National news LIVE: US could demand AUKUS changes; World first surgery in Aus; How TikTokers threatened mushroom trial
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7.00am
The night Sussan Ley pulled a gun on a menacing man
By Olivia Ireland
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has revealed she pulled out a semi-automatic rifle as a man threatened her while she was camping on a dark country road years ago.
In a glossy magazine profile in The Australian Women's Weekly the Leader of the Opposition opened-up about the incident which occurred on a country road in central NSW, when she was moving to become an aerial stock musterer.
'The gun was literally lying down the side of the sleeping bag, so I was able to pick it up and wave it in the general direction of this individual. I think my hands were shaking so badly,' she said.
Read what happened here.
6.54am
How US could demand Australia pay more for AUKUS
By Paul Sakkal and Michael Koziol
Remember that $368 billion nuclear submarine deal? It could soon cost us a lot more.
Australia facing the prospect of a Trump administration review demanding it pay more for submarines under the $368 billion AUKUS pact and guarantee the boats support the US in a conflict over Taiwan.
Sources familiar with the review by Trump's Undersecretary of Defence, Elbridge Colby, believe he intends to urge major changes to the program before Australia can get the nuclear submarines it has been promised.
Interviews with three Australian sources with direct knowledge of the AUKUS review and American defence experts who worked on the submarine project believe the probe will recommend amending rather than scrapping the deal brokered by former leaders Joe Biden, Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson.
6.47am
Australian doctors just pulled off a 'world-first' heart surgery
By Angus Thomson
An Australian man has become the first in the world to be implanted with a next-generation device that mimics the heart's pulse, in what doctors have described as a quantum leap for technology that has saved thousands of lives from heart failure.
The globally renowned cardiac surgical team at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital were chosen to perform the first in-human implant of their new left ventricular assist device (LVAD), which uses a wave-generating membrane – rather than a rotating pump – to push blood around the body.
The team, led by cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Paul Jansz, performed the surgery in May on Michael Smith, a grandfather and former meatworker from Leeton in the NSW Riverina.
On Tuesday, Smith left hospital for the first time in three months, saying he felt better than he had in more than a decade.
Read why this surgery will change lives in Angus Thomson's story.
6.40am
What's making news today
By Emily Kowal
Good morning and welcome to our national news blog. My name is Emily Kowal, and I will be bringing you the top stories of today.
It's Thursday, July 10.
Here's what is making headlines.
Australia is facing the prospect of a Trump administration review demanding it pay more for submarines under the $368 billion AUKUS pact and guarantee the boats support the US in a conflict over Taiwan.
An Australian man has become the first in the world to be implanted with a next-generation device that mimics the heart's pulse, in what doctors have described as a quantum leap for technology that has saved thousands of lives from heart failure.
In motorsport news; After a 20-year stint that included eight drivers' titles, Red Bull F1 team principal Christian Horner has been dumped from the same team he helped turn into a powerhouse.
Overseas, the European Court of Human Rights held unanimously that Russia and its agents engaged in 'manifestly unlawful' conduct when it shot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in a missile attack, killing 298 passengers and crew.
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West Australian
16 minutes ago
- West Australian
US to vet immigration applicants for 'anti-Americanism'
If you want to get into the US to work, study or live, you'd better have a clean slate when it comes to criticising aspects of American life. President Donald Trump's administration has said it will assess applicants for US work, study and immigration visas for "anti-Americanism" and count any such finding against them. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a "policy alert" that it gave immigration officers new guidance on how to exercise discretion in cases where foreign applicants "support or promote anti-American ideologies or activities" as well as "antisemitic terrorism." Trump has labelled a range of voices as anti-American, including historians and museums documenting US slavery and pro-Palestinian protesters opposing US ally Israel's military assault on Gaza. "Anti-American activity will be an overwhelmingly negative factor in any discretionary analysis," USCIS said. "America's benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies." The announcement did not define anti-Americanism. But the policy manual refers to a section of federal law about prohibiting naturalisation of people "opposed to government or law, or who favour totalitarian forms of government." Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said the step had echoes of the 1950s when Senator Joseph McCarthy hunted alleged communists in a campaign that became synonymous with political persecution. "McCarthyism returns to immigration law," he said. Anti-Americanism "has no prior precedent in immigration law and its definition is entirely up to the Trump admin."
Perth Now
16 minutes ago
- Perth Now
US to vet immigration applicants for 'anti-Americanism'
If you want to get into the US to work, study or live, you'd better have a clean slate when it comes to criticising aspects of American life. President Donald Trump's administration has said it will assess applicants for US work, study and immigration visas for "anti-Americanism" and count any such finding against them. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a "policy alert" that it gave immigration officers new guidance on how to exercise discretion in cases where foreign applicants "support or promote anti-American ideologies or activities" as well as "antisemitic terrorism." Trump has labelled a range of voices as anti-American, including historians and museums documenting US slavery and pro-Palestinian protesters opposing US ally Israel's military assault on Gaza. "Anti-American activity will be an overwhelmingly negative factor in any discretionary analysis," USCIS said. "America's benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies." The announcement did not define anti-Americanism. But the policy manual refers to a section of federal law about prohibiting naturalisation of people "opposed to government or law, or who favour totalitarian forms of government." Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said the step had echoes of the 1950s when Senator Joseph McCarthy hunted alleged communists in a campaign that became synonymous with political persecution. "McCarthyism returns to immigration law," he said. Anti-Americanism "has no prior precedent in immigration law and its definition is entirely up to the Trump admin."
