Australia news live: SA Labor pledges $100k stamp duty waiver for ‘empty nesters’; Burke says Hanson’s Lakemba comments a national security risk | Australia news
South Australian ‘empty nesters’ to get stamp duty windfall in $70m pledge
The South Australian Labor party is proposing to give “empty nesters” a massive stamp duty saving of more than $100,000 to encourage them to trade their large family homes for smaller dwellings, AAP reports.
The move aims to free up crucial housing stock for growing families.
The total stamp duty abolition would apply to people aged 60 or over buying a smaller, newly built home or off-the-plan apartment worth up to $2m, saving eligible South Australians up to $103,830.
The exemption can only be accessed once.
The state’s premier, Peter Malinauskas, announced the election pledge this morning, saying if his party was re-elected, the plan would stimulate housing growth and help free up larger homes for families.
Under the scheme, people purchasing a $1m home after selling their larger home would receive a full stamp duty concession worth $48,830. That would increase to $76,330 for a $1.5m home, while a maximum concession of $103,830 would apply to a $2m home.
The announcement comes a day after the government officially entered caretaker mode, with Malinauskas and his deputy, Kyam Maher, visiting Government House on Saturday morning to formally start the state election campaign.
Malinauskas said:
Our plan to abolish stamp duty for downsizers is specifically calibrated to increase housing supply, while also freeing up larger homes for families.
By abolishing stamp duty, we are offering a real incentive to older South Australians to downsize … Under our plan, seniors can save more than $100,000, compared with $15,000 under the Liberals.
Under Labor’s proposed policy, applicants for the stamp duty discount would have to be 60 or older; be buying a new or off-the-plan home to live in that is smaller than their existing home; and selling their existing principal place of residence.
The state’s Liberal leader, Ashton Hurn, used her party’s election campaign launch to announce a policy for over-55 “downsizers” to receive the one-off stamp duty concession of $15,000.
Under the plan, older South Australians moving out of their home would pay less stamp duty when moving into a lesser-value home, with a cap on the concession on properties priced above $1.2m.
Key events
‘Humid and unstable airmass’ to bring rain, flooding and thunderstorms across Australia’s east coast
Heavy rain and floods are expected to sweep central and southern Australia, with thunderstorms forecast for parts of every state and territory on Sunday.
Much of South Australia, the Northern Territory and Victoria are facing a drenching, while storms could also hit Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has warned.
Queensland, SA and the NT have already endured a rainy weekend, with one remote community facing its biggest downpour in a decade, thanks to a strengthening tropical low.
The BoM warned that parts of those states could face flooding, blocked roads and rising rivers from Sunday until at least Wednesday, as the weather system connects to a cold front pulling moisture south. Its warning reads:
[This] will combine with a very humid and unstable airmass to produce widespread heavy rainfall and thunderstorms over the north of [SA].
Read the whole story here:
Sydney’s Museum of Chinese in Australia – in pictures
Some photos from the opening of Sydney’s new Museum of Chinese in Australia have come through. Here’s what the event looked like.
The prime minister met lion dancers performing at the event. You can read about the incredible effort dancers put in for lunar new year in this beautiful piece from Isabella Lee:
Luca Ittimani
Thanks Natasha May and hello readers. I’ll take you through the rest of Sunday’s breaking news.
Natasha May
This is where I’ll hand over to my colleague Luca Ittimani, who’ll see you through the rest of the afternoon.
Melbourne’s Chinatown to receive $100k as part of multicultural business grants
Meanwhile, in Melbourne, the city’s Chinatown will also receive a boost, after the Victorian government announced $100,000 to support the area’s businesses.
Natalie Suleyman, the minister for small business, said the grant to the Melbourne Chinatown Business Association would be used to develop a website and app to promote all businesses in the area.
It will include business profiles, interactive maps, event information and exclusive promotions.
This funding is part of the Labor state government’s $17m “Supporting our Multicultural Traders and Precincts initiative”.
Challenging racism more important than ever, PM says
Albanese said challenging racism was more important than ever as multiculturalism was “under challenge from some”.
And as we enter the Year of the Horse, people right across Australia are celebrating Chinese New Year.
What was once a preserve of those with Chinese heritage [has] beautifully burst its banks and proudly taken its place on our Australian calendar.
And at a time where multiculturalism and our diversity [is] under challenge from some, pretending that we can go to an Australia that, if it ever was, certainly isn’t the case now.
