Australian news and politics live: Donald Trump says tariffs have brought peace to the world, Middle East

New Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson warned that diluting tax breaks for landlords might hurt renters, contradicting claims from the ACTU and Greens they make the housing shortage worse.

Ms Wilkinson told the Senate economics committee that reducing the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount on investment properties would discourage investors and potentially reduce the number of homes available for renters.

“Any change like this, you would want to think about carefully and broadly how it would affect the whole of the housing market because obviously, if there’s less investors, there’s also potentially less rental properties,” she told senators in Canberra on Thursday.

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Mr Trump said “things are going to be different all over the world” after his historic Gaza peace plan was agreed to.

“Gaza is going to be a peaceful, much safer place.

“It has been blown to pieces, this is just not by Israel, this is over years and years and years, it has been heartache.

“A lot of people say this is a deal for 3000 years... there is nothing ever going to be bigger than this.

“Gaza, we believe, is going to be a much safer place, and it’s going to be a place that reconstructs. Other countries in the area will help it reconstruct because they have tremendous amounts of wealth. They want to see that happen.

“We will be involved in helping them make it successful and helping it stay peaceful.”

Mr Trump said he is “very confident” about a future of “peace in the Middle East”.

NSW Police will continue to guard the Sydney Opera House on Sunday despite a court ruling halting the planned pro-Palestine demonstration at its forecourt.

The Court of Appeal’s judgement confirmed that protesters who knowingly breach the prohibition order could face contempt of court charges.

“The Opera House will still have a security overlay. They still will be scanning people coming into the Opera House. It won’t just be a free for all,” NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said.

“We will be at the Opera House also ensuring that this court ruling is adhered to. I’ll say to anyone who thinks that they could go to the Opera House still, and be part of any type of demonstration or public assembly, that you will be committing an offense, and appropriate action will be taken by us.

“If people are silly enough to, and people want to flout the law or break the law, appropriate action will be taken,” he added.

Instead of gathering at the Opera House, Sunday’s protest will now move from Hyde Park to Belmore Park along George Street, with organisers from the Palestine Action Group estimating up to 40,000 participants.

US President Donald Trump says in later phases of his peace plan for Gaza, the world will see Israel and Palestinians “getting along”.

“You’ll see Gaza being rebuilt,” he told Fox News.

“We’re forming a council, the Council of Peace, we think it is going to be called.”

Mr Trump said people will “be taken care of” and that the Middle East is going to be “a different world”.

Mr Trump added that the hostages, both those alive and deceased, would be returned on Monday US time.

US President Donald Trump has told Fox News host Sean Hannity that his tariffs were instrumental in securing the Gaza peace deal.

Hannity asked Mr Trump how he managed to secure this deal after years of unrest and failed attempts to bring peace.

“I develop relationships with people, and sometimes those relationships lead to great things,” he said.

“Having the ability to deal with trade, having the ability to use tariffs to help me make a point... The tariffs have brought peace to the world, I’m telling you, they’ve brought peace to the world.”

US President Donald Trump has called into Fox News to discuss details about the Gaza peace plan.

Mr Trump said he had “great help” from Steve Witkoff, Jarrod Kushner, Marco Rubio and JD Vance.

“The whole world came together,” Mr Trump said.

“The world has come together around this deal.”

“It’s so great for Israel, so great for Muslims, for the Arab countries and so great for this country, for the United States of America, that we could be involved in making a deal like this happen.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong have issued a joint statement after the announcement of the Gaza peace deal, thanking Mr Trump for his “diplomatic efforts” in securing the landmark agreement.

“Australia welcomes President Trump’s announcement that Israel and Hamas have signed off the first phase of the plan to bring peace to Gaza.”

“After more than two years of conflict, hostages held and a devastating loss of civilian life, this is a much needed step towards peace,” the joint statement said.

Read the reactions from around the world.

Shadow health minister Anne Ruston has accused the health department of being politically influenced by Labor in caretaker mode for the 2025 Federal Election.

In a Senate Estimates hearing on Thursday, Senator Ruston quizzed senior bureaucrats about their branding on the department website before, during, and after the May 3 poll.

She claimed the branding on the website had changed to reflect Labor’s headline Medicare campaign when the department should have been apolitical under caretaker conventions.

“Can you defend the fact that the government, the department, was replicating the government election campaign at the same time,” Senator Ruston said.

“I’d be really keen to understand if you can provide me with a paper trail to show why you chose to do this, incredibly coincidentally, at the same time that the government was actually in election mode.”

Department of Health official Rachel Balmanno, however, described changes to the website to “Strengthening Medicare” branding as “part of the regular website update process”.

The White House has released a video after the announcement by US President Donald Trump that Israel and Hamas have agreed to a peace plan.

“Today President Trump has done it,” said Moshe Lavi, the brother-in-law of Israeli hostage Omri Miran.

“He announced just now that our loved ones, the hostages are coming home.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has released a statement after Hamas and Israel agreed to peace plan.

“The announcement by the President of the United States that Israel and Hamas have agreed to implement the first phase of a US-brokered peace plan should inspire hope in Australia and across the world,” she said.

“All fair-minded Australians will welcome this announcement. We must remain hopeful today’s announcement will be borne out over the coming days.

“The Coalition has supported the US-brokered peace plan from its announcement, and we have stood with Israel and the United States through this conflict.

“Such an outcome is why the Australian Government should always have stood with our closest ally the United States.

“Today marks a hopeful first step toward the release of hostages held for over two years, the end of this war, and the beginning of enduring peace.”