners and losers: rich families, overseas travellers and illegal tobacco – summary

12 May 2026 at 09:56

Taxpayers and first home buyers are the winners in Labor’s 2026 budget, while rich families could be among the losers. Find out who is better off and who is worse off in Chalmers’ budget

Being a winner or a loser from the federal budget can be the difference between hundreds of dollars – or tightening your belt even further.

Tuesday’s federal budget comes at a strange time. Donald Trump is waging a war on Iran that is impacting fuel supplies globally, including Australia. Inflation is still causing havoc on household budgets. Government programs are costing more than ever.

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© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

Doctors warned Andrea could die without safe housing, then discharged her to sleep on the streets

The First Nations woman has been on the priority public housing list in WA since 2023. Despite nearly dying from sleeping rough, she still has a two-year wait

The family of a homeless First Nations woman who is sick with septicemia fear she will die without a safe home, but advocates warn it could be years before she reaches the top of the public housing waiting list.

Andrea Woodley has been in and out of hospital for weeks with sepsis, triggered by infected blisters on her feet after sleeping rough in inner city Perth. The Noongar, Budimaya and Nyikina woman and her loved ones fear that without a home she is at risk of death.

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© Photograph: Frances Andrijich/The Guardian

© Photograph: Frances Andrijich/The Guardian

© Photograph: Frances Andrijich/The Guardian

Horrified Wagga residents call for proper sanitation at homeless camp where baby was found dead

6 May 2026 at 05:11

Tent where twins were born up to a 15-minute walk away from nearest public toilets or running water

The tent where a newborn baby was found dead at Wagga beach at the weekend was part of a homeless encampment up to a 15-minute walk away from the nearest public toilets or running water, with residents in a nearby apartment block saying conditions were “worse than a Syrian war camp”.

The tragedy has prompted fury in the community, with residents of Wagga Wagga calling on authorities to take urgent action to make the encampments safe and sanitary.

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© Photograph: Sean Davey/The Guardian

© Photograph: Sean Davey/The Guardian

© Photograph: Sean Davey/The Guardian

‘This has to be a wake-up call’: NSW attorney general urged to order inquest into death of Sydney’s ‘birdman’

26 April 2026 at 15:00

Alex Greenwich says inquest crucial to understand which failures led to Bikram Lama’s death and to avoid similar deaths

The New South Wales attorney general, Michael Daley, has been urged to order an inquest into the death of Nepali rough sleeper Bikram Lama in Hyde Park.

The death of Lama – who was also known as “the birdman” for his love of the area’s pigeons – has prompted widespread calls for change, after Guardian Australia revealed last week that the young migrant’s body lay unnoticed for up to a week in bushes near a busy thoroughfare into St James station.

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© Photograph: Supplied by family

© Photograph: Supplied by family

© Photograph: Supplied by family

  • ✇Granma - Cuba
  • In Defense of Cuba José Cantón
    We share this article by the distinguished historian José Cantón, published in Granma on March 24th, 1979, dedicated to “In Defense of Cuba,” José Martí’s 1889 response to an article in the U.S. newspaper The Manufacturer
     
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