It’s question time

After a moment of silence for Nepal, question time is up and running.

Up first is Angus Taylor, who asks Anthony Albanese about comments from the Property Council about the government’s taxes being “a ram raid on house prices”.

Albanese says the budget made no changes for people who already negatively gear property, and that investors are “borrowing to build more new homes than ever before”, citing a Herald Sun report and ABS data:

double quotation markGoing forward, negative gearing and the 50% capital gains tax can still be used for investment properties, but only on new builds, so when people choose to invest in housing, they’re not investing in their future wealth and assets, they’re investing in the future wealth and assets of the nation.

Anthony Albanese during question time. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare

Updated at 00.18 EDT

Key events

Taylor says tobacco excise cut would ‘crush’ organised crime

Now to the tobacco excise wars, sparked by the explosion in illegal tobacco.

Opposition leader Angus Taylor talks about the firebombing of small businesses and the need to “crush the organised crime gangs”. The opposition wants to cut the excise cut on cigarettes, so they would be more competitive on price.

Leader of the house Tony Burke says “the last thing this parliament should ever do is outsource its health policy to organised crime”.

It has to be dealt with through law enforcement, he says, adding:

double quotation markThey know all too well that the exact impact of what they are proposing would be an increase in tobacco consumption in Australia.

Angus Taylor during question time. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare

Updated at 00.43 EDT

Katter calls for income splitting

Crossbench MP Bob Katter asks the treasurer about the cost-of-living crisis. He talks about the “appalling inequality” in the disposable income between those with children and “dinks” (double income, no kids).

Income splitting is the answer, he says, “while a birthing payment will help arrest Australia’s plunging birthrates”.

Jim Chalmers says a similar proposal was costed and it found it would cost the nation more than $12bn over the forward estimates and would “primarily benefit higher wealth and income couples”:

double quotation mark[It would] cost the budget substantially, while denying the people it’s designed to help.

Income splitting would create a tax transfer system that encourages economic dependence, reduces initiatives for women’s workforce participation [and] would risk unwinding some of the gains that we’ve made as a country.

Jim Chalmers. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare

Updated at 00.39 EDT

Are house prices ‘softening’ or ‘plummeting’?

The shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, says Sydney house prices are “plummeting so fast that they are on track for the biggest crash in 40 years” in a question to the government.

The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, says the government was transparent about the changes in the budget, with Treasury modelling suggesting there will be 75,000 new owner occupiers and a “small and temporary slowing in house price growth”.

House prices grew 400% in the past 25 years, she says:

double quotation mark[Wilson] is accurate in one sense that house prices are softening across the country … this is the fourth time that we have seen this occur in a decade in our country.

Clare O’Neil speaks during question time. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare

Updated at 00.44 EDT

It’s question time

After a moment of silence for Nepal, question time is up and running.

Up first is Angus Taylor, who asks Anthony Albanese about comments from the Property Council about the government’s taxes being “a ram raid on house prices”.

Albanese says the budget made no changes for people who already negatively gear property, and that investors are “borrowing to build more new homes than ever before”, citing a Herald Sun report and ABS data:

double quotation markGoing forward, negative gearing and the 50% capital gains tax can still be used for investment properties, but only on new builds, so when people choose to invest in housing, they’re not investing in their future wealth and assets, they’re investing in the future wealth and assets of the nation.

Anthony Albanese during question time. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare

Updated at 00.18 EDT

Hold on to hope despite heartbreak, Taylor says

The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, is now talking about Nepal, describing the heartbreak of those families living with uncertainty about their missing loved ones.

He says he supports the government’s assistance with financial aid and personnel. He says:

double quotation markWe hold on to hope as a nation, even as hope becomes harder to grasp with each passing day.

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Updated at 00.13 EDT

Albanese says he expressed condolences to Nepali PM

Albanese says he wants the Nepali people to know they do not carry this burden alone.

