Australia news LIVE: Antony Green to retire after upcoming election; Treasurer ‘continued, but didn’t conclude’ tariff exemption conversation​on February 26, 2025 at 12:49 am

Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy has “completely rejected” Senator Jane Hume’s suggestions that his department has become politicised.

Hume brought up Kennedy’s prior experience as an advisor to Kevin Rudd during the global financial crisis and asked whether he thought Treasury had become politicised.

Cutting through a heated exchange between Hume and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher who labelled the senator’s questioning “outrageous and disgusting”, Kennedy said the Treasury had not become politicised, and noted that working for ministers was an important experience.

“It would be a shame if government officials chose not to go and work in ministers offices,” he said.

I have an Acting Deputy Secretary, for example, who worked for former Prime Minister Turnbull. Recently, one of my deputy secretaries left the department who worked for former Prime Minister Abbott. We’ve all gained enormous experience and, frankly, empathy and insight into the demands on elected officials by taking an opportunity in our careers to work with elected officials, and I think it would be a real shame if public servants felt that it would, it would be a negative for their career if they did not take up those opportunities.”

Monthly inflation has held steady, climbing 2.5 per cent in the 12 months to January.

The change in annual headline inflation in January was the same as it was in December, while trimmed mean inflation – which takes out the impact of the biggest price swings, and which the Reserve Bank keenly watches – came in at 2.8 per cent in January, 0.1 percentage points higher than in the previous month.

Excluding volatile items – such as petrol, fruit and vegetables and holiday travel – annual price pressures were 0.2 percentage points higher than December in January at 2.9 per cent.

The top contributors to the annual inflation measure were an increase in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices, which contributed 3.3 per cent, housing costs which added 2.1 per cent, and alcohol and tobacco prices which added 6.4 per cent.

The cost of new builds and major renovations climbed 2 per cent in the 12 months to January but has continued to ease, reaching the slowest rate since June 2021. Rents also rose at a slower pace of 5.8 per cent in the year to January compared to 6.2 per cent in December.

Partly offsetting the annual rise in the monthly inflation indicator was electricity prices, which fell by 11.5 per cent.

Jumping back to Senate estimates, where Treasury boss Steven Kennedy says he is watching out for any re-emergence of inflation pressures, while revealing he is increasingly confident about the economic outlook.

Giving evidence to a Senate committee this morning Kennedy, who sits on the Reserve Bank board, said that, while inflation has fallen in Australia, some nations had seen a recent uptick in prices.

Figures due out today are expected to show inflation, both headline and underlying, still within the Reserve Bank’s 2-3 per cent target band.

Kennedy said while inflation had climbed “significantly”, it had definitely eased while the economy had continued to grow.

“I’m increasingly optimistic that we’re definitely through the worst of it, and we may land the recovery in a place that hopefully in years to come we’ll reflect on very positively,” he said.

Kennedy said Australia had been unique in bringing inflation down while maintaining a strong jobs market. Other nations such as Canada, Britain and New Zealand now had unemployment above 5 per cent while it remained around 4.1 per cent in Australia while the nation’s participation rate had reached a record high.

“We’ve managed to keep the unemployment low but also bring more people outside the workforce into the workforce,” he said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has questions to answer after it was revealed the ADF was not warned of the Chinese navy conducting a live-firing exercise in the Tasman Sea, learning of the drill only 40 minutes after it began because of an alert from aviation authorities.

“I think there are significant questions that need to be answered here. If there was an incursion across into our waters and Defence didn’t know about it or the Defence Minister [Richard Marles] didn’t know about it, we need to ask those questions and they should be answered,” Dutton said.

“Frankly, the prime minister should stand up and explain what is a very significant event, but at the moment, obviously, the prime minister hasn’t done that and his story seems to be at odds with the version given by the chief of the Defence Force in estimates.”

Dutton is referring to the prime minister’s original response when news of the exercise broke last week. Albanese said: “It is the case that the notice was given [by the ships about the exercise], and when that occurs, airlines are notified and stay out of the area.”

Read more about the incident here.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has accused federal Labor of “shopping around dirt sheets” about his life from 20 years ago.

This masthead revealed on Wednesday that Dutton had conducted $30 million of property transactions across 26 pieces of real estate over 35 years.

Dutton said the transactions went back to when he was 20.

“I’ve conducted myself with integrity at every moment of my life, including as a police officer and since I’ve been in politics,” Dutton said.

“If the prime minister has some claim to make, don’t get his lackeys to push it out there, get up and make the claim yourself, but of course the prime minister won’t, he’s happy to use third parties to shop around this sort of detail.”

Dutton said his family trust no longer had anything in it.

“The assets we own are … we have a house which has been declared, our private residence. We have money in the bank and that’s it, there are no assets held in any trust,” he said.

Read the full story of Dutton’s extensive property portfolio here.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton held a press conference in Sydney’s western suburbs.

He spoke in front of a backdrop branded with the slogan, “Let’s get Australia back on track”.

Listen back below:

After Senate estimates revealed the military learnt about Chinese live-firing exercises in the Tasman Sea only after being alerted by aviation authorities 40 minutes after it began, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed the Australian Defence Force.

“Defence will make more comments about this today, but we have been conscious about the presence of Chinese ships … that’s why we had monitoring between Australia and New Zealand,” Albanese told reporters in Melbourne.

“The New Zealand vessel, of course, was tailing the task group as well so they were conscious and notified Defence as well.”

Albanese said he had spoken to his New Zealand colleagues on the phone to discuss the issue further.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to comment on Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s $30 million in property transactions, spent by investing in 26 pieces of real estate over 35 years.

This masthead revealed that, since buying his first home at 19, Dutton has made property purchases totalling $12 million and sales of $18.8 million in transactions that he has frequently declared to parliament late, partially, and in two cases, not at all.

Asked about this revelation, Albanese refused to comment.

“I make no comment about Peter Dutton’s matters; that is a matter for him,” Albanese said.

Read the full story on Dutton’s property portfolio here.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese held a press conference in Melbourne with local MP Sam Rae.

They continued to spruik the government’s Medicare policy from an Urgent Care Clinic in Sunbury.

Watch them speak here.

WiseTech’s disgraced founder Richard White has been appointed executive chairman of the $32 billion tech group, which confirmed that it is in breach of ASX listing rules after its independent directors and chairman quit today.

A statement from WiseTech after the release of its December half-year results said White will oversee succession planning, as well as product development and growth.

White’s long-time associate and WiseTech investor, Mike Gregg rejoins the board today and will oversee the investigation into allegations against White.

White, 71, has been fending off damning allegations of inappropriate behaviour for months. One woman dubbed him the “LinkedIn Lecher” due to his alleged propensity to approach women via the network to offer business advice in return for sex. White has denied the claims.

The statement from WiseTech today said an update on the status of a report into White’s conduct will be provided to the market next month.

On Monday, the mass resignation by independent WiseTech directors sent the share price plunging despite the exodus assuring White retains control of the group.

Their resignations are effective today, having signed off on the company’s half-year accounts.

Their resignation will leave the board in the hands of three directors with long-term loyalties to White, including Gregg.

WiseTech said the resignations had left it in breach of ASX listing rules requiring its audit and risk committee comprising at least three non-executive directors.

The company said it intends to recruit additional non-executive directors as soon as practicable.