Australian politics live: fourfold surge in home battery installations after federal subsidy; O’Brien says Liberals can stand alone

More than 4.3 million households now have solar, helping to drive downward pressure on power bills. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastCoalition won’t support capital gains tax reformsThe Financial Review is this morning reporting that the government could be considering winding back the generous 50% capital gains tax deduction for property investors.It’s what happens when you have a Labor government that’s running out of money and they just want to come after more. What do they do? They tax people ... We are not going to be joining with Jim Chalmers on trying to ping Australians for more money, because he can’t stop his spending.Cuts aren’t the priority here. Offsets are, and they’re very different things, and so the government has every right to determine what the spending priorities are, but with those rights come commensurate responsibilities, and that means finding room in the budget to pay for them.Basic principles. It [tax] needs to be lower, it needs to be fairer. Continue reading...