Extreme heat and ‘classic fire weather’ across Victoria tomorrow – as it happened

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An extra $1.8bn in payments to veterans will be included in the mid-year budget update, with the federal government saying the additional funds explain a slippage" in the budget since May.

It said the need to take decisive action" to clear a backlog" of 42,000 veterans' claims would put more pressure on government coffers, given $6.5bn was already included in the 2024-25 budget to deal with the issue.

We're doing the right thing by our veterans and that will have an impact on the budget.

Supporting those who served our country is our responsibility. We're paying veterans what they're entitled to.

John Howard introduced the moratorium on nuclear energy because it doesn't make any sense here. And last term, Peter Dutton, Barnaby Joyce, Angus Taylor, are all on the record with quotes saying, It's too costly, it takes too long, and it's a distraction from what Australia needs.'

They, in their own words, wrote this off. What you have here is a National party tail wagging the Coalition dog, and Peter Dutton being too weak to stand up to the ideologues who dominate the Coalition, too weak to stand up to them and say, No, this does not make sense for Australia" ...