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Senior Labor MPs are defending Jim Chalmers and emphasising party unity, after a Cabinet Minister accused colleagues of undermining the treasurer.
Environment Minister Murray Watt has reiterated his support for Dr Chalmers, after he told reporters he would like to see an end to comments and leaks about the Treasurer from within his party.
Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino has rejected suggestions Mr Chalmer's position is under threat, saying the Treasurer has his full support.
Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson, however, says the reports of leaks against the Treasurer from within Labor do not surprise her.
" Well, clearly Jim Chalmers is failing Australians, and Jim Chalmers is toxic within his own party. Uh, the budget is one of the worst things that we have ever seen in this country, and it is no wonder that, uh, Labor's backbench is briefing out against Jim Chalmers."
Labor says it is imposing measures to help reduce headline inflation, as the government comes under fire for its economic management in the wake of a fifth consecutive rate rise.
The Reserve Bank has not ruled out another rate rise this year, as it targets an inflation rate between 2 to 3 per cent.
The cash rate is currently sitting at 4.85 - its highest level since 2008 - and opposition MPs are blaming the Federal Government for over spending.
Financial Services Minister Daniel Mulino told Channel 9's Today Show there are concerns around productivity, but it will be lifted when a range of new measures come into effect.
"We have a range of measures that were identified in the last budget around 10 billion dollars in lightening the regulatory load and a whole bunch of measures that are going to create more aligned national markets. The thing with these productivity reforms is they do often take time to flow through into the economy. We've seen this with previous governments, such as the Hawke-Keating reforms. But I totally agree, that we need to lift the speed limit of the economy and we are doing it each and every budget."
US President Donald Trump has expressed confidence in Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying he will stand by him if he is impeached.
Commending his so-called Secretary of War who he claims has won two wars, Trump lashed out against Republican, Kentucky representative Thomas Massie, who introduced eight articles of impeachment against Mr Hegseth.
The US President also says more oil has come out of the Strait of Hormuz in the past week, saying the war with Iran is effectively over but the US is prepared.
"So it's a nasty place but we think that it's in pretty good shape, we'll see what happens. I don't guarantee anything, but if we do have to go back in, we are locked and loaded (and ready to go)."
Meanwhile, Iran's top security official Mohsen Rezaei says US should stop manufacturing 'fake news about imaginary talks', and calls for the US to surrender to the seven conditions Iran has repeatedly set out.
Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen is urging faster action on climate change at the COP31 summit in Turkiye.
Delegates from almost 200 countries are gathered in the city of Antalya for the summit, which is the first since a UN report revealed the world is failing the 1.5 degrees climate target.
During his opening address as President of Negotiaions, Mr Bowen said the world can still return to the 1.5 degree global warming threshold, despite overshooting it, if countries take immediate action.
“We meet at a moment of consequence, whether it be the glacial collapse in Nepal, heat deaths in Europe or an intensifying El Niño. Climate change is here. It is not a forecast. It is not a prediction. It is the lived reality for billions of people. Its impacts are growing more frequent and intense. Every fraction of a degree, every delay, increases risk to lives, communities, economic growth, and the environment.”
Meanwhile, Australia continues to draw criticism from Pacific nations, environmental and humanitarian organisations and First Nations groups for it's contribution to climate change, as a major fossil fuel exporter.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young says Australia should not be asking other countries to take action on global warming, when it continues to approve fossil fuel projects.
"It's a bit hypocritical, for the government to be, in Türkiye talking about the need for electrification while they continue to allow the fossil fuel industry to expand here in Australia, opening up new coal and gas fields, uh, pushing up pollution levels and making the climate crisis worse."
Advocacy groups are lobbying for gender-based violence to be listed among the potential harms of online platforms, as a senate committee considers the Digital Duty of Care bill proposed by the Labor government.
Equality Australia joined calls from organisations including the Working with Women Alliance to include provisions in the legislation that would allow victim survivors of gender-based violence to have legal recourse against tech companies that breach their duty of care.
Currently, the only means of holding online platforms to account for harmful content is via the ESafety Commission, which the witnesses say is overrun with complaints.
Alex Lia, a human rights lawyer for Equality Australia, says there should be a means for legal intervention that considers the impact of a high volume of abusive interactions.
" This would be particularly effective where someone is being subjected to a cumulative attack or a pile-on as we see across social media platforms. In these circumstances, the harm may arise from the volume and the persistence and the cumulative effect of multiple posts, comments or interactions, rather than any single communication that occurs."
To sport, Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg has ruled out reopening the investigation into the ball-tampering scandal, following Usman Khawaja’s bombshell revelations.
Greenberg spoke for the first time on Tuesday since Khawaja claimed the entire Australian team were aware of the use of sandpaper at Cape Town in 2018, in his memoir; "Sabr".
In the book, Khawaja also claims Australia had used sandpaper in the Test prior to Cape Town at St George’s Park in 2018, but had not been caught.
The sport's body's official investigation at the time deemed that only perpetrator Cameron Bancroft, captain Steve Smith and deputy David Warner were aware of the plot.
The three were all banned, before later returning to the Test side and Smith having since captained the side again in Pat Cummins’ absence.
But Greenberg said on Tuesday that there was no need to restart inquiries, and that Khawaja’s version of events did not change things dramatically.
