Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 1:11pmFri 9 Oct 2026 at 1:11pm
ATO should scrap, not just delay, contentious credit card ban: Taylor
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has unleashed on the treasurer as he demands a contentious Australian Tax Office (ATO) ban on credit cards be scrapped altogether.
The ATO was initially due to stop accepting credit card payments in December, but will delay that ban until June 30, 2027.
The move sparked widespread backlash from small businesses.
On Friday, the government confirmed it will provide the ATO with transitional funding, with the cost of the support to be finalised in the mid-year budget update.
“They shouldn’t just delay the ban on credit cards. They should scrap it instead of screwing businesses,” Taylor tells News24.
“Today they’ve decided they’re going to screw them tomorrow, or at least in nine months’ time.
“And this just shows how little they understand small businesses.”
Taylor reiterated the opposition was in the process of drafting legislation to scrap the ban. It’s important to note that even if the Coalition introduced the legislation to parliament next week, it’s unlikely it would be passed unless the government provided support for the bill.
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 1:01pmFri 9 Oct 2026 at 1:01pm
ACCI chief says ATO delay will provide more time for consultation
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) chief executive Andrew McKellar has been speaking to News24 about the delay.
McKellar says Labor’s decision to provide funding to the tax office to delay the credit card payment ban will allow time for more consultation.
The credit card payment ban now won’t be introduced until after June 30, 2027, according to Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
The ACCI chief thanked the prime minister, treasurer and small business minister for intervening.
“What we’ve seen over the last week is many, many small businesses coming out publicly identifying the pressure they’re under and how the original decision by the tax office was just going to add to that,” McKellar says.
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 12:55pmFri 9 Oct 2026 at 12:55pm
ATO credit card ban delay will give business ‘much-needed breathing space’: ACCI
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has welcomed the government’s decision to delay the tax office’s ban on credit card payments.
The federal government has announced it will provide funding to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to delay the introduction of the credit card payment ban to give businesses time to adjust.
Labor says the ban will come into effect after June 30, 2027, when credit card payments will be accepted through “third parties”.
ACCI chief executive Andrew McKellar says the announcement provides “much-needed breathing space” for businesses.
“Now there must be genuine consultation with business on this,” McKellar says.
“It is reassuring to see some sense prevail on the credit card ban for now. This is a win for small business and a welcome reprieve, but small businesses remain under significant pressure.
“This decision does not save them from rising costs and shrinking margins.”
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 12:44pmFri 9 Oct 2026 at 12:44pm
Chalmers pressed on ATO, small business double standard
Jim Chalmers has defended the decision not to intervene in the decision to ban card surcharges.
The treasurer also brushes off a question about whether it’s a double standard for small businesses to pay interchange fees but not the tax office.
“I think it’s pretty obvious that the ATO doesn’t have the ability to set their own prices. They’re implementing the tax system,” he says.
“So it’s a different proposition when it comes to the ATO implementing tax versus small businesses and others are setting their prices for their goods and services.”
He reiterates the ban on card surcharges is going to save money for small businesses.
“One of the neglected elements of this is part of the package is to save small business up to $900 million a year in interchange fees,” he says.
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 12:41pmFri 9 Oct 2026 at 12:41pm
Chalmers’s early morning call with the tax boss
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he spoke with Commissioner of Taxation Rob Heferen “very early” this morning to tell him the government would foot the bill for an extended transition.
“I briefed him on the proposal that we were putting to our colleagues to fund an extension, so that the ATO would have time to do more consultation,” Chalmers says.
“You know, for example, when it comes to genuine hardship or, for example, when it comes to trying to work with the card providers to get the cost down further, the difference between expensive providers and cheaper providers.
“All of these are the sorts of considerations that the tax commissioner will plug into his consultation. He now has longer to do that because we’ve stepped in.”
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 12:36pmFri 9 Oct 2026 at 12:36pm
When was the government told about the ATO’s credit card ban?
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is asked how long the government has been aware the Australian Tax Office (ATO) was considering a ban on credit cards.
Chalmers says the government was aware the tax office was “grappling” with the issue before it made the decision in late September.
He says the government insisted there be a transition period. The ATO originally landed on a two-month period, with the ban coming into effect in December.
“Today we are substantially extending that period so that the ATO has the opportunity and the time to consult more, particularly with small business, on their implementation,” he says.
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 12:23pmFri 9 Oct 2026 at 12:23pm
Chalmers reconfirms ATO delay and also scraps overhaul of disaster relief funding split
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has just stepped up for a press conference in Brisbane, where he’s talking about the Australian Tax Office (ATO) and disaster relief funding.
On the ATO, Chalmers says its ban on credit cards won’t begin until June next year. He doesn’t spell out how much it will cost the government to foot the bill to delay the implementation, which was made in response to the Reserve Bank’s ban on card surcharges.
His second announcement is on disaster funding. The government had proposed to change the disaster recovery model to a 50-50 split with the states.
Earlier this week, Queensland’s 77 mayors wrote to ask Canberra to abandon its proposed changes to disaster recovery funding, saying it will force local communities to fork out the difference.
