Federal budget 2026 live updates: treasurer Jim Chalmers to present budget speech tonight – latest news

From 42m ago 07.16 CEST 'Governments have not done enough': PM reflects on death of Kumanjayi Little Baby The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was asked in question time by Labor MP for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour how the government and parliament were standing with the family and community of Kumanjayi Little Baby in her electorate. Albanese said it had been an “extraordinarily difficult period” and he extended his deepest condolences to her family. double quotation mark They are trying to bear what must be unbearable. Amid their devastation, they have asked for the space to allow Sorry Business to occur, so the memory of their beautiful child can be cherished and honoured. He said the tragedy had shattered a family and shaken a community, and amid the pain, there was also anger. double quotation mark Governments of all persuasions have not done enough to deal with what are generational challenges. Every Australian child has the right to grow up safe and loved. With the security of a roof over their head, with the opportunity of a great education, to be empowered to make the most of their potential their life. Kumanjayi Little Baby deserved all of that. 3:27 Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price breaks down during Kumanjayi Little Baby condolence motion – video Share Updated at 07.38 CEST 10m ago 07.48 CEST Graham Readfearn Datacentres could be forced to invest in new solar and wind generation Power hungry datacentres that are growing to meet the energy demand of artificial intelligence could be forced to invest in enough new solar and wind generation to completely cover their electricity needs. State and federal energy ministers agreed at a meeting last week that datacentres across the country should “fully offset” their electricity demand through investments in new renewable generation and energy storage. The push, backed by all ministers except Queensland’s, also said datacentres should provide “demand flexibility services” – steps that allow a datacentre to control the amount of electricity being drawn from the network. Datacentres should be forced to invest in wind and solar energy, agree all states except Queensland Read more Share 28m ago 07.30 CEST Andrew Messenger Brisbane mayor halts plans for Airbnb permits; opposition calls it ‘total capitulation at the expense of renters’ Brisbane mayor Adrian Schrinner has halted a plan to require a permit to rent a house on Airbnb “at this time”. The policy has been three years in the works. A taskforce established in 2023 recommended in 2024 that a property should only be allowed to be rented on the short-stay market with planning approval, the support of its body corporate and a 24-7 property manager. Schrinner told a Brisbane City Council meeting on Tuesday that the idea would “not proceed at this time,” blaming the federal budget, which he said is expected to include changes to property taxes, and rising interest rates. He said just 1% of Brisbane homes were used for short-term accommodation, and they represented just 100 complaints in the last 12 months. double quotation mark Consultation revealed that short-stay accommodation services provide a broader purpose over and above tourism. You will not tax your way out of a housing crisis and you will not regulate your way out of a housing crisis. Only building new homes will change this. Council opposition leader Jared Cassidy accused the mayor of “total capitulation to the short-stay accommodation industry at the expense of renters”. double quotation mark Considerable time and money have gone into these reforms, and it’s all been for nothing. This LNP council’s earlier reforms promised more than 300 new rentals would go back into the market. That hasn’t happened. Now the lord mayor is using the federal budget as cover to admit his failure. Brisbane to introduce Airbnb permits for property owners amid housing crisis crackdown Read more Share Updated at 07.54 CEST 42m ago 07.16 CEST 'Governments have not done enough': PM reflects on death of Kumanjayi Little Baby The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was asked in question time by Labor MP for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour how the government and parliament were standing with the family and community of Kumanjayi Little Baby in her electorate. Albanese said it had been an “extraordinarily difficult period” and he extended his deepest condolences to her family. double quotation mark They are trying to bear what must be unbearable. Amid their devastation, they have asked for the space to allow Sorry Business to occur, so the memory of their beautiful child can be cherished and honoured. He said the tragedy had shattered a family and shaken a community, and amid the pain, there was also anger. double quotation mark Governments of all persuasions have not done enough to deal with what are generational challenges. Every Australian child has the right to grow up safe and loved. With