Tim Wilson accuses Labor of ‘deceit and betrayal’ on tax

Tim Wilson is trying to pin the government down on breaking its promises not to touch negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts, accusing Anthony Albanese of “deceit and betrayal” of voters.

He says the budget is in “disarray” from the broken promises, and the series of leaks that have come out ahead of tomorrow.

Speaking to the press at Parliament House, Wilson says the changes would be “new taxes on the self-starters of this nation”.

double quotation markThe prime minister was red hot with rage before the last election saying 50 times over in his own words that he wasn’t going to touch negative gearing, capital gains tax or family trusts, but he seems set to breach all those promises tomorrow night.

Wilson also tries to drive a wedge between the PM and his treasurer, Jim Chalmers – who has been eager to see the government drive major reforms.

double quotation markFor [Albanese] to have to continue to have to eat so many humble pies while he is in the process of not even delivering his budget yet, shows the budget is in disarray.

Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare

Updated at 21.36 EDT

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$100m to speed up Canberra to Sydney rail line

The federal, ACT and NSW government’s have promised a chunk of cash each to help speed up the rail line between Sydney and Canberra.

Currently it takes four and a half hours to go between the two cities, while the bus is an hour faster.

Speaking to reporters this morning, Katy Gallagher the finance minister and former ACT chief minister, made the announcement, saying the aim is to get the journey to under four hours. The federal government is chipping in $50m while the state and territory governments will hand over $25m each.

Gallagher says the Labor government cares about the territory, unlike previous governments.

double quotation markIt’s very easy to write Canberra off politically. It’s a small city punches above its weight. But I think in past, when I was in the chief minister’s job working with coalition government, [they] didn’t care about Canberra.

ShareAndrew Messenger

Queensland clears backlog of 601 rape kits after DNA lab scandal

Queensland has cleared a backlog of 601 rape kits, left untested after a series of scandals at the state’s forensic DNA lab.

A string of investigations, including two commissions of inquiry, found a series of errors and failings at Forensic Science Queensland.

The lab proved unable to keep up with demand. By November 2024, the lab had a backlog of 601 rape kits and 11,700 “major crime” samples left untested by the lab, according to the attorney general, Deb Frecklington. The government subsequently outsourced testing to a lab in the United States.

Frecklington said on Monday that all rape kits had been tested, and the major crime backlog was down to 3,488.

double quotation markThis means victims of sexual violence, in particular, can get answers sooner. It means police can get their evidence to courts sooner and, importantly, it means offenders being bought before the courts much quicker.

The director of Forensic Science Queensland, Mick Fuller, said the lab would restart testing rape kits in July.

double quotation markWe never want another backlog with the sexual assault kits and my guarantee, as long as the labs are standing, that we won’t have a backlog again in that place.

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Updated at 23.23 EDT

You might say this has been one of the leakier pre-budget periods, with many of the key budget announcements already in the public sphere.

So, ahead of Jim Chalmers’ handing down his fifth budget tomorrow, here’s everything we already know from my colleague Tom McIlroy:

SharePenry Buckley

Minns says Labor will be under pressure in some seats from One Nation

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, says Labor will be under pressure in some seats from One Nation at the March 2027 state election, after the party’s historic victory in the federal byelection in Farrer.

At the opening of a pre-public school in western Sydney this morning, the premier said David Farley’s victory in the NSW electorate marked “a seismic change when it comes to politics in Australia”.

double quotation markWe will be under pressure in some of our seats and there’ll be some Labor voters that don’t want to vote Labor and are prepared to vote for Pauline Hanson. We’ve got nine months to try and get them back.

Minns again took aim at the state opposition for not ruling out a preference or coalition deal with One Nation. Asked what his message was for western Sydney voters after Barnaby Joyce’s comments that One Nation will move on to targeting the region, he said:

double quotation markI don’t think it’s enough to say we’re coming. You’ve got to deliver the policies and you have to explain to the public in western Sydney how you’re going to make life better and not have us all just ripping each other apart in a divisive political campaign.

