News live: Australian passengers on MV Hondius to return via Netherlands; Jane Hume refuses to rule out Coalition alliance with One Nation | Australian budget 2026
Australians on ship hit by hantavirus will be repatriated via Netherlands
The Australians, who were among the 22 passengers remaining on the MV Hondius, were scheduled to be evacuated overnight on a Dutch flight to the Netherlands.
Spain’s health minister said the repatriation operation evacuated 94 people from 19 different nationalities on Sunday: Mónica Garcia.
García said the decision was made to fly the Australians to the Netherlands due to scheduling issues with a second plane that would take the passengers back to Australia from Tenerife.
Instead, all remaining passengers were evacuated on the Dutch flight.
important events
Chalmers says budget will include efforts to ‘rebalance’ tax system
Jim ChalmersThe Federal Finance Minister said the war in the Middle East had had a “huge impact” on the budget, with the crisis and its impact on fuel prices making the inflation problem much worse and putting pressure on economic growth.
Chalmers told RN Breakfast:
We ensured that our policy decisions made a positive contribution to the budget rather than negatively affecting the budget position. We also show spending restraint. This means tonight’s budget will be stronger than December’s… It will focus on resilience and reform.
The treasurer said the housing market was “not working” and the tax system surrounding it was “collapsed”:
There will be efforts to rebalance the tax system to better align the treatment of income from working people with those who earn their income through other means. …The fairer the tax system, the stronger the tax system.
The tax system and housing market are largely dysfunctional, especially for young Australians. There is now an urgency to fix this.
Budget will examine ‘all available tools’ to address housing shortage, finance minister says
Katy GallagherThe finance minister has been making the rounds this morning ahead of the budget announcement.
He told ABC News Breakfast the budget was all about deficits coming down, the budget being in a stronger position and tackling “these really tough challenges in the economy, including housing.” He added that the budget is about “putting justice at the centre”:
We’ve made it clear that we’re trying to look at housing. Our focus has been and continues to be on supply. We need to build more houses in this country.
But we also need to look at all the different influences and tools that government can use to respond to this housing problem.
This is a deep-rooted issue and we all need to make sure we use all the tools available to ensure young people can achieve their dream of home ownership.
Good morning, Nick Visser I’m here to grab the blog. Let’s move on to budget day.
Hume won’t rule out Coalition-One Nation alliance
Caitlin Cassidy
Asked last night about a possible Liberal/National alliance with One Nation, Jane Hume He refused to reject the idea outright.
Referring to the possible scenario, he said, “Only One Nation is in favor of this,” and did not talk about “what will happen after the next election.”
The shadow came after his treasurer, TimWilsonHe said he would “never” and “never” make a statement in favor of the hypothetical alliance.
Hume’s explanation is as follows:
The most important thing is to increase the primary vote for the Liberal and National party… There are so many assumptions… I will say that the Coalition is determined and determined to give the Australian people a platform on which they can vote.
There is no one in the Coalition party room today saying we should expand the Coalition to include One Nation.
About the coalition’s decision to favor One Nation over an independent candidate, Hume said it was a decision “for the party organisation, not the parliamentary team”.
The message we sent to Farrer was that the teals voted 70 per cent with the Greens and the Farrer people who would not represent their interests… We will always put our preferences where we think the national interest lies, where we think the electorate’s interests lie, and that’s what we did with Farrer.
Caitlin Cassidy
Jane Hume says ‘nobody wants’ Farrer by-election
Liberal deputy leader, senator Jane HumeFarrer says he needs to listen to his people “very carefully” after the coalition faces a huge loss in this weekend’s by-elections.
Appearing on the ABC’s 7.30 program last night, Hume acknowledged it had been a “tough night” for the Coalition and that “the message we heard from voters was loud and clear”.
They wanted change. They stood at a booth with orange teal on one side and orange One Nation on the other, both saying ‘vote for change’.
Asked whether the Liberal party should be “destroyed”, Hume said it was “not our intention” and added that the Coalition was responsible for “many years of prosperity and progress”.
This is… a by-election that no one wants. This happened just a year after the election, after the retirement of a local member, after a quarter of a century, which is a long time to hold a seat… The love for Labor was not lost either. Only Labor didn’t have the courage to show up… The Liberal party lost its way. The coalition has lost its way. We have broken up twice in the last 12 months. There is disappointment out there. We will accept the outcome with humility.
Australians on ship hit by hantavirus will be repatriated via Netherlands
The Australians, who were among the 22 passengers remaining on the MV Hondius, were scheduled to be evacuated overnight on a Dutch flight to the Netherlands.
Spain’s health minister said the repatriation operation evacuated 94 people from 19 different nationalities on Sunday: Mónica Garcia.
García said the decision was made to fly the Australians to the Netherlands due to scheduling issues with a second plane that would take the passengers back to Australia from Tenerife.
Instead, all remaining passengers were evacuated on the flight to the Netherlands.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I Martin Farrer with the best night stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.
Liberal deputy leader, senator Jane HumeFacing a huge loss in the weekend byelections, Farrer says the Coalition needs to listen to his people “very carefully”.
Like Donald Trump getting ready to meet Xi Jinping in Beijing this week Malcolm Turnbull He called on global leaders to “stand their ground” in dealing with the US president and said doing otherwise was a “big mistake”.
And of course, the federal budget is due to be distributed today, and one commentator thinks this could signal the end of the Howard era. We will bring you much more on this subject and all today’s stories as they happen.
