A record number of so-called "shonks" have been banned from the National Disability Insurance Scheme this year, the federal government says.
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A war or words has broken out between state and territory governments after the Productivity Commission labelled a 2018 GST deal for Western Australia a "costly mistake".
The interim report, released on Friday, found the deal has cost the federal government $23b in its first six years, with $22b of that flowing to WA.
Mathias Cormann was finance minister at the time of the deal. He has since departed federal politics to take up a job as the secretary general of the OECD.
But he dialed into ABC's Radio National Breakfast this morning, in a personal capacity, to defend the deal.
"I fundamentally disagree with [the PC]," he says.
"It was a very important reform to federal financial relations, addressing a very significant unfairness for the state of Western Australia and also a real problem when it comes to the incentive arrangements in our federation in relation to state economic development, in particular to the resources of the mining sector".
A call for a rethink to who can access superannuation early has been rebuffed by the government.
One Nation has called for people to be able to get early access to their retirement savings if they are struggling with cost-of-living pressures.
But Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek says the system already allows people to access their funds early if required on compassionate and other hardship grounds, such as keeping hold of their house or to pay for medical treatment.
"There's a whole range of issues where you can get it but super is there so you don't retire into poverty," she says.
Cash-strapped Australians struggling with the cost of living should be able to apply for early access to their superannuation, One Nation says.
The proposal has yet to be finalised and was floated by leader Pauline Hanson during an interview with News24 yesterday.
Speaking with Seven, Barnaby Joyce noted that early access to super was granted to some but only in extremely limited circumstances.
