News and politics live updates: Chalmers warns One Nation, Coalition super plans would ‘decimate’ incomes
Labor has sounded the alarm over plans to loosen access to superannuation, warning millions of Australians could pay the price in retirement.
Scroll down for the latest news and updates.
Andrew Greene and Madeline Cove are reporting live.
US puts Australia on notice as AUKUS deadline looms
This time next year American and British nuclear-powered submarines are expected to be operating out of Perth’s HMAS Stirling naval base, but as the deployments fast approach, frustrations are building between AUKUS partners.
Under this country’s optimal pathway for acquiring the nuclear-powered technology, up to four US boats and one British boat will first be based in WA from 2027 as part of Submarine Rotational Force-West (SRF-West).
Then in the 2030s the US is scheduled to begin selling second-hand Virginia-class submarines to Australia. However last week the top AUKUS sceptic in the Trump administration stopped short of guaranteeing the on-time delivery.
During a tour of southeast Asia last week, Pentagon official Elbridge Colby declared Washington was “optimistic” but “clear-eyed” about what was needed to be done to lift the production rates of Virginia-class submarines so boats can be sold to Australia.
Repeating President Donald Trump’s declaration last year that AUKUS was “full steam ahead”, the Under Secretary said there was a “very clear understanding” between partner nations on what was needed to deliver nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.
Tellingly, the Under Secretary for War did not directly answer when asked about the current production rate of Virginia-class nuclear submarines, which is languishing at about one to 1.2 boats a year, but needs to reach 2.33 to meet AUKUS requirements.
“We all know this is a historic endeavour on the part of both countries, but particularly for Australia, and that requires a real level of effort that we see the evidence for, and so we remain optimistic, but also clear-eyed, about what we all need to do to achieve that,” Mr Colby said.
Chalmers hits back at alarming 30 per cent rent warning
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has pushed back against suggestions rents could need to rise by 30 per cent over the next two years, after Sunrise host Natalie Barr questioned him over analysis from NAB.
Dr Chalmers stressed the figure was not a forecast and argued it did not account for a range of factors, including the Government’s housing policies and the design of its tax reforms.
“First of all, that’s not a forecast from the National Australia Bank. It’s not a forecast of what they expect to see will happen with rents over the next little while,” Dr Chalmers said.
He said Treasury had not changed the expectations outlined in the Budget, arguing the Government’s reforms needed to be judged over years rather than months.
“The best way to assess the impact of those policies is over the next couple of years, not over the first couple of months.”
Chalmers declares war over your super
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has declared the next federal election will be a “referendum on the future of superannuation”, launching an attack on the Coalition and One Nation over calls for Australians to have greater access to their retirement savings.
Speaking on Sunrise on Tuesday, Dr Chalmers warned that allowing workers to dip into super for cost-of-living pressures, mortgages or housing could have serious long-term consequences.
The debate has intensified after Pauline Hanson called for the rules around accessing super to be loosened.
“That would absolutely decimate the retirement incomes of millions of Australian workers,” Dr Chalmers said.
“This is a really important difference now between Labor, who will always back workers’ wages and super and Liberals, One Nation and the Nationals, who will always attack those things.”
He added, “As we get towards the next election, people need to understand this will be a referendum on super.”
