Australia news LIVE: Former PM Turnbull lashes Coalition split; Trump blocks Harvard from enrolling international students

The Age

22-05-2025

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7.14am
'Stupid': Former PM Turnbull lashes Coalition split
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused the National Party of holding a gun to the Liberal Party's head, saying the move was 'stupid'.
Yesterday, Nationals Leader David Littleproud said talks with the Liberals to form a Coalition had reopened just 48 hours after announcing his party would walk away from the Liberals.
Turnbull told ABC podcast Politics Now the Nationals' approach of holding the Liberals ransom was a bad move.
'This holding a gun to the Liberal Party's head, which is what the Nats are doing, is really really unwise, stupid politically,' he said.
'This is just so bad politically for them, so unwise.'
6.45am
Trump administration blocks Harvard from enrolling international students
US President Donald Trump's administration revoked Harvard University's ability to enroll international students on Thursday, and is forcing existing students to transfer to other schools or lose their legal status
The Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem ordered the department to terminate the Harvard University's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, the department said in a statement. Noem accused the university of 'fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.'
Harvard said the move – which affects thousands of students – was illegal and amounted to retaliation.
The clampdown on foreign students marks a significant escalation of the Trump administration's campaign against the elite Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has emerged as one of Trump's most prominent institutional targets. The move comes after Harvard refused to provide information that Noem had previously demanded about some foreign student visa holders who attend the university, the department said.
'It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments,' Noem said in a statement.
Harvard rejected the allegations and pledged to support foreign students. The university said it was 'fully committed' to educating foreign students and was working on producing guidance for affected students.
'The government's action is unlawful,' the university said in a statement. 'This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard's academic and research mission.'
6.33am
'With the Coalition in disarray, Albanese's on a collision course with the 'real' opposition'
By David Crowe
A friendly interview over a couple of beers turned into a social media success for Anthony Albanese when the prime minister walked into a pub during the election campaign to talk to Ozzy Man, a Perth comedian – real name Ethan Marrell – whose videos go nuts on YouTube.
Over 45 minutes, he gave Albanese a chance to slip in some key talking points about tax cuts and two budget surpluses.
The interview has had 285,000 views since April 3 and is still turning up on mobile phone screens. It is easy to dismiss it as just another viral video, but it is part of a big shift in modern media. It is also a leading example of the way Labor demolished the Liberals in the contest to connect with ordinary Australians.
The media is changing, and Labor knows how to exploit that change. This will be a big factor in the way Albanese rules in the coming parliament – a place where the Liberals and Nationals are in civil war and the Greens are regrouping after losing their leader.
There may not be a viable opposition for some time, so the media will be fundamental to holding the government to account. But the media is not what it used to be.
6.29am
'Hundreds of thousands' could be caught in Chalmers' super tax
By Shane Wright
Jim Chalmers' plan to raise extra tax out of superannuation funds with more than $3 million will hit hundreds of thousands of young people while enticing them to sink more cash into trusts, one of the country's leading tax experts has warned.
As industry data undermines claims by some investors the changes will debilitate the venture capital sector, ANU tax expert Bob Breunig urged Chalmers to look at simpler ways to target the self-managed superannuation sector and also to index the $3 million threshold.
The government is planning to double the concessional tax rate from 15 per cent to 30 per cent on earnings in superannuation accounts holding more than $3 million from July 1 in a move expected to raise $2.7 billion in its first full year of operation.
It has been strongly condemned by many investors and public policy experts concerned that unrealised gains will be taxed. The government maintains that only 80,000 accounts, some of which hold hundreds of millions of dollars, will be affected.