PM says opposition ‘reduced to a farce’ as government targeted over CGT – as it happened

We are going to wrap up the live blog here for the night. This is what made the news today:

• In a fiery post-budget question time, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the opposition had been reduced to a farce.

• The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, fronted the National Press Club and said the negative gearing, capital gains tax and trust changes, strike the right balance – the argument he’s made to those who say the policy goes too far and to those who say it doesn’t go far enough.

• Chalmers, and later Albanese, said Labor is the only party in Australia occupying the “sensible centre”.

• The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, says the government’s tax changes leave in place 95% of the “unfair property investor tax perks” that caused the housing crisis, but the Greens will see if it is in the direction they want before deciding whether to support the changes.

• The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, labelled the changes “toxic”.

• Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said the Coalition would look to repeal the changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax “if necessary”.

• One Nation’s Pauline Hanson says Jim Chalmers’ budget is “communism taking over”.

• The Commonwealth Bank’s share price has fallen 10% and the other three big banks are down over fears their profitable investor home loans will be hit by the budget’s tax reforms.

• Wage rises have started to slow even as prices surge, slipping to 3.3% annually in the March quarter.

• Australia’s home loan market has recorded its sharpest start-of-year slowdown since 2019 as interest rates and the US-Israel war on Iran shake confidence and stretch budgets.

• The withdrawal of government funding for Invictus Australia’s national veteran sport and rehabilitation programs was confirmed in yesterday’s federal budget.

• The much-hyped vision of a Trump Tower on the Gold Coast has evaporated, less than three months after a deal was announced – and without a development application ever lodged.

Until tomorrow, enjoy your evening.

Qld Labor refers embattled ministers to state corruption commission

Queensland Labor has referred embattled ministers Amanda Camm and Tim Mander to the crime and corruption commission.

The two ministers have been accused of failing to disclose an affair they conducted when they were appointed to cabinet in 2024, which the opposition claims created a conflict of interest. Labor has accused the pair of favouring each others’ electorates, which they have denied.

Opposition leader Steven Miles and deputy opposition leader Cameron Dick authored a 7-page letter requesting the body investigate the pair, and also the premier, David Crisafulli and a member of his staff.

“The Crisafulli LNP government is in the midst of a very serious integrity crisis, and you saw yesterday in the parliament, the premier and those ministers are unwilling to answer simple questions about what happened,” Miles said, on Wednesday.

“And so for that reason, we’ve written today to the crime and corruption commission to ask them to investigate every element of this integrity crisis”.

Mander and Camm say they maintained a relationship from June 2023 to May 2024, and then from June 2025. They were sworn in in October 2024.

The ministerial code of conduct obliges ministers to declare personal relationships within a month of being sworn in or whenever their circumstances changed “giving rise to a potential conflict of interest”.

The ministers and the Crisafulli government declined to comment.

Aircraft secured for Hantavirus passengers’ repatriation

Just an update on the progress of the repatriation efforts for the six people from Australia and New Zealand who were on the Hantavirus-affected cruise ship, and have been quarantining in the Netherlands.

The government has secured a suitable aircraft has been secured and the government is working to finalise clearances and approvals for their return to Australia.

The flight back to RAAF Base Pearce is expected to arrive later this week.

Our earlier coverage:

One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts causes confusion over Bondi terror attack clarification

One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts has caused further confusion in comments about the Bondi beach antisemitic terror attack, clarifying that he thought it was an “absurd proposition” to call the shooting a “false flag” but standing by his claim that he didn’t have “data” to rule it out.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Roberts was asked why he said he was “not ruling it out” in an interview when asked about the attack being a false flag.

“First of all, it’s an absurd proposition,” Roberts replied.

“Second thing is that I reinforce the fact that I make decisions and statements based on data, and I don’t have data.”

Asked for clarification, Roberts urged media to “look at it in context. The lady interviewing me was very naive and very young, very inexperienced. And I was just being gentle with her.”

Under sustained questioning from other journalists, Pauline Hanson stepped in to defend her colleague, claiming he’d been taken out of context.

How can Labor say changes to property taxes are a win for young people, when they also lock in boomers’ ability to negatively gear their investment properties? Why is the NDIS receiving such severe cuts? Guardian Australia’s business reporter Luca Ittimani answers these questions and more about the 2026 federal budget.

