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Australians in Lebanon have been urged to leave immediately, as the federal government continues to lobby for an easing of tensions in the region.
Citizens have been warned the path to leave is narrowing as flights are being cancelled and the airport is at risk of closure.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has met with the Palestinian delegation at the U-N General Assembly in New York, as well as her British counterpart, David Lammy, to discuss the situation in the Middle East.
Senator Wong says Israel cannot do in Lebanon what it has been doing in Gaza.
“We condemn Hezbollah’s continued attacks on Israel. But, I do say again, Lebanese civilians cannot be made to pay the price of defeating Hezbollah. You would have heard me say this before, and I say it again: Lebanon cannot become the next Gaza.”
The government says changes to negative gearing tax policy remains hypothetical.
Labor has reportedly sought a briefing from Treasury on scaling back negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions, amid ongoing concern about housing affordability.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has downplayed the speculation, saying the government’s commitment was to boosting housing supply.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told Channel 7 that Labor remains focused on getting its housing legislation through the Senate.
The Greens are currently blocking that bill as they argue for a cap on rent increases and a negative gearing phase out.
“No, I’m not slightly interested in the Greens’ approach, because they are just blockers, not builders. There will be no coalition. The Greens are in with the Liberals and the Nationals when it comes to housing policy.”
Jim Chalmers has begun a two-day visit to China, the first official trip for a Federal Treasurer in seven years.
The visit will focus on smoothing out remaining trade tensions.
Billions of dollars of Chinese trade tariffs against Australian products including wine, barley and meat have fallen.
But there remain points of contention, namely restrictions on live lobster and two red meat exporters.
A new report by consumer group Choice has found that supermarket chain Aldi has the cheapest groceries.
Woolworths came in second place, followed by Coles and IGA.
Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh says the Choice reports were funded by the federal government because of consumer concerns of price gouging by the major supermarkets.
“We’re certainly going to see ups and downs there. We want to see Australian shoppers getting the very best deal, and we encourage people if they’re not getting the best deal at one supermarket, walk down the road to a supermarket whose prices are better.”
The family of a 33-year-old Noongar man is demanding answers after he was placed into an induced coma following a suspected drug overdose in a West Australian prison.
The man’s uncle, Mervyn Eades, says they only found out what happened when they visited the hospital.
“As far as a notification from the Albany Regional Prison, there was none whatsoever. Never touching base. After the fact, they ring and apologise and all this and that but it was not worth a telephone call. We should have known as soon as he left the hospital – as soon as he left the prison in the ambulance, family should have been notified straight away.”
The man has been in the coma for nine days and is shackled to his bed at Rockingham Hospital in Perth.
He was reportedly serving a sentence for burglary in the Albany regional prison in the south-west of the state.
Qantas travellers have been put on alert for flight disruptions as engineers stage a fortnight of industrial action in their bid for a pay rise.
Unions are pushing for a fifteen per cent pay rise for the flight engineers this year, and five per cent per year going forward.
The action has started in Melbourne this morning, and is due to spread around Australia in the coming days.
The industrial action has been timed to coincide with the A-F-L and N-R-L Grand Finals, which make this a busy time of year for domestic air travel.
