Labor announces cheaper loans for electric vehicles
The government has announced cheaper loans for some Hyundai and Kia EVs this morning, to incentivise the vehicles and help drive down emissions (pun intended).
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has committed $60m to partner with the two vehicle brands that would give eligible customers between 0.5% and 1% on their finance rate. The government says it could save an EV user with a $70,000 loan, $1900 in interest costs over five years.
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said eligible cars include fully electric vehicles under the luxury car tax threshold:
Transport is one of our biggest sources of emissions, and electric vehicles are a key way we cut pollution while saving people money.
Meanwhile, the government is reviewing its current EV tax incentive policy, which exempts EV drivers from paying fringe benefits tax, through a novated lease under certain conditions. The fringe benefits tax break can save EV users tens of thousands of dollars over several years but costs the budget billions – leading the productivity commission to recommend scrapping it.
Key events
Independent senator, Lidia Thorpe, will introduce a motion into the Senate to condemn the alleged attempted bombing of an Invasion Day rally in Perth last month.
Thorpe tells RN Breakfast there have been “double standards” in the response to the alleged attempt, and that her motion will try to “achieve some solidarity” in the Parliament and recognise some of the trauma caused.
Thorpe says the response from the government has been “very poor” and accuses the prime minister of not coming out “on his own” to condemn the act.
To have a homemade fragmentation bomb packed with screws and ball bearings [allegedly] thrown into a crowd of families and the nation falls silent, I think, is an absolute double-standard and disrespectful to all of those families that are still traumatised and reeling in the hurt that this one lone man created for many people …
It also highlights racism and hate directed at First Peoples in this country, that it’s real and that it’s rising. I’ve never seen it so bad in my 52 years. So we’re under attack all the time. It seems to be normalised …
It wasn’t until the Prime Minister was asked at a press conference about this act of violence that he responded. He did not come out on his own to condemn the violence. And it’s all kind of been watered down compared to, as I said earlier, other acts of violence.
While the Coalition (sorry, ex-Coalition’s) infighting has been something of a gift to Labor and the prime minister, the government is still under pressure to deliver a legislative agenda. That, and cost of living relief.
There are 10 key challenges the government needs to address before the next election in 2028 – which might feel like a while away, but as they say, time flies.
My excellent colleague, Tom McIlroy, breaks down those 10 challenges here:
Jonathan Barrett
ASX to rebound despite cash rate jitters
Australian shares are set to rally when markets open today after fears of a global equity sell-off eased on Wall Street overnight.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is expected to open up about 1% to the 8,870 mark, according to futures pricing, recovering losses suffered on Monday.
Global stock markets have endured a volatile period marked by a sharp correction in precious metal prices, halting their strong run. Part of the recent volatility is linked to investors assessing how Donald Trump’s new nominee to chair the Federal Reserve might affect markets.
The US equity benchmark index, the S&P 500, was up more than 0.5% overnight.
Australian shares have been weighed down by expectations of an interest rate rise, which would increase borrowing costs for households and businesses.
Traders are pricing in more than a 70% chance of a rate increase today, according to the ASX’s rate indicator which tracks the pricing of cash rate contracts.
Penry Buckley
Teachers in NSW could be more easily sacked under hate speech changes
Teachers in NSW could be more easily sacked if they engage in hate speech under changes to school codes of conduct, the state government says.
The Minns government has moved to amend codes of conduct to explicitly prohibit hate speech in all school sectors, covering more than 3,000 government, independent and Catholic schools, effective from today. The change affects all school staff members, including principals.
The government says the changes will align with hate speech legislation passed by the state and commonwealth governments, although it is unclear what the threshold would be for a teacher to be dismissed.
The premier, Chris Minns, has told 2GB the changes respond to cases where the government has “felt it has been unable to take action” after teachers have been accused of hate speech.
If you participate in hate speech, even if it’s not on the school grounds, then you’re not the kind of person that we want shaping young minds.
As NSW parliament resumes today, the focus is expected to be on the response to the Bondi massacre. The NSW opposition is moving legislation for universities and government agencies to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
Benita Kolovos
GPs to diagnose ADHD and prescribe drugs for children and adults in Victoria
GPs in Victoria will soon be able to diagnose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and prescribe drugs for children and adults, in a move that brings the state into line with New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, will this morning announce a $750,000 plan to equip an initial 150 GPs with training to be able to diagnose, treat and prescribe medication for ADHD by September.
The GPs will also consider non-medication care options – such as lifestyle changes, behavioural therapy and education to manage symptoms – where possible, in line with best practice ADHD treatment models.
