Australian news and politics live: Labor’s negative gearing and capital gains tax changes pass Senate

We are wrapping up today’s live coverage.

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The Senate has passed the tax bill containing controversial changes to capital gains and negative gearing, with the amended legislation to then return to the lower house this afternoon.

Earlier the government confirmed it would drop a so-called “widow tax” element contained in the legislation following pressure from ACT Independent Senator David Pocock.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed the development in the House of Representatives.

Labor MPs responded with cheers and desk-thumping as the announcement was made in the chamber.

“This is legislation that will make Australia stronger, will make Australia fairer, and will indeed make Australia stronger, because it is fairer,” Mr Albanese said.

Once passed by the House of Representatives today, the budget tax changes will become law.

The Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister Pat Gorman says West Australian Labor colleague Josh Wilson has “done the right thing” by apologising to a fellow soccer player who he punched in the face.

The Fremantle MP, who is in the outer ministry of the Albanese government, received a five-week suspension for the incident that occurred in an over-45s match in April.

“I think Josh loves playing soccer. He apologised to the player involved,” Mr Gorman told the West Australian.

“I’m not going to be a commentator on community sport, other than to say I think Josh did the right thing in apologising, and he’s been very open about that.”

Television broadcaster Karl Stefanovic has pulled out of a scheduled radio appearance with fellow celebrity Eddie McGuire after being subjected to a torrent of criticism over a podcast interview with a right-wing British political activist.

An ARN Media source said the 51-year-old made the decision to withdraw from Friday’s episode of the Long Weekend with Karl & Eddie show, a new show on the Gold network broadcast at noon on Fridays.

Stefanovic, who could not be reached for comment, has not been fired from the show and will hold discussions with ARN about whether the program will continue, the source said. A source close to McGuire said: “It’s probably heading that way but 24 hours to go. At some stage it will happen.”

The Mad F---ing Witches activist group, which claimed credit for forcing Stefanovic out of the Today show, said it would wait for confirmation on whether the radio show on Gold will be cancelled before deciding whether to campaign for an advertiser boycott, a step that could be highly damaging for ARN.

“It’s a real 50/50 at this stage,” a spokeswoman said. “We don’t want to continue the campaign but a lot of followers do.”

Read more.

Angus Taylor says there’s a public perception that security and intelligence agencies “dropped the ball” on migration in the wake of the anti-Semitic Bondi terror attack.

The Opposition Leader is asked at the CEDA State of the Nation conference about his immigration policy, which he describes as one that should “discriminate heavily” based on values.

“There is a very strong sense, and I think it was particularly exacerbated, obviously, by what happened with Bondi in December last year, there’s a sense that the screening for this — given that one of those people is not a citizen — the screening for this is not happening, and that the intelligence and security agencies have dropped the ball on this,” he says.

He refers to the debate about counterterrorism spending sparked by the Royal Commission’s observation that overall security agency funding had grown but the resources dedicated to counterterrorism shrunk.

“The truth is the perception is that they have dropped the ball, and I think this has got to be fixed,” Mr Taylor says.

A National Australia Bank workplace survey was disrupted this week after a furious staffer replied to a group email by telling all its recipients he had zero respect for his manager and would refuse to even share a meeting room with him.

The outburst emailed to sub-groups and financial advice staff came after NAB’s Wealth Division reminded staff to submit pulse survey feedback by June 23 as part of the bank’s strategy to improve its workplace.

“NAB does not value human capital at all, it’s all a pretence,” the internal emailer wrote. “Let’s see if this email will serve as a starting point of the ‘behavioural change’ that is needed, so that people feel valued rather than being ignored.”

In response to the complaint, a NAB spokesperson said the lender has more than 40,000 employees and is committed to creating a safe, respectful culture.

“We know we don’t always get it right. If a current or former employee has concerns or specific allegations we encourage them to raise them and they will be taken seriously,” the spokesperson said.

The complainant is a six-year contractor to NAB’s Wealth division and launched the broadside against a senior manager and the bank’s culture in an email that copies in NAB CRR (Customer Resolution and Remediation Department) ALL and NABAU-Commercial Services.

“I want it to be clear that I don’t have any respect for you in any way, shape, or form!” the staffer said of a senior leader.

Read more.

Australia’s Home Affairs Minister has confirmed the country’s terror threat level system is under review after spy chief Mike Burgess argued it doesn’t capture the reality of growing threats.

ASIO’s Director-General used his annual threat assessment to highlight that while the nation’s terror threat level remains at “probable”, it “does not tell the full story”.

The threat level of “probable” deems that there’s a greater than 50 per cent chance of an onshore attack or attack planning in the next 12 months.

It was the same level Australia was under when 15 innocent people were murdered in a terrorist attack on Jewish event at Bondi Beach on December 14.

Read the full story here.

Unemployment has eased from a four-year high, increasing the chance of an interest rate hike in the coming months.

The jobless rate fell back to 4.4 per cent in May after reaching 4.5 per cent in April, which at the time was the worst unemployment since late 2021 when Sydney and Melbourne were in COVID lockdown.

The Reserve Bank this month left interest rates on hold at 4.35 per cent as a result of the previous unemployment spike but an easing in May means an August hike is still a possibility, that would take the RBA cash rate to a 15-year high of 4.6 per cent.

Read the full story here.

Latika M Bourke writes:

Keir Starmer’s AUKUS envoy says he wants to serve the UK Prime Minister’s successor and told The Nightly that Australia does not need to worry about the political upheaval over defence spending affecting the submarine production pact.

Sir Keir could be replaced by Andy Burnham as soon as next month, after bowing to pressure from his Labour colleagues to resign.

He had been under pressure since almost the beginning of his short premiership over a series of unforced errors, poor relations with MPs and no clear political strategy or plan to deliver the change he promised at the election two years ago, when he won in a landslide.

The eventual trigger for his downfall was a row over defence spending, with his then Defence Secretary John Healey quitting, saying his boss was not willing to fund national security as required and was leaving the country unsafe.

Mr Healey quit just hours before he was due to tour a naval base with Defence Minister Richard Marles to promote AUKUS, effectively standing up his Australian counterpart.

Read Latika M Bourke’s full exclusive here.

Angus Taylor has used ASIO head Mike Burgess’ threat assessment to push his party’s policy for immigrants’ visa applications.

In last night’s address, Mr Burgess said that visa applicants are “required to read and acknowledge a list of things Australia values” and that he believed more Australians embracing the principle of “a fair go” would lower the temperature of the country’s security environment.

“This is exactly why we need to put Australian values at the heart of immigration policy,” Mr Taylor wrote on X, referencing the speech.

“At present, visa applicants must sign the Australian Values Statement as a good faith commitment. Some have no intent to comply.”

He said that a Coalition government would make the Australian Values Statement a “legally binding and enforceable visa condition for all temporary and permanent visa holders”.