Foreign investors to be slapped with higher fees and steeper penalties for leaving homes vacant; A major new migration strategy to be unveiled next week; Aston Villa secure a 15th straight home victory, beating Arsenal 1-0.
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- Foreign investors to be slapped with higher fees and steeper penalties for leaving homes vacant
- A major new migration strategy to be unveiled next week
- Aston Villa secure a 15th straight home victory, beating Arsenal 1-0.
Higher fees and steeper penalties could soon apply to foreigners who buy homes in Australia and leave their properties vacant for six months or more in a year.
The federal government is looking to crackdown on these so-called ghost homes to help boost Australia's housing stock.
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers and the Minister for Housing Julie Collins have released a joint release, saying this adjustment to the foreign investment framework will help provide more homes for Australians.
Nationals leader David Littleproud has told the Nine Network he thinks it should go one step further and see foreigners banned from buying residential homes altogether.
"Australians should get a priority on buying homes in Australia. We've got a supply issue. This government wanted to bring in one and a half million new migrants, five-hundred thousand this year that's just putting so much pressure on our migration system, but our housing system as well, so why wouldn't we just take this step not to allow somebody to have the luxury to fly in and stay in a home for a couple of months a year when there are Australians trying to get into the housing market, that would seem common sense to me rather than some window-dressing and some fines that they're probably able to pay anyway."
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The federal government is set to unveil a major new migration strategy on Monday that's expected to significantly cut Australia's intake.
Immigration will be scaled back, hand-in-hand with a crackdown on abuses of Australia's intake of international students.
The impending overhaul follows a once-in-a-generation review that determined the nation's immigration system was "badly broken" and in need of a 10-year rebuild.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says migration will be brought back to sustainable levels.
"Treasury forecasts show that migration is expected to decline substantially over the coming financial year. The new migration strategy we'll announce this week will bring migration back to sustainable levels."
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The United Nations is warning that half the population in Gaza is now starving as Israeli forces continue to pound the Gaza Strip from air, land and sea.
It comes as a new process for inspecting aid for Gaza at the Kerem Shalom crossing is being tested.
Under the new system, trucks come to the crossing on the border between Israel, Gaza and Egypt for the first time from Jordan, before entering Gaza from Rafah, which is about three kilometres away.
Trucks have been driving more than 40 kilometres south to Egypt's border with Israel before returning to Rafah, leading to bottlenecks and delays.
But deputy executive director of the World Food Programme Carl Skau says they need Kerem Shalom to open.
"Yesterday I think we were trying to use Kerem Shalom for the first time not for verification but not for entry. We need that, also so that we can have more order around the U.N. convoys coming in, and to some degree separate them from the rest of the aid that is flowing in through Rafah. And of course, we need a humanitarian ceasefire so that there is the space and the operational environment inside to deliver to all those that need it and in a controlled and orderly way."
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The federal government has begun consultation on the next tranche of reforms to improve integrity and accountability in the tax system.
Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones says while tax agents overwhelmingly do the right thing, the PwC leaks scandal shows the current regulatory framework is not up to scratch in responding to misconduct.
To this end, the sanctions regime available to the Tax Practitioners Board will be tightened to bolster deterrence.
Mr Jones said the government was seeking ways to expand on sanctions including reintroducing criminal penalties for unregistered practitioners, broadening and increasing civil penalties and introducing infringement notices.
It is also consulting on legislating new obligations for tax agents to manage conflicts of interest and prevent unauthorised disclosure of confidential information.
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In football,
Aston Villa has beat Arsenal 1-0, achieving a club record 15th straight home victory.
John McGinn's early goal secured the win for Aston Villa and prevented Mikel Arteta's Gunners from reclaiming top spot in the table.
Unai Emery's Villa, who shocked champions Manchester City in a dominant 1-0 win on Wednesday as part of what McGinn called a "monumental week," are now third on 35 points after 16 games in a jam-packed title race.
Arsenal, who were overtaken by Liverpool earlier on Saturday, are second with 36.
