News and politics live updates: Anthony Albanese forced to defend Budget after Taylor launched fiery attack

Angus Taylor has put a price tag on his plan to link income tax brackets after repeatedly dodging questions over the cost of his vision.

The Opposition leader said the plan was expected to cost around $22 billion, with the overall expenses likely to vary depending on inflation at the time.

“We’ll put them out as Labor put their costings out in the lead-up to an election,” he told Sky News.

A dedicated, full-time Counter-Terrorism Coordinator has been appointed within the Home Affairs Department as part of the government’s formal response to the anti-Semitism Royal Commission following the deadly Bondi attacks.

Home Affairs official Brendan Dowling, who has worked in national security for 20 years, will take on the role immediately as recommended by last month’s interim report from Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell.

“Mr Dowling will provide national leadership and coordination on counter-terrorism matters, including the prevention of and response to terrorism incidents,” the Home Affairs Department said in a statement.

“As the Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, he will work across federal, state and territory law enforcement, intelligence and policy agencies, and with the community, to ensure a coordinated national effort to counter-terrorism and violent extremism.”

The former Cyber-Affairs Ambassador will engage with affected communities, work with other senior counter-terrorism officials, coordinate exercises, and respond to emerging threats and priorities.

This week’s budget confirmed more than $600 million will be spent over the next five years to combat anti-Semitism in Australia in the wake of the Bondi Beach massacre, including $80m to tackle online threats and extremism.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is on the back foot after Opposition leader Angus Taylor launched a fiery attack on the Labor Governmet’s Budget.

In his Budget reply on Thursday night, Mr Taylor outlined a bold pitch to end the tax bracket creep.

The Prime Minsiter has now been forced to defend the Budget, saying Taylor’s vision “can’t be taken seriously”.

“He couldn’t say how much these measures would cost, but could say that we would rip the guts out of essential housing programs,” Mr Albanese told reporters in Canberra on Friday morning.

“Now, Angus Taylor has no solutions. You can come up with a whole range of things without any costings that can’t be taken seriously.”

The Prime Minister added that Labor’s Budget includes tax cuts through the Working Australian Tax Offset.

Plugging gaps in compliance and oversight, strengthening penalties and stronger upstream regulation will help to prevent widespread fraud threatening the sustainability of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, a parliamentary inquiry will hear.

Sweeping reforms enshrined in the Federal Budget this week hope to rein in the spiralling cost of the $50 billion scheme.

Tightening eligibility alongside tougher provider registration requirements are just some of the measures hoped to claw back $37.8 billion over the next four years.

New laws introduced on Thursday will require Australians to have exhausted all other treatment options before they are considered permanently impaired to enter the scheme.

The bill will also give Health Minister Mark Butler sweeping powers to put a break on certain parts of the program as well as to enable automated decision-making.

“Being able to automate some of these basic administrative functions free up our highly qualified public servants, frankly, to do more work with actual interaction with human beings where that interaction is particularly important,” he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

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Leader of the Nationals Matt Canavan has slammed Labor’s tax systrem in response to the Opposition’s Budget reply.

Mr Canavan said the “silent tax” is not fair on Australians.

“We want to stop Australians being silently taxed through inflation,” he told the ABC on Friday morning.

“This issue has always been there but it has come to a point in the last few years. Every year you are paying more tax without realising.”

He declared this would change under a coalition government.

“We will get rid of that so we don’t unfairly tax Australians,” he added.

“Under a Liberal and Nationals government you will pay a lot less tax.”

A ship has been siezed off the United Arab Emirates’ coast near the Strait of Hormuz, and is being taken toward Iran after another vessel sank.

The vessel, which was siezed about 38 nautical miles northeast of the UAE’s oil export terminal Fujairah, was boarded and ‘taken by unauthorised personnel’, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reports.

Described as “floating armoury” by the maritime risk management company Vanguard, the shipwas reportedly seen moving towards Iranian territorial waters after it was captured.

According to Indian officials, an indian ship was also attacked off the coast of Oman on Wednesday.

“All Indian crew on board are safe and we thank the Omani authorities for rescuing them,” Indian authorities said.

Opposition leader Angus Taylor has attacked Labor’s changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing outlined in Tuesday’s Budget, vowing to repeal the changes.

In his Budget reply speech on Thursday night, Mr Taylor described the Labor changes as “toxic taxes” and an “assault on aspiration,” pledging to restore the 50% CGT discount for investors

Mr Taylor also promised to index tax rates in line with inflation, claiming the move will deliver workers an extra $1000 a year, four years into the policy.

Under his plan, the bottom two tax brackets - covering people earning between $18,201 and $135,000 - would be indexed from 2028/29.

The top two tax brackets would also be indexed from the 2031/32 financial year.

“This is generational tax reform. It’s fair, simple and honest,” Mr Taylor told parliament on Thursday night.

The Opposition leader also flagged some of the biggest cuts to migration in Australia’s history.

Under a broader crackdown on migration, Australia’s intake of foreigners would be tied to the number of homes built every year.

“This much I promise: the coalition will deliver one of the biggest cuts to immigration in Australian history,” Mr Taylor said, without providing detailed figures for his migration targets.