Australian news and politics live: Albanese’s AUKUS troubles go nuclear as Husic calls to ‘rethink’ deal

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The Coalition will seek to split Labor’s tax plan in two as it ramps up its opposition to the changes to capital gains and negative gearing.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese painted his plan, which the Government claims is all about housing, as part of a broader bid to stave off the rising populism that is reflected in the increased support for One Nation.

“At a time when so many people don’t think the system is working for them, we are working to change the system to give people a better chance,” he told Labor colleagues in their caucus meeting on Tuesday morning, labelling the tax changes “pro-aspiration and pro-supply”.

It wants to replace the 50 per cent discount on taxable capital gains with an inflation-based one and a minimum 30 per cent tax rate, and limit negative gearing to new homes only.

It will use the money raised to pay for a $1000 standard deduction and a $250 annual working Australian tax offset for 13 million wage earners.

The Coalition’s party room vowed to oppose the capital gains tax and negative gearing elements of the bill – and the whole thing if it can’t split them out.

“If there’s an ability to separate those, we’d obviously want to, but whether we can is another question,” a Liberal source said, noting the reality of Labor holding 94 seats in the lower house.

Read more.

Health officials have revealed there was no consultation on the final algorithm to assess older Australians to determine what level of funding and home support they should receive.

The controversial Integrated Assessment Tool surveys people about their physical, social, and personal circumstances before calculating what support the person is entitled to.

The classification then cannot be overridden by a human assessor after a decision made by the Albanese government as part of the 2024-25 Budget process.

Independent Senator David Pocock questioned the tool in Senate Estimates on Tuesday, insisting the department’s roll out was flawed because independent clinicians hadn’t been used to verify the algorithm’s outcomes.

While an independent external organisation looked at the data used to train the algorithm before the system went live, no professional - aged care provider, advocacy group, or expert - audited the actual results.

“You haven’t actually given a whole bunch of outcomes to clinicians who then independently would assess the needs of old Australians (and whether) the algorithm is actually giving the right level of support to keep this old Australian safe at home,” Senator Pocock said.

Read the full story.

Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson used his question to press Treasurer Jim Chalmers on bracket creep, asking whether he would confirm the government had collected $410 in extra tax from the average worker over the past 12 months and whether the working Australians tax offset would be “chewed up by bracket creep within a year”.

Dr Chalmers immediately responded with a personal jab at Mr Wilson.

“Mr Speaker, if anybody is looking for evidence the member for Goldstein is not the sharpest tool in the shed, how about him asking about tax cuts on a day that their party room decided to vote against tax cuts for 13 million Australian workers?”

Mr Wilson rose to make a point of order, while Labor MP Luke Gosling made a comment from the chamber, resulting in his removal by Speaker Milton Dick.

Mr Wilson later said Dr Chalmers “enjoys throwing abuse”, arguing the treasurer had not properly addressed the question. The Speaker instructed Dr Chalmers to stop referring to opposition policies directly.

Dr Chalmers continued his line of argument, defending the government’s approach to tax reform.

“Now, when it comes to returning bracket creep, this is a government which has returned bracket creep on five occasions, using three different mechanisms... If they had their way, Australians would pay higher income taxes not lower.”

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has used question time to again press the prime minister to confirm Australians will pay $77 billion more in tax than they receive in tax cuts under Labor’s plan.

Treasury forecasts show Labor’s tax package will raise $77 billion over the next decade, a figure Taylor returned to repeatedly as he sought to pin Anthony Albanese down.

“Will the prime minister confirm that Australians will pay $77 billion more tax than they get back?” Mr Taylor asked in question time.

The prime minister instead went on the offensive, accusing the Coalition of opposing tax relief and taking aim at its economic record.

“I can certainly confirm that the legislation that has been debated before the parliament this week confirms that Labor is the party of aspiration,” Mr Albanese said, to jeers from the opposition benches.

He also pointed to Labor’s stance on wages, following the latest minimum wage increase, arguing his government had consistently backed workers.

“Consistently we have made submissions to the Fair Work Commission, arguing for increases in real wages, something those opposite have never, ever, ever done,” Mr Albanese said.

Earlier in question time, the prime minister took a swipe at the Coalition more broadly, referencing Tony Abbott’s return as Liberal Party president over the weekend and labelling the opposition a “Tony Abbott cover band”.

Labor MP Ed Husic says the AUKUS deal is simply not delivering what was agreed to, saying Australia needed to rethink the issue.