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Updated at 23.21 EDT

Cait Kelly

Priority social housing waitlist more than doubles in four years

The number of NSW households on the priority social housing waitlist has more than doubled in four years, with some communities recording increases up to 500%, a new report by Homelessness NSW has revealed.

The report found 12,478 households are on the priority waitlist in NSW, up 115% from 5,800 in June 2021.

The Homelessness NSW chief executive, Dominique Rowe, said:

double quotation markPeople who are extremely vulnerable are being forced into desperate circumstances including homelessness due to the severe lack of social housing in our state.

Rowe said the chronic shortage of social housing was the result of decades of neglect by successive governments:

double quotation markWe are calling on the state government to adopt a target of 10% of all homes being social housing, and to commit continued investment into growing our social housing stock until we get there.

Wagga Wagga, where a newborn infant recently died in homelessness, recorded the highest increase, with a 500% rise since 2021. Over the same period, median rents in Wagga rose 41%. The priority list rose 450% in Griffith and 330% in Tamworth, which both suffered rent increases of 31%.

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Updated at 23.08 EDT

Nino Bucci

Australian women charged with slavery offences over time in Islamic State face court

Two Australian women charged with slavery offences that allegedly occurred while they lived under Islamic State rule in Syria have faced a Melbourne court.

Kawsar Ahmad, 53, also known as Abbas, and her daughter Zeinab Ahmad, 31, were arrested by officers from the Victorian joint counter-terrorism team at Melbourne airport on Thursday.

Police allege the pair travelled to Syria in 2014 with their family and knowingly kept an enslaved woman in their home, and that Kawsar was complicit in the purchase of an enslaved woman for US$10,000.

The pair appeared before the chief magistrate, Lisa Hannan, on Monday.

But the Melbourne magistrates court heard that they would not be applying for bail, as had been foreshadowed on Friday.

Zeinab is expected to apply for bail at a hearing on 4 June, with Kawsar’s application expected on 16 June.

Neither woman was required to speak or enter a plea during the short hearing, before they were remanded in custody.

The AFP will allege the offences were terrorism-related and are expected to oppose bail.

Court documents released to the media on Friday show Kawsar is accused of intentionally exercising “any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership” over a person, in circumstances “where the conduct was committed intentionally or knowingly as part of a widespread or systemic attack directed against a civilian population”.

She is also accused of “intentionally exercising” the “powers attaching to right of ownership” regarding the use and possession of a slave. Zeinab faces the same two charges.

The offences allegedly occurred between 1 June 2017 and 1 November 2018 at Mayadin, Hajim, Gharanij, Bahra, Abu Hamam, Walaa and other places in Deir ez-Zur province, in eastern Syria.

On or about 1 June 2017 in Mayadin or elsewhere in the same province, Kawsar Ahmad is also accused of intentionally engaging in slave trading.

ShareBen Doherty

Royal commission hears criticism of Israel not inherently antisemitic

Julie Nathan, appearing before the commission in her capacity as research director for the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said criticism of Israel was not inherently antisemitic, “even though a lot of it is incredibly offensive”.

But Nathan argued criticism that invoked Nazi Germany or anti-Jewish tropes should be considered antisemitic.

double quotation markFor example, if it uses older anti-Jewish tropes, you know, such as the blood libel, or Jews are Satanic … they might say ‘Israel is satanic’. So then that kind of feeds into that.

She said “no other country in the world is compared to Nazi Germany, only Israel”.

Nathan said pro-Palestinian protest material, such as posters and stickers, were not inherently antisemitic but could be considered examples of Jew-hatred dependent on context.

double quotation markWe don’t count anything pro-Palestinian as anti-Jewish unless, for example, if there’s a ‘free Palestine’ sticker and it’s stuck on a synagogue or outside a Jewish school.

If they’re using pro-Palestine material to target Jews, that in itself then becomes antisemitic.

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Updated at 22.52 EDT

Nationals launch petition to build inland rail

The Nationals have launched a “rescue our rail” petition today to save the northern half of the inland rail project, scrapped by the Albanese government last week, after its pricetag skyrocketed (once again) to a hefty $45bn.

