CGT Senate inquiry process ‘farcical’, David Pocock says
David Pocock says he’s long been a supporter of changes to the capital gains tax discount for investment properties, but the government’s reforms came as a surprise.
He has some particularly choice words for the very short Senate inquiry process into the changes.
Speaking to ABC RN Breakfast, Pocock says he wants to see further changes for small businesses, and ensure that loopholes for wealthier people are actually closed.
double quotation markThe Senate inquiry was a bit farcical, you know, two days for such broad changes. I really support the intent of it, but clearly with these sorts of changes, there’s a lot of finer details that need to be looked at.
If the intent is to close the loopholes for things like trust, where we have wealthier Australians essentially not paying tax because they can use the trust system, we have to make sure that we’re actually closing them down but not creating a burden for people who aren’t rorting the system.
Updated at 18.03 EDT
Key events
Pauline Hanson on paid parental leave – what’s changed?
The One Nation leader has walked back comments on paid parental leave, clarifying that taxpayer-funded leave should continue, but that small businesses shouldn’t have to pay the entitlement.
Here’s what she said on Wednesday at the National Press Club:
double quotation markIf women take time off and they are not paid their wages because they’re not working, fair enough. Why should business pay? But they’re not at work. That’s the difference. That’s why the pay gap is there.
Economists had raised concerns over those comments, warning that kind of policy could wind back the clock by decades for working mothers, damage productivity and worsen gender inequality.
So, to get to the point, what’s changed?
Today Hanson said her comments had been “taken out of context” and that she definitely still supports taxpayer-funded parental leave.
But the difference is that instead of questioning why any business should pay an employee while they’re off work caring for a newborn, she said it’s just tough for small businesses, and that they should get a pass. She said:
double quotation markIt’s up to companies if they want to have it in their policy to give it to their workers. So there’s no way, shape or form that I am actually saying to get rid of it … There are businesses that cannot afford it. It’s OK for government, taxpayers pay for it. You put another pressure on the small businesses, pay for maternity leave, they’ll actually fold.
To note here – it is not compulsory for employers to offer paid parental leave, but all employees are entitled to 12 months of unpaid leave. The government’s paid parental leave scheme coming into effect from 1 July will offer parents 26 weeks’ at the national minimum wage, funded by taxpayers.
Updated at 19.32 EDT
Nick Visser
Matt Canavan doesn’t plan to meet Roberts-Smith tonight, but doesn’t want to be ‘judge or jury or executioner’ as case moves ahead
The Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, says he has no plans to speak to Ben Roberts-Smith at the event at the Australian War Memorial, but said he doesn’t want to be “judge or jury or executioner” and would rather let the courts move forward.
Canavan told reporters he would consider meeting with the former soldier if asked, but said he believes it’s “extremely important that we protect the principle that people are innocent until proven guilty, and Ben Roberts-Smith has not been proven guilty of any crime in the criminal issue”.
He went on:
double quotation markI would say regardless of the case here … the conduct for which Ben Roberts-Smith was awarded a Victoria Cross for [will] live on … I try not to put myself in as a judge or jury or executioner for people who do put themselves at that kind of risk because I have never myself done it.
Matt Canavan. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 19.14 EDT
Hanson plans to ‘catch up’ with Roberts-Smith at war memorial event tonight
Josh Butler
Pauline Hanson says she wants to “catch up” with Ben Roberts-Smith at an event at the Australian War Memorial tonight, and give him her support.
Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated living soldier, is facing charges of war crimes related to his service in Afghanistan. He denies the charges and says he will fight the allegations in court.
The former SAS soldier last week successfully varied his bail to attend the opening of the Anzac Hall at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra tonight. Roberts-Smith had been invited along with all other living Victoria Cross recipients.
Hanson, who recently spoke at a rally for Roberts-Smith and whose party has published public signs backing him, was asked at a doorstop this morning in Parliament House whether it was appropriate for him to attend the visit, considering the charges against him.
double quotation markWhy shouldn’t he? He hasn’t been convicted. He may have been charged. He’s still innocent until he’s been proven guilty.
I’ll be going [to the launch], and I’m hoping to actually catch up and say hello to him and give him my support.
Parliament will end earlier than usual tonight, so that politicians can attend the event.
Updated at 19.09 EDT
Starmer failed on energy, immigration and social cohesion, says Hastie
Liberal MP Andrew Hastie says it was a “tough watch” seeing Keir Starmer resign from Downing Street, but that the former UK prime minister failed to address issues around energy, immigration and social cohesion.
He told Sky News:
double quotation markIt was tough to watch a UK prime minister torn down by his own party, so soon after a massive landslide victory back in 2024 but I do think that Keir Starmer failed to address some of the big issues facing the United Kingdom, immigration, energy, and also the challenge of social cohesion, which is a big issue for a lot of people in the UK, so a tough day for him.
Asked whether the Australian Labor government is facing same issues here, Hastie rails off against the net zero emissions policy (something he’s been crusading against for a while), and says immigration remains a “red hot issue”.
Labor and the Liberal party both have now been eclipsed in the polls by One Nation, which has a higher primary vote.
Updated at 19.03 EDT
Hanson says small businesses forced to pay parental leave will ‘fold’
Pauline Hanson has clarified (slightly) her remarks from the National Press Club last week on paid parental leave.