Currently, most people seeking a diagnosis, management and ongoing prescription medication for ADHD must see a specialist – often a paediatrician for children or a psychiatrist for adults. The government said this can leave many people facing high out-of-pocket costs and wait times of up to six to 12 months.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners have been advocating for the change and estimate up to163,000 Victorian children and 320,00 adults may be living with ADHD.
Allan said:
Labor is making health care work better for busy families by making ADHD care easier and cheaper to access. No child or family should be left behind because the system is too complex, too hard or too expensive.
Liberals want ‘shadow cabinet solidarity’, Tim Wilson says
Following Nationals MP Darren Chester on RN Breakfast is the Liberal MP Tim Wilson, who says the Nationals must obey shadow cabinet solidarity if they are to return to the Coalition.
A very quick recap here – shadow cabinet solidarity comes with a set of rules for the frontbench which means that a shadow cabinet minister cannot cross the floor against a position made by the party, which is what the three Nationals senators did.
Wilson is asked if he’s “angry” at what the senators did. He says:
I’m disappointed, of course, and I think that’s a universal view … The one thing I would stress is there’s a very strong view from shadow cabinet and Liberal party MPs that we need to have shadow cabinet solidarity. That when we decide something as a shadow cabinet, that it’s honoured.
Asked if he’s confident that Sussan Ley will remain leader at the end of the week (with a showdown against conservative MP Angus Taylor looming), Wilson says, “I’m confident of that.”
Littleproud says Nationals will be ‘adults’ as they consider possible return
David Littleproud has been slowly tempering his language around a possible return to the Coalition, after he first said that his party would not serve under Sussan Ley.
Speaking to the Today show this morning, he says he and his party will be “adults” and consider whether there is a pathway to return.
No, I said we couldn’t work with Sussan unless our three [senators] were reinstated.
We’re going to be adults, we’re going to be considered and deliberations as a room, and we’ll hopefully get to a juncture where we can get back.
Littleproud is also not a fan of the comparison between the Liberals and Nationals fight to the reality TV show Married at First Sight (MAFS), which the prime minister made yesterday. The Nationals leader says:
Anthony Albanese can make those jibes. The reality is this is serious business. We didn’t do it lightly. Our party room [took a] principled position.
What’s the latest in the Coalition split?
So we know that Sussan Ley and David Littleproud met last night, which everyone has called “constructive” but didn’t lead to a “breakthrough”.
The Nationals want the three frontbenchers who handed their resignations to Ley for crossing the floor on the hate speech bill – Bridget McKenzie, Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald – to be reinstated to the frontbench, despite them breaking cabinet solidarity.
The Liberals aren’t so keen on that.
Speaking to RN Breakfast, Nationals senator Darren Chester, who is pushing for the two parties to reunite, says it wouldn’t be “realistic” for the Liberal party to dictate who the Nationals pick for the frontbench if they were able to come back together.
Because we’re now not in coalition, so we’re two separate parties. If, in fact, the parties can reunite, it wouldn’t be realistic for the leader of the National party to say to the Liberal party you can’t have certain characters in your team. So it probably won’t be realistic for the Liberal party to say anything about the National party’s team.
But Chester also says it wasn’t necessary for the Coalition to split in the first place,
I thought there were stages along the process where things escalated, where I would have liked to have seen things de-escalate.
Labor announces cheaper loans for electric vehicles
The government has announced cheaper loans for some Hyundai and Kia EVs this morning, to incentivise the vehicles and help drive down emissions (pun intended).
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has committed $60m to partner with the two vehicle brands that would give eligible customers between 0.5% and 1% on their finance rate. The government says it could save an EV user with a $70,000 loan, $1900 in interest costs over five years.
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said eligible cars include fully electric vehicles under the luxury car tax threshold:
Transport is one of our biggest sources of emissions, and electric vehicles are a key way we cut pollution while saving people money.
Meanwhile, the government is reviewing its current EV tax incentive policy, which exempts EV drivers from paying fringe benefits tax, through a novated lease under certain conditions. The fringe benefits tax break can save EV users tens of thousands of dollars over several years but costs the budget billions – leading the productivity commission to recommend scrapping it.
Josh Butler
Liberals need ‘divine intervention’ as MPs attend church service
Liberal politicians have joked they need “divine intervention” at a church service before parliament resumes today.
Federal parliamentarians are attending the ecumenical service, before sitting begins later. Media doorstopped most of the MPs on their way in, with reporters asking what they were praying for, whether they needed “forgiveness”, and whether they prayed for a Coalition reunion.
