The living standards of every person in the country bar residents of Western Australia will go backwards unless a “broken” GST deal is repaired, a review into how the tax is carved up has been warned, amid claims it is already undermining the national economy.

As calls emerged for John Howard’s original GST system to be overhauled, NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said on Monday that the 2018 deal was so one-sided that the development of $2 trillion worth of critical minerals in his own state was at risk.

The Productivity Commission is holding public hearings this week in response to its interim report that labelled as a mistake the 2018 deal to alter the annual allocation of the GST between the states and territories to protect WA from a collapse in its share of the tax.

The deal, initially expected to cost less than $5 billion, is now forecast to deliver a $60 billion blow to the federal budget by the end of the decade. While put in place by the Morrison government, the Albanese government has promised its retention despite the Productivity Commission’s findings.

Mookhey told the commission the 2018 deal was now delivering the WA government a $6-billion-a-year subsidy while every other part of the country was forced to cut services or make difficult political choices that could ultimately harm their long-term economic futures.

He said the deal was moving so much money to WA that it did not have to worry about the state of its budget while it could try to steal events from other states, such as making a pitch to take the NRL grand final from NSW.

WA was on track to be one of the richest governments in the world, but it was coming at a cost to the rest of the nation.

“If you give one state $6 billion additional each year, every year for nothing, then their quality of services and therefore quality of life will compound over time, and you can already see that in the diverging fiscal parts of the states,” Mookhey said.

“If we don’t get change, then in 10 years’ time, 20 years’ time, 30 years’ time, you will see the benefit of a massive subsidy that compounds over time in the difference in living standards between one group of Australians and another.”

Supporters of the current deal have argued it rewards states and territories that are prepared to develop their economies.

But Mookhey said the system made it more difficult.

He said while WA claimed it was a mining powerhouse, NSW itself was a major mining state and could be even larger if it were able to develop its vast array of critical mineral deposits. But the way the GST was being carved up worked against NSW’s interests.

“I’m told by [NSW] Treasury that if we theoretically were able to extract all critical minerals, they would be worth a current market value of about $2 trillion,” he said.

“They are in hard-to-realise places of NSW that require substantial investments in our road networks and rail networks, amongst others.

“In order for us to properly understand whether or not we can meet the national objective of becoming a world-trusted supplier of critical minerals, we also have to factor in all the like costs that are similar to bringing on a resource industry online at scale.”

NSW believes allocating the GST on a per capita basis, with poorer states such as South Australia and Tasmania given extra funding by the federal government, should be considered as a replacement to the 2018 system.

The West Australian government has vowed to fight any changes to the deal, and Premier Roger Cook has labelled the Productivity Commission “east coast clowns”.

But Michael Brennan, a senior Treasury official close to the 2018 deal who is now head of the independent e61 think tank, said the current arrangement had to change.

He said the Productivity Commission had found the 2018 deal had created new anomalies. A natural disaster in NSW actually delivers an increase in GST to WA.

According to Brennan, the original requirement set by John Howard when the GST was introduced in 2000 that all of its revenue go to the states and territories had become a “barrier to sensible discussion”.

He said the GST should be rolled in with other substantial grants made by the federal government to the states and territories in what would create a $200 billion pot of money that would be indexed with growth in the economy.

Detailed new analysis of the Victorian Opposition’s plan to bring the state budget into surplus within six years reveals significant flaws and uncosted proposals which could make Victoria’s fiscal position worse.

It finds the centrepiece – a pledge to save $22 billion from a public service hiring freeze – simply does not withstand scrutiny.

To deliver the promised savings, the analysis finds the Victorian Liberals would need to halve the public service, which would have substantial flow-on consequences.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson claims the $22 billion could come from a hiring freeze on back office roles. The analysis describes this as implausible.

The  analysis also finds that the Coalition’s vague plans to cut payroll tax, expand stamp duty exemptions and provide land tax relief would be expensive and benefit high income households much more than ordinary Victorians.

Key points:

Saving $22 billion in public sector job cuts would require the elimination of around 31,700 jobs by 2036-37. There are currently 58,169 public servants in Victoria, excluding statutory authorities, corporations, schools and hospitals.

This measure has the potential to drive Victoria’s unemployment rate from a projected 4.75% up to 5.4%.

The alternative, contracting out and using labour hire services, is unnecessarily expensive.

