Australian news and politics live: Chalmers moves to axe 500 ‘nuisance’ tariffs, warning they drive up costs

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has unveiled plans to abolish another 500 so-called “nuisance tariffs,” taking the Albanese Government’s tally to nearly 1,000 scrapped in just two years, more than any government in two decades.

Mr Chalmers said the cuts, now open for consultation until December 10, would streamline $23 billion worth of trade and save businesses about $157 million in compliance costs.

“These nuisance tariffs often do more harm than good,” he said.

“They push up compliance costs, they push up prices, and it often costs more to comply than the government raises.”

The opposition is calling on Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles to “come clean” on whether he had a formal meeting with his US counterpart in Washington this week after a Pentagon spokesperson reportedly said they did not.

Mr Marles, who is also Defence Minister, set off to the US this week for high-level meetings, including with US Vice President JD Vance.

He posted photos of himself, Mr Vance and Mr Hegseth all together, praising the Australia-US alliance as “longstanding, built on our shared history of deep collaboration”.

But a US defence spokesperson said overnight the photos did not show a meeting but “a happenstance encounter”, according to Nine.

The Australian also reported that there was no formal meeting set up and that Mr Marles cancelled his scheduled press conference before flying back to Australia.

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Qantas has posted a huge underlying profit of $2.39bn, up 15 per cent on the previous year. This strong performance was driven by robust growth in passenger revenue, which climbed to $20.4 billion, up from $18.9 billion in 2024.

The airline saw a significant 28 per cent increase in net profit to $1.6 billion for the last financial year, driven by ongoing strength in travel demand across both domestic and international markets.

Revenue rose 8.6 per cent, and the airline’s underlying profit slightly exceeded market expectations. Shareholders will receive a final dividend of 16.5 cents per share, along with a special dividend of 9.9 cents a share.

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The Coalition have accused Anthony Albanese of using parliamentary staffing allocations as a “political weapon”.

Opposition Senate leader Michaelia Cash introduced a bill on Thursday, accusing the Prime Minister of trying to avoid scrutiny and to “bully, intimidate and silence” their rival party.

“Mr Albanese has ripped up decades of convention… cutting Opposition and some crossbench capacity, and as a result, has deliberately weakened the Parliament’s ability to hold the left-wing socialist Albanese government to account,” she said.

Senator Cash said while it could be masked as a “great catch cry” that cutting Opposition staffing saves taxpayers money, she claimed it doesn’t, it only undermines democracy.

“This has got nothing to do with entitlements, nothing to do with entitlements at all. This is all about democracy, the undermining of democracy, by the Albanese Labour government,” she said.

The United States has strongly condemned Iran for orchestrating terror attacks against Australia’s Jewish community and fostering anti-Semitism, welcoming Australia’s decision to expel the Iranian ambassador from Canberra.

A spokesperson for the US State Department has told The Australian that Australia’s move to remove the ambassador, along with plans to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, will help hold the Iranian regime accountable.

“The United States condemns Iran’s use of proxies to commit anti-Semitic attacks in Australia and globally,” the spokesperson said.

“We welcome Australia’s actions to hold the Iranian regime accountable for these hateful acts and its plan to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.”

Shadow Industrial Relations Minister Tim Wilson has accused the Federal Government of confusing Australians by pushing penalty rates legislation. The Government had promised this legislation at the last election, and it is expected to pass the Senate today.

Mr Wilson has expressed doubts about the potential impact on small businesses and warned of unintended consequences from the bill.

He highlighted conflicting statements from Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth and the minister representing her in the Senate regarding whether the legislation would apply retrospectively to existing award arrangements.

“We have one minister saying one thing in the House, another minister saying something different in the Senate. We have no idea anymore what the government’s position is. And now it’s increasingly in question whether the minister responsible has misled the House of Representatives,” Mr Wilson told ABC Radio National on Thursday morning.

“So that’s the question, what’s the impact on small business and, in particular, is there a retrospective element to this legislation?”

Australians of Iranian heritage face verbal abuse and intimidation over Tehran’s “insidious” direction of two anti-Semitic attacks in the nation’s largest cities.

The Albanese government has taken the extraordinary step of booting Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi from Australia, making him the first high-ranking diplomat to be expelled since World War II.

The nation’s spy agency said it had credible evidence the Iranian Revolutionary Guard had orchestrated at least two attacks on Jewish institutions in Sydney and Melbourne through criminals.

Mr Sadeghi was spotted leaving the Iranian embassy in Canberra on Wednesday morning.

Australian Iranian Society of Victoria vice president Kambiz Razmara said the local diaspora had been asking for the ambassador’s expulsion since 2022, following the regime’s crackdown on the women’s rights movement.

He said there had already been reports Australia’s Iranian community was being conflated with the actions of Iranian authorities.

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A black-clad gunman identified by the FBI as Robin Westman has killed two children and wounded 17 others when he opened fire on students attending Mass at a Minneapolis Catholic school, US local authorities say.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has described the horrific event that unfolded at Annunciation Catholic School during the first week of the school year as students were met with “evil and horror and death.”

The Governor expressed profound sorrow, saying, “There shouldn’t be words for these types of incidents, because they should not happen, and there’s no words that are going to ease the pain of the families today.”

The assailant, a man in his early 20s, fired dozens of rounds through the church windows and then took his own life, officials said.

He was armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol, they said.

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A search for a fugitive who allegedly murdered two police officers in cold blood has entered a third day, as Victoria grieves for the fallen.

Monuments across the state lit up in blue in tribute to Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35, who were shot dead while attempting to serve a search warrant at a Porepunkah property on Tuesday.

Another wounded officer is expected to recover after undergoing surgery.

The accused gunman Dezi Freeman - also known as Desmond Filby - fled into bushland, plunging the town of about 1000 residents in Victoria’s high country into lockdown as police pursue the gunman.

Despite that, grieving community members have come out to decorate the foyer of nearby Wangaratta police station with colourful bouquets of flowers in memory of the fallen policemen.

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The Coalition has criticised the Government for not designating the IRGC as a terrorist organisation sooner but is also facing scrutiny over why the previous Coalition government did not take that step.

Liberal MP Tim Wilson appeared says the evidence supporting the government’s decision to list the IRGC has been apparent for the past two and a half years, while speaking on ABC Radio National.

When asked if the former Coalition government should have acted sooner, Mr Wilson pointed out that they designated Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist groups.

“Obviously, these things come down to the advice at different times to make sure that we accumulate the evidence to do so … we always welcome the decision of the government to have taken this step at this time. And the most important thing is that the actions have been taken now, even if we wish that had have been done earlier because we believe the evidence was clear earlier,” he said.

When pressed that ASIO’s evidence of Iran’s role in two antisemitic attacks in Australia has only recently emerged:

“It’s been pretty clear they’ve (Iran) been involved in trying to inflame tensions in Israel and around the world. That is what has now come to light explicitly since in the past couple of days, but it’s been pretty clear since (7 October 2023).”