Australian news and politics live: Anthony Albanese backs Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan amid dire polls

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has hit back at suggestions the Coalition could work with One Nation to bring down Labor, declaring the parties are becoming “indistinguishable”.

It comes after Opposition Leader Angus Taylor refused to rule out working with Pauline Hanson’s party, saying the Coalition would “work with others to get rid of this rotten Labor government” and “whoever we can” to defeat Labor.

Responding to the comments, the Prime Minister took aim at the growing alignment between the conservative parties.

“The Liberal one national party are indistinguishable these days,” Mr Albanese said.

He warned the Coalition risked pushing voters further towards One Nation if it continues down that path.

“If he tries to out One Nation, One Nation, then they become indistinguishable, and people more and more will go towards what they see as the real thing,” he said.

“Angus Taylor went to the last election... proposing higher taxes, higher deficits, no real plan,” he said.

“Nothing has been learnt. He’s still continuing to put forward a negative agenda.”

Anthony Albanese has defended his government’s housing agenda after being asked about concerns from a local homelessness support group that not enough transitional housing is being built in Bendigo.

Speaking in the regional Victorian city, the Prime Minister said key housing reforms had been blocked for years.

“We had the Housing Australia Future Fund that was held up in the Senate for two years,” he said.

The $10 billion fund is designed to boost social and affordable housing, including emergency accommodation.

“It’s extraordinary that... he wants to reinstitute the taxes that will advantage investors over first home buyers,” Mr Albanese said of Angus Taylor’s budget reply.

“In order to fund that, he will abolish these programs that build social, affordable, and public housing.”

Mr Albanese said the government was focused on practical solutions to ease the housing crisis.

“They don’t come up with real solutions, they just come up with cuts,” he said.

“That will make it just so much harder for people.”

He also pointed to existing schemes helping Australians into the market.

“The five per cent deposit scheme... has seen 250,000 Australians be able to own their own home,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan is definitely the best person to run Victoria.

It comes as Victorian Labor’s primary vote has slumped to 23 per cent, with the state’s Coalition on 27 percent, while One Nation soaring to 25 per cent, according to a Freshwater Strategy poll for the Herald Sun.

If the findings are replicated at the November state election, the 12-year-old Labor government would likely be turfed from office - although the coalition faces an uphill battle to govern in its own right.

Over 60 per cent of respondents said Ms Allan should be replaced ahead of the election, including 39 per cent of Labor voters.

Despite the dire polling, Mr Albanese threw his full support behind the Victorian Premier during a press conference in Bendigo.

“She absolutely is the best person not to lead Labor, to lead Victoria, because Victoria needs a strong Premier,” he said.

“They need someone who is a strong advocate, who’s built up the health system here in Victoria, who’s continued to be an advocate for students here.”

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has briefed Anthony Albanese on the new online safety controls the tech giant is rolling out for children that will allow parents to more easily manage what content they see and how they use devices.

The Prime Minister welcomed the announcement, which Apple made in California overnight,

“Mr Cook told me these changes are in part inspired by Australia’s world-leading social media age ban, as well as the continued research Apple is undertaking into the impact of social media on kids,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

“I am proud of the world-leading work Australia is doing to fight for a safer online world for our children. We have a long way to go and we knew it would not be easy. However, we are now seeing a number of nations follow Australia’s lead and take forward their own social media age bans.”

Under Apple’s plans, parents will be able to set up a child account that offers safeguards tailored to their child’s age, such as limits on adult websites and which apps can be downloaded. There’s a recommended set of “essential apps”, time allowances, screen time limits, and an “ask to browse” rule that requires children to get parental permission to visit new websites.

Mr Cook has invited Mr Albanese to visit Apple’s headquarters the next time he is in the US to see the technology in action.

National Australia Bank is now expecting the Reserve Bank’s next move to be a rate cut rather than a hike.

Economists Sally Auld and Gareth Spence argued the cash rate was likely to stay on hold at 4.35 per cent instead of being raised to a 15-year high of 4.6 per cent at its August meeting.

“We no longer expect the RBA to hike by 25 basis points in August and now see the cash rate peaking at the current rate of 4.35 per cent for the cycle,” they said.

