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PoliticsFederalNational News Live

Australia news as it happened: Chalmers changes negative gearing, reforms capital gains tax in ambitious federal budget to woo younger voters; Coalition to support treasurer’s tax cuts

Grant McArthur, Emily Kaine, Nick Newling and Brittany Busch
Updated ,first published

Key Posts

Husic urges gas export tax
Bank shares fall following budget housing changes
PM refuses to look back on broken promise
One Nation volunteer shared post defending police killer Dezi Freeman
‘Proud’ Albanese defends negative gearing his own property aspirations
Negative gearing attack lines return to PM’s property
Capital gains change is ‘stealing’, Wilson claims
Chalmers accuses Wilson of immigration dog whistling
Pinned post from 6.04pm on May 13, 2026
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That’s all for today

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Thanks for reading our national news blog for today, May 13, which was dominated by the post-budget back and forth. This is where we’ll end the live coverage.

Here’s some of what we covered today:

  • Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to say whether he would have won a 94-seat majority at the last election had he brought a policy of altering negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount to the May 2025 poll, as included in yesterday’s budget.
  • Albanese also defended his use of negative gearing to buy a NSW Central Coast property, after the opposition linked the $4.3 million purchase to the limits placed on future buyers.
  • Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said the Coalition would repeal changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount if elected. “Our position is we’re going to do everything we can to stop these bad taxes, toxic taxes, from getting through the parliament,” he said.
  • Jim Chalmers said he was confident in the government’s ability to deliver the budget savings promised, which are needed to maintain the budget bottom line. Asked whether he accepted that heavily banking on prospective cuts to the NDIS – details of which are still under negotiation with the states and territories and based on a historic overhaul to disability supports – was risky, the treasurer said it was “difficult but doable”.

We will also continue our rolling coverage tomorrow morning with the latest updates and discussions.

Latest Posts

Asia-Pacific hubs soak up Europe flight demand

By Chris Zappone

Demand for long-haul flights between Australia and Europe has “largely been absorbed” by Asia-Pacific routes, according to the nation’s air traffic control body.

Average daily flight growth between Australia and South-East Asia rose 9 per cent in April, compared with April 2025, according to Airservices Australia. Flights serving China rose 20 per cent over the same period, even as Europe’s dropped 40 per cent, the organisation said.

Qantas has shifted capacity in its network away from North America towards Europe.Getty Images

“Encouragingly, displaced long-haul demand, particularly for the European market, has largely been absorbed via alternative hubs driving solid growth in Asia-Pacific markets,” ASA wrote in its April Aviation Network Overview report.

ASA provides air traffic control as well as airport rescue and firefighting services around the country.
The network overview noted that Asia-Pacific markets “continue to grow strongly, benefiting from demand for lower-cost, short-haul tourism and the role of the region as a stable alternative connection to Europe.”

Husic urges gas export tax

By Nick Newling

Labor MP Ed Husic has called for the government to establish a gas export tax as soon as possible, after Labor chose not to include it in last night’s budget despite concerted campaigning from independents and the Greens.

Member for Chifley Ed Husic has called for the government to establish a gas export tax as soon as possible,Alex Ellinghausen

“I still remain of the view that we need to get a better deal out of our natural resources, especially gas. It seems like the simplest, most effective way to do it is a gas tax,” Husic told the ABC this afternoon.

“I know there are a lot of people that said [that] should have been in the budget. Sometimes those changes, they take a while to build up,” he said.

“It’s incumbent on people who believe this to keep pushing. I would love to get it done sooner than frankly … if we can get it done sooner, the better, because we do need to jump on this really quick.”

Husic backed the government’s policy of an east coast gas reservation.

Bank shares fall following budget housing changes

By Staff writers

Shares in Australia’s biggest banks fell sharply as analysts warned the budget’s changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax rules would weaken housing credit growth.

Commonwealth Bank’s shares were also weighed down by a poorly received trading update.

Investors had wiped $30 billon off the Commonwealth’s market value by Wednesday afternoon, after its shares plunged 10.5 per cent due to a combination of the budget’s changes and quarterly earnings that were weaker than expected.

CBA’s biggest rivals also fell, albeit less dramatically, with Westpac losing 3.9 per cent, National Australia Bank falling 1.9 per cent and ANZ Bank losing 2.5 per cent.

