Albanese distances PM from staffer scandal as Labor faces budget scrutiny

In the Australian parliament on Wednesday, Prime Minister Albanese moved swiftly to separate himself from a brief and troubled association with former television personality Rhys Muldoon, whose offensive social media posts had forced his removal as a Labor staffer. The day's deeper tensions, however, lay in the government's budget choices — particularly cuts to private health insurance rebates for older Australians — revealing the perennial difficulty of governing: that every hard decision lands on someone. Immigration, defence spending, and the limits of crossbench accountability all surfaced