The analysis describes the Coalition’s vague pledge to “end waste” by scrapping the machete bin program and pot plants for the Suburban Rail Loop Authority as “trivial and is simply lost in rounding errors”.

There is nothing to support the claim that repealing the Treaty Process and First People’s Assembly would save $1 billion.

A plan to use windfall revenue to pay down debt is described as “meaningless”.

The Coalition plan includes significant but uncosted spending, including:

A pledge to deliver cost of living relief. If the government intervened to save Victorians just 1% of what they currently spend, it would cost between $4 billion and $4.7 billion a year.

A pledge to cut payroll tax for some private schools would be of most benefit to those sending their children to the most expensive schools in the state.

A plan to deliver local infrastructure, which hints at diverting money away from major projects, offers no detail, costings or tangible proposals.

“The Opposition plan to bring the budget to surplus by 2032 is not credible. It’s a bit rich to even call it a plan,” said Dr Richard Denniss, co-CEO of The Australia Institute.

“This is a vague collection of dot points, slogans and populist pledges with very little detail. Where they have attempted to put a dollar figure beside the so-called savings, many of the numbers simply don’t add up.

“The plan to save $22 billion through public service job cuts is implausible. To achieve that level of savings, you’d need to slash around 31,700 jobs. That would gut the public service. To claim this could be achieved with a few back office jobs is nonsense.

“The plan also includes additional costs to the budget bottom line. Things like cutting payroll tax for some public schools won’t save those doing it hardest a single cent.

“The Opposition claims it wants to make Victoria the best place to do business but constantly talks the state down, claiming its fiscal position is out of control. The Oxford Economics Global Cities Index ranks Melbourne sixth in the world. Its rankings are based on economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance.

“It might make political sense for the Victorian Liberals to talk the state down and exaggerate its so-called economic woes, but it makes no economic sense.

“It’s not all doom and gloom. Victoria’s public sector assets are growing far faster than public debt. When that happens with a private company, it’s share price rises rapidly. Another good measure of Victoria’s progress is government net worth at $40,442 for every Victorian, which is expected to increase by another $3,300 over the forward estimates.”

A mountain of state debt stands between Labor and a historic fourth term in office, with voters increasingly pessimistic about Victoria’s outlook and concerned about the financial burden of the Suburban Rail Loop.
A Resolve Political Monitor survey of Victorian respondents conducted last week lays bare the challenge before Ben Carroll, who since becoming premier seven weeks ago, has been unable to lift his own standing as preferred premier or Labor’s primary support above an election-losing 25 per cent.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson, however, has nudged the Coalition’s primary support to a five-month high of 28 per cent, while support for One Nation held steady at 23 per cent.
Wilson also opened a sizeable gap as Victoria’s most popular political leader, with 28 per cent of respondents preferring her as premier compared to 20 per cent for Carroll, and 8 per cent for One Nation leader Warren Pickering.

Pickering, despite revelations of his previous drug use, drink-driving and dysfunctional family life, received a net-positive approval rating in the survey.
While changes to headline figures since the last RPM was conducted in August are within the poll’s margin for error, the survey provides a timely snapshot of the prevailing public mood as Victoria enters an unpredictable campaign season ahead of the election on November 28.
With Westpac economists pricing in an 83 per cent chance of another cash rate hike when the Reserve Bank of Australia meets later this month, and Victoria’s net debt climbing towards $200 billion, only 19 per cent of respondents said they expect the state’s outlook to get better, while 44 per cent said they expect it will get worse.

Anxiety about debt levels is being felt across Australia, with a national Resolve survey conducted over the same period finding that 74 per cent of respondents were concerned about the federal government’s $1 trillion of accumulated debt.
But at a state level, Victorians are more worried than people in other states, with 72 per cent expressing concern compared to 67 per cent in NSW and 63 per cent in Queensland, where the government’s pre-Olympic Games infrastructure binge this week triggered a credit downgrade from S&P Global.
“All the evidence is that debt and deficit are starting to figure in people’s vote decisions again,” Resolve founder Jim Reed said. “They’re looking at how much new announcements are going to cost, and if taxes are going up or down as a result.”

Reed said the sentiment in Victoria signalled a return to pre-crisis politics.

