News and politics live updates: Trump says Iran peace deal could be signed as Strait of Hormuz set to reopen

One Nation’s public fundraising campaign is a “smokescreen” for the money coming in from billionaire donors, a Labor powerbroker says.

The Pauline Hanson-led party is claiming to have raised more than $3 million from almost 50,000 donors to its anti-Labor “fire the liar” campaign.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other Labor figures have cast doubt on the legitimacy of the fundraising drive, prompting Senator Hanson to share an “independent audit” document authored by a software engineer to her social media page.

Former federal treasurer Wayne Swan labelled One Nation the “billionaire’s party”, highlighting its links to Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart who in April gifted Senator Hanson a $1 million plane.

“When it comes to big money in this country, it’s all going to One Nation,” Labor’s national president told Nine’s Today on Friday.

“This whole debate is a smokescreen for the fact that they are actually run by the top end of town, and they deliver the policies for the top end ... and wage suppression for the rest.”

- with AAP

Australia’s peak accounting group has warned Labor’s rushed changes to capital gains tax concessions could leave investment property owners and shareholders with a huge bill they hadn’t planned for — even if they didn’t sell.

CPA Australia, representing Certified Practising Accountants, noted in a Treasury Bill submission that replacing the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount with a 30 per cent tax on inflation-adjusted gains from July 1 next year would put an enormous financial burden on landlords and investors, with valuers typically charging hundreds of dollars per assessment.

That’s because Labor’s legislation would require all investors to seek a property valuation by June 30, 2027, so capital gains on either side of that date could be properly calculated.

This would also apply to a range of other assets including shares, affecting millions of taxpayers at the end of the next financial year.

A simpler calculation for the Australian Taxation Office is yet to be devised in Labor’s legislation, whereby a 50 per cent CGT discount would apply for gains accrued from September 1999 to June 2027 before a new 30 per cent tax was applied to gains made after July 1, 2027.

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Westpac chief economist Luci Ellis warns the Reserve Bank is still likely to hike interest rates this year given inflation remains too high.

Dr Ellis’ view about the RBA’s future rate trajectory is opposite to those of economists at HSBC and ANZ, who on Friday tipped the institution’s next move to be cuts. NAB economists earlier this week tipped cuts were the next likely move.

Dr Ellis, a former Reserve Bank assistant governor, said recent inflation and labour market data had been mixed, supporting the case for a hold next Tuesday.

But she expects two more hikes this year — in August and September.

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Australian shares have rebounded sharply on the latest peace deal proclamation from US President Donald Trump, but risks to the global energy market remain.

The S&P/ASX200 jumped 168.9 points by midday, up 1.96 per cent, to 8,802.1, as the broader All Ordinaries rose 168.4 points, or 1.91 per cent, to 9,005.1.

After an escalation of tit-for-tat attacks between the US and Iran, President Trump backed down on his latest round of threats and claimed the nations were on the verge of signing a peace deal.

Iranian authorities have denied reaching a final decision on the proposal.

“Nevertheless, the cancellation of fresh military strikes and another clear signal that President Trump has apparently very little appetite to escalate the war caused crude prices to drop and gave a fresh boost to risk assets,” Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda said.

“Although in the bigger picture, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and a risk to global energy markets.”

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- AAP

Just in from Latika M Bourke:

John Healey’s sensational resignation as UK Defence Secretary, because of Sir Keir Starmer’s failure to fund defence at the levels to match heightened geopolitical threats, left his Australian counterpart, Richard Marles, a jilted bride.

Mr Healey pulled out of a scheduled media appearance for Mr Marles at His Majesty’s Naval Base Portsmouth.

Waiting media were told to go home and after being given a tour of the base by a junior minister, Mr Marles fled without a word.

He refused to speak to the press about the implications, which are dire, of Mr Healey’s resignation for AUKUS. But the Defence Minister cannot escape the uncomfortable truths that his British counterpart has exposed.

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One Nation’s donation page is back online after earlier crashing for nearly two hours.

Just after 11am the page had raised $2,961,852, just shy of its $3.1m target.

And money from the fundraiser is already being put to work, according to leader Pauline Hanson who posted a photo on social media of a mobile billboard outside Anthony Albanese’s electorate office.

Iran has called for the US to be held accountable over the deaths of three Indian sailors, who died after a US strike on an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the attack on commerical oil tanker Settebello was “clear evidence of America’s ongoing policy of armed robbery and State piracy”.

“The international community must hold the United States accountable for its lawless conduct, which continues to threaten global peace and security while endangering the freedom of navigation.”

Despite Iran’s foreign ministry pouring cold water on an imminent peace deal, the US President has proclaimed “the war ended today” and that Tehran has agreed to never have a nuclear weapon.

NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister has stopped short of guaranteeing the government will adopt recommendations from a Senate inquiry into its controversial disability reforms, despite growing concern from advocates over the proposed changes.

Asked whether Labor would act on the inquiry’s findings, Senator McAllister said the government would consider the report but would not commit to implementing its recommendations.

“We’ll definitely be examining the recommendations in the report. That’s the purpose of the committee,” she told Radio National.

“If there are unintended consequences, of course we’ll look to action those. But the approach we’ve taken is to work through this over a long period of time.”

The proposed reforms, which are expected to reduce NDIS spending by $185 billion over the next decade and move about 160,000 participants off the scheme, have been strongly criticised by disability advocates who warn the changes could have serious consequences for vulnerable Australians.

Pauline Hanson has escalated her war with Anthony Albanese, releasing what she says is an independent audit of One Nation’s multimillion-dollar fundraising campaign after the Prime Minister cast doubt on the legitimacy of the donations.

The One Nation leader challenged Labor to reveal how much it had raised through its own anti-Hanson fundraising drive, accusing Mr Albanese of trying to discredit thousands of supporters. “Albo claims the last 24hrs worth of donations are fake. He’s lying again.

Now, will the PM reveal how much his campaign has raised,” Senator Hanson wrote on social media. One Nation senator Sean Bell said the audit proved the money was “ridgey didge” and accused the Prime Minister of turning to “conspiracy theories” after being blindsided by the scale of the campaign.

“The people who donated are real and they’re mad. They’re mad at a terrible government, a bad prime minister because they’ve seen their standard of living collapse,” Senator Bell told Sky News.