He says he spoke to the Nepali prime minister, Balendra Shah, and expressed his condolences on behalf of Australia. He says:

double quotation markThis is now very much a race against time. And at this challenging time, our government is engaged with Australia’s Nepali, Tibetan and Indian communities.

Our thoughts with them and all those affected by this disaster.

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Updated at 00.10 EDT

PM speaks of ‘horror’ in wake of Nepal-Tibet floods

Anthony Albanese is making a statement to the house about the Nepal-Tibet flood disaster.

It was “breathtaking in its horror”, he says:

double quotation markConsider the noise, the fury, the terror. While the scale was vast, the impact has been all too recognisably human.

Many hundreds are dead. Thousands are still missing. Locals, travellers, workers, and pilgrims alike. While our hearts are being lifted by the wonder of individuals being rescued alive many days later, the burden upon our sense of hope is growing exponentially.

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Updated at 00.08 EDT

One Nation plan would leave median full-time worker $25k worse off, peak body says

One Nation’s plan to turn the superannuation scheme “into an ATM” would make a median full-time worker $25,000 poorer, the Super Members Council says.

The council’s chief executive officer, Misha Schubert, said it was “a reckless idea”:

double quotation markThis would belt battlers – not help them – by damaging their super and their retirements and driving up both inflation and interest rates which would make the cost-of-living pressures even worse, not better.

We urge One Nation to ditch the idea.

There are smarter and better ways to help Australians struggling with housing costs – such as talking to your bank about relief options – and none of them involve telling Australians to raid their super and their futures.

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Updated at 23.58 EDT

Opting out of social media algorithms ‘not that radical’, expert says

The ability to opt out of social media algorithms is “not that radical”, Belinda Barnet, a media expert at Swinburne University, says, responding to news about the government’s plans.

AAP reports she says the ability to opt-out would go some way to reducing the addictive nature of social media.

double quotation markIt’s actually not that radical. It’s just kind of a move back in time to before all of these automated, essentially AI algorithms.

It’s not going to get rid of predators or the many other issues that they could encounter on digital platforms … this is really just removing one of the addictive elements from it.

Barnet also responded to claims it would amount to censorship:

double quotation markIs it a form of censorship to say that our kids can’t watch an adult-only movie?

Photograph: Imago/AlamyShare

Updated at 23.56 EDT

Hanson claims super plan would be inflation ‘neutral’

Tom McIlroy

One Nation’s leader, Pauline Hanson, says her plan to let workers struggling with cost of living access some of their superannuation savings would not push up inflation.

The party’s new policy, released on Monday, would let anyone paying rent or a mortgage take up to a quarter of contributions to their super account as a “pay boost” for up to three years.

It would keep the same tax rate as it would have in super, giving someone on $90,500 an extra $44 a week.

Despite economists warning the plan would hurt the economy and weaken Australia’s system for compulsory retirement savings, Hanson claims it would be “neutral”. She said in a doorstop at Parliament House:

double quotation markSo you won’t pump up inflation with it at all. It will affect seven million people that will be open to taking their super out. So it won’t be inflationary.

There would be no restriction on who can access the super cash. She said:

double quotation markIf they want to access that and get one quarter of their superannuation, they’re putting away each week. Like I said, $44 can mean that people can pay their bills, their electricity, put food on the table or get medical attention, so that means a lot to a lot of people.

If it comes to a point of someone being out in the streets, living in a tent or can’t pay the bills in their home, I would rather see them get the help and assistance that they need now, not later in life.

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Updated at 23.31 EDT

Benita Kolovos

Tunnelling begins on Victoria’s Suburban Rail Loop

The minister for public transport, Vicki Ward, this morning has announced the first tunnel boring machine launched from Burwood over the weekend,heading toward Glen Waverly.

A second machine will begin work on the twin tunnels in coming weeks, and a third will launch from Clarinda later this year.

SRL East – a 26km stretch of twin tunnels from Cheltenham to Box Hill – is the first stage of a 90km line planned to eventually travel to Werribee, in the west, via Melbourne Airport.

