A soldier has died and another injured after a parachuting training accident at an Australian Defence Force airfield.

The Department of Defence confirmed the Australian army member died during a training course at the Jervis Bay Airfield, 200km east of Canberra, on Monday evening.

Another soldier was injured in the incident but did not require hospitalisation.

The identities or ages of the soldiers involved have not been released.

“We request that the privacy of Defence members and families is respected at this time,” the department said in a statement on Tuesday.

The death is the first in a parachuting accident since Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon, the son of former federal minister Joel Fitzgibbon, died in March 2024 during a training incident at RAAF Base Richmond, northwest of Sydney.

Cpl Fitzgibbon’s death led to an investigation by the Department of Defence and a two-month halt to parachute training activities.

The last active service member to die in any incident was in October 2025 when a M113 armoured personnel carrier rolled during a training exercise west of Townsville.

Two other service members were hospitalised with relatively minor injuries after the incident but were released.

Two soldiers were also killed in a truck rollover south of Townsville in August 2021.

The department was charged in September 2023 with breaching federal work health and safety laws over the incident.

US President Donald Trump is set to sign executive orders to allow increased beef imports into the United States and to support renewal of ‌the local cattle herd in an effort to address high beef prices, a White House official says.

The official did not provide details on the two executive orders, which come ‌at a time when the U.S cattle herd has shrunk to its lowest level in 75 years and beef prices continue to climb.

Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump would temporarily suspend tariff-rate quotas on beef, which would allow more of the meat to enter the US at lower tariff rates.

The newspaper said Trump would direct the Small Business Administration to increase lending to ranchers and to reduce protections under the Endangered Species Act for grey and Mexican wolves that prey on ‌herds.

Expectations for increased beef ‌imports from Brazil weighed on ⁠US cattle futures after Trump met Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva last week.

On Monday, Chicago ​Mercantile Exchange June live cattle futures shook off early losses to end slightly higher, while August feeder cattle dropped 0.5 per cent.

Although prices for eggs, milk and other grocery staples have fallen since Trump took office in January 2025, beef prices continue to climb – a symbol of persistent inflation for consumers as the northern hemisphere summer backyard grilling season gets underway.

Last October, Trump ordered a quadrupling of beef imports from Argentina, and a month later removed his 40 per cent punitive tariff on Brazilian beef and coffee.

The moves did little to ⁠reverse beef prices, which were up 12.1 per cent year-over-year in April, according to the Labor Department’s ‌Consumer Price Index. ​

Beef is more than 16 per cent more expensive than when Trump returned to office in January 2025.

The US cattle herd has dwindled to a 75-year ​low after ranchers slashed ‌their herds because of a persistent drought that burned up grazing lands and raised feeding costs.

High cattle prices have also encouraged ranchers to sell livestock ​to be slaughtered, instead of keeping them for breeding.

The US Department of Agriculture has projected that the country will import a record 2.6 billion kg of beef this year, up about six per cent from 2025 and 25 per centfrom 2024.

Most imports are lean beef trimmings that are mixed with US ​supplies ​to make ground beef, said David Anderson, agricultural economist at Texas A&M ​University.

He said more imports could help hamburger restaurants reduce their ingredient costs but ‌he did not expect prices to fall significantly for consumers.

“We were already importing a record amount. How much more does this get on top of what we were already importing?” Anderson said.

“I’m hard-pressed to see this is going to be a huge effect on prices. It would be tough to have this be a huge influx of supply.”

Bill Bullard, CEO of cattle producers’ group R-CALF USA, said increased imports also could discourage US ranchers from expanding their herds.

Smaller cattle feeders could even exit ​the industry if prices drop far enough, he said.

Consumers may not see benefits as ranchers come under pressure, Bullard said.

“We’ve had record imports for ​the past three years and at the ⁠same time consumers continue to pay record prices for beef,” he added.

Bill Shorten has defended Anthony Albanese’s government as it prepares to break an election promise over negative gearing, arguing fairness should trump past commitments.

It has been widely reported Tuesday night’s federal budget will contain changes to negative gearing, the policy which allows landlords to reduce their bill at tax time.

If so, Mr Albanese will break his repeated election commitment to leave those tax settings alone.

