Australia news LIVE: Government won’t repatriate IS brides and their children, PM says; Experts say Treasury should freeze tobacco excise in May budget

Where there are winners, there’s also losers.

New Liberal leader Angus Taylor lamented the need to drop a group of frontbenchers from his new-look team. The new leader demoted a group of frontbenchers who backed Sussan Ley last week.

The small size of the Liberal Party room, at 51 MPs, means more MPs have frontbench roles than those who do not. There are about 35 frontbench positions.

Importantly, Taylor retained key moderate MPs Anne Ruston, Andrew Bragg and Tim Wilson in key roles. These are the MPs who lost out of this afternoon’s announcement:

• Alex Hawke, Sussan Ley’s numbers man, who has lost his job.
• Former immigration spokesman Paul Scarr, who conservatives viewed as too left-wing on migration, and was dumped.
• Former defence industry spokeswoman Melissa Price, another Ley supporter, who lost her job. So did former shadow attorney-general Andrew Wallace, who said it was wrong to topple the party’s first woman leader.
• Angie Bell, a moderate, who lost the environment portfolio and has now taken on sports and arts.
• South Australian senator Kerrynne Liddle, a moderate, who lost the Indigenous Australians portfolio and will take on the shadow assistant ministry for health and aged care.

Newly appointed shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said his focus will be on an economic agenda that ensures hard work pays off.

“Hope is on the way,” Wilson told reporters in Sydney.

“We are going to do everything we can over the next two years, not just to do it in our words, but our deeds and our campaigns, so that you see the pathway forward.

“Economic hope in Australia is the change of government, and the end of the Albanese government. We are going to deliver that. I’m excited by the challenge, and excited by the opportunity of what we’re going to be able to build together.”

Senator Clare Chandler, who has taken on the finance and public sector portfolios for the opposition, said the Albanese government had abandoned spending discipline.

“Fiscal responsibility is one of the fundamental principles of the Liberal Party,” she said.

“In fact, it’s one of the reasons I joined the Liberal Party, because I believe in a small government that lives within its name, and spends money wisely.

“At the end of the day, we have to remember that every dollar the government has isn’t actually the government’s dollar. It’s your dollar.”

Chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal has pulled together a list of the “winners” in new Liberal leader Angus Taylor’s shadow cabinet.

“Today marks a fresh beginning,” Taylor said. “A Coalition government that I would lead will restore Australia’s standard of living and protect our way of life.”

Here are the winners from today’s announcement:

• Jane Hume, the new deputy leader, who becomes productivity and industrial relations spokesman.
• Member for Goldstein Tim Wilson, who takes the shadow treasurer job.
• Claire Chandler, a young Tasmanian senator from the conservative faction, who gets a big promotion to the finance portfolio.

• Ted O’Brien, a Chinese speaker who was deputy leader under Sussan Ley, will become foreign affairs spokesman.
• Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, exiled under Ley, who enters the shadow cabinet as spokeswoman for small business, skills and training.
• Andrew Hastie, a backer of local manufacturing and leadership aspirant, who will come into the shadow cabinet as industry and sovereign capability lead.
• Tony Pasin, a right-wing ally of Taylor, who will become spokesman for scrutiny and government waste in the outer ministry.
• Dan Tehan, who retains his job as energy spokesman despite his failed run for deputy leader. He will also become manager of opposition business.
• Moderate leader Anne Ruston, who will retain her role as health spokeswoman, despite speculation she would be dumped.
• Conservative Sarah Henderson, who publicly called for a leadership change last year and will now take charge of communications
• Andrew Bragg, a leading Moderate senator, who retains his housing portfolio and will take on the role of environment spokesman.
• Young Melbourne-based MP Aaron Violi, who will enter the outer ministry as science and innovation spokesman.
• Garth Hamilton, a supporter of Andrew Hastie, who will become shadow assistant minister for energy security and affordability.
• Phil Thompson, who will become defence materiel spokesman, a job that will be elevated to shadow cabinet.
• Melissa McIntosh, who will become shadow ministry for families and social services, NDIS and women’s spokeswoman in the shadow cabinet.
• Matt O’Sullivan, who will rise into the outer ministry as shadow minister for choice in childcare.
• Henry Pike, Cameron Caldwell, Simon Kennedy (assistant minister to the leader and for finance) and Ben Small, who will all take on assistant frontbench roles.

