Australia

Ahead of delivering his third budget, NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey says changes are required to ensure the state can ‘hold on to what we love’.

AARON PATRICK: The treasurer can prove his critics wrong and use a meeting of experts to make some tough-but-worthy decisions, rather than just raising taxes.

JACKSON HEWETT: Treasurer Jim Chalmers doesn’t want to rule anything in or out, apart from inheritance tax, the tax free family home and presumably the, GST, so what would transform the country?

Former senior Pentagon official Ely Ratner believes the pact will go ahead but the review raises tough questions.

‘As we shift toward the Indo-Pacific, we’re looking more to our allies and partners to be force multipliers alongside the United States.’

Tougher youth crime laws will be a focus when peak Indigenous groups meet to discuss Closing the Gap progress with government ministers.

An Israeli hospital has been damaged and an Iranian heavy water reactor hit as the escalating Middle East crisis enters the seventh day with Donald Trump still weighing up US involvement.

JACKSON HEWETT: The head of Australia’s largest bank says he welcomes tax reform but doesn’t believe a cut to the corporate tax rate is necessary to kick start lagging business investment. 

Another group of Australians are set to be evacuated from Israel in the coming hours, as the Government acknowledges it will be ‘complicated’ and ‘risky to get people out of Iran. 

NICOLA SMITH: The Prime Minister should not miss chance to be heard by peers, regardless of whether Donald Trump attends.

JACKSON HEWETT: On the brink of a Middle East conflagration about to impact the world’s energy supply, Donald Trump appears to have taken his eye off his attempt to completely remake the global trading system. 

The Prime Minister could soon have another chance to meet the US President, but first he will return to Australia without a clear solution to tariffs.

The post sparked heated debate online, with some saying they found the photo too confronting to be shared to the internet. 

National and economic security are “more closely intertwined than ever” as Australia grapples with a world of permanent “churn and change,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers warned on Wednesday. 

Rushing to overthrow Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could lead to chaos instead of peace.