While stressing that any changes are hypothetical until confirmed on budget night, Mr Shorten backed in the policy he unsuccessfully took to the 2019 election.

“It’s an idea whose time has well and truly come,” the former Labor leader told AAP.

In breaking an election promise on tax, Mr Albanese’s government will be repeating an act from its first term, when it re-designed Mr Morrison’s stage three tax cuts to be more generous to those with lower incomes.

Then a cabinet minister, Mr Shorten enthusiastically backed that change.

“Tax cuts for more people proved to be more palatable than tax cuts for people who already were pretty well-off,” he said.

“Because there were 13 million, 14 million winners and a relatively smaller number of perceived losers, in a cost-of-living crisis people thought that was pretty fair.”

It’s that same fairness principle Mr Shorten applies to the likely negative gearing U-turn.

“The idea that someone who might have three or four investment properties can turn up to bid on a house with a taxpayer subsidy in their wallet, compared to a young couple trying to buy their first home doesn’t seem fair to me,” he said.

Labor is taking the view it will be rewarded by an electorate concerned by rampant housing costs.

That’s a different calculation than with other infamous broken promises.

Bob Hawke’s 1987 election pledge that “by 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty” was over-ambitious and unfeasible.

After winning the 1993 election, Paul Keating moved to scrap tax cuts promised as “L-A-W” because the money wasn’t there.

Tony Abbott’s 2013 election eve promise of no cuts to education, health and public broadcasters were reversed as part of wider cutbacks in the 2014 budget.

And Julia Gillard’s 2010 affirmation that “there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead” was a casualty of negotiations to form a minority government.

Sean Kelly, an adviser to Labor prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Ms Gillard, argues any broken promise can be powerful with voters as “it’s a betrayal (and) can have an emotional element”.

However, it’s hard to tell how each pivot will play.

“There is no single cut-through rule when it comes to broken promises. They all land in their own circumstances … and it’s very hard to take rules from the past,” he said.

In the case of Australia’s first female prime minister, Mr Kelly argues other factors were much more politically challenging.

“Julia Gillard had Kevin Rudd behind her, a wall of misogyny in front of her, and a minority government,” he said.

“Absent those things, I’m not sure that the carbon price broken promise looks quite the way it does.”

British Steel is set to return to public ownership as Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced new laws that he says will give the UK government “options” to protect the industry and workers.

New powers could be used to nationalise British Steel, 38 years since the firm was first sold off.

It comes a year after the government used emergency powers to take control of the firm and continue production at the site in Scunthorpe after its owner, Chinese firm Jingye, proposed to close the two blast furnaces.

It has since been in discussions with Jingye but said it could not agree a commercial sale, and that it did not think a deal could be reached that would deliver sufficient value to taxpayers.

The government said it believes introducing legislation to provide a route to public ownership was the right next step and will enable it to make decisions about the steelmaker’s future.

The legislation, which will be brought forward this week, will be subject to a public interest test, which considers factors including national security, maintaining critical national infrastructure and supporting the economy.

“Strong domestic steel production is vital for our economy, and this legislation would allow us to ensure stability for British Steel’s workers, suppliers and customers and avoid damaging disruption to crucial supply chains, while we consider options for the site’s future,” Starmer said.

“The government recognises that securing the long-term future of the UK’s steel sector relies on both public and private investment for modernisation.”

Steel union GMB welcomed the move to nationalise British Steel which it said will “protect it from foreign owners”.

The United Kingdom government’s intervention last year put the breaks on Jingye’s proposals and ended its redundancy consultations, which could have resulted in the loss of between 2000 and 2700 jobs.

Parents are calling for more childcare options as the federal government signals a universal system is unlikely to be on the cards any time soon.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down his fifth federal budget on Tuesday night, and while tax reform is shaping up as a key talking point, people will also be looking out for the government’s plans on child care. 

Parent and child advocacy group For Parents wants the existing childcare subsidy to be expanded to include alternatives to centre-based care.

A petition launched by the group in 2025 has gained more than 20,000 signatures from parents who want to see the subsidy expanded to care provided by grandparents, nannies, au pairs and co-working spaces that allow parents to keep their children close while they work.

“This idea that for parents to work their child must be in an accredited childcare facility, we think a huge opportunity is being missed,” For Parents co-founder Cecilia Cobb told AAP.

