![\"Angus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777166169_317_5597.jpg\")
Angus Taylor. Photograph: Mick Tsikas\/AAP<\/p>\nCoalition preferencing One Nation in Farrer to stop ‘teal policies’, Angus Taylor says<\/p>\n
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, says the Coalition has directed its preferences to One Nation ahead of the independent in the Farrer byelection to prevent \u201cteal policies\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Liberals and Nationals have both placed One Nation before independent Michelle Milthorpe, who has received a small proportion of her funding from the \u201cteal\u201d independent fundraising group, Climate 200.<\/p>\n
Angus Taylor. Photograph: Mick Tsikas\/AAP<\/p>\n
Polling suggests One Nation will win the New South Wales seat on Liberal and National preferences. Asked why the Coalition parties had put One Nation first, Taylor told ABC program Insiders:<\/p>\n
double quotation markIf you vote teal you get Green. And so whilst preferences, beyond preferencing the National party, are picking the least worst option, and we want people to vote for the Liberal party and the National party, the truth is we don\u2019t want to see teal policies for Farrer or for this country.<\/p>\n
Asked about One Nation\u2019s threat to the Coalition in regional electorates, Taylor said:<\/p>\n
double quotation markI think teal policies, Labor policies are absolute existential for the regions and the Labor government right now. If you get out into these regions, you see what it\u2019s doing to them.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.45 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Butler threatens Queensland over hospital funding<\/p>\n The health and NDIS minister, Mark Butler, says Queensland will be \u201canswerable to their community\u201d if they don\u2019t sign on to NDIS reforms, with billions of dollars of hospital funding on the line.<\/p>\n Every state and territory except for the sunshine state has signed a bilateral agreement with the government for the Thriving Kids program, which is designed to take children under nine with developmental delays or low to moderate autism off the NDIS.<\/p>\n The program will be critical to federal Labor\u2019s widespread reforms announced this week, which will see up to 160,000 participants removed from the NDIS and put on to other state-based supports, such as Thriving Kids or foundational supports.<\/p>\n Speaking to Sky News this morning, Butler said the state\u2019s Liberal government, led by David Crisafulli, needed to come to the table.<\/p>\n double quotation markNow every state and territory has signed a bilateral agreement with us that details the broad details of the Thriving Kids program \u2026 The only state that hasn\u2019t signed yet is Queensland.<\/p>\n I tried to make clear again last week that is part of the deal that sees them get additional hospital funding and, frankly, they are answerable to their community if they don\u2019t put the additional supports.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.11 EDT<\/p>\n Liberal leader pushes tax cuts on housing: \u2018If you want more of something, take taxes off\u2019<\/p>\n Labor is readying to reform taxes on property investors, and the Coalition still hasn\u2019t taken a firm stand.<\/p>\n Angus Taylor said he believed the focus should be on building more homes, and that higher housing taxes would lead to less housing supply.<\/p>\n Asked whether he was open to winding back tax breaks offered to property investors, Taylor told Insiders:<\/p>\n double quotation markWhat I want to see is more homes built in this country, more investment, successful housing completions, in this country. \u2026 If you want more houses, don\u2019t impose additional taxes on housing.<\/p>\n Taylor did not directly answer when asked whether he would vote against any changes to capital gains tax or negative gearing. He said:<\/p>\n double quotation markI just want more houses built. \u2026 At the moment we\u2019ve got about a thought bubble about what they\u2019re going to be. \u2026 You get the government to give a specific policy, which lasts more than about 24 hours, and I\u2019ll consider comment. \u2026<\/p>\n The principle is we need more homes built, and if you want more homes built, don\u2019t whack another tax on it. If you want less of something, tax it. If you want more of something, take taxes off.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.52 EDT<\/p>\n Taylor says it\u2019s \u2018reasonable to call out\u2019 Iran as he refuses to label Trump\u2019s war a mistake<\/p>\n Angus Taylor has steered clear of endorsing his colleague, frontbencher Andrew Hastie\u2019s condemnation of the US president, Donald Trump, and his war on Iran.