Australian news and politics live: Anthony Albanese backs housing tax reforms ahead of Federal Budget

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Health Minister Mark Butler has confirmed the group will quantantine at the Bullsbrook facility for a minimum of three weeks.

“There is an incubation period of 42 days, potentially for this virus. But that incubation, or the risk of transmission, obviously drops off after the first two weeks,” he said.

“So we’ll be seeking further advice from our chief health officers.”

Mr Butler assured the government is “taking a precautionary approach” given the group will be travelling home from Tenerife on a small plane.

“A distinguishing factor for Australia, though, is that these passengers will have to come home on quite a long flight from Tenerife, unlike traveling just to the UK, for example, probably in a relatively small plane with a higher risk of transmission during transit than would be the case traveling from Tenerife to the UK, for example.”

Once the group has been tested for the virus, the samples will be processed in Melbourne.

Read more.

Health Minister Mark Butler has provided an update on the quarantine arrangements for passengers returning from the MV Hondius.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday afternoon, Mr Butler said six Australians and one New Zealander will be repatriated, but the flights have not yet been finalised.

Butler added that quarantine arrangements should be agreed to at a national level, rather than a state-by-state responsibility.

The group will touch down in Perth at the RAAF base in Pearce upon their arrival in Australia.

They will then be transferred to a quarntine facility located “directly next door” to the RAAF base.

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. And for nearly four years, the Albanese Government has raised taxes, lifted spending, and thickened regulation, all the while expecting an outcome different from the one history, and its own first term, has reliably delivered. The coming Budget looks set to continue the experiment.

If, as widely speculated, the Government raises capital gains tax, it will mark another significant broken promise from a Prime Minister fond of telling Australians that his word is his bond. By that point, the only honest rating left for the Prime Minister’s bond will be junk.

Start with the politics. The capital gains tax debate in this country has been hijacked by housing.

It is presented as a contest between property investors and first home buyers, between speculators and aspiring owner-occupiers.

The framing is convenient because housing is emotive and the politics simple. It is also misleading. Capital gains tax also applies to shares, farms, small businesses, and capital investment more broadly.

It applies, in other words, to the entire architecture of private investment in the Australian economy.

Yet at the heart of this policy posture sits a contradiction. The Government talks about productivity. It convenes roundtables, commissions reports, and delivers speeches about its importance.

Read the full opinion piece here.

The local share market has slipped after the US rejected Iran’s latest peace proposal to end the Middle East war, with a huge plunge by a prominent biotech name also weighing on the bourse.

Shortly after midday on Monday, the S&P/ASX200 index was down 49.7 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 8,695.2, while the broader All Ordinaries had fallen 47.1 points, oor 0.52 per cent, to 8,933.4.

EToro market analyst Josh Gilbert said that risk-off sentiment was likely to prevail after the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar all reported drone strikes in the region and US President Donald Trump slammed Iran’s offer to end the war.

“Trump calling the offer ‘totally unacceptable’ is exactly the kind of headline that markets hate,” Mr Gilbert said.

The Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, Mr Gilbert added, and each failed negotiation is a reminder that there is no quick fix to the biggest oil supply disruption in history.

Domestically, investors are also waiting for details of Australia’s 2026/27 federal budget, which Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down on Tuesday night.

At midday five of the ASX’s 11 sectors were higher and six were lower.

Read more.

A pair of Islamic State-linked women charged with slavery offences will remain behind bars after postponing their bid for freedom.

Kawsar Ahmad, 53, and Zeinab Ahmad, 31, had flagged plans to seek release into the community, but on Monday before the Melbourne Magistrates Court there were no bail applications submitted.

The duo were among a larger group of women and children who returned to Australia amid chaotic airport scenes after languishing in a Syrian refugee camp for years.

They were led into the courtroom filled with reporters, with the elder Ahmad donning a light brown hijab while the younger woman wore a pink and white head covering.

They sat in the dock flanked by custody officers, smiling and looking at the courtroom crowd, which included supporters, throughout the proceeding.

While their bid for conditional freedom stalled on Monday, lawyers for Zeinab have flagged a new bail application on June 4 and 5.

Read more.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers insists Labor will be cutting spending as a former Treasury economist warns an expansionary Budget will force the Reserve Bank to hike rates six more times to 18-year-high — risking a recession.

Too much cost-of-living relief during a global oil shock is now regarded as an inflation risk by a range of economists.

Ahead of delivering his fifth Budget, Dr Chalmers vowed to find $64 billion in savings — including redirected spending — to cope with the Middle East conflict fuelling inflation.

“We’ve been able to focus on the particular pressures and developments coming at us from the war in the Middle East — obviously, those are the new bits,” he told Bloomberg TV on Monday.

“We had some inflationary pressures before the war in the Middle East but the war has made them much more substantial.

“That’s why we will be forecasting an increase in inflation, a bit like the Reserve Bank has been forecasting.”

Read the full story.

Queensland MP Colin Boyce has declared he is “absolutely committed” to the National Party following a report that the backbencher could follow Barnaby Joyce in joining One Nation after its stunning Farrer by-election win.

In an interview with The Guardian over the weekend, the LNP member for the central Queensland electorate of Flynn said many people had suggested he should also join Pauline Hanson’s populist party.

When asked to clarify the comments on Monday, Mr Boyce told reporters in Canberra he was “absolutely committed to the National party.. So the short answer to your question is - am I joining One Nation? No.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers insists the Federal Government will be cutting spending and banking revenue increases from higher commodity prices in Tuesday’s Budget.

Ahead of delivering his fifth Budget, Dr Chalmers vowed to find $64 billion in savings - including redirected spending - to cope with the Middle East conflict fuelling inflation.

“We’ve been able to focus on the particular pressures and developments coming at us from the war in the Middle East - obviously, those are the new bits,” he told Bloomberg TV on Monday.

“We had some inflationary pressures before the war in the Middle East, but the war has made them much more substantial.

“That’s why we will be forecasting an increase in inflation, a bit like the Reserve Bank has been forecasting.

“The inflationary challenges are serious, they are a big focus of the Budget - $64 billion in gross savings is much more than the usual amount of savings in an Australian Budget.”

Dr Chalmers also promised to save the increase in company tax revenue from higher liquefied natural gas prices sparked by the Iran war.

“We’ll also be banking every dollar of the upward revision to revenue,” he said.

Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson’s attack on Labor ahead of the Budget included strongly worded criticism directly targeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“The Prime Minister was red hot with rage before the last election, saying 50 times over in his own words that he wasn’t going to touch negative gearing, capital gains tax or family trusts, but he seems set to breach all those promises tomorrow night,” Mr Wilson said on Monday.

“For (the Prime Minister) to have to continue to have to eat so many humble pies while he is in the process of not even delivering his Budget yet shows the Budget is in disarray.

“It’s extremely clear that this Government’s intention is to hit every single Australian up into their wealth because they cannot control their spending addiction.”