Australia news LIVE: Keating backs Chalmers’ tax changes as Minns slams federal government over income tax; Health workers ‘under-prepared’ to combat Ebola outbreak in the DRC

Hello and welcome to our national news live blog for Thursday, May 21. My name is Emily Kaine, and I’ll be helming our coverage for the first part of the day. Here’s what is making news.

• Former prime minister Paul Keating has accused investors criticising the capital gains tax overhaul of pure greed, leaping to Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ defence. It came on the same day as NSW Premier Chris Minns slammed the government for failing to provide bigger income tax cuts.
• Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson addressed the National Press Club yesterday, in his post-budget reply speech. He was highly critical of the government’s agenda, including changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount that were not taken to the last election.

• A diphtheria outbreak has spread to several states and territories, with one death in the Northern Territory so far caused by the disease. Health Minister Mark Butler said earlier this week it was the most severe outbreak Australia had seen in decades, and the government were responding with an emergency support plan.

• Meanwhile overseas, a rare strain of the Ebola virus has caused the worst outbreak of the disease in more than a decade as it rapidly spreads through the Democratic Republic of Congo and healthcare workers on the ground say they are poorly prepared and “undertrained”. There are 139 suspected deaths and almost 600 suspected cases, according to the World Health Organisation.
• And US President Donald Trump said that negotiations with Iran were “in the final stages”, while warning of further attacks unless Tehran agrees to a peace deal. In the six weeks since Trump paused Operation Epic Fury for a ceasefire, talks to end the war have shown little progress. Trump said this week he came close to ordering more attacks, but held off to allow time for negotiations.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was told of South Sydney forward Jai Arrow’s devastating motor neurone disease diagnosis a week before it became public, he has revealed, as he shared a message of support for the player and his family.

“I was told last week of this, and obviously kept it private for the announcement ... this is a guy who showed courage, strength, and determination on the field, and he’s showing it off the field with the comments he’s made already,” Albanese told Sydney radio this morning.

“He’s a really gentle fellow, a gentle giant. He’s a lovely fellow. He’s family. I’ve met his dad after an origin game … And you know, our thoughts are just with Jai and his lovely family.”

Albanese is a lifelong member of the Rabbitohs, having previously served on their board.

Word of the 30-year-old’s diagnosis broke yesterday as he announced his immediate retirement. Albanese described him as the team’s best player in the last season.

“The NRL, I’m sure, will wrap their arms around him,” Albanese said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has brushed off comparison to a failed attempt by the former New Zealand Labour government to repeal negative gearing, saying his government has a “comprehensive” housing package that will support younger generations.

“What we’re doing here is ... just one measure in a whole range of comprehensive measures. I’ll tell you what’s working, for example, is we’ve got 5 per cent deposits for first home buyers. 250,000 people have got into their first home as a direct result of that, just since we came to office,” Albanese told Brisbane radio this morning.

Albanese went on to reference the Housing Australia Future Fund and the Help to Buy scheme as other measures the government had spearheaded.

“We’re throwing absolutely everything at this because I don’t want for the generation who are listening to this program, and the ones to come, to be the first generation that basically gives up on housing,” he said.

“That essentially is why we’ve changed our position because … more and more people were getting to the point of saying I’m never going to have that security that comes with a roof over your own head. You know that is the great Australian dream. And it is, yeah, it’s a tough call. It was a big call for us to make.”

In 2021, then-Labour prime minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern scrapped negative gearing, a policy move that was blamed for stagnant housing values and rising rents. It was reinstated in 2024 by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s National led government.

The Albanese government has dedicated $7.2 million to help fight the diphtheria outbreak affecting Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.

According to data released yesterday by the Australian Centre for Disease Control, there have been 230 national cases of diphtheria this year – an almost 30-fold increase compared to recent years.

The National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre will receive $5.2 million to provide additional workers to offer booster vaccinations and treatments, as well as the procurement of additional vaccines and antibiotics. A further $2 million will go to the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

“We need to ensure that the communication is there, not misinformation. We certainly saw that through Covid, and we need to ensure that the right information is getting out to our remote and regional communities,” Indigenous Affairs Minister Malarndirri McCarthy told the ABC.

“Our call is really to adults to not think that you are immune, make sure you’re getting checked. So it’s really important that adults also know that this isn’t just about children, this is actually all people of all ages.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has condemned Israel’s Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, following the release of a social media video that showed the far-right politician taunting activists detained on the Global Sumud Flotilla.

