Politics

A multi-billion-dollar initiative involving cash handouts of up to $300 for every Australian worker is emerging as one of the key cost-of-living measures in next week’s Budget.

AARON PATRICK: A government that has spent four years splashing cash, driving up inflation and interest rates, is now promising to become fiscally conservative.

One of Anthony Albanese’s Labor backbenchers has hit out at WA’s share of the GST labelling it a ‘terrible’ and ‘dysfunctional’ deal which he insisted was ‘bad for my state of New South Wales’.

Australia is working to finalise an upgraded security treaty with Fiji this week as China appears to have killed off efforts to clinch a similar deal with Vanuatu. 

The Reserve Bank has raised interest rates by another 25 basis points to 4.35 per cent, undoing last year’s relief. Governor Michele Bullock hinted at more pain and cautioned against higher government spending.

Testimonies of online hatred, school yard bullying, and community anxiety have opened the second day of the Royal Commission on Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion in Sydney. 

The blockade remains, the war began 65 days ago, and the President still has to deal with the question of Iran’s uranium.

LATIKA M BOURKE: Big statements and warm optics aside, questions remain over whether Australia and Japan are delivering real action.

The motorcade of Vice President JD Vance went through the area not long before the shooting.

Flights are being diverted, airspace is under pressure and explosions have been heard across the UAE as the Middle East conflict intensifies.

A spokesperson said he developed a restrictive airway disease after 9/11 which ‘adds complications’ to respiratory illnesses.

A drone strike has ignited a major UAE oil hub, with missiles intercepted overhead and fears rising of a wider Gulf escalation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a two-day ceasefire in Ukraine later this week, officials say, while Ukraine says its truce will start earlier.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has met Anthony Albanese on Australian soil for the first time since she took the top job.