the security of a roof over their head, with the opportunity of a great education, to be empowered to make the most of their potential their life. Kumanjayi Little Baby deserved all of that. 3:27 Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price breaks down during Kumanjayi Little Baby condolence motion – video Share Updated at 07.38 CEST 53m ago 07.05 CEST Users report issues with Google search Google search seemed to be suffering intermittent issues this afternoon, with a massive spike in user reports to the tracking website DownDetector. It seems to have resolved after about half an hour, and Google’s status page doesn’t appear to note any issues. We’ll keep you posted if it keeps happening, but a mild moment of panic for users across the world. Share 1h ago 06.56 CEST Nick Visser That’s all from me. Josh Taylor will be your guide into the evening. Take care. Share 1h ago 06.46 CEST Canberra teen charged with terrorism offences ACT teen charged with new terrorism offences, including planning an attack The Australian federal police have charged a Canberra teenager with new terrorism offences, including acts in preparation for a terrorist act. The AFP said today the 17-year-old is the first person to be charged with planning a terrorist act in the ACT. The teen is alleged to have planned an attack on people not known to him, motivated by views aligned with nationalist or racist extremism, the AFP says. The teen appeared in ACT children’s court today, where they faced one charge of preparing or planning a terrorist act, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment if convicted. They also faced a charge of transmitting violent extremist material, which can be punished by up to five years in prison. Peter Crozier, the AFP assistant commissioner on counter-terrorism, said it was alarming to see young Australians exposed to such material, adding in a statement: double quotation mark We strongly emphasise the important role that parents, schools, social services and technology companies have in preventing access to violent extremist material by our youth. Read more here: Canberra teenager charged over allegedly planning ACT terror attack Read more Share Updated at 06.56 CEST 1h ago 06.33 CEST Albanese pledges budget will help make Australia ‘even more resilient’ The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking during question time ahead of the release of the budget later tonight. He says the budget is focused on making the economy “even more resilient”, pointing to plans to increase Australia’s fuel reserve and his efforts across the world to secure fuel shipments for the nation. He said: double quotation mark All we can do is to put in place every measure at our disposal, to protect Australia’s national interest, that’s what I’ve been doing. Albanese has also been facing questions about plans to slash the capital gains tax discount and how Australians can trust the Labor government. The prime minister responded to a question from Angus Taylor, saying: double quotation mark Our budget tonight will build on everything that Australia is doing to shield Australia from the worst of the global fuel crisis, but also to ensure that we come out the other side a stronger, fairer, more resilient economy. Our budget will be true to Labor values and Australian values: fairness and aspiration as we go forward. Share Updated at 06.40 CEST 2h ago 06.21 CEST Cait Kelly X marks the spot for far-right views, hate expert tells royal commission Social media platform X has been called out in the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion for being a safe haven for far-right views. Online hate expert Andrew Oboler from La Trobe University said the platform had morphed, now behaving like other far-right social media sites, where there are no safe speech guardrails. He told the commission: double quotation mark The platform that had the most antisemitism – that contributed the most to that aggregated data – was Gab, which is a far right platform. It’s a platform that a lot of people, for example, went to after the insurrection in the US. There is a physical limit on how much data you can actually process in an hour. And I would say Gab is probably approaching that limit in this sample. Those platforms (are) where the far right are. There may be other people there too, but it’s where the far right lives online, and Twitter or X was really behaving very much like the far right platforms. That’s partly (because) the platform was taking an attitude of: ‘we want to be a bastion of free speech’. Share Updated at 06.46 CEST 2h ago 06.06 CEST Marles says Army soldier who died in accident one of ADF’s ‘finest’ Richard Marles is speaking in parliament about the Army soldier who died yesterday, saying the ADF has lost “one of its finest”. Marles says there will be a series of investigations both “within the defence force and beyond” to determine what took place during the accident. double quotation mark The defence force trains as it fights, and necessarily there is risk in defence force training. And so, Lachlan Muddle’s sac