Australian news and politics live: Albanese says expanded 5 per cent home deposit scheme will help thousands

Liberal MP Alex Hawke has used Question Time to ask the Prime Minister why he “snapped” at a journalist on Monday morning after he was asked about the Australian-US relationship and his decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.

Mr Hawke’s question came after Anthony Albanese claimed he had been asked 5324 questions on why he had failed to meet face-to-face with Donald Trump.

In a cheeky question, Mr Hawke asked him to table those 5324 answers and to gauge if his statehood call would increase or decrease his chances of securing a Trump meeting.

The PM responded by digging up 2011-made comments made by the Liberal leader Sussan Ley about recognising Palestinian statehood to give people in Gaza “heart”.

“They’re not my words. They’re the words of your leader,” the PM said.

“The fact that the Manager of Opposition Business asked such a flippant question about the relationship between Australia and the US or about Middle East peace. It shows how unworthy they are, those opposite.”

The PM labelled the question “childish” and added that he would continue to protect Australia’s sovereignty and act in its own national interest regardless of US views.

Independent MP for Mackellar Sophie Scamps has questioned why the government hasn’t made a final report of a February 2023 commissioned-review of public sector board appointments.

Ms Scamps questioned the Albanese Government’s commitment to transparency after sitting on the report, known as the “Briggs” report, for 18 months.

Treasurer Jim Chlamers went through a list of Albanese government actions to improve the public service before mentioning cases where women have held positions for the first time in their term.

He said the heads of the Reserve Bank, Productivity Commission and Treasury were all women.

Dr Chalmers was then pulled up by Speaker Milton Dick for talking around the issue and not answering Mr Scamps’ question about the reports.

“We’ve received the Briggs report, as the honourable member rightly points out. We are working through it in our usual considered and methodical way,” the Treasurer eventually answered.

“We’ll make the report public in due course following that careful consideration.”

Jim Chalmers has vowed to ensure foreign investment laws in Australia “keep pace” and are regularly reviewed after a US church owned company brought up $500 million of farmland in just six months.

Nationals leader David Littleproud had asked how the Mormon church was able to invest so much and expressed concern Australian farming families wouldn’t be about to compete.

The treasurer said the case was “historical” because they fell under a 2004-signed agreement.

“The settings and thresholds in this case are applicable to private investors from the US. They were established by our free trade agreement which was entered into by the Coalition 20-odd years ago and that remains the case today,” he said.

“Obviously we see these sorts of cases pop up from time to time. We spend time analysing those cases and work out whether a change is necessary.

“We’ve made recent changes. We’re making sure that our foreign investment arrangements keep pace.”

Ted O’Brien has followed up with another question about budget sustainability after the Treasurer Jim Chlamers responded to his first with a stinging blow on Coalition’s record as budget managers.

This time, Labor leader Anthony Albanese answered before handing over to his Treasurer to clarify his answer.

Mr O’Brien asked about the “fiscal rules” Jim Chalmers mentioned in his last answer to control spending and accused him of planning to “blow the lot” of the pre-election budget’s $8 billion upward revision in revenue.

“According to his own pre-election budget, the upward revision in revenue was $8 billion. He plans to blow the lot. Plus, another $26 billion,” Mr O’Brien said.

The PM thanked Dr Chalmers for his “great work” on the budget and accused the Coalition of following “rabbits” down “the hole which they dug year after year”.

“They managed to produce zero budget surpluses,” he said.

Dr Chalmers continued the sledging when he stood in response to Mr O’Brien’s second question.

“I’ll give you three numbers. Under this government we have banked 70 per cent of upward revision to revenue.

“Under those opposite it was about 40 under (John) Howard and (Peter) Costello about 30. We bank most of the upward revisions to revenue and they spend most of it.

“That’s why their fiscal rules in office weren’t worth the paper they were written on. Because they failed every single test they set for themselves.

“They said they’d deliver surpluses and they went zero for nine. Completes doughnuts.

“We delivered surpluses in our first two years in office. We’ve been able to make some good progress cleaning up the mess that was left to us by those opposite.

“I hope that these questions continue because when I was told that the member for Fairfax gave a speech about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I confess - that the word ‘Wonka’ was almost the word that came to mind.”

Shadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien has put a question to his counterpart Jim Chalmers about budget sustainability, asking when he’s going to “contain his spending spree”.

