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Auction success hit a new low for the year on the last Saturday in May, with just 54.5% of homes soldFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has suggested falling auction clearance rates may be a “good thing” for first home buyers if it means they aren’t competing against as many property investors.After data was released showing home prices in Australia’s capital cities had begun to fall and buyers were abandoning auctions, Chalmers on Monday said Labor’s proposed property tax reforms weren’t the only thing slowing the housing market. Continue reading...

Demonstration, held at historic location where the ‘Mississippi Plan’ was enacted, comes as southern states race to dilute Black voting powerThousands of Mississippians, along with allies from other southern states, gathered at the state’s War Memorial Building auditorium on Wednesday in support of voting rights. It was the latest in a series of actions protesting the supreme court’s recent decision gutting the provision of the Voting Rights Act preventing racial discrimination, and held on a site integral to the state’s history of Black disenfranchisement.Section 2 “stopped states, counties, cities, from passing redistricting maps that discriminate against Black voters and it led to the biggest growth of Black political power since Reconstruction”, said Amir Badat, the southern states director at the voting rights group Fair Fight Action. Continue reading...

Family and supporters had hoped the US president could help free the 78-year-old British citizen during summit talks in BeijingDonald Trump raised the case of jailed Hong Kong democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai in talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping but was told it “is a tough one”.Family and supporters of the 78-year-old British citizen had hoped the US president could help secure his release. Continue reading...

Politicians still care about traditional media, but winning over people spending more of their lives online is the challenge for modern MPsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastHe’s up before sunrise, pounding the pavement in a cap and running shorts. He’s still up late into the night, having slipped into a comfortable sweater while he checks figures in a darkened office by lamplight, fuelled by sugar-free Red Bull.It’s “decision week”, Jim Chalmers declares of the annual federal budget in a video that pinged around political group chats this week. The treasurer was keen to take people behind the scenes on social media. Continue reading...

Secretary of state says US made clear America’s position on Taiwan, as Trump-Xi talks continue for second dayXi warns Trump of ‘clashes and even conflicts’ with US over TaiwanAnalysis: For anxious Taiwan, Trump’s silence after Xi talks is best possible outcomeDonald Trump and Xi Jinping are set to meet on Friday to wrap up a high-stakes two-day state visit that has featured pomp and business deals but also a stark warning from Xi that mishandling the Taiwan issue could push US-China relations to “a very dangerous place”.Trump is on the first visit by a US president to China since 2017 and has been hoping for tangible results that might improve his sagging approval ratings ahead of the crucial midterm elections.Trump told Fox News that China had agreed to order 200 Boeing jets – its first purchase of US-made commercial jets in nearly a decade. But markets were expecting a much higher number, with earlier news reports suggesting 500 or more could be involved, and Boeing shares fell more than 4% after the comments.Xi’s remarks on Taiwan, the democratically governed island Beijing claims, represented a sharp warning during a pomp-filled summit that otherwise appeared friendly and relaxed. They came in a closed-door meeting that ran for more than two hours, Beijing said.US secretary of state Marco Rubio told NBC News that Taiwan was discussed, saying the Chinese “always raise it ... we always make clear our position and we move on to the other topics”. Rubio is among a large contingent of US officials and business leaders who travelled with Trump to China.At a lavish state banquet on Wednesday, Xi called the China-US relationship the most important in the world and added: “We must make it work and never mess it up.” Trump earlier told Xi their two countries were “going to have a fantastic future together”.The summit has been aimed at maintaining a fragile trade truce struck when the leaders last met in October and Trump suspended triple-digit tariffs on Chinese goods and Xi backed away from choking global supplies of vital rare earths.With news agencies Continue reading...

The Murdoch papers sharpened their sickles and hammered Jim Chalmers’ budget for ‘the most radical redistribution of wealth since the Whitlam era’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesSign up for Guardian Australia’s free weekly media newsletter hereThe voters of New South Wales woke up in a communist state on Wednesday – at least according to the Daily Telegraph, which claimed that “Lying Jim” Chalmers was cackling like the devil as he gouged them with big taxes in the federal budget.To underline this apparent sharp turn to the left, the Tele added a red hammer and sickle and used a red background.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free weekly media newsletter here Continue reading...

Labor’s ambitious and politically risky tax reform aims to help first home buyers and foster intergenerational fairnessFederal budget 2026 LIVE updates: Australia government budget announcement and speech – latest newsExplore all of our 2026 Australia federal budget coverageGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastJim Chalmers has announced the most ambitious and politically risky tax changes since the Howard era as part of a federal budget that defies the looming economic threat of the Iran war to push Australia along the “hard road to reform”.Arguing that the Australian public is ready for difficult choices aimed at reviving intergenerational fairness and the collapsing dream of home ownership, the government will scale back tax breaks for landlords by abolishing negative gearing for new investors and replacing the 50% capital gains tax discount with the inflation-linked approach that existed before 1999. Continue reading...