A Senate inquiry into intergenerational housing inequality begins; the Opposition leader defends a proposal to cut welfare to non-citizens; and in sport, Australian sprinter Eddie Nketia wins big on the track in Nebraska.
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TRANSCRIPT
- A Senate inquiry into intergenerational housing inequality begins
- Opposition leader defends a proposal to cut welfare to non-citizens
- Australian sprinter Eddie Nketia wins big on the track in Nebraska
A Greens-led Senate inquiry into housing inequity has commenced today, amid concern from the party that the government's latest federal budget has failed to do anything for renters.
Greens Senator Barbara Pocock says the federal budget did not go far enough to address intergenerational housing inequality.
She says it also contains nothing to improve public housing access and break down barriers for first home buyers.
Senator Pocock says the Housing Australia Future Fund is moving too slow to address access to affordable and public housing, as well as unaffordable rent prices.
"What we heard this morning is there are 640,000 people looking for social and affordable housing who are not getting the housing they need. That's the overwhelming issue. It means young people face runaway rents and impossible house prices. So we need to be looking after renters, we need to be building affordable housing supply."
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Opposition leader Angus Taylor has defend the Coalition's proposal to cut welfare to non-citizens, after a Liberal senator criticised the policy.
In his first budget reply as leader last week, Mr Taylor said the Opposition would claw back billions of dollars by cutting welfare to non-citizens, and that tax-paying permanent migrants would have to become citizens to access welfare payments and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Liberal backbencher Andrew McLachlan has raised concerns that the policy would cause damage to diaspora communities in Australia, saying there's no reason hard-working, taxpaying non-citizens should be treated differently from others when it comes to government support.
Mr Taylor says he stands by the policy, which would require migrants to renounce their birthplace if dual citizenship is not permitted, as is the case in India and China.
"I don't think this causes harm. I grew up in one of the greatest immigrant towns in Australia, I grew up in Cooma. After the second world war, we saw a wave of thousands and thousands and thousands of immigrants coming to that town to work on the Snowy Mountains scheme. But these people committed to our country, and we committed to them. That is the picture of immigration that has worked for this country, it's why we are one of the greatest Immigrant nations on earth. And we are deeply committed to that model."
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers has dismissed the Coalition's suggestion that federal budget changes for trusts amount to a so-called 'death tax' by stealth.
A new 30 per cent minimum tax on discretionary trust income will apply from July 2028, under a measure outlined in last week's federal budget papers.
There are questions about who will be impacted by the changes and how the exemptions will be applied.
Mr Chalmers says a fixed trust will be treated differently to a discretionary trust - and will continue to be taxed at beneficiaries' marginal tax rate.
"There are appropriate exemptions. Deceased estates, for example, are exempt. Existing discretionary testamentary trusts are exempt. Fixed trusts are exempt as well, and because that recognises that there are some legitimate purposes now, when it comes to some of the conjecture that we've seen in recent days, we need to remember, as we said yesterday, there's no tax on inheritances or inherited assets in the budget."
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Six companies have been forced to sell off their holdings in an Australian rare earths miner amid fears of foreign interference.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has given the overseas-owned businesses - most of which are headquartered in China or Hong Kong - 14 days to dispose of their shares in Northern Minerals, a company which hopes to extract dysprosium and terbium in Western Australia's East Kimberley region.
The federal government views the rare earths miner as a crucial part of its efforts to fight China's hold on the global critical minerals supply chain.
Company and government officials suspect the Chinese shareholders have been making a concerted effort to stymie the business' efforts to establish its projects.
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And to sport, Australian sprinter of Ghanaian descent, Eddie Osei-Nketia has won the men’s 100-metres and 200-metres at the Big Ten track and field championships in Nebraska.
He clocked a time of 9.74 seconds in the 100 metres thanks to a massive tailwind - which means the time won't count for record purposes.
But Osei-Nketia has already followed up with victory in the 200-metres in a time of 20.03 seconds.
He has told the Big Ten Network in the US, he felt he had something to prove.
"Like last year I got beaten and it hurt man. And I knew that I needed to go back to training and work hard. And the mistakes that I made - and it took one year to finally make contention. All I had to do is concentrate and stay relaxed in the blocks. And don't worry about the outside noise. Don't worry about out there. I'm doing this."