Liberal MP and shadow minister Scott Buchholz, pointing at the church, joked: “that’s where we need divine intervention”.
Other Coalition MPs laughed and shrugged off similar questions when asked. Nationals MP Anne Webster, asked if she’d pray for the Coalition reuniting, said “absolutely”.
Liberal MP and shadow minister Andrew Wallace, asked about leadership issues, said: “Sussan Ley has the support of the party room, and she absolutely has my support.”
Journalists also fired questions at Ley on her way in but she replied “can’t be late for church”.
We’ll expect to hear from Ley and Anthony Albanese on their way out of the church later.
Jim Chalmers defends government spending
As Jim Chalmers continues his walk down the press gallery in Parliament House, he’s still being needled with questions over the rise in inflation in the Australian economy and the possibility of a rate hike today.
He acknowledges that the inflation data last month was higher than the government would have liked but not “that much higher than we expected”.
Chalmers – as he said before – tells ABC RN Breakfast government spending is not the problem here, it’s things like holiday spending and the ending of temporary rebates.
We know that inflation’s higher than we would like. People are under more pressure than anybody wants. And that’s why the responsibility that we have … is to continue to manage the budget in a responsible way, continue to roll out this cost of living relief.
Patrick Commins
A Reserve Bank rate hike today may be bad news for the roughly 3.3 million mortgaged households, but what about the ranks of would-be homeowners?
Could a hike maybe cool the red hot property market, and even benefit first-time buyers?
The signs are not great. Despite growing predictions of higher borrowing costs in the works, national home prices forged ahead, lifting by 0.8% in January and faster than December’s 0.6% rise.
Dwelling values are up 9.4% over the past year.
While higher borrowing costs are hardly a spur for higher property prices, recent history shows they aren’t necessarily much of a handbrake, either.
Still, CBA economists point to some “crosswinds” for the property market that probably mean prices will grow more slowly than in 2025. They say:
Persistently low supply, high investor activity, federal government support for first home buyers and a broader improvement in the economy are pushing prices higher.
However, affordability constraints, normalising population growth and the prospect of an RBA rate hike … remain headwinds.
The explosion in investor interest does not bode well for an improvement in affordability in 2026, whether we get a rate hike or not.
Total lending to landlords jumped by 1% in January – the fastest pace in over 18 years, according to Westpac.
Patrick Commins
Experts predict Reserve Bank rate rise
It’s Reserve Bank decision day and most experts and investors are betting on a rate hike at 2.30pm – the first since November 2023.
That would take the central bank’s official cash rate target to 3.85%, from 3.6%, with the increase eventually flowing through to mortgage rates.
An uncomfortably and unexpectedly high inflation rate in the December quarter is the key factor that would drive the RBA’s monetary policy board to reverse course after delivering a paltry three rate cuts in 2025.
The board needs to be confident that inflation is heading back towards the midpoint of its 2-3% target band within a reasonable timeframe.
The RBA will also release a new set of economic forecasts at the same time as the announcement, in a three-monthly document known as the Statement on Monetary Policy.
In the statement accompanying the decision, we’ll find out how many of the nine-member board voted for a hike, and how many for a hold.
Then the RBA’s governor, Michele Bullock, will step up to face the press pack at 3.30pm to expand on the decision.
If the board does hike, the most obvious question will be: are we going to get another one?
Liberals to get fewer questions in question time after split with Nationals
Josh Butler
With the Coalition parties still split, the Liberals will get fewer questions in parliament’s question time today. We’re told that with the diminished Liberals sitting on their own and the Nationals now on the crossbench, the official opposition and the crossbenchers will get the same number of questions – likely five each.
The opposition would normally get more questions than the crossbench.
The Labor minister and leader of the house, Tony Burke, poked fun at the issue as the question time arrangement was confirmed by the government:
It had never occurred to me that, when Barnaby Joyce went to the crossbench, that the entire National party would move to the crossbench with him.
The crossbench is now as big as the opposition, so the arrangements for question time will be changed to reflect that.
‘Three divisive parties of the far right in Australia’: Chalmers
Jumping back to Chalmers speaking to ABC News Breakfast, he’s asked about the growing support of One Nation.
The treasurer says the right isn’t necessarily growing but is “splintering” with One Nation taking votes directly from the Coalition.
It says that we now have three divisive parties of the far right in Australia, and we’ve got one mainstream government which is focused on the things which really matter to people … I think it says that the right of politics is splintering.
Last week’s Essential poll numbers for the Guardian found that 23% of respondents who voted for the Coalition in 2025 now intend to support One Nation.
