The Senate community affairs legislation committee discussed the government’s controversial income management system at estimates last night.
Social services officials revealed that since September 2023, 17,014 people have been placed on the newer SmartCard, which can be used on the Visa network. The BasicsCard, which is being phased out and can only be used at government-approved merchants, is also still being used.
Estimates heard 81% of participants on the government’s income management are Aboriginal and/or Torres Straight islander, with that number jumping to 84% in the Northern Territory.
Participants on the basics card have had the opportunity to transition across the cards, but the department said some had not taken that up.
In 2024, a Labour-led inquiry into compulsory income management recommended the government abolish the scheme after receiving a large amount of evidence showing the compulsory SmartCard increases hardship, makes it difficult for women to flee violent relationships, and is discriminatory towards First Nations people.
Labor’s help to buy shared equity scheme approves 2,589 applicants in five months
Luca Ittimani
Housing Australia officials have revealed 2,589 applications had been approved under Labor’s Help to Buy scheme.
Alia Ayoub, executive leader of the Help to Buy scheme, told Senate estimates it had received 5,323 applications from 5 December 2025 to 30 April 2026, of which 2,589 applications had “found a home”.
Senator Andrew Bragg asked why the scheme was marked a “risk” in its portfolio budget statement, to which Ayoub said:
We had a forecast that we would do 10,000 applications in a year. However, the scheme started on the 5th of December. Had it been running for the full year, it would receive the 10,000.
Ben Rimmer, director general of Treasury’s housing group, said the operating cost of the scheme was $21m over the forward estimates, while the money spent on buying stakes in homes was nearly $1.6bn this year and $6.9bn over the forward estimates. Rimmer said of the latter figure:
We don’t know whether that will be a cost or a benefit to the balance sheet of the commonwealth at this point. If house prices continue to grow gradually over time, it will actually benefit the commonwealth.
We reported earlier that more than 312,000 people have benefited from the government’s 5% first home buyer guarantee scheme, including 251,000 under Labor since 2022. About 51,000 of those who accessed it were permanent residents.
Homelessness up 75% in NSW in past six years, report shows
Homelessness is soaring in regional areas as advocates plead for more funding to stop simply shifting the problem and start solving it, Australian Associated Press reports.
The number of people sleeping rough in New South Wales has increased 75% in six years, according to a Homelessness NSW report that relies on the state’s street count data.
While the count in metropolitan Sydney is virtually unchanged between 2020 and 2026, it has surged 689% in the Illawarra Shoalhaven and southern NSW district, from 27 people to 213.
The district encompassing NSW’s northern region and mid-north coast has also sky-rocketed from 407 people in 2020 to 1024 in 2026, leading it to become the state’s leading area for homelessness.
Homelessness CEO Dominique Rowe said state government funding for support services needed a 50% boost, along with a commitment to build 10,000 social homes a year until they constitute 10% of all housing.
“Homelessness services have a situation where 92% of people coming through their doors are not getting the assistance they need,” she told AAP.
Shelters and tents under a bridge at Wentworth Park in Glebe, Sydney, in May. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.
After a week in which Labor’s tax reforms came under a lot of scrutiny, the MP Julian Hill told the ABC that he thinks the government is winning the argument for giving young people a chance at the housing market.
And the number of people sleeping rough in New South Wales has increased 75% in six years, according to a Homelessness NSW report that relies on the state’s street count data.
<small>Source: The Guardian</small>