“We’ve got kids going into a childcare model that parents don’t want them in, but it’s the only option.” 

The coalition has indicated support for measures that provide flexibility to benefit families but are yet to formally adopt such a policy. 

While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously stated he wants universal childcare to be his legacy, Dr Chalmers has cautioned that model is not something that can be afforded in the budget right now. 

The treasurer’s remarks were disappointing, Ms Cobb said.

“A 2022 election commitment that still can’t be delivered on and is brushed aside as being a fringe issue is not good enough,” she said.

“Child care is not a ‘nice to have’ luxury and most parents in the trenches with little kids would see it as a core enabler of them being able to work.

“It should therefore be viewed as a necessity in the budget.” 

Advocacy organisation The Parenthood has called for the budget to expand paid parental leave entitlements to 52 weeks at a replacement wage rate, as well as further support to make workplaces family friendly. 

With two in five families paying full fees beyond the current subsidy cap, the group says quality, affordable and accessible early childhood education must also be a budget priority.

“Families and educators are under pressure (and) this budget needed to show how that pressure would be eased, not ignored,” The Parenthood chief executive Georgie Dent said. 

The federal bottom line is forecast to be $44.9 billion better off over coming years, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will reveal in what promises to be one of the most consequential budgets in decades.

Although Dr Chalmers has confirmed Tuesday’s fiscal blueprint will not show a return to surplus in any year in the four-year budget outlook, the forecast deficit will narrow in every year compared to December’s mid-year update.

The mid-year economic and fiscal outlook projected a cumulative deficit of about $143 billion from 2025/26 to 2028/29.

Economists had predicted a substantial improvement to the budget bottom line as a result of higher tax revenue, in part because of the Iran war.

The improvement in the budget was the result of savings and spending restraint by the government, Dr Chalmers said.

“We’re getting the budget in better nick because that helps to fund the things that Australians need and deserve like Medicare, aged care and cost-of-living relief,” he said.

“Responsible economic management is a hallmark of this government and this is our most responsible budget yet.”

Labor has been keen to portray this budget as one of spending restraint, after warnings by economists and Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock that splashing out would only fuel inflation and risk further rate hikes.

That risk has increased in the past week thanks to big spending increases in the Victorian and Western Australian budgets, said HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham.

Some big-ticket spending measures have been announced, including on defence, hospital funding and rail infrastructure, but these will also be partly offset by tax increases on property investors and people with trusts.

Media reports suggest a one-off tax handout to wage and salary earners of $200 to $300 will only kick in in 2027, so as not to stoke inflation in the near term.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has found $63.8 billion in gross savings in the budget, but it remains to be seen how much of that will be banked to narrow the deficit and how much will be merely shifted to other spending areas.

The centrepiece of the savings package will be a forecast $35 billion reduction in the cost of the runaway National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Growth in government payments when adjusted for inflation is forecast to average 1.5 per cent for the eight years to 2029/20, which is the lowest rolling eight-year average in almost three and a half decades.

“We’ve made responsible decisions to improve the budget position while continuing to invest in the services Australians rely on,” Senator Gallagher said.

The budget will show the sum of the policy decisions taken by the government improved the budget for the second time since Labor took power in 2022, after a $2.2 billion improvement in December.

However, that was only due to some creative accounting around the government’s home battery scheme.

The forecast cost of the scheme ballooned from $2.3 billion to $11.6 billion, which was counted as a parameter variation, but changes to the scheme to rein in its largesse were counted as government policy, making a $4.9 billion blowout look like a $6.7 billion saving.

Budget watchers will keep a keen eye out for similar accounting sleights of hand.

Some Nationals MPs fear their seats may be at risk from an ascendant One Nation after the populist party’s thumping win in the Farrer by-election.

Pauline Hanson’s newest MP won’t take his place in parliament for another few weeks while the Australian Electoral Commission finalises the count in the southern NSW seat, but the ramifications of David Farley’s victory are already being felt in the coalition.

Nationals MP Michael McCormack, whose electorate of Riverina neighbours Farrer, conceded One Nation could pose a threat to him at the next election.

“I’d be silly to say I’m just turning a blind eye to what happened on the weekend,” he told AAP.