Chalmers says the existing 75-25 arrangements will continue.
“This is all about ensuring that the Commonwealth government is providing certainty and providing funding, when disaster hits,” he says.
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 12:10pmFri 9 Oct 2026 at 12:10pm
ATO credit card ban delayed after government agrees to foot bill
As Jane Norman first reported, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has just confirmed the delay of the implementation of the ATO’s controversial credit card ban.
The tax office announced last week it would stop accepting credit card payments for tax bills from December, in response to the Reserve Bank’s ban on credit card surcharges.
It justified the move saying it would cost $200 million a year to absorb the fees.
But after pressure from small businesses, Chalmers says the government has “stepped in” to ensure the transition period is extended.
“Australian small businesses have said the ATO’s announced timeframe was inadequate and we have taken these concerns seriously and acted on them,” he said in a joint statement with Small Business Minister Anne Aly and Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino.
“The government will provide transitional funding so the ATO can continue accepting credit card transactions until the end of the financial year, with costs to be finalised in MYEFO.
“This will provide more time for the ATO to engage with small business and other taxpayers who currently rely on credit cards, provide more detailed information to those affected, and consult on targeted options to support impacted taxpayers.”
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 11:53amFri 9 Oct 2026 at 11:53am
Shadow treasurer says PM has ‘forced Jim Chalmers’s hand’ on ATO credit card payment
Tim Wilson has responded to the government’s decision to provide the tax office with extra funding to delay the ban on credit card payments.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is expected to announce the extra funding to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) at a press conference soon.
Speaking to News24, the shadow treasurer says the Coalition still stands ready to introduce legislation to overturn the ban.
“The ATO’s decision has been a disaster, but the Albanese government is the one that triggered this whole process because they introduced this surcharge ban,” Wilson says.
“What the government has now done is said they’ve given themselves a 12-month reprieve. We still have legislation ready to go to overturn the decision that’s been made by the ATO because [it’s] leaving small business hung out to dry and we need clarity.
“The prime minister has clearly forced Jim Chalmers’s hand again because he wouldn’t listen to the community and the consequences of decisions.”
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 11:30amFri 9 Oct 2026 at 11:30am
Shoebridge indicates Greens want digital duty of care passed without ministerial discretion
Greens leader David Shoebridge has indicated his party wants to see the passage of the government’s digital duty of care but without the inclusion of ministerial discretion.
Labor has released an exposure draft of its digital duty of care, which would allow social media users to opt out of a social media algorithm.
It would also require big tech companies to mitigate and protect under-18s from harmful content, such as content that promotes hostile ideas about women.
But the current draft gives the communications minister the discretion to add to that list of harms, which has attracted criticism from the Coalition and Greens.
“The exposure draft had a number of concerns in it for us, particularly the extensive ministerial discretion proposed. But we’ve been on the record that we want to see this reform go through,” Shoebridge says.
“I think there’s a strong call to say that the likes of Meta and Google and others should be held to account when they cause harm. But we will be looking at the draft legislation, and I expect that’s going to go through a process in parliament before it’s finally legislated.”
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 11:10amFri 9 Oct 2026 at 11:10am
Taylor demands ATO reverse ban on credit card payments
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor is demanding the tax office reverse its ban on credit card payments.
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is due to implement the change at the end of November following the Reserve Bank’s decision to prohibit card surcharges.
Taylor is urging the government to direct the ATO make a change today. If not, he says the opposition will introduce legislation when parliament sits next week.
“It would say to the tax office that you’ve got to accept credit card payments. It would overturn the decision that’s been made. It’s pretty simple. It’s not going to be a complicated piece of legislation,” he says.
Any legislation introduced by the opposition would be unlikely to pass the parliament without government support, because they do not have the numbers in the House of Reps.
Taylor accuses Treasurer Jim Chalmers of being in hiding.
We’re expecting Chalmers to hold a press conference of his own sometime within the next hour.
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 11:07amFri 9 Oct 2026 at 11:07am
Greens reserve position on 30pc tax on discretionary trusts
The Greens haven’t said whether they would support tax changes on discretionary trusts announced in this year’s federal budget.
The Australian Financial Review reports Labor will introduce a bill to parliament next week to impose a 30 per cent tax on discretionary tax.
Greens leader David Shoebridge says the Greens are yet to see the final draft the of the legislation.
Speaking in Melbourne, Shoebridge says his party wants to make sure the bill makes people’s lives “materially better” and doesn’t give “huge loopholes” to business.
“There’s a simple test if it’s true to what they said, if it’s making people’s lives better, then it gets our support,” Shoebridge says.
“But if they’re back-pedalling in the face of pressure from One Nation again, well, they’re going to probably have a difficult week.”
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 10:30amFri 9 Oct 2026 at 10:30am
Analysis: Unless you’re Pauline Hanson, the migration debate can be a dangerous sinkhole
Way back when the opposition started talking about cutting immigration, it would have thought on the basis of polling it was tapping into a vein of political gold.
But since then, Pauline Hanson has taken ownership of the goldmine and pretty much locked it away for One Nation.
