VIC Labor government falls through $250 million promise of a high speed express bus way
Institute of Public Affairs' Colleen Harkin says the Labor government spending $250 million on a high-speed express busway is an 'extreme waste of taxpayers' money'.
Despite the high-speed promise, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan says the journey from Doncaster to Melbourne will take even longer, with instead of 100 km speed limits, it might be down to 60 km.
'It's like a Monty Python episode,' Ms Harkin told Sky News host Rita Panahi.
'It's just a crazy situation.'
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Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Australia's mass migration 'disaster' overwhelming Labor's housing plan, availability going backwards by hundreds of homes every week
Australia is bringing in migrants faster than it can house them, with Labor's mass immigration plans outpacing new home construction and shrinking the housing supply by more than 1000 homes every week. Australia is bringing in migrants faster than it can house them, with Labor's mass immigration plans outpacing new home construction and shrinking the housing supply by more than 1000 homes every week. Despite promising to deliver 1.2 million new homes over five years, new forecasts reveal the country will fall short by 260,000 homes by June 2029. The State of the Housing System 2025 report forecast the country will build only 938,000 new homes by June 2029, short of the 1.2 million promised. Meanwhile, net overseas migration will total about 1.2 million people by 2029-30, according to the federal government's own 2025–26 Budget. That means, by the time the government finishes building the homes, the country will have gone backwards by 200,000 homes. That shortfall translates to a net loss of more than 1,000 homes per week, when matched against population growth and existing shortages. Adding in natural population increases, the shortfall increases even further. In response, Migration Watch Australia Director Jordan Knight has accused the Albanese government of creating a 'total disaster in the making'. 'The Albanese government promised to build more houses, today they're building less. They promised to lower immigration, today they're bringing in more,' he told Sky News. 'The Housing Minister Clare O'Neil herself has said she wants house prices to continue to rise, and the government is using mass immigration to achieve this. 'Homeownership is a core pillar of our society. If we lose it, it will be chaos.' Mr Knight rejected the government's repeated claim that migration is needed to support the construction industry, labelling it a 'lie'. 'The lie that we need migrants to build houses is ridiculous. A minuscule amount of new migrants work in construction—and they need to be housed before they can build housing,' he said. — Migration Watch Australia (@migrationwaus) April 6, 2025 Immigration Minister Tony Burke announced changes in December to 'attract migrants' in specific occupations, including construction. 'The biggest bulk of our migrant intake comes from international students. Frankly, they can study online. We need to fix our problems first before we bring any more people in,' Mr Knight said. Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) President Col Dutton also warned that Labor was falling far behind its commitments, citing new industry data. 'UDIA National analysis has found that Australia will actually undershoot the Housing Accord target by up to 400,000 homes,' Mr Dutton said. 'We simply can't build the houses fast enough … What we need is a sharp focus on skilled migration and coordination of housing supply policy with immigration numbers.' Under the UDIA projections, the net losses in housing increase to more than 1,500 houses every week. Mr Dutton said the industry was being choked by red tape, slow approvals, and infrastructure bottlenecks. 'Supply is being choked by development approvals processes through councils and state governments, lack of funding for enabling infrastructure to service development ready land and cumbersome environmental approval processes lacking a co-ordinated approach between all levels of government," he said. According to ABS dwelling completion data, Australia built only 166,000 homes in 2024, compared to 446,000 net overseas migrants entering the country that same year. With an average of 2.5 people per household, that created a housing shortage of roughly 12,400 dwellings in a single year—even before accounting for the existing shortfall. Rental vacancy rates have remained at near-record level lows of around 1.3 per cent, while the average time to save for a deposit has increased to 10.6 years. Housing Minister Clare O'Neil recently argued that the government has been laying the groundwork for long-term reform. 'It takes time to turn the tide on a housing crisis a generation in the making,' her spokesperson told Sky News last month. 'That's why it's so important the Labor government keeps building on the foundations laid last term." But critics have said the numbers don't add up—and the government's vision is being overwhelmed by its own migration settings. The Property Council of Australia echoed the warnings, saying 'alarm bells' were ringing over national housing supply. Chief Executive Mike Zorbas said the nation's construction and planning systems were still 'not fit for purpose'. 'The sad fact is that many Australians feel that homeownership is out of reach,' he said. 'More than 30 per cent of the cost of a new home is government taxes and charges.'