Matt Canavan donned a flannel shirt today, a hangover perhaps from his visit to Farrer where he stayed overnight in a swag (which he has brought with him to parliament today), and looks a little different to his suited up colleagues.

On the byelection, Canavan says he showed up and spent time on the ground across the electorate “to take our medicine to hear the views of everyday Australians who clearly want change”. Moving on to the inland rail, he says:

double quotation markThis broken promise on the inland rail is one that cuts very very deeply for lots of the businesses and communities that have invested so much on the promise of multiple governments that we would finally build a proper rail line between Brisbane and Melbourne and open up the inland of this country.

The shadow infrastructure minister, Bridget McKenzie, accuses the government of cancelling the project to instead spend it on Victoria’s contentious suburban rail loop.

double quotation markIf you wanted any other indication of what Anthony Albanese and the Labor party thinks about the 9 million of us that don’t live in capital cities, you didn’t need to go to Farrer to work that out.

The prime minister has decided to give [Victorian premier] Jacinta Allen, his factional mate in the ALP, a couple of extra lazy billion dollars.

Nationals leader Matt Canavan launches a petition to save the northern half of inland rail, and brings along the swag he slept in during a visit to Farrer during the byelection campaign. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare

Updated at 22.35 EDT

Wilson walks back comments suggesting Liberals open to forming coalition with One Nation

Jumping back to Tim Wilson’s doorstop a bit earlier: the shadow treasurer changed his tune slightly on whether the opposition would form a coalition with One Nation.

So far some in the Liberal party – including shadow cabinet minister Ted O’Brien – as well as One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce and leader, Pauline Hanson, have said there would be no joining of the parties.

Yesterday, Wilson was asked on the ABC’s Insiders whether there could be a coalition between the three parties, and he said “we traditionally form a coalition with the National party, but it’s up to the Australian people to decide who they want to vote for”.

But today, he took a little step back and slammed that door shut.

double quotation markI have never, ever, ever – and never, ever, ever will – make such a statement in favour of such an alliance. The reality is the leader of that party has already declared that she won’t form a coalition with us, and I have no interest in forming a coalition with them.

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Updated at 22.06 EDT

How Farrer swung towards One Nation – in maps

Here’s a look at how the swing was on for One Nation across the booths in Farrer on Saturday, by my colleagues Josh Nicholas, Nick Evershed, and Andy Ball.

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Updated at 21.38 EDT

Disability charity warns people with complex needs risk going without adequate support under NDIS changes

One of Australia’s largest disability charities has warned the national disability insurance scheme already does not adequately fund services for some people with complex needs, and changes to the scheme risk continuing that gap.

The Endeavour Foundation, a charity supporting more than 6,500 clients with disabilities, says if people with complex needs continue to have inadequate funding, charities like theirs risk becoming unsustainable.

The chief executive, Andrew Chesterman, says the announcement of a new commissioning model to support independent living “sounds promising”, but there is an urgent need to provide funding to NDIS participants that have inadequate plans.

He says:

double quotation markWe feel we cannot abandon our clients with the greatest needs, who need the most support, just because their NDIS plans are inadequate. We will continue to do our best for all our clients, but these challenges are exactly why so many charities are going broke. People with complex disabilities need complex support.

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Updated at 21.14 EDT

Haines welcomes Labor’s funding for housing infrastructure, following her advocacy

Independent MP Helen Haines has welcomed the government’s budget funding for housing infrastructure this morning, saying that Labor took a little peak at her homework to build the policy.

The regional Victorian MP says she has been calling on the government to invest in critical infrastructure such as water, sewerage and power for years to get more homes built – particularly in regional Australia.

She says:

double quotation markI’ve been building the case for targeted investment in this infrastructure, because without it, we simply cannot build the homes our communities need.

This is exactly the kind of practical, targeted policy regional communities have been crying out for – and it’s encouraging to see the government has listened and adopting this approach.

Independent member for Indi, Helen Haines. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare

Updated at 20.53 EDT