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Lowering migration a work in progress, says Albanese

By Nick Newling

Anthony Albanese has said there is more work to do to lower net overseas migration, as budget papers yesterday showed the figure was 35,000 people higher this financial year than previously expected.

Albanese said an influx of returning Australian citizens after the COVID pandemic and more people remaining in the country were to blame, not a rise in new arrivals.

“There is more work to do, and we’re doing it … we have had a 45 per cent reduction. What the budget papers show is that that will be reduced further,” he said.

PM refuses to look back on broken promise

By Nick Newling

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to say whether he would have won a 94-seat majority at the last election had he brought a policy of altering negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount to the May 2025 poll.

Asked on the ABC whether the policy would have changed Labor’s fortunes, Albanese said he was not a political commentator.

Anthony Albanese speaks on election night.AP

“Look, we are putting [these tax changes] forward and arguing our case, and I believe that the Australian people will support this sensible reform, because it is the right thing to do,” Albanese said.

The prime minister said locking a generation out of home ownership would lead to social dislocation and a lack of coherence.

“I want a society that fulfils the Australian values, that everyone has a fair go, that people have a crack at home ownership, that rewards aspiration and working hard. And that’s what these measures do,” he said.

Indigenous groups slam planned child safety changes

By AAP

Indigenous groups have blasted proposed Northern Territory child safety changes that would make removing children from their families easier, saying they portray Aboriginal families and communities as dangerous.

Under the new bill, tabled on Wednesday, a child’s safety would be the main concern in considering whether to remove them from their family, giving case workers more power to remove vulnerable children, NT Child Protection Minister Robyn Cahill said.

A child’s ethnic or cultural background would not be a valid reason to leave them in an unsafe situation.

But the NT government was portraying Aboriginal families, communities and culture as risks to child safety, Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory chair Theresa Roe said. About 90 per cent of children in out-of-home care in the NT were Aboriginal but only 16.7 per cent were placed with relatives or kin, the lowest rate of kinship placement in Australia.

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One Nation volunteer shared post defending police killer Dezi Freeman

By Rob Harris and Brittany Busch

Away from post-budget back and forth, reporters Rob Harris and Brittany Busch earlier today revealed a One Nation volunteer, who was hailed on stage after the party’s Farrer byelection victory, had shared a post defending police killer Dezi Freeman.

Volunteer Allan Beale was previously condemned by a judge as a “thuggish” bully who used “absolutely reprehensible racial slurs” during a violent confrontation between rival fishing guides in the Northern Territory.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson stood by Allan Beale. She is pictured here with him at the North Albury pre-polling centre

Beale, who clashed with Liberal senator James Paterson at a polling station during the Farrer campaign, also last year shared a post defending police killer Dezi Freeman and supported neo-Nazi figure Thomas Sewell in a series of social media posts. In addition, he was once accused by his fishing tour customers of being abusive and defecating off the side of a boat.

One Nation MP-elect David Farley called Beale to the stage to the cheers of the audience during Saturday’s victory speech in Albury, lauding his commitment to the cause, while previously having accused Paterson’s of being a “mongrel dog” for “goading” Beale into an altercation.

Party leader Pauline Hanson had posed for pictures with Beale, and told reporters on the trail she was “standing by my volunteer in that whole scuffle”, after he was filmed grabbing Paterson’s phone following a confrontation.

‘Proud’ Albanese defends negative gearing his own property aspirations

By Grant McArthur

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his use of negative gearing to buy a NSW Central Coast property, after the opposition linked the $4.3 million purchase to the limits placed on future buyers in yesterday’s budget.

In his staunch defence, which you can watch below, the PM states buying properties is “an aspiration that is drilled into working-class people who want the next generation to be better off than they are – and that is precisely what we are doing here”.

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SBS appoints managing director

By Calum Jaspan

SBS chair Nicholas Pappas has appointed acting managing director Jane Palfreyman on a permanent basis.

Palfreyman, who was until last August SBS’s chief marketing and commercial officer, has been appointed to a five-year term, effective as of yesterday.

Jane Palfreyman has been appointed as managing director of SBS.SBS

She replaced James Taylor as boss of the multicultural broadcaster last year after he joined outdoor media company oOh!media as chief executive.

Pappas, who was appointed this year, said Palfreyman would help SBS innovate amid significant changes to the media sector.

“The board has great confidence that Jane will continue to lead SBS with clarity and purpose – driving commercial growth, delivering engaging content in over 60 languages, and ensuring the organisation remains trusted and relevant to all Australians.”

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