Some of ousted Liberal leader Sussan Ley’s allies have managed to keep their spots on the front bench in Angus Taylor’s reshuffle.

“[Former deputy and shadow treasurer] Ted O’Brien will move to the shadow ministry for foreign affairs,” Taylor said.

“Ted will bring the moral and strategic clarity to Australia’s foreign policy that has been lacking under this government.

“He’ll be supported by Senator Dave Sharma in the role of shadow assistant minister for international development.”

Taylor said Senator Andrew Bragg would continue as spokesperson for housing and homelessness, and would pick up environment.

Senator Anne Ruston would keep health and ageing, and education spokesman Julian Leeser would also stay put, Taylor said.

Adding to the economic team, Senator Claire Chandler will take on finance and government services.

“She’ll hold Labor to account for its budget blowouts and skyrocketing debt,” Liberal leader Angus Taylor said.

Factional heavyweight James Paterson will go to defence, and Jonno Duniam will keep home affairs and will add immigration, which previously operated as a subset of the portfolio.

After speculation Senator Michaelia Cash would be challenged for Senate leader, she’ll stay put.

“Senator Michaelia Cash will return to the attorney-general’s portfolio and continue as leader of the opposition in the Senate,” Taylor said.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Andrew Hastie, both exiled under former leader Sussan Ley, have been returned to Angus Taylor’s frontbench.

Hastie will become the industry and sovereign capability spokesman, as well as deputy Liberal leader in the House of Representatives since the party’s new deputy leader, Jane Hume, is in the Senate.

Hastie has talked about wanting to revive domestic car manufacturing.

Price will become the spokeswoman for small business, skills and training.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor is unveiling his shadow frontbench, saying “it is a team that blends proven experience with the next generation of Coalition talent”.

Taylor said his deputy Jane Hume would take on a new role as shadow minister for employment and industrial relations, and shadow minister for productivity and deregulation.

“She’ll focus on getting wages up by lifting productivity and making it easier for Australians to get ahead,” Taylor said.

He said Tim Wilson would become shadow treasurer.

“He and the entire Coalition will fight ferociously against Labor’s bad taxes, taxes on homes, taxes on superannuation, taxes on our children’s future,” Taylor said.

Before announcing his shadow cabinet, Liberal leader Angus Taylor began his address by calling on the Albanese government to “come clean” with the Australian people about ISIS brides.

“Are any of these ISIS-linked individuals coming back to Australia? Are passports being processed, or will they be?” he said.

“What specific security assessments have been or will be undertaken, and has the government used or even considered using its temporary exclusion order powers?

“These are individuals who chose to associate with a terrorist caliphate.

“This is not aligned with the values we as Australians believe in: democracy, the rule of law, our basic freedoms, including freedom of religion. The door must be shut to people who do not believe in those things.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier today declared he has no sympathy for a cohort of 34 Islamic State-linked Australians attempting to re-enter the country, saying the government would provide no help to the families, even as a close associate of Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is reported to be helping them leave internment camps in Syria.

New Liberal leader Angus Taylor unveiled his shadow cabinet at a press conference in Sydney from 4pm AEDT.

You can watch the press conference below.

Australia is building social housing at a rate not seen since the 1980s – but it’s only enough to stop the market shrinking further, while hundreds of thousands of people languish waiting for a home.

That’s the finding from UNSW Sydney, which found about 70,000 new “social” homes are planned to be built in the country this decade; the most since the 1980s.

However, about 15,000 social homes are being demolished in the process, leaving Australia with about 55,000 new social homes.

Much of the housing stock will come from the federal government’s Housing Australia Future Fund, but “even more” will come via state and territory-funded programs, researchers found.

Victoria is on track to build the most homes, while new social housing builds in NSW and the ACT barely outweighed stock losses in the five years up to 2025, the university said.

Importantly, the record-breaking build rate doesn’t mean Australia will have the social housing stock it needs. The projected 13 per cent increase in social housing this decade only matches projected household growth to 2030.

“In other words, what we’re building as a nation now is only enough to stop the share of social housing in Australia shrinking further,” the university wrote.