Labor scrambles to anticipate Trump's next tariffs play
Published 29 July 2025, 6:46 am
The Australian Government is scrambling to make sense of the latest remarks from the US President which suggest the nation could face higher tariffs than anticipated. As the deadline for the decision looms, the opposition remains convinced the lack of face-to-face negotiations has led to a worse outcome for Australia.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
29 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Family leaves newly-made dream home after 'scary' build prices
An interstate family was able to build their dream home on a rare patch of land in one of Queensland's most popular suburbs – but the price was heavier than they expected. Sarah and Marlon Cornell said they realised they and their two kids were outgrowing their Melbourne home, and begun searching for a new place. 'Our babies were Covid babies; they're now 5,' Mr Cornell said. 'We wanted to move somewhere warm, have that outdoor lifestyle. During Covid, winter with kids was really tough, especially in a small home.' After settling on Queensland, the family felt Nundah was one of the best options in their price range. In 2021, two managed to find a patch of land at $750,000, and set to work remotely building their new home. But when they did, they found rising build costs drove up their build by a sizeable fee of 25 per cent. 'When we were dealing with our builder, I wasn't expecting the end price of the build to be the amount that it was,' Mr Cornell said. 'But the builder very quickly reminded us that trades, building materials were all going up, and we were a part of that wave.' 'That time was a bit scary, because you had all these builders every week being announced to be liquidised.' Despite this, the family were glad to buy in Nundah. 'Our research [looked for] crime stats and flood information and school zones,' Ms Cornell said. 'We knew that we wanted Nundah based on that.' 'We built, then we moved up and just went straight in … we were just really lucky we bought on the street that we did. The neighbours are amazing, we've got so many good things.' Now, Nundah is one of Queensland's most popular-selling suburbs. The area saw more sales in the last year than they were days, sitting at 374 apartment sales within those 12 months. Currently, Nundah sits at a median unit price of $666,000 and a median house price of $1,242,500. Place Nundah Agent Jonathan Tesese said with land space limited and 'extremely valued', there was a strong demand for turnkey homes in Nundah's current market. 'We're not making any more land,' he said, 'so for someone to be able to come in and custom build something that fits their lifestyle to a T, it's just what buyers are wanting.' He added that despite rising build prices, Nundah's popularity meant investors were still keen on homes to turn into new projects. 'What we're seeing now is a lot of demand for knockdown homes, post-war homes, or places that can be subdivided,' he said. Seeking a home with a smaller mortgage to get some money back, the Cornell family have decided to sell their place at 1 Villeroy St – but plan to stay in Nundah if possible. 'Nundah's ideal,' Mr Cornell said. 'We wanted to choose a suburb that was relatively close to the CBD … [and] we're pretty spoiled for choice when it comes to schools.' 'Nundah definitely has that family feel. There are heaps of parks, markets and whatnot, people are out and about … you get a sense of community.'
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Negative gearing reform is back on the agenda, but younger voters now hold the power
It's time to put the 2019 election to bed, along with the messages we pretend were sent from voters from that disastrous campaign for Labor. It has been six years since Labor leader Bill Shorten took what were quite radical proposals to the voting public, including negative gearing reforms. Since that election, Australia has changed profoundly. We have endured a global pandemic with consequences we are only beginning to realise, and an acute housing crisis that has changed us. We have seen the biggest change to the demographics of the dominant voting bloc, with millennials and Gen Z now being the largest voting group in Australia, outnumbering boomers. By the next election, that shift will be even more profound. Voters younger than their mid-40s are consistently telling pollsters they believe the system is stacked against them. They have made it crystal clear they are hungry for change. The treasurer's productivity roundtable has now morphed into something much broader than simply delivering productivity reforms, and this is both worrying and exciting some stakeholders. Some in business circles believe it is increasingly being used to push for higher taxes. Those who want the tax conversation say it's about more effective taxes. Even fairer taxes. Remember fairness? Senior government sources strongly contest that this is an excuse to raise taxes. They say they are keen to cut taxes too, but need to pay for it somehow. That can't be from spending cuts alone. A reconfiguration of that tax system is the only answer. The Australian Council of Trade Unions yesterday declared they will use the productivity platform to call for bold reform to negative gearing and the capital gains tax at the government's productivity roundtable this month, proposing that the tax breaks be limited to one investment property. Sally McManus, the union's secretary, told Insiders the current arrangements should continue for five years, but after that date, "we've got to bite the bullet". "Otherwise, we're just saying 'too bad, young people, you're not going to be able to ever own a home,'" she said. "Since 2019, the problem has just gotten worse. It's going to continue to get worse unless the government is brave enough to do something about it." When it was in opposition, Labor took negative gearing reforms to the 2016 and 2019 federal elections, at which they were defeated. But they were defeated for a myriad of reasons. Their tax policies were only part of the story of that defeat. The ACTU's manifesto for reform will be resisted by some quarters, but their proposals achieve one important thing. They have restarted a conversation that Australians have said they want their leaders to be having. The tax burden is not being shared fairly, and governments that continue to ignore this reality risk losing the trust of younger voters who are hungry for reform. At the same time, the Productivity Commission has called for a 20 per cent tax rate on profits for companies with revenue of up to $1 billion. The commission also called for a new 5 per cent tax on net cashflow rather than profits, which could see some large companies pay a higher rate but would provide immediate tax relief for smaller companies seeking to build their capital. Already, this is being fiercely resisted by the big end of town. But it's time to involve a wider range of