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Thumb war
DONALD TRUMP: He's the only reason we can now send American astronauts into space … MARK STONE: We have all wondered when these two would fall out. But could anyone have predicted that when it happened, it would spiral so fast. - Sky News UK, June 6 2025 Hullo, welcome to Media Watch I'm Linton Besser, and yes, millions around the world watched on slack-jawed as the world's most famous pal-athon came to its ugly end last week. ALISON PIOTROWSKI: The bromance, it's well and truly over … - Today, Nine Network, 6 June 2025 CONAN NOLAN: It appears the bromance is over … - NBCLA , 4 June 2025 JOSH HAMMER: … Trump Musk bromance … - The Rita Panahi Show, Sky News Australia, 5 June 2025 PRESENTER: … bromance … - India Today, 6 June 2025 KRISTEN WELKER: This bromance … - Today, NBC, 4 June 2025 CHRIS KENNY: The end of the bromance… - The Kenny Report, 4 June 2025 The psychodrama playing out in real-time amid a fusillade on social media: JOE ROGAN: Jesus Christ… KASH PATEL: I'm just stayin' out of the Trump Elon thing … JOE ROGAN: What the fuck are they doing? - The Joe Rogan Experience, 5 June 2025 And providing a rich source of protein for headline writers everywhere: I HATE MY X! Big, beautiful breakup … - New York Post, 6 June 2025 The spectacle of two clownish billionaires, one a president, the other a providore of rocket ships setting fire to bureaucracy resetting the world order and pretending their friendship was anything other than transactional? I mean who could have predicted it was going to end like this? Um, everyone. KARA SWISHER: … there can be only one and that's gonna be Donald Trump. - CNN, The Chris Wallace Show, 9 November 2025 ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI: … Elon Musk is Donald Trump's peach right now and the peach is ripening. But you know what happens with fruit like this - it gets stale and mouldy very quickly. - The Rest is Politics US, 1 March 2025 Elon did indeed quickly moulder, busy as he was riding roughshod over Republican grandees and riding high … ELON MUSK: This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy … - Associated Press, 21 February 2025 On his own supply: … he was taking so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that it was affecting his bladder … - The New York Times, 30 May 2025 Musk denied this report and when the White House announced the departure of the Department of Government Efficiency architect, Trump handed his chum the booby prize, a golden key. But Elon Musk previously charged with putting a scythe through government spending began firing shells at Donald Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill which will increase America's debt ceiling by up to 5 trillion US-dollars and at his signature tariffs policy. On Thursday U.S.-time Trump finally erupted: Elon was 'wearing thin' … I took away his EV Mandate … and he just went CRAZY! … - Truth Social, @realDonaldTrump, 5 June 2025 The easiest way to save money in our Budget … is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts … - Truth Social, @realDonaldTrump, 5 June 2025 Which amounts to $5.5 billion a year. But the bloke has 100 times that under his mattress which might be why Elon Musk was very relaxed about hitting back chastising Donald for his lack of manners: Without me, Trump would have lost the election … - X, @elonmusk, 5 June 2025 Such ingratitude - X, @elonmusk, 5 June 2025 And tossing in this little grenade for good measure: … realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT! - X, @elonmusk, 5 June 2025 Have a nice day? Musk later rethought this sweet but uncorroborated claim and deleted the tweet. Perhaps most stark about this wee spat was the speed at which we knew what was going on. While the skirmishes that occur inside other governments might only be brought to light by diligent correspondents these blows were being traded on public platforms the combatants both happen to own raising questions about whether these really are social networks or: … when it comes to their mega-rich, mega-wealthy owners … simply megaphones to holler at the world. - Business Insider, 6 June 2025 And at such volume that other consequential world events are for many completely drowned out like the issuing of sanctions by the White House against four judges of the International Criminal Court, a barrage of deadly Russian strikes on Ukraine and China's sale of propellant to Iran for ballistic missiles. Elon Musk and Donald Trump are not just financially wealthy or politically powerful in the internet age they are also influence-rich beyond the wildest dreams of former tycoons and presidents with a direct line to hundreds of millions of people consuming news in snack-size portions. So simply by firing from the hip they can drive the public conversation in any direction they choose sharpening ever more the crisis of relevance engulfing much of the press.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