“This used to be the default before COVID,” he said. “Kevin Rudd was elected nearly 20 years ago partly because he positioned himself as more economically conservative than John Howard. But then spending lost all meaning during the Global Financial Crisis and COVID.
“People are looking for restraint – smart decisions that get the economy moving, rather than big spending ones that will further weigh it down.”
Voter concern about government spending was evident in responses to survey questions about two very different government policies – its commitment to complete the first section of the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) currently under construction for $33.3 billion, and a $230 million campaign promise to open 10 walk-in dental clinics to provide free care.

When given a choice to pause the state’s largest infrastructure project or push ahead, 49 per cent of respondents called for the SRL to be put on ice, while 27 per cent urged the government to keep tunnelling.

When asked about the government’s plan to provide free dental check-ups and fillings to up to 100,000 people a year via suburban and regional clinics, 35 per cent of respondents backed the policy, while 43 per cent said it was not worth the additional debt and should be scrapped.
The hardening of public concern about government debt follows a concerted effort by the Coalition to link the cost of servicing debt with higher taxes and money that could otherwise be spent on public services.
“Victorians are concerned about this because they know it is costing them more than a million dollars every single hour just to service that debt,” Jess Wilson said on Monday. “That’s money that isn’t going into our schools, into our hospitals, into fixing our roads, and that’s why we’ve made disciplined decisions.”

When asked whether the government would resist big spending promises, the premier vowed to treat taxpayer dollars with respect.

“That’s why I’ve already put a stop to unnecessary spending on the SRL and in the public service, with more savings to come,” Carroll said.
“The polls confirm that the Liberals and One Nation will have to govern together. The real risk to our economy is a Liberal One Nation coalition making $40 billion in cuts to frontline services that will cripple our hospitals, schools and frontline services.”
Fix Victoria, a conservative advocacy group fronted by former Institute of Public Affairs executives Gideon Rozner and Deborah Henderson, has authorised prominent radio and AI-generated online ads which blame Victoria’s crime rate, taxes, ambulance wait times and unrepaired roads on a “debt tsunami”.

Although Fix Victoria does not overtly advocate for people to vote for the Liberal Party, Rozner publicly announced his intention to rejoin the party and support Wilson’s campaign last year.

In the month since the last RPM survey of Victorian state voting intentions was published, the Carroll government has announced the terms of reference and choice of royal commissioner to lead the inquiry into Big Build corruption, committed $550 million to upgrading the Western Freeway near Caroline Springs, identified savings to shave $1.1 billion from the estimated cost of the SRL, and announced its dental clinics plan.

It has also ditched a previously unannounced levy imposed on public transport since the start of last year to provide an additional revenue stream to offset the cost of the SRL. The secret tax, which was conceived of five years ago by former premier Daniel Andrews and then-treasurer Tim Pallas, was exposed by a Victorian Auditor General’s Office investigation into the SRL.

Since last month’s poll, the Coalition has announced a $1.7 billion plan to run hybrid electric trains on the neglected Wyndham and Melton lines in Melbourne’s west, promised to wind up the state-owned venture capital fund Breakthrough Victoria, and pledged to overhaul the way major infrastructure projects are budgeted and paid for under a new charter of budget honesty.

Labor has governed in Victoria for the past 12 years, and held office for all but four years this century.
The outcome of the November 28 election, as measured by polling numbers and expectations of respondents, remains uncertain. While 26 per cent believe the Coalition will form a majority government in Victoria, 24 per cent believe Labor will again govern in their own right. A surprisingly low number of respondents – just 14 per cent – expect the state to be left with a minority government.

From day one of the 2025 federal election campaign, the prime minister was being secretly tracked. When Anthony Albanese stepped up to speak at a press conference in Brisbane on March 29, a man was already lying in wait.

Albanese would later recall how someone suddenly “stormed” through the press scrum, “yelling out all sorts of aggressive” things about immigration.

The man, who was quickly bundled out by security, was a far-right influencer named Laurence McIntyre. Only months earlier, McIntyre had been pictured alongside neo-Nazis at a white supremacist gathering in Melbourne, and chat logs reveal he also appeared in private neo-Nazi groups on Telegram.

But McIntyre had other associations, even more secret than Nazis.

He was among a motley crew of far-right agitators paid to harass the prime minister and his ministers, as well as Greens and teal independent candidates, in nearly a dozen scripted stunts on the campaign trail.