Australians from across the tax scale to have an input on what is fair and what is just. Perhaps the proposal won't work — who knows — but we should ventilate big and radical ideas, and we should applaud the Productivity Commission for thinking radically and creatively. Returning to the negative gearing conversation, you'll recall this was a scare campaign Peter Dutton unsuccessfully tried to inject into the May campaign. At the time, it forced Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers to deny that Labor was preparing to make changes to negative gearing. The issue re-emerged during the leaders' debate on the ABC, when Mr Albanese said he had not commissioned Treasury modelling on the potential economic impact of changes to the policy. His response prompted Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to laugh and accuse him of lying. Reports first emerged last year that the federal Treasury had investigated a potential overhaul of the tax concessions awarded to property owners. "It certainly wasn't commissioned by us to do so," the PM said when asked during the second debate about the Treasury modelling. But Treasurer Jim Chalmers had publicly stated back in September that he had asked Treasury for "advice" about the subject, leading Dutton to claim in the debate that Albanese had a "problem with the truth". Chalmers then tried to draw a difference between that advice and "modelling". "I've said on a number of occasions now that I sought a view," the treasurer said. "Now that's different to commissioning modelling. The prime minister was asked about commissioning modelling. I sought a view." Chalmers said it was "normal practice" to seek advice on such a matter and that the Treasury's view was a change to negative gearing "wouldn't get the sort of improvement that we desperately need to see in our economy when it comes to supply". One thing is clear: the treasurer wants this debate. Whether the PM would be willing to champion this change is another matter. We do, however, have one precedent worth remembering. The PM was deeply resistant to changing the stage 3 tax cuts until the case had been made with the public, and then suddenly, he was into it. I suspect the same thing would occur on some of the bigger reform ideas. Kos Samaras, director at the political consultancy firm Redbridge, said there are profound generational shifts between the 2019 and 2025 elections. In 2019, Millennials and Gen Z made up just 26 per cent of the electoral roll, whilst Baby Boomers and older Australians still held sway, culturally and politically. But that was the last election where the latter group's decades-long dominance would be felt. "By May 2025, Millennials and Gen Z accounted for 42 per cent of enrolled voters, a generational bloc shaped by vastly different life experiences," he tells this column. "This is the first cohort since the Great Depression to believe their quality of life is worse than that of their parents. "They've come of age amid a housing crisis, climate anxiety, a global pandemic, inflation shocks, and broken career promises. "At the next federal election, this generational tide will become even more pronounced. "Millennials and Gen Z will be the most dominant voting bloc in the country, while Baby Boomers and older Australians will comprise just 27 per cent of the roll. "Hence, the ACTU-proposed negative gearing changes will resonate with younger Australians, and it would be a brave politician to ignore such a proposal." Over to you. Patricia Karvelas is host of ABC News Afternoon Briefing at 4pm weekdays on ABC News Channel, co-host of the weekly Party Room podcast with Fran Kelly and host of politics and news podcast Politics Now.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Aussie turns down billion-dollar offer from Mark Zuckerberg
An Australian artificial intelligence 'genius' reportedly knocked back a billion-dollar package to defect to Mark Zuckerberg's Meta as part of its aggressive recruitment drive. Perth-raised Andrew Tulloch has established himself as a leader in the AI industry after more than a decade at Facebook's parent company and more recently its competitor OpenAI. In February the University of Sydney graduate co-founded start-up Thinking Machines Lab, alongside former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, which has a reported value of US$12 billion ($18.5 billion). The Wall Street Journal reports that Mr Zuckerberg this year approached Ms Murati to buy Thinking Machines Lab, and when she refused he attempted to poach its star workers. Sources told the Journal he offered Mr Tulloch a package of US$1 billion ($1.55 billion), which could have been worth even more after bonuses and stocks performance, over six years. Mr Tulloch refused the offer, according to the report, although Meta told the newspaper the figures it cited were 'inaccurate and ridiculous'. The Australian spent 11 years at Facebook's AI arm specialising in machine learning technology after moving to the US in 2012, rising to the role of distinguished engineer. 'He was definitely known as an extreme genius,' Mike Vernal, a former Facebook executive who worked with Mr Tulloch, told the Journal. He then moved to rival OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, in 2023 before branching out with former colleagues to form their start-up in January of this year. Thinkin Machines Lab has a stated mission of making 'AI systems more widely understood, customizable and generally capable'. Ms Murati recently said it was 'building multimodal AI that works with how you naturally interact with the world', but has not yet released its first product. Mr Tulloch was a vice capatain at Christ Church Grammar in Claremont, Western Australia, achieving an ATAR of 99.95 in 2007. In his university days he graduated with first class honours and the university medal in mathematics at Sydney uni in 2011, with the highest GPA in the Faculty of Science. He worked at Goldman Sachs as a quant while studying before completing a masters in mathematical statistics and machine learning at the University of Cambridge. In June, OpenAI boss Sam Altman revealed Meta had offered US$100 million bonuses ($155 million) to his employees in an unsuccessful bid to poach talent for its generative AI teams. Mr Altman also said Mr Zuckerberg's company offered 'giant' annual salaries exceeding US$100 million to OpenAI staffers. 'I'm really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them up on that,' he said. Meta chief executive Mr Zuckerberg said in January that the firm planned to invest at least US$60 billion ($92 billion) in AI this year, with ambitions to lead in the technology. Its revenue jumped 22 per cent year-on-year to US$47.5 billion ($76.73 billion) in figures released last week, attributed to its AI developments. 'We've had a strong quarter both in terms of our business and community,' Mr Zuckerberg said. 'I'm excited to build personal superintelligence for everyone in the world.'
