News & politics live recap: Tanya Plibersek calls for sporting standards and illicit tobacco crackdown

Australia’s government agency tasked with cracking down on financial crime has uncovered potentially hundreds of millions of dollars worth of mortgage fraud involving 10 major banks, mainly in Sydney.

AUSTRAC’s Operation Claw identified suspected cases of home borrowers lying about their income and employment, including by fabricating business activity on their applications.

An investigation into the data of 10 major Australian banks found cases where third-party or offshore funds were used to complete property transactions or repay mortgages in a bid to get into the Australian property market.

AUSTRAC chief executive Brendan Thomas said it highlighted vulnerabilities among Australian banks.

“The scale of this activity should be a wake-up call for every lender,” he said.

“The same warning signs were found across banks that together cover the vast majority of Australia’s mortgage market.”

Australian workers are suffering a real wage cut of 0.6 per cent with pay rises lagging behind inflation.

The wage price index rose by 3.2 per cent during the last financial year as headline inflation climbed by 3.8 per cent.

Pay levels grew at the same pace on the year to March.

They have been lagging behind inflation since the September quarter of 2025, which covered the first three months of the last financial year starting in July.

This means workers have been suffering a cut in real wages for a year.

Andrew Hastie has vowed to withstand a growing One Nation challenge in his WA electorate.

The Canning MP said threats against him and his staff had prompted security upgrades at both his home and electoral office, but insisted he would not be intimidated by the “dirty and nasty fight.”

“Look, I love pressure. I wouldn’t be in this job if I didn’t. I also love a fight, and I know people like James Ashby are coming for me,” Mr He’s got his orders from above, and I’m going to hold my seat because I believe I’m the best person to deliver for the people of Canning,” he told Radio National.

“Will it be a tough fight? Absolutely. Is it dirty and nasty? Yes, it is … I think the way things have been done online over the last couple of months, I think it’s pretty obvious.”

“They put a post out on X and they got the headlines. But in June, Pauline Hanson was saying that she was going to cut tobacco excise by 50 per cent. Yesterday, two months later, it was 75 per cent. Well, where’s the work? Where’s the modelling,” he said.

Mr Hastie’s comments come as the Coalition faces pressure from One Nation in several electorates.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has described his meeting with Anthony Albanese as “productive” while highlighting mutual areas of interests.

“It is of course a great honour for me to be here in Australia,” Mr Charnvirakul began his address.

“This official visit comes 14 years after the last by a Thai Prime Minister and at an important moment as we look forward to celebrating the 75th anniversary of our diplomatic relations next year, a truly historic milestone.”

Mr Charnvirakul said the two leaders discussed political security and cooperation, economic trade and innovation aswell as regional and multilateral operation.

“Today, Primados Albanese and I had a very productive meeting. We agreed to strengthen our joint response to traditional and emerging security challenges, particularly transnational crime and to advance our Corporation through existing and future security frameworks,” he continued.

“Second, economic trade and innovation. Recognising the impact of current geopolitical and your economic dynamics under the global economy and emphasises the importance of deeper economic engagement to strengthen our shared resilience and prosperity.

“We reaffirmed our commitment to working together through regional frameworks and recognise Australia’s important role in partnerships.”

Anthony Albanese is now holding a press conference to issue a joint statement with Thai PM Anutin Charnvirakul on criminal networks .

“Today we discuss how we can make an ever stronger contribution to our peaceful and stable region,” Mr Albanese told the media.

“This statement affirms that economic resilience is a foundation of our national security and prosperity and that of our region and it reflects our commitment to the full implementation of taffeta, the Thailand Australia free-trade agreement which benefits consumers and businesses in both nations.”

Jim Chalmers is under fire after One Nation leader Pauline Hanson criticised a text message sent out by Labor that claimed right-wing parties wanted to “scrap your super”.

“It’s Jim Chalmers here. I’m only texting supporters we know we can count on. Andrew Bragg wants to scrap your super and Pauline Hanson’s backing him. Labor built super and I won’t let them tear it down,” the Labor text message read.

