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What made the headlines today
By Aisha Dow
Thanks for joining our live coverage of today’s news. There has been plenty happening in Australia and abroad. Here’s what made the headlines:
Australia has a new political party: Two current or former teal MPs say they are open to joining the new party launched today by independents Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender. Former MP Zoe Daniel said she was considering whether she would run in the next federal election, but praised Steggall and Spender for “having a crack”. West Australian independent MP Kate Chaney also says she has not ruled out joining the party.
The fallout continues over Stefanovic podcast: Today host Karl Stefanovic has pulled out of a scheduled appearance on his new radio show with Eddie McGuire on Friday, as the blowback continues over his now-deleted podcast with far-right British activist Tommy Robinson. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined a growing list of critics of the interview, while billionaire business mogul James Packer has defended his friend, saying: “I didn’t think it was that bad.”
Controversial tax changes pass Senate, but with eleventh-hour changes: Labor has relented on another change to its budget tax package, agreeing to crossbench senator David Pocock’s push to make sure that widows and divorcees do not lose their grandfathered access to capital gains and negative gearing tax concessions.
Earthquakes rock Venezuela: At least 32 people have been killed and hundreds have been injured after powerful back-to-back earthquakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday evening. The casualty figures do not yet include the hardest-hit areas, fuelling fears the death toll could rise dramatically.
This concludes our coverage for today. We will return tomorrow morning to continue our rolling news coverage.
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Investors bet against August rate rise
By Shane Wright
Investors are rapidly cooling on the idea the Reserve Bank is going to whack borrowers with another interest rate rise.
While plenty of economists think the RBA could lift rates at its August meeting, those investing in rate movements are not convinced.
After this week’s key inflation and jobs data, the chances of a rate rise have fallen sharply.
At the start of the week, the market believed there was a 72 per cent chance the bank would have pushed the cash rate to 4.6 per cent by February.
By this evening, that had tumbled to 47 per cent. The chance of an August rate rise is just one in five.
The chance of a rate cut has increased. Markets started the week believing a rate cut was most likely in December next year.
Now, the same markets put the chance at 142 per cent. In market jargon, that means one rate cut with a 42 per cent chance of another.
Pinned post from 5.39pm on Jun 25, 2026
What made the headlines today
By Aisha Dow
Thanks for joining our live coverage of today’s news. There has been plenty happening in Australia and abroad. Here’s what made the headlines:
Australia has a new political party: Two current or former teal MPs say they are open to joining the new party launched today by independents Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender. Former MP Zoe Daniel said she was considering whether she would run in the next federal election, but praised Steggall and Spender for “having a crack”. West Australian independent MP Kate Chaney also says she has not ruled out joining the party.
The fallout continues over Stefanovic podcast: Today host Karl Stefanovic has pulled out of a scheduled appearance on his new radio show with Eddie McGuire on Friday, as the blowback continues over his now-deleted podcast with far-right British activist Tommy Robinson. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined a growing list of critics of the interview, while billionaire business mogul James Packer has defended his friend, saying: “I didn’t think it was that bad.”
Controversial tax changes pass Senate, but with eleventh-hour changes: Labor has relented on another change to its budget tax package, agreeing to crossbench senator David Pocock’s push to make sure that widows and divorcees do not lose their grandfathered access to capital gains and negative gearing tax concessions.
Earthquakes rock Venezuela: At least 32 people have been killed and hundreds have been injured after powerful back-to-back earthquakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday evening. The casualty figures do not yet include the hardest-hit areas, fuelling fears the death toll could rise dramatically.
This concludes our coverage for today. We will return tomorrow morning to continue our rolling news coverage.
‘On the fence’: Zoe Daniel is another potential Community Strong candidate
By Aisha Dow
Former teal independent Zoe Daniel has just been speaking to the ABC, and she has indicated that she is open to joining the new centrist party unveiled today by Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender.
“I’m completely on the fence at this point,” said Daniel.
The former ABC foreign correspondent lost the Melbourne seat of Goldstein by 175 votes in last year’s federal election, in a battle with the Liberals’ Tim Wilson, whom she had previously unseated in Goldstein.
Daniel said that she had been involved in the discussions about the new party, Community Strong Australia, but was still to decide whether to run in the next election scheduled for 2028.
