Australia politics live: Angus Taylor says Coalition would repeal Labor tax cuts in favour of ‘temporary, targeted’ cut to petrol prices
Coalition would repeal Labor’s tax cuts in favour of halving fuel excise, Taylor says
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, is speaking with ABC RN to tout the Coalition’s intention to halve the fuel excise for 12 months if elected.
He described the move as “temporary, targeted, but immediate relief for some of the hardest working Australians who are under the most pressure in our community”.
As for how much this would equate to each week, Taylor said:
Over the course of a year it’ll be, if it’s a one-tank family, it’d be $750. If it’s two tanks, it’s $1,500 … [Or] $14 a week, [and] $28 a week for a two-tank family.
Taylor confirmed the Coalition would repeal the government’s tax cuts, as outlined in the budget, to instead halve the fuel excise.
Yes, this will replace what Labor is doing, which we think is inappropriate under the circumstances, as we’ve laid out in the last 24 hours.
Key events
Butler says it ‘takes too long’ for medicines to be approved by TGA and listed on PBS for patients
Sticking with health, Mark Butler is also speaking with ABC RN this morning, asked about potential tariffs on the pharmaceutical industry from the US.
One of the concerns raised by the US is the time it takes for new medicines to get to the market in Australia – is there room to improve that process?
He said there was – but not because the US was asking for it:
It’s an issue [that] the industry and, more importantly, patient groups raised with me.
And we put in place the first comprehensive review of our system, our assessment system for new medicines, in 30 years. I’ve got that report. I’ve commissioned a group from industry and patient representatives to work on how we would implement that.
But as a general proposition, yes, I want to see those times reduced. It takes too long, in my view, to get medicines from being approved by our Therapeutic Goods Administration, on the one hand, to being listed on the PBS so that patients can access them at affordable Australian PBS prices. I want to see those times come down.
Butler translates Albanese’s ‘delulu with no solulu’ quip
The health minister was also asked to “translate” Anthony Albanese’s quip in the House yesterday, that the opposition was “delulu with no solulu.”
Mark Butler said he had to go to his younger colleague Annika Wells to “explain the modern world to me”:
The prime minister is much more in touch with how young people communicate than I am … I think it’s ‘the opposition is deluded about solutions for the myriad of challenges and opportunities our country faces.’ And if that is what he means, then obviously, I agree.
Well, that’s certainly more of a mouthful than what the PM said. We have our own handy explainer below, for all the non-gen Z’ers:
Labor will ‘never negotiate’ on PBS, Butler says, amid US tariff push
Mark Butler was also asked about potential US tariffs on Australia’s pharmaceutical industry, and if there are measures in the budget to protect against this.
He said the Labor government, including the PM, has sent “a very clear message to the American industry that our PBS is never going to be up for negotiation”.
Never, ever, ever will we negotiate on one of the best medicine systems in the world, that gives Australians access to the best treatments available on the planet at affordable Australian PBS prices. We will never negotiate on that.
Butler responds to Coalition’s fuel excise proposal
The health minister, Mark Butler, was up on the Today show earlier, asked about the Coalition’s intention to halve the fuel excise for 12 months if elected.
Asked whether voters would be choosing between “a cup of coffee a week or a few litres of fuel”, Butler said, “you’ve got to [see] the whole package.”
The only thing voters do know is that Peter Dutton wants to spend $600bn of taxpayer funds to build a fleet of nuclear power stations and introduce new tax breaks for bosses to have long lunches on the taxpayer’s dime.
But he hasn’t told us what he’s going to cut to pay for them. He’s admitted he has to cut services like health and education, but he pretends he can tell voters after the election what those cuts will be.
Taylor on reports Dutton had to tell colleagues to stop leaking
It’s been reported that Peter Dutton has had to read the riot act to the Coalition party room to tell MPs to stop leaking and undermining their colleagues.
Asked about this, Angus Taylor said he had a “very large number of colleagues who are massively supportive of what Peter and I are doing”.
We will continue to fight hard for those hard-working Australians who deserve relief at the bowser, who are paying too much for everything right now and who can get a better deal.
Taylor questioned on Coalition’s stance on public service jobs
Angus Taylor was also asked about the number of public service jobs sent to consultants under the last Coalition government, costing $20bn in the last year of the Morrison government.
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, has said the public service was eroded to the point where it came up with robodebt, and Australians were “hunted down by their own government, threatened with jail times for debts they never owed”.
Asked about this, Taylor said Gallagher had not established how “growing the size of the public service somehow reduces the cost of running government.”
The idea from Katy Gallagher that somehow she has magically reduced spending by doing this kind of switch is just nonsense.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has previously suggested the scale of the Coalition’s planned spending cuts won’t be revealed before the federal election.
Coalition would repeal Labor’s tax cuts in favour of halving fuel excise, Taylor says
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, is speaking with ABC RN to tout the Coalition’s intention to halve the fuel excise for 12 months if elected.
He described the move as “temporary, targeted, but immediate relief for some of the hardest working Australians who are under the most pressure in our community”.