“The next move in the cash rate is likely to be down, but the timing is uncertain.”

This is despite headline inflation in April being at 4.2 per cent, or above the Reserve Bank’s 2-3 per cent target for the ninth straight month.

Unemployment in April was at a four-year high of 4.5 per cent, on the higher side considered full employment.

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Good news on American jobs has caused the Australian share market to plunge, with investors worried that high inflation will stop the US Federal Reserve from being able to cut interest rates.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was 1 per cent weaker during the first hour of trade on the Australian Securities Exchange, wiping about $16 billion off shares, as it fell to 8550 points shortly after 11am AEST.

The surprise edition of 172,000 jobs in May in the American non-farm payrolls strengthened the US dollar, with the good news from the US Department of Labour hurting mining and software stocks in Australia.

With American inflation at a three-year high of 3.8 per cent, financial markets are worried the US Federal Reserve won’t be able to cut interest rates, Moomoo chief executive Michael McCarthy said.

“Central banks and governments will act to stop inflation, even at the risk of putting the economy into recession because inflation spirals are so damaging,” he told The Nightly.

The Opposition Leader has suggested Labor’s broken Budget promises are to blame for the Coalition’s worsening polling results and One Nation’s continuing popularity surge.

This week’s Newspoll recorded Pauline Hanson’s party ahead of Labor on first-preference votes, while the Coalition fell to the same level when Sussan Ley was removed as Opposition leader in February.

Visiting the marginal seat of Lindsay in Sydney’s West, Angus Taylor has told reporters that voters are angry at the budget’s broken promises.

“They’ve had a gut full, you know, they’re swinging the bat, and I don’t blame them. They are angry, and they should be angry, and I’m angry because this is a government that is letting Australians down.”

Newly elected Liberal Party president and former prime minister Tony Abbott has backed the Coalition swapping preferences with One Nation, comparing the move to similar deals between Labor and the Greens.

Inside Liberal ranks, there is growing pessimism about losing further seats at the next election to Pauline Hanson’s populist right-wing party.

“As a general rule, it makes sense for parties of the right to preference each other just as parties of the left have always done,” Mr Abbott told The Australian Financial Review.

Last week, Mr Abbott confirmed former Nationals Federal director Lincoln Folo would take up the same role with the Liberals as the party works to turn around last year’s devastating election loss.

Labor says Australians have had enough of the Middle East war and the impacts it is having on daily life.

Assistant Foreign Minister Matt Thistlethwaite told ABC News Breakfast that Australia has joined calls for all parties to get to the negotiating table and fast.

“Australians are becoming increasingly frustrated with the stop-start nature of this conflict and its ongoing effects on our economy and the international economy,” he said on Tuesday.

“They’re paying for it at the petrol bowser, it’s starting to hit household items, particularly food and groceries, and we think that enough is enough.

“That’s why Australia has joined our international partners in calling for the parties to get back to the negotiating table.”

The assistant minister said the Government’s stance was that it was still unsafe to travel to the Middle East.

“We’ve seen, unfortunately, in the past couple of days, another flare-up in those tensions with missiles being fired towards the Middle East,” he added.

“At the moment, the safety of Australians is our first consideration and we believe that it is unsafe to travel.”

Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked Donald Trump, reminding him that Israel appreciates him, as tensions between the Israeli Prime Minister and the US President appear to grow.

Justifying the latest strikes on Iran after Mr Trump told Mr Netanyahu not to retaliate, the Israeli PM said Israel had the right to self-defence.

“After Iran attacked Israel, I instructed the IDF to attack military and economic targets throughout Iran. We did that, too,” Mr Netanyahu said in a televised statement.

“At the moment, we are holding our fire, because after we struck the terror regime in Tehran, it ceased attacking us. In the event that the terror regime in Iran makes the mistake of resuming attacks on us – we will respond with overwhelming force.

“Israel has a full right to self-defense, and we are exercising it to the extent necessary.

“I say this to you, just as I say this, with appreciation and respect, in my good conversations with my friend President Trump.

“With unity, determination and wisdom – we will protect the State of Israel. Together, with God’s help, we will restore security to the north.”