TRANSCRIPT
- US President Donald Trump's second wave of global tariffs take effect...
- The Greens announce new plan to scrap tax incentives for wealthy property investors...
- Arsenal thump Real Madrid three-nil courtesy of two stunning freekicks from Declan Rice.
The second round of United States President Donald Trump's global trade tariffs have now come into effect.
That means 10 per cent blanket tariffs on Australian exports to the US and 104 per cent levies on Chinese goods, as trade tensions escalate between Beijing and the U-S.
In South Korea, 25 per cent tariffs have come into force despite a free trade agreement.
24-year-old South Korean job seeker Shin Ye-Ji says the U-S is not considering the broad impact they're having on the world including South Korea's struggling economy.
“It feels disappointing that only the interests of the United States are being prioritised, rather than each country or company striving for mutual prosperity.”
Greens leader Adam Bandt says his party will prioritise reforming negative gearing and the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount in the next Parliament while protecting small investors.
While the Greens have put up similar policies in previous elections, Mr Bandt says this time, they plan on using the proposal as a bargaining chip for Labor if it wants his party's support to form government after the May 3rd election.
Mr Bandt says negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount have seen property prices rise dramatically, pricing many first homebuyers out of the market and rewarding the mega-wealthy.
But he says, in scrapping these schemes, his party pledges to protect middle-class Australians who are using an investment property to help secure their retirement.
"There are a huge number of people who are using this scheme to look after their retirement, people who have made plans for their future based on the levers available to them. These people aren’t billionaires or wealthy property investors, it’s not their fault the system is so broken and they make up more than two thirds of people who use negative gearing. We will protect existing Mum and Dad investors by grandfathering negative gearing and capital gains tax for people with one investment property. That remains for them forever."
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says the Coalition will reduce net migration to Australia by 100,000 if they are elected.
The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicate net migration dropped to 379,000 in the year to last September and is forecast to fall further.
The Labor government has pledged to further reduce overseas net migration, which has been declining from post-COVID highs.
But Mr Dutton says the government is not doing enough to meet its own migration targets and it is hurting Australians.
"People who started with nothing and amassed a fortune or people who have come here as builders and bricklayers and the rest of it, we are a net beneficiary about but I think the concentration at the moment is on how canal migration program work best for us? It doesn't work best for us when you see an escalation in numbers to a record high. This whole big Australia policy that has led to Anthony Albanese 's housing crisis and the reason young Australians can't get into housing is because of the decisions the prime has made."
Another 3,000 doctors have walked off the job to take part in the second day of industrial action in New South Wales, demanding higher wages and safer working conditions.
The doctors' union maintains that emergency departments and critical care have not been compromised by the three-day strike.
But New South Wales Health Minister Ryan Park says the walkout has forced the cancellation of more than 600 elective surgeries and 4000 outpatient appointments since yesterday [[Tues]] morning.
Doctors are demanding pay parity with other states and guaranteed 10 hour breaks between shifts.
Ryan Park says the state government is trying to address the discrepancy in wages but it will take time.
"No one is hiding under a rock and pretending that we’re not aware of discrepancies. But trying to make up 12 years of wage suppression in 12 months is also not feasible and I want doctors to understand that."
In football,
Declan Rice's two fantastic freekicks helped Arsenal to an emphatic 3-0 victory over Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
Despite a number of heroic saves from Real Madrid's goalkeeper Thibault Courtois there was no stopping Rice's stunning opener in the 58th minute - the midfielder's first senior goal from a direct freekick.
And Rice's second freekick was even better than the first, curled straight into the top corner in the 70th minute, to leave the 15-time European champions looking stunned.
And a striker's finish from Mikel Merino gave Arsenal their third goal.
Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta says he was amazed by Declan Rice's goals.
“To score two goals in 12 minutes of that magnitude and that quality from the same player, a player who has never scored from a free kick before in his career, I mean, what are the odds? But he's done it tonight. I'm a big believer. I think the crowd played something with the energy that they put in and it helped us massively to win the game.”
This leaves Real Madrid with a mountain to climb to come out on top in the second leg match-up with Arsenal next Thursday.