‘Should be worried': Mark Bouris' superannuation warning to young Aussies
Millionaire businessman Mark Bouris has warned 'every young person' in Australia 'should be worried' as debate rages over Labor's superannuation tax changes. From July, 12 per cent of most workers' wages will be paid into their superannuation fund (a 0.5 per cent increase from the current amount). Treasurer Jim Chalmers' proposed changes, known as Division 296, would double the rate of tax levied by the government from 15 per cent to 30 per cent for superannuation balances over $3 million. Only around 80,000 Australians, or 0.5 per cent of the population, currently have super balances above $3 million, but industry groups have warned that if the threshold is not indexed to inflation it could eventually capture the majority of Gen Zs entering the workforce today. Mr Bouris joined the chorus in the latest episode of his Mentored+ podcast, arguing Labor's super tax on unreleased gains will put more – not less – pressure on young people. 'Every young person in the country should be worried about this, and I'll tell you why: because every old person in the country has experienced building their superannuation up with only 15 per cent tax rate from day 1, for the last 30, 40 years, since (then-Prime Minister Paul) Keating introduced it in the early '90s,' he said. Compulsory employer contributions to superannuation were introduced by Mr Keating in 1992, at the time requiring them to kick in 4 per cent. According to a recent study by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), some $4.2 trillion of superannuation is held by Australian workers, while household savings have been boosted by more than $500 billion since compulsory super's inception. 'We've had this, all of us had this fantastic low-tax situation with the money we earn in our super fund,' Mr Bouris said. 'Now, young people who accumulate more than $3 million worth of assets – and they will – will not have the same benefits that everyone else has had since Keating introduced this legislation.' Mr Bouris suggested the former leader 'must be just feeling completely demoralised and probably, to some extent, betrayed' by the expected changes, which he described as 'the envy of the rest of the world … put there to take the strain off government'. Last August, Mr Keating warned the 'unconscionable' doubling of tax on retirement savings could turn superannuation into a low- and middle-income pension scheme and damage community confidence in the system he had created. 'All (Labor's changes) is going to do is put more strain on government when people retire, because people are not going to retire with enough money because they are going to be paying too much tax – and the people who are going to be affected by that most is anyone starting work today, any new young person,' Mr Bouris continued. 'So if you're a young person and you're saying, 'Oh, this is great', because you're gonna get rich people to transfer the wealth across to the younger people – uh-uh. 'You will be transferring it to your kids – and it's going to keep going like that forever, and this $3 million at some period of time will be worth, like, $100k, like a hundred grand's-worth today, because the time value of money just keeps creeping and creeping and creeping.' Labor first announced the crackdown on tax concessions for very large super balances in 2023, but the legislation was blocked by the previous Senate. The changes – expected to initially claw back $2.7 billion a year and nearly $40 billion over a decade – now look likely to become law as a deal with the Greens looms. 'What we need to do is make sure that our superannuation system is fair,' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said last week. 'That is what we are setting out to do.' Division 296 will also be applied to defined benefit pensions — an older style of superannuation scheme that was common in public sector and local government workplaces until the 1990s. A defined benefit pension guarantees the amount you will receive in retirement. The move to include it in the new tax changes are to ensure 'commensurate treatment' as high-balance super funds — although unlike super account holders, those eligible will be able to defer the payments until they retire. Interest will be charged annually on the deferred tax liability at the 10-year bond rate, currently at around 4.5 per cent. Treasury estimates that 10,000 members with defined benefit interests will be impacted by the new tax in 2025-26, 'representing approximately 1 per cent of the total population with DB interests'.
