Taylor vows to run coal ‘long and hard’ and scrap EV concessions in budget reply – as it happened

Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Angus Taylor has delivered his first budget reply as Liberal leader, making some big policy promises. Thank you all for following along on the blog with us today. Here’s what we learned: The Coalition will index income tax brackets in a bold political move that will cost approximately $22.5bn over four years from 2028-29 onwards. Taylor promised one of the biggest cuts to overseas migration “in Australian history”, cutting levels to below 200,000, and will tie immigration intake to new housing builds. The Coalition would also strip migrants and all non-citizens from accessing social welfare support (most which they already have to wait four years or more for). Taylor would “rein in spending” by scrapping the net zero agency, electric vehicle tax breaks and other climate incentives. He also committed to developing a new national security strategy and appointing a national security adviser to government. Labor has rubbished the announcements as “uncosted nonsense” and warned the Coalition can’t “out One Nation, One Nation”. Refugee and migrant groups have also slammed the immigration policies, calling the