There, she seemed to suggest women should not get paid by their employers while on maternity leave.
Today, the One Nation leader said again that small businesses shouldn’t have to pay for maternity leave, but that the government could continue to do so.
From 1 July, parents are entitled to 26 weeks of government funded paid parental leave at the minimum wage. It’s not compulsory for businesses to pay parental leave (though many do in order to attract staff), but they have to allow 12 months of unpaid leave.
Hanson told Sunrise:
double quotation markIt’s up to companies if they want to have it in their policy to give it to their workers. So there’s no way, shape or form that I am actually saying to get rid of it. I think it’s been very beneficial to women to get back into the workforce. So that was totally taken completely out of context.
There are businesses that cannot afford it. It’s OK for government, taxpayers pay for it. You put another pressure on the small businesses, pay for maternity leave, they’ll actually fold.
Pauline Hanson speaks at the National Press Club. Photograph: Hollie Adams/ReutersShare
Updated at 18.47 EDT
People looking for ‘easy answers’ to cost of living crisis, says Labor minister
The minister for aged care, Sam Rae, has also sought to distance Australia from the political turmoil in the UK, but has acknowledged some similarities between the rise of Reform UK and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
Rae says that people are looking for “easy answers” to the cost of living crisis both in Australia and around the world. But he says that the focus should be on delivering solutions, not “driving division within our communities”.
double quotation markWe’ve seen inflation pressures across communities all around the world, and those cost-of-living pressures come to bite and people have been looking for some easy answers, and we see that at home … We have seen a rise in support for these populist rightwing parties around the world.
Rae also pays tribute to Keir Starmer, following his resignation as the UK prime minister, and says he made an “extraordinary public contribution”.
Updated at 18.49 EDT
David Pocock won’t be joining a teal party
David Pocock, the independent ACT senator, says joining a party is not for him, after chatter resurfaced yesterday that some of the so-called teal MPs could form an alliance.
A few like Monique Ryan have already ruled themselves out, and we know the Warringah MP Zali Steggall is leading the charge.
Pocock tells RN Breakfast there’s a lot of frustration and anger among the public and people are “looking for alternatives”.
double quotation markAt this stage, I just don’t think it’s for me. I’m an independent senator for the ACT, and anything I do would come from the community here. There’s plenty of people who’ve asked me to do something bigger, but at this stage, I just don’t think it’s for me. And I’m really interested to see how it goes for the independents that are working on that.
Updated at 18.31 EDT
CGT Senate inquiry process ‘farcical’, David Pocock says
David Pocock says he’s long been a supporter of changes to the capital gains tax discount for investment properties, but the government’s reforms came as a surprise.
He has some particularly choice words for the very short Senate inquiry process into the changes.
Speaking to ABC RN Breakfast, Pocock says he wants to see further changes for small businesses, and ensure that loopholes for wealthier people are actually closed.
double quotation markThe Senate inquiry was a bit farcical, you know, two days for such broad changes. I really support the intent of it, but clearly with these sorts of changes, there’s a lot of finer details that need to be looked at.
If the intent is to close the loopholes for things like trust, where we have wealthier Australians essentially not paying tax because they can use the trust system, we have to make sure that we’re actually closing them down but not creating a burden for people who aren’t rorting the system.
Updated at 18.03 EDT
Albanese pays tribute to ‘friend’ Keir Starmer
Anthony Albanese has paid tribute his “friend” Keir Starmer after the British prime minister announced he would step down from the top job under pressure from his own Labour party MPs.
Albanese said Starmer, who has struggled to impose his authority despite winning power with a huge majority in 2024, should be proud of the contribution he had made to Britain and expressed gratitude for Starmer’s support on the Aukus talks.
Albanese said:
double quotation markI consider Keir Starmer a friend and I’m thinking of him on what must be a very tough day.
Serving in public life is a tremendous privilege but politics can also be a harsh business.
When the time comes for Keir to leave Downing Street, he can be proud of the contribution he has made to the country he loves and to the Labour Party that he led back to government in 2024.
I’m grateful for the opportunities we had to work together to strengthen our AUKUS defence and security partnership, support the brave people of Ukraine and keep children safe from the damage that social media can do.
I wish Keir, Victoria and their children well with everything the future holds.
Keir Starmer (left) with Anthony Albanese at the G7 summit in Canada last year. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PAShare
Updated at 18.10 EDT
Dan Jervis-Bardy
As we just reported, Ben Roberts-Smith is set to attend the official opening of the centrepiece of the revamped Australian War Memorial.
New arguments to further vary his bail are expected before court this morning after Roberts-Smith also applied to move his home address in south-east Queensland, in part because he wanted to be closer to family.
The federal parliament will adjourn early on tonight to allow MPs to attend the Anzac Hall opening.
In a speech to the event, Albanese will describe the galleries as a “sublime and powerful” addition to the war memorial.
double quotation markIt amounts to an act of profound respect from the nation to all who have served in our name, and all who serve now. The fighters for peace, the keepers of peace. It honours all who went and all who fell. It honours those who came home, including the many whose hearts never knew peace again. It is an act of remembrance that also acknowledges that not every conflict has been supported – and that, too, is part of our hard-won freedom.
A McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter is seen as part of an exhibition in the newly opened Anzac Hall galleries at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 18.00 EDT