Overview

• The government outlined immediate actions including abolishing more nuisance tariffs, a regulatory reform bill using a "tell us once" approach, and faster housing approvals with a backlog of environmental assessments to be cleared.
• Work advanced on a national road user charge for electric vehicles, with an options paper to go to state treasurers on September 5, though no model has been chosen.
• Unions and tech leaders agreed to develop a model to pay creatives for content used to train artificial intelligence, alongside accelerated work on a national AI strategy.
• Treasurer Jim Chalmers set three tax objectives—intergenerational equity, investment incentives, and simplification—with Treasury and the Productivity Commission tasked to produce options and no specific measures decided yet.
• Health Minister Mark Butler moved to contain NDIS growth to 5–6% a year and proposed a $2 billion Thriving Kids program outside the scheme from July next year, with states seeking further detail.