As for how much this would equate to each week, Taylor said:
Over the course of a year it’ll be, if it’s a one-tank family, it’d be $750. If it’s two tanks, it’s $1,500 … [Or] $14 a week, [and] $28 a week for a two-tank family.
Taylor confirmed the Coalition would repeal the government’s tax cuts, as outlined in the budget, to instead halve the fuel excise.
Yes, this will replace what Labor is doing, which we think is inappropriate under the circumstances, as we’ve laid out in the last 24 hours.
Good morning
Emily Wind
Emily Wind here, signing on for blogging duties. I’ll be taking you through all the latest politics news from Canberra – and across the country – throughout the day.
If you see something that needs attention, you can get in touch via email: [email protected]. Let’s get started.
The glaring omissions in the 2025 federal budget
I mentioned budget fallout in the intro and we have a number of articles poring over the details of Jim Chalmers’ measures.
First, we’re looking at the most glaring omissions from the budget in terms of who and what missed out on new funding.
So from university students, renters and welfare claimants, to the arts sector and preventive health measures, these are the areas that were overlooked in the budget:
Labor’s surprise budget tax cuts passed Senate overnight
Labor’s surprise budget tax cuts passed the Senate late last night, after a push by the government for a vote that would force the Coalition’s hand.
In a late-night sitting, the “More cost of living relief” bill (as it was officially called) was put to the vote with debate guillotined.
The Greens tried to add an amendment to the motion to read the bill saying the cuts would “barely scratch the surface for people struggling to pay for food or rent, will not come into effect for 15 months, and will save low-income workers only 73 cents a day, which would not even cover one cup of coffee per week”. That didn’t get through.
The tax cuts were then put to a vote and passed with the support of Labor, the Greens and the independents, with the Coalition voting against them.
Thousands of NSW court files including AVOs leaked in ‘major data breach’
Stephanie Convery
About 9,000 court files, including sensitive documents such as apprehended violence orders and affidavits, have been leaked in a data breach of the New South Wales court system’s online registry.
Police were alerted to a breach of the NSW Online Registry website on Tuesday and the state’s cybercrime squad commenced an investigation, NSW police said in statement on Wednesday night.
The registry is an online platform that provides secure access to information in both civil and criminal cases across the NSW court system.
Investigators were working on containing the “major data breach” and establishing the extent of the breach in collaboration with the Department of Communities and Justice, police said.
Grogonomics: Labor’s budget tax cuts have backed Dutton into a political corner
Greg Jericho is writing about the budget today and he argues that Labor’s tax cuts have left the opposition leader and shadow treasurer with limited options.
He applauds Jim Chalmers’ decision to pass more of the pie to lower earners but says that more could have been done to help people on Jobseeker, which remains well below the poverty line. He concludes:
Tax is now a major part of both the ALP’s and LNP’s election campaigns. And many of the other choices that would help the unemployed or reduce tax breaks to the rich will be likely left for someone else to worry about.
Read his full column here:
Dutton to pitch cheaper fuel plan as election nears
Peter Dutton is expected to promise tonight that the Coalition will halve the fuel excise for 12 months if elected, AAP reports.
The policy would lower the rate on petrol and diesel from about 50 cents to 25 cents a litre. The Coalition voted against the tax cuts that passed parliament yesterday, saying they were too little, too late for struggling Australians.
Taxpayers will save up to $268 on their tax bills in 2026-27 and up to $536 every year after under Labor’s proposal. Dutton said:
What’s obvious here is that a 70-cent-a-day tax cut in 15 months’ time is just not going to help families today who are really suffering. We do want to help families address the cost-of-living crisis, we do want to address the energy crisis.
The opposition voted against Labor’s tax cuts, with the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, chastising Labor for producing a budget “for the next five weeks, not the next five years,” referring to the imminent election campaign.
But he was attacked by the treasurer for voting against tax relief.
Taylor didn’t rule out larger tax cuts being offered by the Coalition.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer, bringing the best of the early stories before Emily Wind guides you through the morning.
The setpiece of the day will be Peter Dutton’s budget reply at 7.30 this evening in which he is expected to try to outflank Anthony Albanese on cost-of-living relief. The Coalition voted against Labor’s income tax cuts yesterday and the opposition leader is preparing what has been called a “very significant announcement” in tonight’s speech. It appears that it’s going to be a promise to halve the fuel excise for 12 months, which would see about 25c come off the price of a litre of petrol.
We will have full coverage of the buildup to his address and the rest of the budget fallout.
Despite Sarah Hanson-Young’s best efforts yesterday when she waved a dead salmon in the Senate, the legislation to protect the Tasmanian salmon industry was passed through parliament last night. Coalition senators joined Labor to vote in favour of the bill after the government speeded the process by guillotining the debate to bring on a vote. More coming up.
Specialist cybercrime detectives are investigating how 9,000 documents from New South Wales’s online court system were leaked into the public domain. NSW police’s cybercrime squad was alerted on Tuesday to the breach of the state’s Online Registry website, which provides access to civil and criminal court cases. Police said the documents include sensitive material such as apprehended violence orders and affidavits. More to follow.