“That’s not me anyway, I’ve always treated the seat as though it’s a marginal seat.”

Pointing to his record as a long-serving local member, the former deputy prime minister said his days often start at 5.30am and continue well into the night.

“If you’re going to win – and continue to win – these elections, you’ve got to be prepared to just drive yourself into the ground. You’ve got to show up. And dare I say, not everybody is willing to do that,” Mr McCormack said.

He took a swipe at former opposition leader Sussan Ley, who held the seat for 25 years until her retirement from politics after being ousted by her colleagues in February.

“There are a lot of people who claimed they hadn’t seen their local member for a while,” he said.

“I know Sussan was very busy being the Liberal party leader. I know being a party leader takes a lot of your time up.”

After initially refusing to rule out joining One Nation, fellow National Colin Boyce on Monday said he was sticking with the regional party.

The Queensland MP, whose electorate includes Gladstone and some towns surrounding Rockhampton, said he was “obviously” concerned about the rise of One Nation and warned the party would find even less resistance in his area than it did in in Farrer.

“I’m absolutely sure it’s alive, it’s real,” Mr Boyce said.

One Nation is also talking up its chances in outer suburban seats like Lindsay and McMahon in Sydney’s west, but some analysts argue a higher number of multicultural voters could make it harder for the anti-immigration party to make inroads there.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce dismissed those claims, saying the cost of living and a lack of housing affected all Australians.

“Just because you might have more olive complexion doesn’t mean you live in a different nation,” he told Sky News on Monday.

“There is a huge opportunity.”

One Nation’s surge – if replicated nationally – will likely draw parallels to the boost in support for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which had more than 1400 candidates elected in England’s recent council elections.

Senator Hanson’s chief of staff James Ashby revealed Mr Farage had reached out to congratulate One Nation on its by-election win.

“Nigel reached out to Pauline after the weekend, congratulated her, so that was very nice of him,” he told Sky News.

“There’s clearly some similarities.”

Thousands of young Australians will be offered a new payment to help access community housing as part of the federal budget.

Under the change, the federal government will provide a roughly $6000 top-up payment to some people on Youth Allowance and the Indigenous ABSTUDY payment, making them a more appealing tenant for community housing providers.

The scheme is expected to cost $60 million over the next four years, ramping up the number of people supported from 2325 at the start of 2027, to more than 4000 by the 2029/30 financial year.

The two support payments are less generous than other welfare offerings like JobSeeker or the aged pension.

Because the cost of community housing is generally scaled relative to a person’s income, providers will often choose to rent a room to a pensioner – who will pay more – instead of a young person.

The federal government says the measure will help tackle youth homelessness, with young people aged 19 to 24 currently experiencing higher homelessness rates than any other aged cohort.

Housing would be a big focus of the Albanese government’s fifth budget, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said in a statement.

“The budget acknowledges that the challenges in housing begin with supply but don’t end there, that’s why we are taking other responsible steps including these efforts to address youth homelessness,” he said.

“This is another element of the substantial housing package that we’ll announce on Tuesday night.”

Dr Chalmers is also expected to unveil changes aimed at reducing the power of investors in the housing market to give young people a leg up, including a tightening of negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions.

Nationals MPs have launched a bid to stop a multibillion-dollar rail project through regional communities from being cut in the federal budget.

The federal government has announced it will scrap the $45 billion inland rail project in Tuesday’s budget, citing cost blowouts.

The rail was intended to be built between Melbourne and Brisbane, but will instead stop in the central NSW town of Parkes after its projected cost tripled in six years.

Nationals leader Matt Canavan said regional centres would be hardest hit by the project’s axing.

“So many benefits were to come from this inland rail project, and not only has the government completely taken the economic rug away from these great communities and businesses, they’ve done so with zero consultation,” he told reporters in Canberra on Monday

“We remain committed to finding a way to do it at a reasonable price, at a cost that will make a return for our country.”

The Nationals launched a “rescue our rail” petition calling for the decision to stop the project to be overturned.

Opposition transport minister Bridget McKenzie said reports detailing cost blowouts on inland rail had not been publicly released.

Senator McKenzie said the coalition would look to establish a Senate inquiry into why the funding was cut.

“We want to be investing in these type of projects, and we are not going to take the Labor Party’s callous and reckless decisions lying down,” she said.

