Australian news and politics live: Coalition to restrict welfare payments for non-citizens in Budget reply

Australia’s Prime Minister has committed to maintain WA’s fair share of the GST as he gears up to travel west next week to try to sell his Federal Budget to voters.

After breaking promises Labor made to voters on negative gearing and Capital Gains Tax in Tuesday night’s Budget, Anthony Albanese was asked on Friday if he would break another Labor commitment regarding the Goods and Services Tax.

Mr Albanese bluntly asked “yes” when asked if he could guarantee WA’s fair share or if he planned to backflip on another Labor pledge.

However, his office later confirmed to The West Australian his answer was in response to the first question and that there would be “no changes to the GST deal for WA”.

In 2018, the Morrison-Liberal government introduced a 75-cent floor for WA via a series of top-up payments.

It came after WA’s share historically fell to a record low of just 15 cents for every dollar the State paid in 2015-16.

This year marked the first time since the 2018 reforms that WA’s share lifted above its floor. It came after iron ore prices dropped and a rule was implemented to ensure every state gets the same per-person share as NSW.

Even with the 2018 reforms, WA still has a lower GST share per person than any other State despite producing over 45pc of Australia’s goods exports.

The state only received 9.1pc of the GST share despite representing 11.1pc of the nation’s population.

According to a breakdown of the $104.2 billion GST pool for 2026-27 in the Federal Budget, Victoria received the biggest share of GST in this budget.

NSW netted $26.5B in GST payments, Victoria received $28.3B, Queensland $18.73B, SA $9.7B, WA $9.5B, Northern Territory $5.2B, Tasmania $4B, ACT $2.1B.

It came despite the Allen-Labor State Government revealing in its recent budget that Victoria’s net debt was set to peak at just shy of $200 billion within four years.

Victoria also received half the share for infrastructure projects, with $3.8B for its suburban rail loop, $372.5m for its western highway upgrade and $76.4m for the Melton Line Electrification.

Without the 2018 reforms, WA’s share would be down to 2pc and could lose about $6.6 billion each year.

The Productivity Commission is currently conducting an inquiry, which was legislated in 2018 to be undertaken in 2026, into the effectiveness of the reforms and will provide an interim report in late August.

Pauline Hanson is claiming credit for the Opposition’s latest policy on migration, claiming her party’s popularity has “dragged the Coalition kicking and screaming to finally back the Australian people”.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor will use tonight’s Budget reply to outline a new hardline migration policy that would cut access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme for non-citizens

In a statement Senator Hanson said following the Coalition’s “wipe-out” in last weekend’s Farrer by election, it is finally seeing the light and duplicating strong policies from One Nation.

“I don’t employ policy experts to write Coalition policy, but after the data breach in Parliament House it’s not hard to imagine why their Budget reply is replete with One Nation policies,” Senator Hanson said referencing a recent leak of her policies.

“While they’ve been telling everyone that One Nation has no policies, they’ve been reading them very carefully because they’re desperate for some good ideas. I’m pleased they’ve seen some light at last.

Mark Butler has defended sweeping changes to the NDIS as the Government attempts to slow the scheme’s soaring costs, revealing plans to wind back some social participation and therapy budgets while tightening eligibility rules.

The Senate has now referred the legislation to an inquiry, with Labor aiming to pass the reforms before Parliament rises for winter.

Mr Butler confirmed the Government intends to reduce some social and community participation budget back to 2025 levels, which for many participants would effectively return spending to 2023 settings, while also slightly cutting average therapy hours.

The reforms would also allow for greater use of automated decision-making in parts of the scheme, although Mr Butler insisted “this is fundamentally a human exercise” and said the NDIS was “never set up to become a substitute for health and rehabilitation”.

Health Minister Mark Butler says Australia is taking one of the “strongest quarantine arrangements” in the world in response to the hantavirus outbreak linked to the Hondius cruise ship, confirming six Australians and permanent residents will be flown back from the Netherlands under strict infection controls.

The passengers, who have all tested negative and remain symptom free, will be quarantined at the Bullsbrook National Resilience Centre near Perth for at least three weeks as authorities monitor the evolving outbreak.

Mr Butler confirmed there are now 11 reported cases and three deaths linked to the outbreak, but stressed hantavirus remains “very rarely transmitted from human to human”.

“Australians can have very high confidence that we are doing everything to ensure that this repatriation of those six passengers is undertaken completely safely,” he said, adding the government would continue monitoring World Health Organisation advice closely.

A coalition proposal to block non-citizens from accessing government benefits has been branded “nasty politics” by the Greens, who claim Pauline Hanson is now “living rent-free” in the opposition leader’s head.

In his Budget response on Thursday, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor will pledge to “restore common sense” in Australia, cracking down on migration and migrant welfare.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge has criticised the idea, describing it as “nasty politics” dictated by the surging popularity of One Nation.

“Pauline Hanson is living rent-free in that bloke’s head, and it’s feeding his meanness,” Senator Shoebridge posted online.

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have met outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.

The two presidents, meeting for the first time since they met in South Korea in October, 2025, shook hands at the welcome ceremony before walking together along a red carpet.

Travelling near Mr Trump as part of his delegation were Apple CEO Tim Cook and SpaceX owner Elon Musk, as well as members of the Trump Administration.

Australians are being warned to brace for rent increases of up to $50 a week under the Albanese Government’s property tax changes.

The changes wind back negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions for some property investors, a move the government said is designed to improve housing affordability and help more first-home buyers enter the market.

But property experts warn the reforms could have unintended consequences, with some landlords tipped to sell up, reducing rental supply and driving rents even higher in an already strained rental market.

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The ACCC has warned retailers to ensure pricing and discount claims are accurate ahead of end-of-financial-year sales after the watchdog secured a major court win against Coles over its “Down Down” campaign.

The consumer watchdog said businesses should not treat penalties for misleading conduct as simply “a cost of doing business”, warning that substantial penalties would continue to be pursued against retailers that breach consumer law.

The watchdog also flagged concerns around potential price increases linked to the global fuel crisis, saying it would closely monitor how rising costs are passed on to consumers.

The ACCC said retailers must not mislead shoppers about the reasons behind any price hikes, particularly during periods of economic pressure.

The Prime Minister has defended his government’s trustworthiness after this week’s broken promises in the budget, saying Labor has been “upfront” about changing its policy position.

Facing a barrage of questions about the government going back on an election pledge not to touch taxation levels for capital gains, negative gearing and trusts, Mr Albanese has insisted the move is the right one.

“Look, we have been up front about the fact that we’ve changed our position, like we changed our position on the fuel excise, which was a major issue of the last election,” the PM told reporters.

“We’ve changed our position, but we’re still making sure that we look after people who have existing investments by making sure that there’s a grandfathering of negative gearing, but also we’re making sure that negative gearing can continue.”

Independent Tasmanian Senator Tammy Tyrrell, who quit the Jacqui Lambie Network two years ago, will join the Australian Labor Party.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced the Senator who was elected in 2022 will join his parliamentary team from today.

Announcing her move, Mr Albanese described the Senator as a “great Tasmanian”.

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