People who don’t acknowledge that, with the exception of First Nations people, we are all either migrants or descendants of migrants, who cover this country to make a better life for themselves, but also for their children and generations to come.
We need to challenge that very directly when racism raises its hand.
But we also need to challenge it by our actions, by our deeds, by the positive messages, such as what this shows right here with this museum.
So I want to thank everyone who kept believing in the museum project here.
PM recalls Christmas lunches at museum’s Chinatown location
Albanese nodded to how his own family traditions were tied to the museum’s location in Sydney’s Chinatown:
One of the things that I well recall growing up, as it was just myself and my mother at home – and when you’ve got just two people at Christmas, a Christian celebration, of course, then it’s not a big group – there’s no point having a big turkey.
So what we did was to come to one of the outlets down here, and we had duck and pork barbecue was our Christmas meal, every single year.
And that way, as well, whoever dropped in and everyone was welcome at our place – that was a part of the benefit that we had.
Museum of Chinese in Australia opens in Sydney
The Museum of Chinese in Australia has officially opened in Sydney’s Haymarket, with the prime minister lauding its important role in telling “the story about that long and extraordinary history of the connection between Chinese Australians as contributors to our nation”.
In his speech opening the museum earlier today, Anthony Albanese acknowledged the attendance of the minister for social services and member for Sydney, Tanya Plibersek, as well as the member for Reid, Sally Sitou, the member for Banks, Zhi Soon and the member for Barton, Ash Ambihaipahar.
Albanese said it was important Australians understood the contribution that people of Chinese descent had made “here in Australia over a long period of time”.
There are Chinese Australians in every aspect of Australian life, something that enriches our country and something that is part of the reason why we need to tell the story about that long and extraordinary history of the connection between Chinese Australians as contributors to our nation.
… The truest power of this museum is that it shines a light on individuals like Gordon Mar and families like Simpson-Lee, who can be overshadowed in the telling of our history.
Yet theirs are all important stories. Stories of contribution, of ambition and aspiration, of energy and hard work. The sheer determination to realise a dream and to make a difference.
And whether it’s in hospitality, business, commerce, medicine, science or culture, this is all the stuff of nation building, and that is what undermined my underpins the spirit of the Museum of Chinese in Australia.
The very real and important idea that these stories are not just worth remembering because they remind us of what we have and enjoy as Australians didn’t just happen of its own accord.
He also nodded to the $2.6m the re-elected Labour government provided for the completion of this museum, as well as the generosity of the three Pang sisters, who donated $4m.
Road deaths keep rising, peak body warns
Crash fatalities have risen by nearly 20% sine 2021, representing a failure in the national strategy aiming to halve deaths, the nation’s peak motoring body is warning.
The 12-month road toll has risen for the 32nd consecutive month, the Australian Automobile Association’s data shows.
In the 12 months to 31 January 2026, the road toll rose nationally by 0.7% to 1,313 fatalities with fatalities rising particularly sharply in NSW (up 17.3%) and Tasmania (up 36.4%). Managing Director Michael Bradley said:
Since the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30 began in January 2021, crash fatalities have risen [nationally] by 19.7%.
The strategy aims to halve national road fatalities through the decade to 2030 – but five years in, it has instead delivered an ongoing increase in road deaths, the AAA says.
As the Australian Government is currently reviewing the strategy, association also points out that three of its five headline targets remain unmeasurable. Bradley says:
The starting point to addressing our worsening road toll is gathering hard facts that help us understand what’s causing it to rise in the first place.
The AAA is calling on the Commonwealth to extend its powers to conduct no-blame investigations of transport fatalities beyond aviation, rail, and maritime incidents.
The peak medical body has also called for road safety data to be shared so it can be learned from:
New ‘easy-to-understand’ online vaccination tool reflects children’s individual needs, health expert says
Continuing on from that last post, the health minister, Ryan Park, said vaccination meant kids were less likely to become seriously unwell.
We know that vaccination is the best thing we can do to protect our children from serious diseases like measles. With a recent spike in the community, it is important parents are aware and pro-active with vaccination. Vaccination means kids are less likely to become seriously unwell and less likely to need to visit our hospitals.
The acting director of health protection at NSW Health, Dr Vicky Sheppeard, said:
Delaying vaccines can leave children unprotected during important stages of development, so we are strongly encouraging parents to book their children in at the recommended ages. This is when the vaccination works best.