It comes as the federal government announced $50 million for rail upgrades between Canberra and Sydney as part of the budget.

The funding will be matched by the NSW and ACT governments.

Upgrades on the rail route will begin later in 2026 and include new express services, track improvements to increase speeds and station upgrades.

“More than 3000 people travel between Sydney and Canberra by air or coach every day, with tens of thousands more driving down the Federal Highway,” federal Transport Minister Catherine King said.

“So many of these regular commuters have consistently called for a more frequent and faster rail alternative.”

The local share market has slipped after the US rejected Iran’s latest peace proposal to end the Middle East war, and as a huge plunge by a prominent biotech name weighed on the bourse.

The S&P/ASX200 index on Monday fell 42.6 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 8,701.8  while the broader All Ordinaries dropped 38.1 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 8,942.4.

EToro market analyst Josh Gilbert said that risk-off sentiment was likely to prevail after US President Donald Trump slammed Iran’s offer to end the war, injecting fresh uncertainty into markets at the start of a critical week.

“Trump calling the offer ‘totally unacceptable’ is exactly the kind of headline that markets hate,” Mr Gilbert said.

This week, investors will be watching a highly anticipated summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and another US inflation readout.

Domestically, traders are waiting for details of Australia’s 2026/27 federal budget, which Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down on Tuesday night.

Seven of the ASX’s 11 sectors finished lower on Monday, with energy, materials and property higher and consumer staples basically flat.

Health care was by far the biggest mover, dropping 6.5 per cent as CSL sank 16.0 per cent to a more than decade-low of $100.75 on profit downgrades and asset write-offs.

CSL shares are now down 41.6 per cent so far in 2026, on top of a 38.7 per cent drop in 2025, and the company’s $16.4 billion acquisition of a Swiss iron deficiency business in August 2022 is looking like a huge strategic blunder.

In the financial sector, all of the big retail banks were lower, with ANZ falling 2.4 per cent to $35.90, Westpac retreating 0.9 per cent to $37.12, NAB dipping 0.4 per cent to $38.22 and CBA subtracting 1.1 per cent to $174.01.

The energy sector was up 1.1 per cent as Brent crude hit a five-day high of $US105 a barrel on the renewed tension in the Middle East, with Woodside up 1.5 per cent and Karoon Energy rising 1.0 per cent.

Uranium developers had a good day, with Paladin, Deep Yellow, Bannerman and Boss all rising from 4.6 to 6.5 per cent.

In the heavyweight material sector, Dyno Nobel climbed 6.6 per cent to a three-month high of $3.54 after the explosives manufacturer announced it had made a $20 million first-half profit, up from $7 million a year ago.

Elsewhere in the sector, Rio Tinto grew 0.6 per cent to $179.79 while BHP and Fortescue both added 0.7 per cent, to $58.33 and $21.42 respectively.

However, goldminers slipped as the precious metal traded for $US4,682 an ounce, down about $40 from Friday.

Northern Star dropped 1.9 per cent, Evolution lost 0.7 per cent and Regis Resources subtracted 3.4 per cent.

In consumer staples, Metcash climbed 6.6 per cent to a four-week high of $2.92 after the IGA supplier said it expected to declare an underlying profit of $268 million to $270 million.

“We have delivered a solid result,” chief executive Doug Jones said.

OOh!media climbed 7.1 per cent to $1.35 after the out-of-home advertising company received a second takeover offer from a private equity company

Ingham’s rose 7.4 per cent to $1.82 after the poultry processor reaffirmed guidance of between $180 million and $200 million.

In currency, the Australian dollar remained at an almost four-year high against its US counterpart, buying 72.38 US cents, from 72.24 US cents about 5pm on Friday.

ON THE ASX:

* The S&P/ASX200 dropped 42.6 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 8,701.8

* The broader All Ordinaries fell 42.6  points, or 0.42 per cent, to 8,942.4.

One Australian dollar trades for:

* 72.38 US cents, from 72.24 US cents at 5pm AEST on Friday

* 113.67 Japanese yen, from 113.33 Japanese yen

* 61.54 euro cents, from 61.53 euro cents

* 53.25 British pence, from 53.19 British pence

* 121.70 NZ cents, from 121.38 NZ cents