Australian news and politics: Angus Taylor unveils migrant welfare crackdown, tax relief in Budget reply

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”.

Read the full story here.

US President Donald Trump has arrived in China for a historic and high-stakes trip to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, set to discuss economic opportunities, trade and contentious issues for the two, the Iran war and Taiwan.

As the US President touched down in Beijing, welcomed by fanfare and chants from children, Mr Trump commenced his second official visit to China while in office.

“Welcome, welcome! Warm welcome!” the young children chanted as Mr Trump disembarked Air Force One.

“Very important guest,” they continued in Chinese as Mr Trump was greeted by the vice president of China.

The move, not being welcomed by Mr Xi himself, had some wondering if it was a snub, but it was the complete opposite.

Read the full story.

A judge will decide whether supermarket giant Coles deliberately misled customers with its “Down Down” price campaign in a landmark ruling ending a high-stakes legal battle.

Due to be delivered on Thursday morning by Justice Michael O’Bryan, the decision could change the way supermarkets operate and see the $28 billion company hit with nine-figure penalties.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission brought separate but similar cases against the country’s two dominant supermarket chains with a Woolworths suit awaiting judgment at a later date.

Both cases allege the supermarkets misled consumers by increasing prices for a short time before lowering them to above the original price and marketing it as a discount.

In one instance, a can of Nature’s Gift dog food was on sale for $4 nearly a year before the price was briefly increased to $6.

It was then sold under a “Down Down” ticket for $4.50.

The watchdog identified hundreds of products on the Coles campaign and a similar “Prices Dropped” push from Woolworths that followed a similar formula.

Read more.

New figures show that Australians wait a year on average for aged care services.

Data on the blow out in home care wait times was released for the first time on Tuesday while the government was handing down their Federal Budget.

It marks the first time they have been made public after it was made mandatory in the new Aged Care Act that it be published as soon as practicable after April 28.

The data relates to access to ongoing care in a residential aged care home or support at home for the period between November and March.

Shadow Health Minister Anne Ruston, Independent senator David Pocock, and The Greens have questioned the timing of the report’s release while journalists were distracted and in Budget lock up.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says his new hardline migration policy would cut access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme for non-citizens.

Mr Taylor is expected to make the plan front and centre to his Budget reply speech this evening, which includes a migration cap tied to housing construction.

Speaking in Parliament House on Thursday morning, Mr Taylor said a migrant would have to become a citizen to access NDIS and other welfare payments.

“The NDIS would be restricted to Australian citizens. It’d be grandfathered for those who’ve already been, who’ve already been on,” Mr Taylor said.

When asked, “But if that person can’t work, what do they do?” Mr Taylor responded: “Well, look, at the end of the day, they can become a citizen”.

“The simple principle is this; if you commit to this country, we’ll commit to you, and that’s how it should be.”

US President Donald Trump is heading into a series of meetings with China’s Xi Jinping in Beijing, aiming to secure economic wins, maintain a fragile trade truce and navigate thorny issues such as the Iran war and arms sales to Taiwan.

With his approval ratings badly dented by his war in Iran, Mr Trump’s hotly anticipated trip to China - the first by a US president to America’s main strategic rival since his last visit there in 2017 - has taken on added significance.

Joining him on the trip is a group of chief executives, including Elon Musk and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, a late addition who boarded Air Force One during a refuelling stop in Alaska en route to the Chinese capital at Mr Trump’s request.

Many of those executives, including Mr Huang and Mr Musk, are seeking to resolve issues with China, and Mr Trump has said he will urge Mr Xi to “open up” China to US business.

But the power dynamic has shifted since Mr Trump’s last visit in 2017, when China went out of its way to lavish Mr Trump and buy billions in US goods, said Ali Wyne, senior advisor for US-China relations at International Crisis Group.

The Coalition under Opposition Leader Angus Taylor are set to deliver a Budget response to “restore common sense” in Australia, cracking down on migration and migrant welfare.

“A Coalition Government will pledge to restore common sense to housing and migration, build more homes, bring down building costs and scrap Labor’s failed housing bureaucracies,” a statement from Mr Taylor’s office said ahead of the speech.

“The Coalition’s plan will put one simple principle at the heart of housing and migration policy:

“Australia should only bring in as many people as it can house.

“Under the pledge, net overseas migration will be capped each year at the number of new homes completed in Australia.

“The pledge will be backed by a housing supply package to get more homes built, faster and cheaper.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was forced to defend Labor’s decision to pursue changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax despite earlier election commitments, arguing governments must respond when policies are no longer working.

Speaking on ABC Radio, Mr Albanese pointed to Labor’s previous decision to halve the fuel excise as an example of the Government changing course due to changing circumstances.

“No, we certainly don’t do these things lightly,” he said.

“But we’re also not going to have a circumstance where we know that something simply isn’t working, increasingly.” Mr Albanese also said Labor had initially resisted calls to cut the fuel excise during the election campaign before later introducing the measure.

“Circumstances changed. We changed our view. We halved the fuel excise.”

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil was forced to defend negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions, rejecting claims the reforms would punish younger Australians looking to invest in property.

Speaking on ABC radio, Ms O’Neil said the Government was still supportive of property investment but wanted tax concessions to encourage the construction of new homes to help address the housing shortage.

“We’re not saying that no one should be a property investor,” she said.

“If you want to get ahead through investing in property, good on you. All we’re saying is if you’re going to get access to those generous tax concessions, we want you to help us with our national supply challenge by doing it on a new home.”