Arabic version: تشالمرز يواجه أسئلة بشأن أسعار المنازل في تحديث سياسي
According to ABC News, Treasurer Jim Chalmers faced repeated questions about house prices after property data firm Cotality flagged declines in every capital city in August. Commonwealth Bank predictions that prices could fall by as much as 13 per cent have worried some mortgage holders. Chalmers said buying a house was a long-term proposition, backed Treasury forecasts and argued recent interest-rate rises, rather than the government’s tax changes, were the major factor.
His position was complicated after fellow frontbencher Matt Thistlethwaite said there was “no doubt” tax changes had contributed to falling house prices. Chalmers later said the changes were one of a number of reasons. He also criticised what he called the “disturbing rubbish” promoted through social-media algorithms, saying algorithms hampered social cohesion and the way people approached major problems, including economic issues.
The Coalition released a plan to cut tobacco excise by 80 per cent, legalise and tax vapes and nicotine pouches, and spend a further $200 million on law enforcement. It said the package would increase tax revenue by about $8 billion over its first four years, though it did not release Parliamentary Budget Office costings or the assumptions behind them. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated that 80 per cent of cigarettes and other nicotine products consumed in Australia last year were illegal.
In Palau for the Pacific Islands Forum, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pressed ahead with discussions on climate change and drug trafficking in the Pacific. Early stages of the forum were overshadowed by China-Taiwan tensions and several leaders skipping the annual meeting. Leaders were also due to discuss China’s test-fire of a nuclear-capable missile carrying a dummy warhead in the Pacific. Separately, Defence Minister Richard Marles presented a framed, vellum copy of the ANZUS Treaty, signed by Albanese, to a member of the Trump administration to mark the treaty’s 75th anniversary.
