Federal budget 2026 live updates: treasurer Jim Chalmers to present budget speech tonight – latest news
AI Summary
As Australia approaches the 2026 federal budget presentation, political leaders are engaged in discussions regarding candidate selection and party alliances. The Liberal party is facing pressures to unite and strategize for upcoming elections amidst internal discussions on coalition dynamics.
Deputy Liberal leader says Coalition should listen ‘very carefully’ to results of Farrer byelection. Follow the latest updates Federal budget 2026: what we know so far See all our Australia budget 2026 coverage Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Asked last night about a possible Liberal/National alliance with One Nation, Jane Hume refused to reject the idea outright. Pressed on the possible scenario, she said “only One Nation are in favour of that” and wouldn’t talk about “what is going to happen after the next election”. The most important is to get the primary vote up for the Liberal and National party … There are so many hypotheticals … I will say that the Coalition are determined and dedicated to present to the Australian public a platform that they can vote for … There is no-one in the Coalition party room today that is telling us we need to expand the Coalition to include One Nation. The message we sent in Farrer was that the teals vote with Greens, 70% of the time and for the people of Farrer that wasn’t going to represent their interests … We will always put our preferences where we think the national interests lies, where we think the interests of the electorate lies and that is what we did in Farrer. They wanted change. Standing on a booth with teals in orange on one side and One Nation in orange on the other, both of them were saying ‘vote for change’. This is … a byelection that nobody wanted. It occurred only a year after the election, after a local member had retired, after a quarter of a century which is a long time to have a seat … There was no love lost for the Labor party either. It is just that the Labor party didn’t have the balls to turn up … The Liberal party lost its way. The Coalition lost its way. We split twice in the last 12 months. There is frustration out there. We will take the result with humility. Continue reading...