Live: Labor minister wants RBA to go further on card surcharges ban

A stone's throw from Parliament House, six giant cranes have been working on the biggest Commonwealth construction project in Canberra in almost 40 years.

The development of a National Security Office Precinct has been heralded by the federal government as a solution to "critical accommodation and capability requirements" of several agencies.

Despite the huge scale of the project, many of the details have been kept secret.

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Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has backed calls from the Greens to make sure the live streaming of a firing squad execution in the United States is not shown in Australia.

Last week, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he would make sure the public could watch the December 3 execution of Nidal Malik Hasan — which would be the first US execution by a military firing squad since World War II.

The Greens want the federal government to "take whatever action is necessary" to prevent the live streaming of the execution.

Thorpe said she agreed.

"We don't need people looking at that stuff," she said.

"Look at what is online in this country already. It is causing mental harm to many people."

Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson was also asked what he thinks about speculation Josh Frydenberg could mount a political comeback.

Wilson doesn't address Frydenberg specially, rather opting to talk more broadly. But he makes it pretty clear that if the former treasurer was to return, and the Coalition won the next election, Angus Taylor would be prime minister.

"What we need is people who've got courage in their hearts and prepared to make the sacrifices necessary for public office," he tells ABC's Radio National Breakfast.

"So, I have no issue with people putting themselves forward. I encourage them to do so, so they can be part of a winning team, so we can have an Angus Taylor-led government."

Liberal frontbencher Tim Wilson says the execution live stream is "enormously problematic" but has questioned whether any ban could be enforced without restricting free speech.

"If it's going to be live streamed, how are you going to do that without creating the artifice to block content on the internet and create an online portal of censorship," he says.

Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino also flagged concerns about balancing online safety with freedom of expression, saying he is unsure whether existing regulations could be used to stop a live stream.

"One of the things I think we need to grapple with is we need to walk a fine line with social media between imposing protections where appropriate and making sure people have the freedom to express themselves," he says.

The Greens want the federal government to make sure the execution of a former United States Army psychiatrist, convicted of a deadly shooting, is not live streamed in Australia.

Last week, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he would make sure people could watch the December 3 execution – which would be the first US execution by a military firing squad since World War II.

Greens communications spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young has written to both the eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant and Communications Minister Anika Wells seeking their assurance it would not be shown in Australia.

"This is incredibly shocking and barbaric … Australians don’t want this on our screens," she told the ABC.

A spokesperson for the communications department said "broadcasters must comply with rules about reporting on violent or distressing content [and] it would be expected they exercise strong editorial control over their coverage and act responsibly in reporting on this matter".

Over the weekend, US Vice President JD Vance cast doubt about whether the execution would indeed be live streamed, but said if it was, he would not watch it.

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Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson is demanding the government abandon its plan to impose a minimum tax on discretionary trusts.

The Coalition has opposed the proposal since it was first announced in the budget. Wilson tells ABC's Radio National Breakfast it would "create chaos" for some small businesses.

"What they're going to do is apply higher taxes on struggling small businesses or force them to change structures, which is going to incur massive costs, stamp duty liabilities, and then create chaos with financing as they have to go back to the banks and get things restructured," he says.

Wilson says small businesses are using discretionary trusts, where a person can choose how much income goes to an individual, for asset protection — not tax avoidance.

"For the government to come along, change the law without taking it to consultation, particularly an election, is directly undermining the foundations of hundreds of thousands of small businesses all around the country."

Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino has declared Labor won't water down a proposal to put a minimum tax on discretionary trusts.

The government first flagged the plan in the budget and would introduce a minimum 30 per cent tax on distributions from discretionary trusts. The Coalition has opposed the move due to concerns about the impact on small businesses.

Mulino argues Labor has already made changes since the plan was first announced, including carving out discretionary testamentary trusts.

But on any further tweaks, the frontbencher says he'll leave that to when the bill is introduced.

"We're not watering this down. This is a very substantial review. This is about fairness in our tax system. It's about trying to align the taxes that people pay when they earn income through trusts versus when they earn income from working, from providing their labour," he tells ABC's Radio National Breakfast.

Mulino says he wants the Greens and the Coalition the "engage in good faith".

Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino has declined to say how much it will cost the government to delay the Australian Taxation Office's ban on credit card surcharges until next year.

