SBS Our House

The emergency evacuation of the Prime Minister from his Canberra home due to a targeted bomb threat has prompted warnings of a heightened security environment, where online hostility is increasingly manifesting as high-harm physical threats. It follows comments by the Federal Police Commissioner late last year, noting a trend of escalating violence against public officials.

The Federal Government has moved to the next stage of Australia's inaugural high-speed rail project, launching a two-year development phase for the Sydney-to-Newcastle link. Construction is slated to begin in 2028. While the project faces a nearly $90 billion price tag and public scepticism over its long history of delays, proponents argue the 180-kilometre network will eventually transform regional housing and productivity across the entire East Coast.

A Senate inquiry into housing affordability has heard urgent calls for tax reform, with advocates warning that current capital gains concessions favour wealthy investors while locking the younger generation out of the property market. The Australian Council of Trade Unions argues that reducing these tax breaks could boost home ownership by four per cent. The Grattan Institute maintains the primary benefit would be a $6.5 billion budget windfall to fund public housing and support struggling renters.

The last remaining Australian women and children with links to the IS Group have been sent back to a Syrian camp after attempting to repatriate themselves home. The group of 34 left al-Roj in the country's northeast overnight - but a communications issue with Damascus forced their return to the camp.

Angus Taylor has seized the Liberal Party leadership in a decisive party room vote - 34 to 17 - ending Sussan Ley’s nine-month tenure as the party’s first female leader. Backed by new deputy Jane Hume, the Rhodes scholar and former Shadow Treasurer now faces the challenge of rebuilding a fractured base while navigating a political history marked by significant past controversies.