Even if your child has a runny nose or a mild cold, don’t delay vaccination. Talk to your doctor or nurse to make sure your child is protected as early as possible.
We know that most missed childhood vaccinations in NSW are due to delays from parents who are time poor, overwhelmed or confused from the amount of information out there, so we wanted to create a trustworthy, easy-to-understand tool that reflects their child’s individual needs.
New customised schedule to support NSW parents with childhood vaccinations
The NSW government has today launched a new online tool that allows parents to create a customised vaccination schedule based on their child’s date of birth.
It will provide personalised guidance and practical reminders to help parents vaccinate their children on time and protect them from serious diseases.
In NSW, more than 90% of children are fully immunised, but 95% coverage is essential for “herd immunity”, where enough people are immune that a disease can’t spread quickly.
The tool was informed by research that found many parents and carers felt uncertain, overwhelmed or unsure where to start when it came to vaccinating their children.
Families can use the tool to automatically add a child’s vaccination dates to their parents’ phone calendar and receive a reminder one week before the vaccination date, along with a calendar entry on their phone for the day the vaccination is due.
Experts say if parents have any questions around vaccination, it’s more important than ever to have a conversation with a health professional, as vaccine-preventable diseases like measles are circulating in the community as immunisation rates are decreasing.
You can read more about what a recent survey of parents found about their attitudes to vaccination here:
‘Dire’ signs for Liberals in SA election
The federal Liberal frontbencher James Paterson has conceded next month’s South Australian election will be tough for his party.
The polling coming out of South Australia is very dire, and it’s understandable on some levels, given the circumstances, given the issues with previous opposition leaders at the state level in South Australia.
Premier Malinauskas is one of the most popular state leaders in our country, but I’ve got to pay immense credit and respect to Ashton Hurn for the way in which she has stood up in the most difficult circumstances.
The South Australian election will be held on Saturday, 21 March.
– AAP
South Australian ‘empty nesters’ to get stamp duty windfall in $70m pledge
The South Australian Labor party is proposing to give “empty nesters” a massive stamp duty saving of more than $100,000 to encourage them to trade their large family homes for smaller dwellings, AAP reports.
The move aims to free up crucial housing stock for growing families.
The total stamp duty abolition would apply to people aged 60 or over buying a smaller, newly built home or off-the-plan apartment worth up to $2m, saving eligible South Australians up to $103,830.
The exemption can only be accessed once.
The state’s premier, Peter Malinauskas, announced the election pledge this morning, saying if his party was re-elected, the plan would stimulate housing growth and help free up larger homes for families.
Under the scheme, people purchasing a $1m home after selling their larger home would receive a full stamp duty concession worth $48,830. That would increase to $76,330 for a $1.5m home, while a maximum concession of $103,830 would apply to a $2m home.
The announcement comes a day after the government officially entered caretaker mode, with Malinauskas and his deputy, Kyam Maher, visiting Government House on Saturday morning to formally start the state election campaign.
Malinauskas said:
Our plan to abolish stamp duty for downsizers is specifically calibrated to increase housing supply, while also freeing up larger homes for families.
By abolishing stamp duty, we are offering a real incentive to older South Australians to downsize … Under our plan, seniors can save more than $100,000, compared with $15,000 under the Liberals.
Under Labor’s proposed policy, applicants for the stamp duty discount would have to be 60 or older; be buying a new or off-the-plan home to live in that is smaller than their existing home; and selling their existing principal place of residence.
The state’s Liberal leader, Ashton Hurn, used her party’s election campaign launch to announce a policy for over-55 “downsizers” to receive the one-off stamp duty concession of $15,000.
Under the plan, older South Australians moving out of their home would pay less stamp duty when moving into a lesser-value home, with a cap on the concession on properties priced above $1.2m.
Sarah Basford Canales
PM cautions politicians on divisive rhetoric
Anthony Albanese has warned politicians against using fear to divide people amid a rise in anti-immigration sentiment in parts of Australia.
In an interview with Sky News aired this morning, the prime minister said it was important leaders worked to bring the community together rather than divide it.
Albanese said:
It’s important that people in positions of authority, including politicians, promote social cohesion … rather than seek to gain political benefit through opportunistically trying to divide people and trying to raise fear.
When asked whether immigration laws should be tightened to limit who enters the country on a visa, he said Australia already had “tight checks”.
This is something that politicians shouldn’t be allowed to say … things that they know isn’t true.
Because they know full well that we have checks on migration in this country and that we have checks on visas.