The ATO agreed to delay the ban until June next year after pressure from businesses. The government will cover the cost card surcharges, following the Reserve Bank's ban, until June.

Mulino defends the government's response to the saga, telling ABC's Radio National Breakfast it acted within days after it became clear businesses did not want to accept the ATO's proposed two-month transition period.

But asked how much it would cost, Mulino says that's a question to be answered in the mid-year budget update.

"The costs are partly dependent on ongoing negotiations between the ATO and the credit card companies," he says.

"Those conversations will hopefully yield benefits for the taxpayer. But as I said, yeah, the final costs will be announced in my MYEFO."

Labor frontbencher Kristy McBain thinks the Reserve Bank should go further on its card surcharge ban.

The emergency management minister wants the RBA to prevent banks from charging small businesses point of sale fees.

"These banks are making billions of dollars in profits every year and small businesses are already paying account keeping fees and a range of other fees directly to their banks," she told Seven this morning.

"So that's what I'd like to see the RBA actually take that next step and say, you know, there is no charging for those point of sale machines."

The government has been under pressure over the card surcharge ban, which came into force at the start of the month.

Labor says surcharges were costing consumers $1.6b a year but some small businesses have responded by raising prices. The decision to ban card surcharges was taken by the Reserve Bank.

It came into force at the start of the month.

So what does Monique Ryan think about Josh Frydenberg's return to the political fray?

"I'm not bothered either way," she told Nine this morning.

Frydenberg lost the Melbourne seat of Kooyong to the independent MP at the 2022 election. The former treasurer is out and about this week ahead of the release of his new book.

The book's publication has stoked speculation Frydenberg could attempt to re-capture his old seat at the next election.

Ryan argued the community had already "rejected" Frydenberg, taking aim at his record on climate change and his actions during the pandemic.

"People were very unhappy with the way that he punched down on Victoria during the COVID years. I'm not sure what has changed since that time that Frydenberg now thinks that the community will welcome him back with open arms," she said.

"Clearly he has ongoing ambitions to, he says, to be prime minister, but he doesn't speak much about Kooyong, and that's the part of the world that I'm most focused on."

Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg hasn't closed the door to a political comeback.

During an interview with 60 Minutes last night, Frydenberg — who was ousted at the 2022 election — said he doesn't think "anyone gets politics out of their system".

"I certainly haven’t closed the door, but I don’t need to rush to a decision. The next election is 18 months away," he said.

Frydenberg insisted the Liberals were facing an "existential threat" ahead of the next federal election, due in 2028.

"The polls are showing that the Liberal Party is at an all-time low and so things have to change because there's something existential about the threat that I think the party now faces," he said.

Asked if Opposition Leader Angus Taylor would welcome free advice about how to do his job, Frydenberg said he's not the only one doing it.

"I think he's getting that from lots of corners. People saying that the Liberal Party needs to do better," he says.

Labor is poised to walk back controversial ministerial powers in new digital safety laws amid demands from the Greens for stronger protections, including the right to seek compensation for algorithmic harms.

The Coalition remains opposed to the federal government's Digital Duty of Care proposal, which is one of three major pieces of legislation due to be introduced to parliament his week, alongside a gas reservation and changes to the taxation of trusts.

The digital laws have a potential pathway through the Senate with the support of the Greens, who have set three "tests" for the bill on private compensation, the scale of fines and addressing the addictive nature of the technology.

The duty would require social media, search engines, AI chatbots and other online platforms to take reasonable steps to reduce foreseeable "harms" for underage Australians and "serious harm" for adults.

Categories of harm were outlined in an exposure draft bill released last month, but there was also a provision for the minister to add further harms through regulation.

The Coalition has been vehemently opposed to the powers, suggesting they would lead to political censorship online.

It is understood the government is now prepared to scrap the ministerial discretion component of the bill before it is introduced later this week.

Read more at the link below.

Hello friends. Welcome to our politics live blog. I'm Courtney Gould from the ABC's Parliament House team, here to guide you through the day.

Politicians are already walking the halls as another sitting week is upon us. The government is preparing to scrap controversial powers included in its Digital Duty of Care bill, which is expected to be introduced later this week.

Meanwhile, the government remains under pressure by the business community over the Reserve Bank's decision to ban card surcharges.

Elsewhere, former treasurer Josh Frydenberg has hinted at a return to politics. So how has the woman who ousted him, Monique Ryan, reacted to that? I'll have that for you shortly.

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