News.com.au
27 minutes ago
- News.com.au
‘Incredibly dangerous': Plan to tax one million Australians slammed
A new tax plan put forward by an Australian think tank could raise $41 billion a year if adopted, but one expert has labelled the proposal 'incredibly dangerous'. In a report released ahead of this week's Economic Reform Roundtable, the Australia Institute proposed a two per cent wealth tax on people worth more than $5 million. Households with net assets (assets minus debts) worth more than $5m were in the top five per cent in 2022, the report said. An annual wealth tax of two per cent on this group would raise tens of billions of dollars. Even exempting the value of their family home and superannuation would still raise $41 billion per year. The think tank also called for the reintroduction of an inheritance tax – which operated in various forms at a state and federal level in the 1960s and 70s – and an end to the capital gains tax discoun t. In all, the Institute claimed those three tax reforms would raise an extra $70b a year, 'without hurting low or middle-income Australians'. But AMP Chief Economist Shane Oliver took issue with the proposal, warning it would 'hurt the economy'. ''Tax the rich' sounds fine in theory, but all of those reforms will further increase the tax on high-income earners. Our tax system is already skewed, it's already highly progressive,' Mr Oliver said. He pointed out the top 10 per cent of Aussie income earners already pay almost 50 per cent of income tax. 'You might help the budget initially but you'll damage the economy long-term because there'll be less work incentive,' Mr Oliver said. 'Wealth tax I think is incredibly dangerous … You want Australians to feel confident to go out and start businesses and build up their wealth – that's how we get ahead.' Debate on taxes has surrounded the Economic Reform Roundtable, both during and leading up to the event. In another controversial plan put forward ahead of the summit, economists from the University of Technology Sydney and Melbourne University argued it was time to end the capital gains tax exemption on the family home. Peter Siminski and Roger Wilkins conceded the proposal was 'distasteful' but maintained it was a necessary measure to reduce inequality – sparking a backlash on social media. Tax the rich and retirees, roundtable told At the third and final day of the summit on Thursday, Grattan Institute chief executive Aruna Sathanapally advocated taxing retirees' superannuation and reducing the capital gains tax discount. Ms Sathanapally said Australia taxed wages heavily while creating concessions for capital gains, superannuation and real estate investment. She argued the system could be fixed through 'reducing superannuation concessions so the system meets the policy objective of saving for a decent retirement, rather than being a tax shelter; introducing at least a low tax rate on earnings and withdrawals in retirement; reducing the capital gains discount; (and) reforms to family trusts.' She also proposed a dual-income tax system, with wages taxed separately from other forms of income. Mr Oliver said calls for new taxes at the Economic Reform Roundtable were 'grossly inconsistent with the whole aim of the summit, which is to boost productivity'. 'More taxes will make the economy less productive,' he added. Mr Oliver said the government had merged two objectives at the summit – budget sustainability and improving the country's flagging productivity – that were essentially incompatible. The reason high-income earners took advantage of tax concessions like negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, he added, was because they faced such high marginal tax rates to begin with. Though Mr Oliver said he did not have an issue with an inheritance tax or scrapping the capital gains tax discount, these should be introduced while rebalancing away from income tax and focusing more on GST, like New Zealand's tax model. Anthony Albanese has ruled out changing the GST in any tax reforms coming out of the summit, claiming it would hurt low-income earners. The Australia Institute argued its tax proposal would bring the country in line with other developed nations. 'Australia is a low-tax country that does not do a good job of taxing wealth,' senior economist Matt Grudnoff said. 'It is one of the few developed economies in the world which has neither a wealth tax nor an inheritance tax. Correcting this would raise huge amounts of extra revenue for essential services and ease growing inequality in Australia. 'Even if you were to exempt the family home and superannuation, a 2 per cent wealth tax on people worth $5 million would raise $41 billion per year. If you limited it to just the 200 richest households in the country, it would still raise $12.5 billion per year.' Mr Grudnoff said many countries, including the US, UK, Japan and most of Europe, had an 'inheritance tax or something similar'. 'A couple of generations ago, Australia had probate and succession duties that raised 0.36 per cent of GDP, which, if reintroduced today, would deliver an extra $10 billion in revenue,' he continued. 'And it's time to scrap the capital gains tax discount, for many reasons. Not only would it put downward pressure on house prices and reduce inequality, it would raise an extra $19 billion a year. These are not radical ideas. 'If we want well-funded schools and hospitals; decent, affordable housing for all; a world-class NDIS; a fair welfare system; and dozens of other things which would improve the lives of millions of Australians, we can have them.'