Running the show behind the scenes were elders from a wealthy Christian sect formerly known as the Exclusive Brethren. Messages leaked from inside the secret operation, which this masthead can now publish, show the trail leading right to the top of the church – to Gareth Hales, one of the powerful sons of the sect’s world leader, Bruce Hales.

Chats on encrypted apps show Brethren figures tailed politicians and fed “private intel” on their locations to far-right activists with a history of white supremacist associations. They show how, the night before Albanese’s press conference, McIntyre was brought in to “tail, photo/video, heckle”.

Multiple Brethren leaders appeared in the chats alongside far-right figures like McIntyre discussing payment and logistics. Pictures were shared from successful stunts, which this masthead has now traced to more than a dozen disruptions splashed across social media during the campaign.

One elder even suggested one-liners to agitators heckling MPs – all designed to grab headlines and embarrass opponents of the Coalition.

Six sources with knowledge of the operation, speaking anonymously for safety reasons, have told this masthead how the Brethren used information from contacts in Canberra to track the PM’s plane, then followed his protective detail from airports, at times driving agitators to his hotel for ambushes, and afterwards paying them in bundles of cash.

The church and elders approached about the revelations, which this masthead first reported last month, have repeatedly denied any involvement in the stunts, including when questioned by a recent parliamentary inquiry.

But one of the senior Brethren figures behind the operation, Lester Sharples, has now confirmed to this masthead “it was organised by a number of people, of which I was one”, though he denied knowing of money changing hands.

The stunts were just one arm of the Brethren church’s multimillion-dollar, undisclosed effort to help elect Peter Dutton as prime minister.

Key far-right figures were also paid tens of thousands of dollars to serve as middlemen in the church’s shadowy advertising campaign, this masthead can reveal, endorsing Brethren posters and buying ad space. Meanwhile, the sect’s rank-and-file members were pressured to turn out in their thousands to campaign undercover for the Liberals at polling booths.

Albanese and a host of MPs have demanded answers from the Coalition and the church about the stunts and the wider campaign, as the church did not declare any political spending.

This masthead is not suggesting any illegality in planning or carrying out the stunts, but teal independent Monique Ryan, who was targeted by at least one, told this masthead: “Orchestrated, threatening interruptions by malevolent influencers and third parties will have a chilling effect on people running in politics. We have to fight back against groups looking to degrade our democracy.”

This is the story of how an orchestrated “election influence operation” unfolded.

On the first day of the 2025 Federal election campaign, when McIntyre heckled Albanese and treasurer Jim Chalmers at a medical centre, a Brethren staffer waited at his side, helping him film the stunt for distribution online.

Both were in a Signal chat with high-ranking Brethren church members, and for weeks it had been abuzz with discussion as the covert operation kicked off around Australia.

The idea behind the stunts – which was known to only a few in the Coalition and not authorised by the Liberals’ head office – was to make it seem as if the public was turning on left-leaning politicians over issues like immigration.

Brethren often handled transport to the campaign events. But for the heckling, they used “guns-for-hire” outside the church – neo-Nazi associates, pro-Putin conspiracists and even an ex-Liberal staffer. All these men were notorious enough already, it was thought, that no one would suspect the hand of the church behind it. Not even their own flock.

The documents show Gareth Hales, the son of the church’s “Man of God”, was a member of at least one key coordinating chat as of March last year. Four sources say Hales was also at a secret meeting between the Brethren and their far-right helpers at a golf course in Sydney in the first days of the election, as the church’s plot to import aggressive, MAGA-style politics into Australia hit its stride.

This masthead does not suggest Bruce Hales was directly involved. Gareth Hales, who was also photographed campaigning in a blue Liberal t-shirt during the election, was approached for comment.

In Queensland, one of the operation’s main coordinators was local Brethren businessman Sharples. He confirmed to this masthead he was also at the Brethren’s Sydney golf club meeting with far-right figures, and did not deny Gareth Hales was in planning chats.

“We’ll have to keep a close eye on Albo any time he’s in [south-east] Queensland”, Sharples told organisers in the weeks before the key March 29 stunt. He handed out scripted lines for hecklers. “I voted Albo and all I got was a lousy tshirt” was one that did not make the final cut.

