Proposals also grant the health minister power to change disability support rules without state or territory approval. Here’s what you need to know

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Funding for some services within the National Disability Insurance Scheme will be slashed – even in cases where participants could be left with a funding gap – as part of a sweeping proposal to drastically curb the scheme’s annual growth.

The proposed changes, revealed on Thursday, will also grant the health minister, Mark Butler, god-like powers to reduce overall funding for support categories, determine pricing guides and caps for services and support, and the ability to change NDIS rules without state and territory approval for the first 12 months.

Taxpayers and first home buyers are the winners in Labor’s 2026 budget, while rich families could be among the losers. Find out who is better off and who is worse off in Chalmers’ budget

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Being a winner or a loser from the federal budget can be the difference between hundreds of dollars – or tightening your belt even further.

Tuesday’s federal budget comes at a strange time. Donald Trump is waging a war on Iran that is impacting fuel supplies globally, including Australia. Inflation is still causing havoc on household budgets. Government programs are costing more than ever.

David Farley wins One Nation’s first lower house seat after Coalition vote collapses and Angus Taylor says Liberals will take ‘hard lessons’ from result

• Tom McIlroy: the scale of the Coalition’s loss in the Farrer byelection can’t be overstated

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Pauline Hanson says One Nation is coming after Coalition and Labor seats around Australia, declaring her supporters want to “take the country back” after winning an emphatic victory in Saturday’s Farrer byelection.

The rightwing populist party won its first ever lower house seat at an election, with candidate David Farley easily seeing off the independent Michelle Milthorpe, amid a collapsing Coalition vote in the seat previously held by the former opposition leader Sussan Ley.

As major parties once again spruik budget night events at thousands of dollars a ticket, some MPs say they resent the ritzy social galas

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They’re dismissed as boring, little more than a “selfie” opportunity for economy nerds – or even labelled a threat to democracy.

But as budget week approaches, the major parties are once again spruiking fundraising dinners and drinks for their most loyal followers – and slugging them for thousands of dollars.

Australia is dependent upon UK’s ability to deliver new submarines but report says ‘cracks are already beginning to show’

“Cracks are already beginning to show” in the UK’s funding for the Aukus agreement that could derail the ambitious nuclear submarine plan, a British parliamentary inquiry has found, highlighting a threat to Australia’s security.

UK shipbuilding has been under-funded for decades and the country’s submarine availability is “critically low”, the House of Commons defence committee’s report found.

Announcing a major overhaul of the scheme, health minister Mark Butler said it was costing ‘too much and is growing too fast’

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At least 160,000 people are expected to be removed from the national disability insurance scheme by 2030, as the Albanese government looks to claw back savings by changing who can access the scheme.

The health minister, Mark Butler, unveiled a massive overhaul of the $50bn scheme on Wednesday, announcing the growth rate will be brought down to just 2% every year until 2030 in an effort to curb annual plan inflation and produce billions in savings.

Health minister faces backlash from states as he announces major changes to scheme ahead of May budget

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National disability insurance scheme service providers will be required to undergo mandatory character checks and eligibility rules will be tightened further for children under 18, as Labor moves to curb growth in the $50bn program.

But the health minister, Mark Butler, faces a backlash from state counterparts as he announces major changes on Wednesday, with Queensland accusing federal Labor of walking away from responsibilities to families dependent on long-term care.

Police allege educators, two men and two women, attacked boys at school between August 2024 and June 2025

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Four teachers, including the principal of a regional New South Wales school, have pleaded not guilty to assaulting two students.

NSW police allege the teachers assaulted the boys at school between August 2024 and June 2025.