After weeks of speculation and some early announcements, the 2026 Budget is finally out in the wild.

A major unforeseen event that the government has had to deal with in this budget is the war in the Middle East. 

A tax cut for workers and a major shake-up to how housing investments are taxed are the headline policies of tonight's federal budget.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is promising 13 million workers an ongoing tax offset of 250-dollars a year. But it won't start until mid-2028.

The 6.4 billion dollar pledge will be paid for by an overhaul of the way investments are taxed.

The treasurer's also announced that from next year, only new builds can be negatively geared but homes currently under that arrangement...will be exempt.

And the current 50 per cent capital gains tax discount will be gone from mid next year

Instead tax will apply to the profit made minus inflation, with a minimum 30 per cent tax rate.

The current discount can still be used for new homes and the gains made on property and shares up until next July.

It's a broken promise from last year's federal election but according to the government, necessary to help get more young people into the housing market.

The budget papers show high inflation is likely to persist in Australia until next year.

Treasury's forecasting inflation will peak around five per cent this year due to the Middle East war before dropping to 2.25 per cent mid-next year, which is within the Reserve Bank's target band.

The recovery assumes that global oil prices decline from the middle of this year and stabilise within 12 months.

But if the conflict continues and the price of oil doubles inflation could reach 7.25 per cent.

While Australia avoids a recession in all scenarios modelled by Treasury inflationary pressures are expected to slow economic growth.

It's been revised to a sluggish 1.75 per cent next year before rising again. 

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A tax cut for workers and a major shake-up to how property investments are taxed are the headline announcements in the federal budget. 

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says significant tax reform in tonight's federal budget will result in a "better deal" for younger Australians.

Government forecasts estimate negative gearing and capital gains tax reforms would help 75,000 people to buy their first home over the coming decade.

The full details of the reforms will be announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers this evening, but Senator Gallagher says they're aimed at "making negative gearing less attractive".

Farmers are urging the Federal Government to carefully consider the impact of changes to the capital gains tax discount on family farms.

A winding back of the 50-per-cent discount is among a number of changes expected in tonight's budget.

National Farmers Federation President, Hamish McIntyre says adding another tax burden will just make it harder for farmers to pass down their properties.

The federal government has handed down its formal response to a parliamentary inquiry that called for a gambling advertising ban.

It outlines a package of reforms already announced last month which includes a partial restriction on radio and television gambling advertisements but ignores a key recommendation for a national regulator.

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UK Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer's under growing pressure to quit, but he's promised to fight any challenge to his leadership.

The federal government has started to sell tonight's budget

It's painting the decision to make changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax as a necessary step to level the playing field for young Australians.

In a video posted to social media, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed he will make controversial tax changes, following more than a week of rampant speculation.

The final details of the changes will be unveiled in Treasurer Jim Chalmers' speech this evening,

Defence has released details about the death of an Australian army soldier yesterday, during a parachute training exercise on the New South Wales south coast.

Defence says Warrant Officer Second Class Lachlan Muddle from the Special Air Service Regiment, was assisting a specialist parachute training activity at the ADF Parachute School at Jervis Bay, when he collided with another paratrooper mid-air.

The second soldier survived the fall with minor injuries

The Federal Court has awarded Traditional Owners from Western Australia's remote north $150.1 million in compensation after mining magnate Andrew Forrest's company Fortescue, dug up hundreds of millions of tonnes of ore from their lands without their permission.

It's the biggest native title compensation payout ever awarded in Australia.

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A major unforeseen event that the government has had to deal with in this budget is the war in the Middle East. 

The Treasurer says tonight's budget will be bold, ambitious and see difficult decisions made.

Housing and intergenerational equity will be major focuses of Jim Chalmers' fifth budget, with a major shake-up of the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount, and negative gearing, expected.

Fuel security is also expected to be one of the big ticket items.

Dr Chalmers says he's expecting criticism from what he's described as "defenders of the status quo".

Defence says the soldier who died yesterday after a mid-air collision during a parachute training exercise, was an experienced Special Forces sniper who was helping to instruct the course.

Fifty-year-old Warrant Officer Lachlan Muddle and a second soldier had opened their parachutes and were manouvering to the drop zone at the Jervis Bay Airfield, when they crashed and fell several hundred feet.

The second soldier survived the fall with minor injuries, but Warrant Officer Muddle was fatally injured.

The Federal Health Minister says several more passengers, on a hantavirus affected cruise ship, have tested positive to the infection, including a French national who's in a critical condition.

Five Australian and one New Zealand passenger, awaiting repatriation from the Netherlands are not among the new infections.

Once a flight to Perth has been scheduled, the group will isolate for at least three weeks at the Bullsbrook Centre of National Resilience, north of Perth.

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The federal government's already announced a number of measures that will feature in this budget.