<\/p>\n He told the ABC\u2019s Insiders:<\/p>\n double quotation markI\u2019m not going to get into commentary on major leaders like Donald Trump. What I will say is, what we want to see is an opening of the strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n Taylor refused to say Trump\u2019s war was a mistake when repeatedly asked.<\/p>\n double quotation markI\u2019m not going to get into commentary on this. What I do know is: Iran is a bad country. It is. It kills its own people. That is a bad country. And I think it is reasonable for freedom-loving countries like ours to call out the bad behaviour of those countries.<\/p>\n But I tell you what I want to see most of all: an opening up of the strait of Hormuz, because, if we don\u2019t get that, we are going to continue to see high petrol and diesel prices at the bowser, high jet fuel costs for when you fly around this country, and we need that brought down.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.22 EDT<\/p>\n Taylor says government should not give Syrian camp detainees passports<\/p>\n Angus Taylor has claimed the Albanese government could choose to avoid giving passports to Australians detained in Syria or block them from re-entering Australia.<\/p>\n Four Australian women and nine of their children and grandchildren left the al-Roj camp in north-east Syria<\/a>, seeking to return to Australia, earlier this week.<\/p>\n The wives, widows and children of jailed or dead Islamic State<\/a> fighters held at the camp have not been charged with a crime. One woman has been issued a temporary exclusion order<\/a> seeking to prevent her return to Australia.<\/p>\n Taylor this morning suggested the government should not be issuing passports to the Australians citizens, as it typically would be required to do. He told Insiders:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe government should be making every possible effort to not accept these people back into the country. That includes both the issuing and distribution of passports, where that\u2019s possible. \u2026 There\u2019s a lot of discretion or some discretion with the minister, as there is with temporary exclusion orders.<\/p>\n The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) advised the government to block one of the people from entering Australia. Asked whether he trusted Asio to advise on the others, Taylor said:<\/p>\n double quotation markI don\u2019t trust the government. \u2026 All I\u2019m saying is [what] we need to know is when the last security assessments were done, what we know from that and why only one temporary exclusion order has been issued.<\/p>\n Taylor also claimed, without evidence, that the government is supporting Jamal Rifi, a Sydney doctor and community advocate, to help repatriate the women and children. The government and Rifi have repeatedly denied this.<\/p>\n Read about the development this weekend here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.09 EDT<\/p>\n Angus Taylor says welcome to country should be used less<\/p>\n The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, has called for welcome to country remarks to be used less often, saying he is frustrated they have been \u201cdevalued\u201d by \u201coveruse\u201d.<\/p>\n Taylor said a welcome to country should be \u201cspecial when it happens\u201d and condemned those who booed during Anzac Day events on Saturday. He told Insiders:<\/p>\n double quotation markCan I say, booing, whatever the cause, on Anzac Day, [at] Anzac Day ceremonies, is absolutely inappropriate and un-Australian. It shouldn\u2019t happen. It simply shouldn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n I can understand the frustration Australians feel about over use of welcomes to country. I feel that at times. Often actually. I think it is overused and as a result they are devalued.<\/p>\n I would like to see them used less and therefore not devalued, as I think they have been over time.<\/p>\n It\u2019s up to individual organising committees to decide whether they want to do it or not. But the general principle should be: let\u2019s do this less and make it more special when it happens.<\/p>\n To which, the Insiders host, David Speers, said: \u201cAnd don\u2019t boo?\u201d Taylor responded:<\/p>\n double quotation markAbsolutely not boo, absolutely.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.25 EDT<\/p>\n Taylor says \u2018higher risk\u2019 of \u2018bad people\u2019 coming from \u2018bad countries\u2019<\/p>\n Angus Taylor has said \u201cbad people\u201d could migrate to Australia from \u201cbad countries\u201d without detailing which countries would be considered \u201cbad\u201d under a government he leads.<\/p>\n Taylor earlier this month said<\/a> migrants would be more likely to adopt Australian values if they were from liberal democracies than from \u201cplaces ruled by fundamentalists, extremists and dictators\u201d.