US-China: Donald Trump reveals what he and Chinese President Xi Jinping want with Iran

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Doubts have emerged over the cost of Angus Taylor’s policy to index tax brackets to inflation, with new analysis suggesting it could cost $35 billion in the first four years, up from Coalition estimates of $23 billion.

Initial analysis using the Parliamentary Budget Office’s build your own budget tool, indicated the Opposition Leader’s plan would cost $23.2 billion over the four years after the next election, a figure confirmed on Friday by Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume.

However, another PBO tool known as the SMART model, which is built specifically for income tax policies and using more detailed information, estimates the policy to cost $35.3 billion.

US President Donald Trump has spoken alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping, making their first public remarks about the high-stakes bilateral talks.

“This has been an incredible visit. I think a lot of good has come of it. We have made some fantastic trade deals, great for both countries,” Mr Trump said.

He is a man I respect greatly. We have known each other now 11 years. We have settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to settle.

“We discussed Iran. We feel very similar,” Mr Trump revealed.

“We want that to end and we don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon. We want the Strait (of Hormuz) open.”

Mr Trump said that President Xi would visit the US on an official visit in September.

A neo-nazi group has been officially banned under a move announced by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.

The group, which has gone by various names over the years, including the European Australian movement, the National Socialist Network and Whites Australia has been outlawed and is now the second prohibited hate group under the changes made to the criminal code.

Mr Burke said the change was initiated by ASIO and it was suppported by both sides of parliament.

The threshold to ban a group is when it engages in “behaviour that increase risks of violence” or it “advocates or engages in hate crimes”, Mr Burke said.

In March, the extremist Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir became the first group to be banned.

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A plane carrying six passengers from the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship has touched down in Perth after a repatriation flight from the Netherlands.

Five Australians and one New Zealander arrived at RAAF Base Pearce in full PPE about 11am on Friday.

They will undergo immediate testing before exiting the plane and having their passports stamped by Border Force officials.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has defended his Federal Budget after claims by the Coalition a minimum 30 per cent tax rate on testamentary trusts was essentially a death tax.

The major structural change to the taxation of discretionary trusts could come into effect July 1, 2028.

The Coalition has argued it would unfairly penalise families passing down assets as the trusts are used as a primary tool for inheritance.

Opposition leader Angus Taylor accused the government of a “hidden tax” aimed to target hard working Aussies wanting to look after their loved ones.

“There is another tax that none of us saw in the budget initially, and that’s a death duty,” Mr Taylor.

“It is very clear now that Labor is going after what I’ve known as discretionary testamentary trust. This is a death duty on Australians.”

Dr Chalmers, however, hit back at the criticism as a “scare campaign” at a press conference in Canberra on Friday morning, saying that the taxation settings “haven’t changed”.

He said deceased estates, fixed trusts, and existing discretionary testamentary trusts were all exempt from the new changes.

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Anthony Albanese has congratulated the newly elected Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale after Jeremiah Manele was ousted from power last week in ‌a no-confidence vote.

Wale defeated Peter Shanel Agovaka by 26 votes to 22 in a parliamentary ballot on Friday, Governor General Sir David Tiva Kapu has confirmed.

“Congratulations to Matthew Wale, on being appointed Prime Minister of Solomon Islands. I look forward to working together to continue strengthening our economic, development and security partnership,” Mr Albanese said in a post on X.

Wale was highly critical of a controverisal security pact Solomon Islands signed with China in 2022, which prompted concern from the United States and Australia.

In recent years he has made attempts to thaw ties with Bejing including leading a delegation to the Chinese capital in 2025.

The Federal government has locked in an extra 900,000 barrels of diesel to be distributed to South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland.

The three shipments, equating to about 150m litres, were secured by partnerships between the federal government’s fuel underwriting scheme, Export Finance Australia, and suppliers Ampol, Viva and IOR.

The Prime Minister said the supply will “fuel the regional activity there which is critical to our nation.”

“In the face of global instability, we are leaving no stone unturned as we work to keep Australia moving, working and flying,” Mr Albanese said in a statement.

Australia has 42 days of petrol, 35 days of diesel and 29 days of jet fuel, NCA NewsWire reports.

Donald Trump has attempted to set the record straight after a comment from China’s President that could land the US President in hot water.

During the high-stakes bilateral trip, Chinese President Xi Jinping referred to the US as “perhaps a declining nation”.

The carefully worded insult to the US is consistent with what Chinese officials have been saying for some time as China continues to challenge the US for global dominance.

During Mr Xi’s remarks before his closed-door meeting with Mr Trump, he also questioned whether the two countries could avoid to trap of war as China’s global influence increases.

Making his first statement on Truth Social, Mr Trump attempted to downplay Mr Xi’s insult, while trying to push the blame for the US’s shrinking global image away from himself.

“When President Xi very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation, he was referring to the tremendous damage we suffered during the four years of Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, and on that score, he was 100% correct,” Mr Trump said.

“Our Country suffered immeasurably with open borders, high taxes, transgender for everybody, men in women’s sports, DEI, horrible trade deals, rampant crime, and so much more!”

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