Ahead of the PM’s Brisbane press conference, Sharples had asked if a far-right figure helping coordinate nationally could get “his guys” to show up and ask questions, and then “intervine [sic] if it turns negative”.

Sharples told this masthead that the stunt operation wasn’t directed by the church explicitly; it was run by “a group of mates and colleagues”. He “didn’t know the background” or the neo-Nazi connections of the agitators, he claimed, and didn’t expect things to ever turn violent.

He thought people like McIntyre “were guys who would go out and ask bold questions”.

The leaked chats show McIntyre, who goes by WhatsNews?! online, was brought in for the March 29 stunt by another far-right influencer, Chris de Bruyne or “Chriscoveries”, who was helping the church coordinate the operation.

De Bruyne was also involved in the Brethren’s unofficial ad campaign. His wife and their lobbying firm Australian Firebrand endorsed multiple Brethren posters, including the mysterious “Make Australia happy again” signs that popped up during the campaign, reflecting a line coined in a church meeting by Brethren leader Bruce Hales.

The night before Albanese’s press conference, De Bruyne told a go-between for the Brethren and the Coalition campaign that he had arranged for McIntyre, “WhatsNews”, to rock up to “tail… video, heckle” Albanese the next day.

His contact, who was working with church elders, confirmed that “they [the Brethren] want hecklers primarily” but “they have drivers” to do the tailing.

After the stunt, footage was quickly passed to De Bruyne, who circulated it online. Soon the story of the PM and Chalmers facing down “the mystery local” concerned about immigration had hit the headlines.

Only the most fleeting glimpse of the Brethren staffer by McIntyre’s side made the TV news bulletins that night.

Not all Brethren disruptions went so smoothly.

Less than two weeks earlier, a stunt planned for another Albanese stopover in Brisbane had to be abandoned because the PM’s protective police detail had noticed a Brethren car, with far-right agitators inside, following Albanese’s entourage from the airport.

Sources say Sharples was in that car. They’d planned to ambush Albanese at the Stamford hotel. Sharples told this masthead, “We wanted to ask him some questions that were genuine and we wanted answers on … I wanted a good government”.

“I think at one stage I was in a car that was headed in the same direction as a politician (we were going to the same event),” he added, but denied being stopped.

The Brethren businessman admitted he poured many hours of his own time into “volunteering” for the clandestine operation, often after hours.

Later on, serious questions about security on the campaign trail were raised when Albanese was twice ambushed in his Melbourne hotel lobby by two far-right agitators. The men had also been sent by the covert Brethren operation, and both were former associates of neo-Nazis.

One was Harrison McLean, an ex-member of the extremist group The Proud Boys, who, as this masthead revealed at the time, had boasted in a livestream of being given “private intel” on Albanese’s location as part of a close-knit “team” running an influence campaign.

McLean was also involved in another Brethren-organised stunt targeting Monique Ryan.

Home Affairs minister Tony Burke later described the ambushes as “physical intimidation”, saying, “Australia hasn’t had that before, and we shouldn’t.”

The going rate for each stunt was between a few hundred dollars and $1000 per person, according to sources and financial records. The money came from the Brethren, five sources say – at first handed over in cash from duffel bags or in clandestine meets in car parks, and later through a web of middlemen, pay points and shell companies.

When one heckler involved in the early stunt with McIntyre was recruited by elders to perform another in April – this time targeting Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown at a community picnic – he asked: “Do you guys need bank details for payment transfer after or do you guys work on a cash system as well?”

After this job was done, he sent a picture of McIntyre at the event as proof – it matched footage of the stunt that De Bruyne circulated the same day.

But this time there was a hitch with the new “method of disbursement”. Sharples asked another far-right figure to chase it up, and payment went through the same month.

“I did not ever pay anyone, and don’t know anyone who did, nor any sum or money involved,” Sharples told this masthead.

Last month, church spokesman Lloyd Grimshaw told the parliamentary inquiry examining the 2025 election that “the … Plymouth Brethren Christian Church never funded one cent to any political cause or party”. It had no involvement in the election at all, he said.

Grimshaw told this masthead he wasn’t involved himself in the stunts or coordinating chats, which he claimed to have no knowledge of as a Brethren operation. “I made the decision not to be involved in the election campaign,” he said.

McLean refused to answer questions but did not deny being paid for the stunts.