“The reality is this deal has changed. It is not the deal that we agreed to,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.

“People will say to you that AUKUS involves more than just subs, and that there are other components to it. Sure, but it was ostensibly at its core about the subs.

“We have a strong relationship with both partners. It won’t be us pulling the rug on this. It will be about whether or not they can be delivered, and part of the reason why there are questions about the delivery involves workforce shortages at their end.

“I got reservations now, in terms of, in particular, whether or not there would be an implication in terms of our ability – from a sovereignty perspective – to exercise sovereignty in the way that we want to, given how transactional the Trump administration is.

“You almost imagine them saying: ‘we give you these, you do this with them’.”

It comes as long-time AUKUS critic, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull throws his support behind an inquiry.

Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth has welcomed the increase to the minimum wage, which will take weekly pay above $1,000 for the first time.

“This represents a real wage increase, supporting workers with cost-of-living pressures,” Ms Rishworth said on Tuesday in Canberra.

“They were the lowest-paid workers and have been hit hardest by the war in the Middle East and the resulting inflationary pressures, particularly in non-discretionary items like fuel and food.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers was also effusive of the decision, despite the inflationary risks.

“This is the pay rise that millions of Australian workers need and deserve,” he said.

“This is the sustainable, real wage increase that the Government has called for and we’re pleased to see it delivered in today’s decision.”

From July 1, the national minimum wage will rise by 6 per cent to $1004.90 a week, or $26.44 an hour.

At the same time, around 2.7 million award-wage workers will receive a 4.75 per cent pay increase, above the current rate of inflation and the largest rise in three years.

A lower entry-level wage of $978.10 a week, or $25.70 an hour, will apply to new employees for up to six months. This is expected to affect about 100,000 of the lowest-paid workers.

Overall, the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review will impact about 2.8 million Australians, roughly 21 per cent of the workforce.

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The first One Nation MP to be elected to the lower house has left the door open to voting against his party if that best represents his constituents, as he prepares to be sworn into Parliament.

David Farley also says he plans to attend all parliamentary sittings unless he’s called away with “great urgency”, after questions were raised about One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s lack of attendance at many parliamentary sitting days.

Asked whether he was prepared to vote according to his electorate’s view and personal beliefs, even if that meant disagreeing with Senator Hanson’s position, Mr Farley didn’t rule it out.

“It’ll be rare that we find ourselves in disagreement, but then again, I’ve got one job to do - it’s to represent Farrer and represent it the best I can,” he told ABC Radio.

Read the full story.

A Labor MP has reopened debate over AUKUS after Australia agreed over the weekend to buy three second-hand submarines from the United States instead of two and a new one as was in the original deal.

Critics have labelled the change as a slap in the face for Australia driven by Pentagon AUKUS-sceptic Elbridge Colby.

Ed Husic, who was the industry minister last term but was dumped to the backbench by Defence Minister Richard Marles, asked whether the original caucus decision backing in the principle of acquiring nuclear-powered submarines still stood given that change to arrangements.

He had supported the original caucus process but a senior Labor MP described his disposition in asking the question as being critical of AUKUS generally.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese replied that it had always been the plan for Australia to get some used submarines from the US.

He told Labor colleagues that AUKUS “is a solid and good arrangement”.

Read the full story.

The Coalition has confirmed it intends to vote against Labor’s tax changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax.

At a joint party room meeting in Canberra, Liberal and National members resolved to oppose the legislation it insisted was “not going to work” and was “a rotten tax that’s going to make it harder to get into housing”.

In the May Budget, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced it would isolate negative gearing to new builds and axe the 50 per cent CGT discount for all asset classes.

Instead, Labor has proposed an inflation-index model paired with a 30 per cent minimum tax rate on net capital gains.

Within Labor’s package to be debated in the lower house on Tuesday will also be The Working Australians Tax Offset (WATO), which provides an additional tax cut of up to $250 for working Australians.

The Coalition supports WATO but not negative gearing or CGT.

While there had been calls within Coalition to split the combined tax bill, the Opposition will instead pursue amendments which it believes will be a “test” for Labor on addressing bracket creep”.

“This is really a test and a question for this government, whether they’re actually going to continue to tax the Australian people through bracket creep and secret taxes, or whether they’re going to support lower taxes sustainably and structurally ongoing for the Australian people,” a party spokesman said.