Teal MP won’t rule out joining Australia’s newest political party
By Michelle Griffin
West Australian independent MP Kate Chaney has not ruled out joining fellow teals Allegra Spender and Zali Steggall in the Community Strong Party, but she won’t sign up soon.
“I think politicians get themselves into a lot of trouble by promising never to do things in the future,” the Curtin MP told Sky News. “I certainly never expected to be in politics at all, so I wouldn’t rule it out in the future.”
Chaney conceded that new election donation laws, which cap the spending of individual candidates, made it harder to go it alone.
“It’s true that the electoral reform package that the major parties push through will make it harder for independents to be elected, especially new independents,” she said. “Incumbents have some of the advantages there, but it’s no doubt that it’s harder, but at the moment [joining a party] just doesn’t seem like a priority for me.”
Dozens killed, hundreds injured in Venezuelan earthquakes
By
The powerful back-to-back earthquakes that struck Venezuela on Wednesday evening have killed at least 32 people and injured at least 700, according to the government.
Acting President Delcy Rodriguez has warned the toll is expected to rise as rescuers search collapsed buildings and emergency crews reach devastated areas. The 7.2 and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes struck shortly after 6pm (about 8am on Thursday, AEST).
The casualty figures released early on Thursday excluded the state of La Guaira, which Rodriguez described as a “disaster zone” and the area hardest hit.
“Dozens of buildings have collapsed there, about 30 kilometres north of Caracas, and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” she said.
Coalition peppers government with questions on tax changes backdown
By Nick Newling
Following the government’s backdown on stripping negative gearing and capital gains tax discount grandfathering from widows and divorcees who receive assets, the Coalition has attempted to find out when the government became aware of the issue.
The Coalition has asked three questions on the topic. Liberal backbencher Leon Rebello asked Housing Minister Clare O’Neil: “Was this before or after the handing down of the federal budget?”
O’Neil was mocked by opposition MPs for taking “a deep breath” before responding.
She said: “We are aware of the issues that the member is raising. We’re working through them in the usual way. This will be resolved in a future piece of legislation, and I look forward to engaging with the member when it comes forward.”
Gas tax ‘one of the most popular’ among the public, Greens say
By Nick Newling
Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown has called for a national plebiscite on a 25 per cent gas tax, saying the policy is “one of the most popular” among the public.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the comments seemed to overlook the fact these companies did pay tax, such as the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax.
“It also ignores the work that we’ve done in two areas, the work that we’ve done on the gas reservation of 20 per cent of exports, which is very important in Western Australia,” he said.
Albanese said that Australia could be relied on as a trading partner, which was an anomaly in the global market.
The prime minister did not directly address the proposal.
Treasurer accused of ‘humiliating backdown’ over budget changes
By Nick Newling
Nationals MP Alison Penfold has attempted to stir division between the prime minister and treasurer, after she asked two controversial questions about Anthony Albanese’s personal financial arrangements yesterday.
“The treasurer was asked about his plan to force thousands of widows and divorcees to pay more tax by removing their access to grandfathering for capital gains tax and negative gearing,” Penfold said.
“He said the arrangements as you describe them are consistent with the way that the acquisition rules apply in the current CGT arrangements. This morning the prime minister had to step in again and dump the treasurer’s plan,” she said.
“How many more humiliating back-downs will it take for the treasurer to admit his budget is a failure?”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers began his response by saying what was “humiliating” was that shadow treasurer Tim Wilson had not asked the question himself.
Chalmers said issues that would have affected divorced or widowed asset holders were being addressed, before attacking the opposition for not voting for the government’s budgetary changes.
We’re another MP down
By Nick Newling
At this rate, we won’t have anyone left in the chamber at the end of question time.
Nationals frontbencher Darren Chester has just been booted for interjecting during a response from Housing Minister Clare O’Neil.
The current tally is one Labor ejection and two from the Nationals.
There’s another 147 members left, so perhaps it’s a bit hyperbolic to say we will run out of members, but the final sitting of the week is clearly a fiery one.
Labor’s budget tax changes have passed the Senate
By Nick Newling and Brittany Busch
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told the House of Representatives that the government’s changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax have passed the Senate.
When he announced that, Labor members cheered and banged their desks.
Albanese said: “This is legislation that will make Australia stronger, will make Australia fairer, and will indeed make Australia stronger because it is fairer.”
When Albanese said “stronger” and “fairer” the opposition benches yelled out “poorer”.
The bill will return to the House before it is voted on a final time.