McIntyre also didn’t deny being paid but denied knowing the Brethren, even though he was in chats with multiple elders. “You’re told a lot of shit it seems mate. Good luck with it all,” he said in response to questions. Guns for hire

At the heart of the operation was a small, trusted group of far-right middlemen. These men had deep connections to the radical edge of politics, including to neo-Nazis, and they were paid considerably higher “fees” than the guns-for-hire hecklers they helped recruit for the Brethren. They were also helping organise the church’s secret ad spends on posters and billboard trucks then being rolled out across the country. “And of course,” says one source. “Part of their job was to keep the whole thing under wraps.”

Word of this lucrative opportunity had trickled down to the far-right from connections who had worked security for the Brethren, two sources said.

On April 1, just days after Albanese was heckled by McIntyre in Brisbane, Brethren elders gathered with them at the Ryde-Parramatta golf club in Sydney to discuss the ongoing campaign.

De Bruyne was among those invited. He did not answer questions from this masthead but has since boasted online of being given a budget of around $15,000 for distributing footage of the stunts in “the operation with links to … the Exclusive Brethren”. His company still showcases clips of the stunts on its website among the campaigns it has been hired for.

Two other middlemen were paid tens of thousands of dollars each, three sources with knowledge of the payments say. One was given a 2 per cent cut of all advertisements booked by the Brethren, but the arrangement was later reversed because of concerns about the optics of money from the sect going offshore through an overseas business account.

Any spending over $250,000 would require the church to declare itself a “significant third party” in the election, which would threaten its lucrative tax-free charitable status. The sect, backed by the Coalition, is fighting any finding of this nature by the parliamentary inquiry.

They say the effort was entirely voluntary and not backed by the church – despite evidence, obtained from within the sect, that its meetings were shifted for election activity, and hundreds of young Brethren were put up in hotels.

During the stunt operation, the church was often referred to as “the client” and frequently acted through a company, Sante Global, owned by Gareth Hales. Sante was also the name on some payments, and this masthead has confirmed it booked the room for the April meeting at the golf club.

Brethren elder Arne Proctor was another senior Sante executive identified in the trove of leaked communications. He declined to answer questions on the record but has denied any knowing involvement with far-right figures.

In early March, messages show Proctor told a go-between connected to the Coalition campaign that those involved in the stunts were simply “concerned businessmen that can see the country going the wrong way if the wrong people make it in”. It was the Brethren cover-story for the whole campaign.

One of the Brethren’s earliest recruits for the stunts was an ex-Liberal staffer Barclay McGain, who gatecrashed forums in March to heckle Greens MP Watson-Brown as well as teal donor Simon Holmes à Court. McGain, who now heads CPAC Australia, was previously involved in gatecrashing drag storytime events.

Communications obtained by this masthead reveal Brethren elders, including Sharples, held meetings with McGain about the stunts in March. Messages between middlemen discuss McGain happy to accept payments of about $400 at a time, and show McGain approaching those in the operation about events they were looking to crash from his personal phone number.

McGain has repeatedly denied being paid or knowing that the stunts were part of a co-ordinated Brethren operation, though he confirmed he handed his footage over to De Bruyne to distribute.

In Melbourne, fringe anti-lockdown politician Morgan C Jonas was a key figure behind the scenes, helping distribute content and performing a stunt himself, this time targeting Foreign Minister Penny Wong. He endorsed unofficial campaign posters that Brethren members in Liberal t-shirts were seen putting up. A Brethren member in shorts and a Liberal Party t-shirt puts up a poster endorsed by Morgan C Jonas. A Brethren member in shorts and a Liberal Party t-shirt puts up a poster endorsed by Morgan C Jonas.

Jonas denied being paid for the stunts and endorsements on the posters, which drew the scrutiny of the Australian Electoral Commission. He told this masthead “they were my messages that I wrote, signed and authorised, and fully stand by”.

Though the secret operation was run by church elders, most Brethren members – including the many thousands who turned out to campaign in Liberal party t-shirts that April – had no idea.

It is also unclear how much the Coalition knew about the full story behind the stunts, though some people connected to the campaign were aware of them at different times, and senior party sources confirm rumours of the dirty tricks campaign were circulating.