The project was first announced by then premier Daniel Andrews ahead of the 2018 election, when it was estimated to cost $50bn. His successor, Jacinta Allan, was the minister initially responsible for overseeing its development and championed it while premier.

But the new premier, Ben Carroll, is less of a fan. He recently changed the project’s scope to save $1bn and ordered a review to identify a further $1bn in savings, bringing the total cost of SRL down to $32.3bn.

Speaking on 3AW Radio this morning, Carroll said he’s reached a “sensible centre” on the project:

double quotation markI found the sensible centre here. Billions of dollars of contracts had been signed, and I made it very clear I’m not someone that rips up contracts … I will get the review done on the engineering, the project will continue but I will not sign any more contracts until we have more federal funds.

More on Carroll’s $2bn in savings here:

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Updated at 23.16 EDT

NSW gambling losses for last quarter hit record $2.38bn

Achol Arok

The Greens have accused the New South Wales government of failing to tackle gambling harms after new data showed residents lost a record $2.38bn on poker machines in the last quarter.

Figures from the NSW office of liquor & gaming show the state’s gaming machine losses totalled a record $4.75bn in the first six months of this year.

The figure is more than $311m above the same time last year and remains above $1m an hour for the eighth consecutive quarter for two straight years.

Greens MP and gambling harm reduction spokesperson, Cate Faehrmann, said:

double quotation markThese staggering figures are the real report card on Labor’s gambling policies, and they show the government is failing. While people are struggling to pay rent, mortgages, power bills and groceries, poker machine operators are taking more than $26m a day out of communities across NSW.

The government talks about reform while clubs and pubs continue making billions from addiction and financial distress.

NSW is heading towards $10bn a year in poker machine losses. The question for Chris Minns is simple: how much more harm is he prepared to tolerate before he stands up to the gambling lobby?

Faehrmann has reignited the Greens’ calls for greater gaming restrictions, including mandatory cashless gambling, a midnight-to-10am shutdown of poker machines and a plan to significantly reduce machines across the state.

Photograph: Loren Elliott/ReutersShare

Updated at 23.15 EDT

Will Queensland’s proposed bail laws reverse presumption of innocence?

Andrew Messenger

Queensland’s attorney general won’t say if her proposed new bail laws reverse the presumption of innocence.

At a press conference on Monday, Deb Frecklington conceded the laws are expected to lead to more people being jailed longer, but refused to reveal the state’s estimates of the effect the legislation will have on the state’s already overcrowded jail system.

The legislation was tabled in state parliament last month. It will make it much more difficult for some alleged offenders to get bail, requiring them to prove to a court that it should have “high degree of confidence they will not commit a prescribed offence”.

It also creates a new offence applying to some people who breach bail with a mandatory 12 month sentence.

Its explanatory notes show that the change may reverse the onus of proof in criminal proceedings, and may limit the right to the presumption of innocence. Frecklington said:

double quotation markWhat I’m presuming is that if you commit an offence whilst you’re on bail, you will face mandatory minimum 12 months in juvie or in the criminal correction centres.

That’s what we’ve said. Now this this bill will be before the (parliamentary) committee – and it’s currently before the committee. There will be experts left front and centre.

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Updated at 00.01 EDT

New shipwreck reef to help marine species

Now for something a little different! The MV Andrew Wilson, a 40m ship, will be scuttled off the coast of South Australia today.

It’s part of the federal and state governments’ algal bloom response.

The wreck will create an artificial reef, which in turn will support marine life.

Environment and water minister Murray Watt said:

double quotation markSinking the MV Andrew Wilson off the coast of Brighton to create Adelaide’s newest artificial reef is the latest example of our joint effort, as we deliver more than $165 million in response measures to the algal bloom.

This builds on the support we’ve delivered for science and environmental measures to help marine life recover, and ensure SA is at the forefront of our country’s algal bloom research.

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