New Senate inquiry into datacentres

Amid growing community concern about new datacentres being built across Australia, the Greens have established a new Senate inquiry into the sector, to report in mid-November.

The inquiry will examine the existing regulatory framework’s ability to manage the growth of datacentres, and the impacts of AI and datacentres on Australian communities, industry and the environment, water and energy.

The Greens communications spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, said:

Every day I am hearing from people who are concerned about the impacts of AI on our environment, water and energy supply.

Datacentres that use massive amounts of energy and water are being proposed all over the country and it’s important that we understand what the impacts will be on the energy transition and water supply, including drinking water.

We cannot repeat the mistakes that were made in failing to regulate the social media platforms before they got too big. Recently, we’ve seen the government has been cosying up to global AI companies and trying to lure them to Australia. We need proper transparency and parliamentary scrutiny of the deals being done to ensure that it is the Australian community who benefit most from the expansion of the AI industry here.

The NSW parliament is currently holding its own inquiry into the sector, and last week heard from local councils in Sydney concerned about the rapid number of new centres planned in their area.

PM aims to get budget changes through this sitting

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, continued his tour of media appearances on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing this afternoon, stating his aim is to get through the budget’s capital gains tax and negative gearing changes before parliament rises for the winter break.

He said he would try to sell the parliament on the package as it is.

When host Patricia Karvelas pointed out he would probably need Greens support to pass the bills because the Coalition will oppose it, Albanese said the Coalition had made themselves “not relevant”.

That is their problem, that they instinctively made themselves not relevant to public discourse because they just sit there and say no as they increasingly lose support and diminish and lose people in the parliament.

He said he would negotiate with those in parliament in private, not through the media.

On his pronouncements today that Labor is the only party of the “sensible centre” now, Karvelas asked if people aren’t that into the centre any more.

Albanese said:

People have a right to express their political views but I think the views of the extreme left and the extreme right are a cul-de-sac.

They don’t lead the country to where it needs to be.

I want to be a mainstream leader in a mainstream political party that seeks to govern for all Australians, that works with business, works with unions, works with civil society, advances the interest of people regardless of their gender or who they are or their race or their religion.

That represents everyone and brings the country together.

The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, says the government’s tax changes leave in place 95% of the “unfair property investor tax perks” that caused the housing crisis, but the Greens will see if it is in the direction they want before deciding whether to support the changes.

She told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing:

There will still be spending tens of billions propping up property investors at auctions to outbid renters every weekend. What a missed opportunity to properly fix the housing crisis.

She also took the government to task by not taxing gas companies more, and for the cuts to the NDIS:

I do not think people are losing faith in it. And you don’t solve it by cutting funding. If there are issues with rorting, fix those issues.

Robbie Katter to repeat Queensland abortion motion

Maverick Queensland MP Robbie Katter has signalled he will virtually repeat a parliamentary manoeuvre that saw a government MP cross the floor to back a ban on abortion.

Mackay MP Nigel Dalton crossed the floor of the state parliament in February to vote for a Katter motion overturning the government’s gag on debate on the subject.

On Wednesday, Katter gave notice that he will move a second motion on the same subject, which would reverse a move allowing nurses, midwives, pharmacists and other health practitioners to terminate a pregnancy by prescribing the drug MS-2 Step.

Katter said the state health minister, Tim Nicholls, introduced the new regulation in March, after it was passed into law under Labor.

It’s unclear when the motion will be brought on for a vote, but the Guardian understands it is not expected to pass, but is a symbolic motion intended to give potential turncoats another opportunity to cross the floor.

SBS appoints new managing director

The SBS board has appointed marketing executive Jane Palfreyman as managing director of SBS for a five-year term.

The former chief marketing and commercial officer for SBS has been acting in the top role since James Taylor stepped down in August 2025.

It’s a privilege to be appointed managing director of SBS and I’m grateful for the board’s confidence. I care deeply about SBS, its purpose and the role it plays in Australia’s pluralistic society, particularly at a time when our community is navigating growing pressures and the media environment is increasingly complex.

Palfreyman has worked for SBS for 13 years and held senior strategic and marketing leadership roles at Nova Entertainment, Global Radio (London) and Southern Cross Austereo.

That’s all from me today, thanks so much for following along!

I’ll leave you with the brilliant Josh Taylor, and see you tomorrow for the opposition’s budget in reply.