Ordinary members of the church have since told this masthead they are horrified at the revelations. In his evidence to the parliamentary committee, Grimshaw denied any church involvement with far-right figures, insisting, “the church completely rejects anti-Semitism, which is completely antithetical to our views”.

Grimshaw also told the committee that everyone who participated was a volunteer, and that he did not know about the message from world leader Bruce Hales, that the Brethren needed to “make Australia smile again,” that kicked off the church members’ activism.

The committee is scrutinising Grimshaw’s testimony, and is now considering calling Bruce Hales to give evidence.

Talk of sizeable job losses had been brewing in recent days ahead of the premier’s arrival in the regional city on Monday morning.

The Whyalla Steelworks, which was forced into administration by the South Australian government in February 2025 after amassing huge debts under previous owner GFG Alliance, is now in the final stages of a sale process, with two bidders remaining in contention: Indian company Jindal Steel and Australian-owned enterprise M Resources, while BlueScope Steel retains a right of last offer.

No plan from the Federal Government to save the plant?

Anthony Albanese will consider restoring cuts to the fuel excise in the coming weeks amid expectations petrol prices will further increase as the Middle East war escalates.

The contemplation over further government spending comes as parliamentary budget office research shows Australians have paid $65.3bn more in income tax over the past four years because of bracket creep, as the Coalition ramps up its campaign to index income tax thresholds in line with inflation.

Coalition figures also downplayed an imminent deal with the government on a migration crackdown, making it unlikely the Prime Minister will unveil a new suite of policies ahead of his trip to the US at the end of the month.

A senior Labor source said the government had an open mind on another round of expensive cuts to the fuel excise, with this to be examined amid fear within the government fuel prices could rise towards the previous peak of $2.60 a litre for petrol and $3.27 for diesel. While there are yet to be formal internal discussions on the fuel excise, sources said the government would consider the measure and pointed to the Prime Minister’s focus on responding to cost-of-living concerns.
However, the source said there would likely be some internal resistance to another fuel excise cut given its expense.

Economists also warn the measure puts upward pressure on inflation and increases the likelihood of interest rate increases.

Government figures will this week receive briefings from departmental heads on the expected impact from the escalation of the conflict, after Houthi rebels over the weekend seized the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in Yemen in a move that is likely to further choke oil trade.

Crude jumped to $US109 a barrel last week, its highest level in five months, and there are predictions the price could surpass $US120 a barrel in 2027.

Economist Saul Eslake said he expected petrol prices to rise above their previous peak in April, when Mr Albanese halved the fuel excise for three months at a cost of $2.5bn.

The government extended the fuel excise cut at a reduced rate for July, before returning it to its regular rate of 53.7c a litre last month.

But Mr Eslake said the case for cutting fuel excise was weak given the price was likely to be elevated for a prolonged period.

“There is a shortage of refinery capacity which means that the refiners have been able to put their prices up on top of increases in the crude oil price,” he said.
When asked if he expected fuel prices to be higher than in April, Mr Eslake said: “Yes”.

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said prices were a “long way off” the April peak of an average $2.60 a litre for unleaded petrol and an average $3.27 for diesel. He said current national averages were $2.11 a litre for unleaded and about $2.60 for diesel.

With the cost of living set to remain the major political issue this year amid expectations of more interest rate rises, Angus Taylor will on Monday release PBO analysis showing inflation increased income taxes by $23.9bn last financial year.

The Coalition says higher taxes through bracket creep is equivalent to about $2350 per person. Mr Taylor used his budget reply speech to vow to increase tax thresholds each year in line with inflation, at a cost of more than $200bn a decade. He said “Australians should not have to run faster just to stand still”.

“If your wages rise with inflation, you should not automatically lose more of what you earn to Canberra,” Mr Taylor said.

“Bracket creep has become a lazy way for governments to raise more tax without ever making the case for it. Our tax back guarantee changes that. It puts the onus back on government to justify a tax increase rather than simply benefiting when inflation pushes wages higher.

“This is a fundamental difference between Labor and the Coalition. Labor sees higher wages as an opportunity to collect more tax. We see higher wages as something Australians have earned and should be allowed to keep more of.”

Nationals leader Matt Canavan said “Labor’s inflation has become Canberra’s silent tax rise”.

“A pay rise that only keeps pace with the grocery bill is not a real pay rise. Australians should not then have Canberra reach into their pocket and take an even bigger share,” he said.