Simon Welsh, from the Redbridge Group political consultancy, says: “The Liberals talking about migration doesn’t create more Liberal voters, it creates more One Nation voters.
“Immigration offers people a simple explanation for the pressures they are feeling. When the major parties talk about it, it validates that. [Voters] then ask, ‘who is the strongest voice on immigration?’ It’s a massive strategic error [by the major parties],” Welsh says.
Also, and crucially, the opposition may not have initially appreciated how a migration policy can open a political sinkhole that it’s easy to be pushed into and hard to scramble out of.
We’re seeing that this week, now Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has finally released the Coalition’s plan.
Read the full analysis from Michelle Grattan in the link below.
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 9:28amFri 9 Oct 2026 at 9:28am
AFP commissioner raises alarm about impact of tech-enabled crime on children’s safety
The federal police commissioner says Australia needs to consider the rapidly shifting artificial intelligence (AI) environment and the impact on children’s safety.
Some children as young as 12 are being manipulated through AI-altered nude images and sadistic online exploitation.
An Adelaide University study has found one in three Australian children who are sexually victimised online tell no-one or turn to an AI chatbot for help.
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett has stopped short of endorsing the federal government’s digital duty of care bill.
But she told ABC Radio National Breakfast that tech-enabled cybercrime is becoming a growing part of her agency’s workload.
“We know AI can be very useful for many things, but … AI is not somewhere where young kids should be going to get advice,” Barrett says.
“In the last 12 months … we have seen just the rapid increase in the use of AI and tech-enabled crime that is becoming part of our caseload.
“So that means that we all have a responsibility to continue to consider how do we best protect our kids in the online space.”
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 8:33amFri 9 Oct 2026 at 8:33am
Greens senator says Labor should force banks to wear cost of credit card surcharges
Greens senator Steph Hodgins-May says the government needs to regulate to ensure banks carry the costs of credit card surcharges.
The Reserve Bank has banned credit card surcharges, which businesses say they have either been forced to absorb or pass on to customers.
Businesses have raised concerns about the tax office’s decision to end credit card payments following the surcharge ban.
Speaking to ABC Radio National Breakfast, Hodgins-May says the government should force banks to wear the costs of card transactions.
“Labor needs to put down rules that will protect business, small business who are already doing it incredibly tough at this point, and also the greed of big banks. They need to regulate the banks,” Hodgins-May says.
“This falls back on Labor. It was as predictable, I’d say, as the sun rising. And they have a responsibility in the depths of a cost-of-living crisis to regulate the banks and ensure that this does not get pushed on to consumers and to small business.”
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 8:21amFri 9 Oct 2026 at 8:21am
Small business group calls for ATO to delay payment plans
The peak organisation representing small business has called on the tax office to delay payments for businesses on a payment plan so they can adjust to a decision to end credit card payments.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has moved to end credit card payments for tax bills after the Reserve Bank’s decision to end surcharges.
Business groups have raised concerns at the move, and have argued some businesses use credit cards to help manage cash flow.
Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) chair Matthew Addison has told ABC Radio National Breakfast there’s inconsistency in the government’s approach.
“I’m not saying forgive their tax, but just delay their payment plan for a month. Why were they using credit cards? To help manage their cash flow,” Addison says.
“They’re going to cease that cash flow control through credit cards. They need to give them a month’s delay in their payment plans.”
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 8:11amFri 9 Oct 2026 at 8:11am
Matt Canavan says migration system is not ‘making anymore new Australians’
Matt Canavan says the Coalition’s migration plan will return Australia’s migration system to one that offers people a permanent home.
The Coalition announced plans to drastically cut back migration targeting graduate, refugee and bridging visas.
Under a Coalition government, net overseas migration will be reduced to 100,000 in the first two years of government, before rising to 130,000 in the third and 160,000 in the fourth year.
But sectors, including in aged care, have raised concerns the plan could lead to a shortage of critical workers.
The Nationals leader has told ABC Radio National Breakfast that he feels the current migration system doesn’t allow people to set down roots in Australia.
“I think we have a country and we’ve had a successful migration program that’s been based on offering people here a permanent home, a new start, a new life, they can create a new family and they become new Australians,” Canavan says.
“And right now, the problem with the migration program is we’re not actually making anymore new Australians as we did before.”
Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 8:01amFri 9 Oct 2026 at 8:01am
AFP chief says policing alone can’t fix rise in online child abuse
More than one in three Australian children who are sexually victimised online either tell no-one or turn to an AI chatbot for help, according to data from Adelaide University.
The data has prompted Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett to warn law enforcement cannot be the only safety net for vulnerable young people.
In an interview marking her first year in the top job, Commissioner Barrett stopped short of directly endorsing an extension of the federal government’s under-16 social media ban to AI chatbots, but stressed that “anything that helps to keep our kids safer is obviously something we support”.
The study, an initiative between Adelaide University and the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, has delivered sobering data on how generative tools are altering youth safety.
Read the full story from defence and national security correspondent Olivia Caisley in the link below.