In a stern response, the Treasurer has going through a laundry list of fiscal failures of the Coalition when they were in office.

“It gives me the opportunity to remind the House that the three fiscal rules that those opposite took to the election. Number one; higher taxes, number two; bigger deficits, number three; more debt,” Dr Chalmers said.

“The dishonesty and the hypocrisy at the core of that question is astonishing even by their low standards. It shows that they have absolutely no idea and absolutely no shame.

“Now, we have fiscal rules to guide us in the budget. Those rules are to improve the budget position. We have fiscal rules in our budget and we have been complying with our fiscal rules.

“On our watch, we have turned big Liberal deficits into substantial Labor surpluses.”

Anthony Albanese has delivered a brutal take down of the Coalition after Barnaby’s private members bill to repeal net zero was debated in Parliament today.

The Prime Minister used a Dorthy Dixer to weigh in on the infighting his rival has been engulfed in over its climate policies.

He painted Labor as a party of “outcomes” and Coalition as one of “chaos”.

“We on this side of the House will continue to put forward positive policies that make a difference to people,” he started.

“Whether it is improving home ownership, improving the number of rentals, improving social and affordable housing, supporting greater rental assistance.

“We on this side of the House are focused on cost of living and housing.

“Those on that side, have Liberals fighting each other, the Nats fighting each other and the Liberals fighting the Nats.

“We on this side are fighting for Australians.

“They’re just fighting each other.”

Opposition leader Sussan Ley has delivered a scathing assessment of the government’s Economic Reform Roundtable in her second question to Parliament on Monday.

She slammed it as “Labor’s 3-day Canberra talk fest” and said it delivered “no real relief for Australians”, focusing on power and grocery prices.

The Prime Minister hit back by rolling through a long list of actions the Albanese Government were undertaking to help Australians face cost of living pressures.

It included a submission to the Fair Work Commission on minimum wages, changes to paid parental leave, the home battery scheme, paid prac for students and cutting student debt by 20 per cent.

Anthony Albanese claims Labor has fast tracked the First Home Guarantee from January 1 to October 1 because he wanted to “get on with it”.

The second question was asked by Labor’s Mcnamara MP Josh Burns as a Dorithy Dixer, who is also the special envoy for social housing and homelessness.

“In April, at our campaign launch in Perth, we committed to give every first-home buyer the chance to buy their own home with just a 5 per cent deposit and to cover the cost of lender’s mortgage insurance,” the PM said.

“We said these changes would start on January 1 next year but we want to get on with it which is why we’ve brought it forward to October 1.”

Mr Albanese said it would build on other government measures. Among them, the PM listed Labor’s recently announced plan to pause the National Construction Code for four years, which had originally been a Coalition pledge.

Opposition leader Sussan Ley has kicked off Question Time in the second fortnight of sitting for the 48th Parliament.

Ms Ley accused the government of stealing from the Coalition’s playbook after lifting their pledge to help Australians get into their first home with a smaller deposit.

The Prime Minister has answered her question by calling the Liberal leader “very bold” to throw around the criticism when the last Coalition government “didn’t even bother to have a Housing Minister”.

“Most of the time they were in office they didn’t even bother to have a Housing Minister,” Anthony Albanese said, drawing contrasts between Labor and Coalition action on housing.

“We on this side of the House have a $43 billion Homes for Australia plan.

“Now, tonight indeed, in the Senate they’re debating a Coalition motion to abolish the Build to Rent program. Now that is a program to support increased private rentals.

“Those opposite hate it so much they’re moving a disallowance motion on it.”

NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully has accused the Liberal Party of not supporting plans to restart work on Woollahra train station and rezoning for up to 10,000 new homes in Sydney’s east.

Mr Scully could not confirm when exactly serious consideration was first given to resuming work on the “ghost station” during a budget estimates hearing on Monday.

“I think we probably first talked about it in 2023. We probably talked about it again in 2024 and we’ve most certainly spoken about it in 2025,” Mr Scully said.

Mr Scully turned the tables on Liberal MLC Scott Farlow during proceedings, asking him “where are you guys at?” in regard to the Woollahra redevelopment.

When Mr Farlow refused to answer the question and instead pressed on with his own of Mr Scully, the Planning Minister said: “So you don’t support it?”

“We’ve had the opposition confirmed this morning that they don’t support this plan,” Mr Scully continued, repeating the claim at least five more times.

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