Senator Hanson shared a screenshot of the message on X and accused Dr Chalmers’ claims as being “full of s..t”.

“It’s Pauline Hanson here. Jim Chalmers is full of shit,” she wrote alongside the screenshot.

“One Nation doesn’t support scrapping super, we just think people should be able to use their super when in financial distress instead of losing their home.

“Labor would rather you end up homeless.”

The government’s NDIS reform package is heading back to the House of Representatives after an agreement was secured with the Opposition to clear the legislation through the Senate.

Around 60 amendments were approved during last night’s senate sitting, paving the way for the Bill to return to the lower house today.

Health Minister Mark Butler described many of the amendments as “relatively technical”, while hailing the deal as a step forwards for the government’s proposed changes to the NDIS.

“They clarify the policy intent that I outlined several months ago at the Press Club. Some of them are more significant,” Mr Butler told the ABC on Wednesday morning.

“Particularly, we talked to the Coalition about some amendments that would tighten even further the safeguards on fraud, the integrity controls, which frankly have been too loose for too long in this scheme.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is meeting with his Thai counterpart to strengthen law enforcement and trade between the two countries.

The three-day visit to Australia is the first by Anutin Charnvirakul since he became Thailand’s prime minister in late 2025.

The two nations are widely expected to increase bilateral deals during talks on Wednesday that crack down on illegal Thai-based scam centres, which siphon millions of dollars from Australian pockets each year.

Thailand is a hotspot for grey money - illicit capital that crosses borders - and is an international hub for online scam work.

Vulnerable Thai locals are often imprisoned by criminal syndicates on the outskirts of Bangkok to run the centres.

On trade, a warm reception for Mr Anutin would be key to ensuring Australia is seen as a welcoming country with which he could strengthen economic relations, Australian National University associate professor Greg Raymond said.

“This is a country wanting to diversify its trade. Australia is seen as a desirable partner that’s not the United States and not China. It helps create other options for trade,” he said.

with AAP

Mark Butler has defended Treasury’s forecasts that Labor’s housing tax changes will have little impact on rent prices.

“We’re very confident in our forecast. As Jim Chalmers has said, it’s important to give these sorts of changes some time to settle down,” Mr Butler told the ABC.

His comment referred to Jim Chalmers claims on Tuesday that housing tax changes were expected to increase rents by just $2 a week despite NAB warning of a 30 per cent hike.

Mr Butler argued that millions of existing privately owned rental properties would remain under current negative gearing arrangement if they were already owners at Budget night.

“We’re seeing investors move to new builds which is something we really wanted to see happen, to add to the productive capacity of the country. They’ll be entitled to negative gearing arrangements as well,” he said.

“There should be no impact on rents there.”

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil and Michaelia Cash have butted heads over claims the government’s changes to negative gearing could push rents higher, with Ms Cash accusing Labor of failing to take responsibility for its housing policies.

Ms Cash argued investors affected by the changes would need to recover their costs, potentially putting further pressure on renters already facing steep increases.

“I think that Clare sadly needs to start taking a bit of responsibility for her housing policy,” Senator Cash told Sunrise.

“But also, Clare, stop gaslighting Australians, stop ...gaslighting the mum and dads who are currently watching this show and feeling the impact of your toxic housing taxes.

“But more than that, stop gaslighting renters.”

Ms Cash pointed to reported rent increases of 25, 27 and 29 per cent, asking how much more evidence the government needed that its policies were affecting the housing market.

But Ms O’Neil rejected these claims, saying Treasury analysis showed the changes would have only a small impact on rent prices.

“The impact of the Budget is not going to be significant on rents, and we know that because the Budget’s only going to increase it by $2,” she said.

“It’s about building more homes, because the fundamental problem facing renters is actually that we don’t have enough rental supply.”

Ms O’Neil also disputed claims that NAB had predicted a 30 per cent rise in rents by saying the bank had clarified that its figures were not a rental prediction.

“They issued a clarification yesterday saying that that was not a rental prediction and that the National Australia Bank does not predict rents,” she added.