The video shows a smiling Ben-Gvir observing rows of detainees with their hands zip-tied behind their backs, kneeling face down on the ground, and multiple instances of Israeli law enforcement manhandling detainees. The video is captioned: “Welcome to Israel”.

“The images we have seen are shocking and unacceptable,” Wong said in a statement.

“We condemn the actions of Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir - who Australia has sanctioned - and the degrading actions of Israeli authorities towards those detained,” she said.

Environment Minister Murray Watt has defended Labor’s budget against NSW Premier Chris Minns’ attack yesterday.

“This budget will be delivering nearly $2800 per year in tax cuts for the average Australian worker. We have repeatedly cut taxes since coming to office,” he told Seven’s Sunrise.

Minns slammed the federal government yesterday for failing to provide bigger income tax cuts, but Watt insisted Chalmers and Albanese had done exactly what Minns had requested.

“The premier, and all Australians, won’t have to wait long until we see the next tax cut come in place for all Australian workers … We’re doing what he has suggested we do, by changing the threshold for the top marginal rate of tax, as well as reducing the bottom rate of tax that is paid by those who don’t earn high incomes.”

He said he did not know whether Chalmers and Minns had spoken since Minns’ remarks.

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie just appeared on Nine’s Today show, and has slammed Labor for “wheeling out” former prime minister Paul Keating to defend its budget amid criticism of changes to the capital gains tax.

In a written statement, Keating, a mentor of Chalmers who first created the CGT, said investors “want to retain a preference for capital over wage and salary income.”

“You know something’s wrong … when you have to wheel out Paul Keating to stick up for your budget. I mean, a lot’s changed, Mr. Keating, in the quarter of a century since you’ve been in charge of the Treasury,” McKenzie said this morning.

McKenzie also said she backed in Minns’ criticisms of the federal government, after he said yesterday they had failed to provide bigger income tax cuts.

“I’ll take more of it if I can get it. We … need all shoulders to the wheel to disclose just how bad this budget is,” she said.

The Victorian opposition has asked a corruption watchdog to investigate a 40-year extension of the state’s lottery licence amid concerns about the secretive process.

Shadow Attorney-General James Newbury wrote to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission yesterday asking it to look into the deal.

On May 5, The Lottery Corporation announced to the stock market it had secured a 40-year extension to its Victorian licence, two years before the current one was due to expire, through “exclusive bilateral questions”.

The company agreed to make an upfront $1.1 billion premium payment.

US forces boarded an Iranian-flagged tanker “suspected of attempting to violate the US blockade by transiting towards an Iranian port”, Central Command said on social media earlier this morning.

According to Central Command, American forces searched the M/T Celestial Sea, before releasing and directing the ship’s crew to change course.

Central Command also claims US forces have now intercepted and redirected 91 commercial ships in enforcement of Trump’s blockade.

It is the latest indication that the US’ blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is still in place. There is no sign so far of when it may end.

Hello and welcome to our national news live blog for Thursday, May 21. My name is Emily Kaine, and I’ll be helming our coverage for the first part of the day. Here’s what is making news.

• Former prime minister Paul Keating has accused investors criticising the capital gains tax overhaul of pure greed, leaping to Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ defence. It came on the same day as NSW Premier Chris Minns slammed the government for failing to provide bigger income tax cuts.
• Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson addressed the National Press Club yesterday, in his post-budget reply speech. He was highly critical of the government’s agenda, including changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount that were not taken to the last election.

• A diphtheria outbreak has spread to several states and territories, with one death in the Northern Territory so far caused by the disease. Health Minister Mark Butler said earlier this week it was the most severe outbreak Australia had seen in decades, and the government were responding with an emergency support plan.

• Meanwhile overseas, a rare strain of the Ebola virus has caused the worst outbreak of the disease in more than a decade as it rapidly spreads through the Democratic Republic of Congo and healthcare workers on the ground say they are poorly prepared and “undertrained”. There are 139 suspected deaths and almost 600 suspected cases, according to the World Health Organisation.
• And US President Donald Trump said that negotiations with Iran were “in the final stages”, while warning of further attacks unless Tehran agrees to a peace deal. In the six weeks since Trump paused Operation Epic Fury for a ceasefire, talks to end the war have shown little progress. Trump said this week he came close to ordering more attacks, but held off to allow time for negotiations.