<\/p>\n Asked whether migrants from China and Vietnam would disagree, Taylor told the ABC\u2019s Insiders:<\/p>\n double quotation markSome of the great Australians have come from countries that were bad countries at the time. But there is a higher risk that some bad people come from those bad countries.<\/p>\n Asked if China was a bad country, he said:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe have bad countries around the world. I mean, to claim that Iran is a good country right now, seriously, and the government itself has put legislation in place to make it harder for people to come from Iran.<\/p>\n We have seen terrible acts of atrocity coming from Gaza.<\/p>\n I mean, we know they\u2019re in the Middle East and elsewhere, [places] that have committed great atrocities on their own populations. So there is real risk with people coming from those countries. It\u2019s also true that many great Australians have come from bad countries, and this is why the discrimination shouldn\u2019t be based on \u2026 race or religion; it must be based on Australian values.<\/p>\n When pressed, Taylor said Iran was at present one of those \u201cbad countries\u201d he was talking about, but China was not.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.24 EDT<\/p>\n Coalition preferencing One Nation in Farrer to stop ‘teal policies’, Angus Taylor says<\/p>\n The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, says the Coalition has directed its preferences to One Nation ahead of the independent in the Farrer byelection to prevent \u201cteal policies\u201d.<\/p>\n The Liberals and Nationals have both placed One Nation before independent Michelle Milthorpe, who has received a small proportion of her funding from the \u201cteal\u201d independent fundraising group, Climate 200.<\/p>\n Angus Taylor. Photograph: Mick Tsikas\/AAP<\/p>\n Polling suggests One Nation will win the New South Wales seat on Liberal and National preferences. Asked why the Coalition parties had put One Nation first, Taylor told ABC program Insiders:<\/p>\n double quotation markIf you vote teal you get Green. And so whilst preferences, beyond preferencing the National party, are picking the least worst option, and we want people to vote for the Liberal party and the National party, the truth is we don\u2019t want to see teal policies for Farrer or for this country.<\/p>\n Asked about One Nation\u2019s threat to the Coalition in regional electorates, Taylor said:<\/p>\n double quotation markI think teal policies, Labor policies are absolute existential for the regions and the Labor government right now. If you get out into these regions, you see what it\u2019s doing to them.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.45 EDT<\/p>\n Welcome<\/p>\n Good morning and welcome to our live news blog today. I\u2019m Luca Ittimani, and I\u2019ll be taking you through Sunday\u2019s breaking stories. Angus Taylor, the federal opposition leader, will be up on the ABC\u2019s Insiders soon.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s get stuck in.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.20 EDT<\/p>\n Victorian motorists to get rego rebate in pre-election budget sweetener Motorists in Victoria could save almost $400 a year on driving costs under a cost-of-living rebate in the Allan Labor government\u2019s 2026\/27 budget.<\/p>\n In a move designed to buffer the impact of soaring fuel prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East, the state\u2019s premier, Jacinta Allan, has announced a 20% rebate on light vehicle registration.<\/p>\n With annual registration fees for standard vehicles costing as much as $930.70, a single-car owner stands to receive $186, while a two-car family could see up to $372 returned to their pocket.<\/p>\n The scheme only applies to personal-use vehicles under 4.5 tonnes, including cars and utes. The rebate will be backdated to cover registration payments made for the 2025\/26 period, but Victorians will only have a two-month window from 1 June to 31 July to apply.<\/p>\n Car owners can only claim the rebate for a maximum of two vehicles registered under their name<\/p>\n The government estimates the scheme will cost $750m, with Allan saying the state would absorb the cost while maintaining a budget surplus.<\/p>\n Victorians have already seen the announcement of free and half-price public transport schemes, and the announcement of the rego discount is expected to ignite fresh criticism against the NSW premier, Chris Minns, from his state\u2019s opposition, which is calling on him to cut the fuel excise and provide free public transport over long weekends to ease the pain at NSW bowsers.<\/p>\n![\"Krishani](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777166170_580_Krishani_Dhanji.png\")
Krishani Dhanji<\/p>\n![\"Kelly](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777166170_5_Kelly_Burke.png\")
Kelly Burke<\/p>\n