But it also found that 8% of one-time Labor voters have switched to Hanson.
Daisy Dumas
Nationals deputy says there’s ‘will on both sides’ to end Liberal-National feud
There’s “will on both sides” for the Liberals and the Nationals to end their impasse, according to the deputy Nationals leader, Kevin Hogan.
Speaking on ABC’s 7.30 program last night, Hogan described the evening’s meeting between Sussan Ley and David Littleproud as “a really good, civil, cooperative and friendly chat” but that the possibility of the reinstatement of a trio of Nationals frontbenchers had not been agreed upon.
The Coalition split occurred after Ley accepted the resignation of three Nationals who crossed the floor on Labor’s hate speech laws, prompting all of the country party’s frontbenchers to quit in solidarity.
The Nationals want the three senators – Bridget McKenzie, Susan McDonald and Ross Cadell – reinstated in their positions as a condition of reuniting with the Liberals.
Hogan, who described himself as a “strong coalitionist”, said that the demand was “obviously a really important thing we have to nut out and have a resolution on” but “wasn’t agreed tonight”. He added:
We want to resolve this. We think a good government is a good Coalition government.
When asked whether the Coalition could be together by Tuesday’s question time, Hogan said that timeframe was “probably unlikely”.
He continued:
No one went to Canberra two weeks ago believing the Coalition was going to blow up that week … but we went down paths and I think there were misunderstandings on both sides and we’ve had that frank conversation tonight too, which I think was really healthy.
Government spending not to blame for inflation rise, treasurer says
Jim Chalmers is probably not feeling his absolute best with the prospect of the Reserve Bank potentially increasing interest rates today, which will affect millions of households.
While (unsurprisingly) the federal treasurer says he won’t comment on what the RBA will do today, he says the government is still focused on reducing the cost of living.
Chalmers has been facing some criticisms over government spending contributing to inflation but he tells ABC News Breakfast there are other causes that are sending prices up.
The tick up that we saw in the most recent data was not about government spending. It was about holiday spending, the withdrawal the energy rebates. It was about some persistent pressures in housing. Some of that pressure was temporary. Some of it more persistent than anyone would like.
Now, when it comes to government spending, really, the main story of the economy last year was public demand took a big step back. It was around, I think, less than a third of what it was the year before, and private demand really gathered pace.
The federal government’s energy rebates ended on 31 December, while other state rebates ended several months ago.
Ley expected to avoid snap challenge at Tuesday meeting
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Sussan Ley is expected to avoid a snap challenge from rival Angus Taylor when Liberal MPs meet face-to-face for the first time since the Coalition split plunged the opposition leader’s position into jeopardy.
After Ley held talks with the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, on Monday night in the first step towards a potential reunion, Liberal MPs will meet at 9am for their usual party room meeting at the start of two weeks of sittings in Canberra.
The meeting is expected to be highly charged after almost a fortnight of intense speculation about Ley’s leadership following the split with the Nationals over Labor’s hate speech laws.
Liberal MPs believe it is only a matter of time before Taylor challenges Ley, after Andrew Hastie’s decision to rule himself out left the shadow defence minister as the only right faction contender.
Liberal MPs across the factions do not expect a motion to spill the leadership will be moved at the meeting, although many concede the situation is highly unpredictable.
Ley and her allies are desperate to shift the spotlight from the Coalition’s internal chaos to the performance of the Albanese government, especially with the Reserve Bank widely tipped to lift interest rates on Tuesday.
Multiple sources said there would likely be only one or two voters separating Ley and Taylor if a vote was held today.
Taylor is bound to support Ley as a member of the shadow cabinet, meaning he would need to quit the frontbench in order to move – or even support – a spill motion.
Senior rightwingers Jonathon Duniam and James Paterson, who were present at secret leadership talks between Hastie and Taylor in Melbourne last week, also remain in the shadow cabinet.
Good morning
Krishani Dhanji
Krishani Dhanji here with you for the first official sitting week of the year – honestly it feels like the politics has just not stopped over summer.
There’s a few big things happening today, including the Reserve Bank’s interest rate decision, and we’ll see the Liberals and Nationals operating as separate entities in parliament for the first time as well. The two parties will also hold their own meetings this morning, where Sussan Ley is expected to avoid a leadership challenge (more on that in a moment).
The government is announcing discounted loans for some Hyundai and Kia electric vehicles to incentivise the EV market.
And the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has been punted the media rounds for the government today (and will no doubt say that he won’t forecast what the RBA will do) but there will be plenty of talking heads throughout the day.
I’ve got my coffee, I hope you’ve got one too, let’s get started.
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