This is a developing story brought to you by Aus News Lanka, your trusted source for news for Sri Lankans in Australia and beyond. World Bank Group has upgraded Sri Lanka to Upper Middle Income status, after the country recorded about 5% real GDP growth in 2025. This marks a step up from its previous Lower Middle Income classification. The change reflects a stronger economic recovery and improving growth momentum following a challenging period. The World Bank classifies econo

At AusNewsLanka, we aim to keep the Australian community informed with timely updates. Australia’s property market has entered its ninth downturn in three decades, with Sydney and Melbourne expected to experience the biggest falls. New analysis from Domain forecasts house prices could drop 7 per cent in Sydney and 8 per cent in Melbourne over the next financial year as higher interest rates, tax changes and weaker buyer confidence weigh on the market. More affordable markets

At AusNewsLanka, we aim to keep the Australian community informed with timely updates. Millions of Australians will see changes to their pay, taxes, superannuation and everyday costs from July 1 as new federal and state reforms come into effect. Here are some of the key changes: National changes Minimum wage increase The national minimum wage will rise by 4.75 per cent, increasing pay to $26.44 an hour or $1,004.90 a week for a 38-hour working week. Award wages will also incr

This is a developing story brought to you by Aus News Lanka, your trusted source for news for Sri Lankans in Australia and beyond. Vietjet has opened bookings for its new direct Colombo–Ho Chi Minh City route, with flights set to begin on 18 August 2026. The service will become the first scheduled direct air link between Sri Lanka and Vietnam, creating new opportunities for tourism, business, and cultural exchange. To mark the launch, Vietjet is offering one-way Eco fares fro

At AusNewsLanka, we aim to keep the Australian community informed with timely updates. Australia’s housing market slowdown is spreading, with home values recording their largest monthly decline in more than three years. Property data firm Cotality reported national dwelling values fell 0.4 per cent in June, led by sharp drops in Sydney (-1.2 per cent) and Melbourne (-1 per cent). Brisbane and Perth continued to grow but at a much slower pace, while Adelaide remained unchanged

At AusNewsLanka, we aim to keep the Australian community informed with timely updates. Almost one million higher-income Australians could be hit with an extra tax bill for not holding private hospital insurance. New analysis shows the number of people paying the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) is rising as more Australians move above the income threshold. For the 2025–26 financial year, the surcharge applies to singles earning more than $101,000 and families earning above $202,

This is a developing story brought to you by Aus News Lanka, your trusted source for news for Sri Lankans in Australia and beyond. සෞඛ්‍ය බලධාරීන් පවසන පරිදි, පවතින වැසි සහිත කාලගුණය රෝගය පැතිරීමට තවදුරටත් හේතු වන බැවින්, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඩෙංගු රෝගීන්ගේ තියුණු වැඩිවීමක් දක්නට ලැබේ. ජුනි මාසය වන විට පමණක් ඩෙංගු රෝගීන් 19,318 ක් වාර්තා වී ඇති අතර, මේ වසරේ මේ දක්වා වාර්තා වී ඇති මුළු රෝගීන් සංඛ්‍යාව 53,159 දක්වා ඉහළ ගොස් ඇති බව ජාතික ඩෙංගු පාලන ඒකකය පවසයි. මෙය නිකුත් කරන ලද නවතම වාර

At AusNewsLanka, we aim to keep the Australian community informed with timely updates. Amazon is facing legal action in the Federal Court after Australia’s consumer watchdog accused the company of using unfair contract terms to introduce ads on Prime Video without offering refunds to affected subscribers. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) claims Amazon changed the service for more than 850,000 annual Prime subscribers in 2024, moving them to an ad-supp

At AusNewsLanka, we aim to keep the Australian community informed with timely updates. More Australians are choosing to go without private hospital insurance and pay the Medicare levy surcharge instead. New figures from the Australian Taxation Office show the number of people paying the surcharge has increased by 15 per cent in the past year and 74 per cent over three years. The surcharge applies to higher-income earners who do not have private hospital cover. It adds an extr

This is a developing story brought to you by Aus News Lanka, your trusted source for news for Sri Lankans in Australia and beyond. ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංචාරක සංවර්ධන අධිකාරිය (SLTDA) පවසන පරිදි, 2026 ජනවාරි 01 සිට ජුනි 21 දක්වා කාලය තුළ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සංචාරකයින් 1,104,354 ක් පැමිණ තිබේ. ඉන්දියාව 281,418 ක් පැමිණ ඇති අතර, එක්සත් රාජධානිය (104,751) සහ රුසියාව (76,963) දෙවන ස්ථානයේ සිටී. ජුනි මාසයේ මේ දක්වා සංචාරකයින් 82,332 ක් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණ ඇති අතර, ඉන්දියාව, එක්සත් රාජධානිය සහ චීනය ප

At AusNewsLanka, we aim to keep the Australian community informed with timely updates. Western Australia is preparing for a wet and windy end to the week as a cold front brings heavy rain, storms and strong winds. After a short period of clear weather, conditions are expected to turn on Friday morning, with further rainfall and windy weather continuing into the weekend. Meteorologists say a low-pressure system linked to the cold front will bring cooler temperatures, showers a

At AusNewsLanka, we aim to keep the Sri Lankan community informed with timely updates. Wellness travel is moving beyond traditional spa getaways. A new report shows more travellers are now prioritising full wellness experiences over standard holidays focused on relaxation alone. The State of Retreats 2026 report by BookRetreats.com, based on a survey of 1,040 US travellers, found that 49 per cent plan to spend on a wellness retreat this year. That places wellness retreats ahe

This is a developing story brought to you by Aus News Lanka, your trusted source for news for Sri Lankans in Australia and beyond. නව ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී පෙරමුණේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී, ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ ෆයිසර් මුස්තාපා මහතා විසින් ළමුන්ගේ සමාජ මාධ්‍ය වේදිකා භාවිතය සීමා කිරීම අරමුණු කරගත් පෞද්ගලික මන්ත්‍රී පනත් කෙටුම්පතක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබේ. “සමාජ මාධ්‍ය අවම වයස් සීමා පනත් කෙටුම්පත” (Social Media Minimum Age Bill) ලෙස නම් කර ඇති මෙම යෝජිත නීතිමය වැඩපිළිවෙළ මගින් වයස අව

At AusNewsLanka, we aim to keep the Australian community informed with timely updates. The Australian Government has confirmed the permanent Migration Program planning level will remain at 185,000 places for the 2026–27 financial year, unchanged from the previous year. More than 70 per cent of places (132,240) will be allocated to the Skilled stream, focusing on migrants who can support Australia’s workforce and long-term economic needs. The government will also prioritise mi

At AusNewsLanka, we aim to keep the Australian community informed with timely updates. Australians could face further mortgage pressure after new inflation data showed price growth remains higher than expected. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported annual inflation slowed to 4 per cent in May. However, underlying inflation closely watched by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) increased to 3.6 per cent, remaining above the RBA’s 2–3 per cent target range. Economists ha

This is a developing story brought to you by Aus News Lanka, your trusted source for news for Sri Lankans in Australia and beyond. ඩිජිටල් වේදිකා භාවිතා කරමින් සේවා සපයන පුද්ගලයින් ලබන මස 1 වන දින සිට වැට් (අගය එකතු කළ බද්ද) ට යටත් වන බව මුදල් නියෝජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ආචාර්ය අනිල් ජයන්ත ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතා පවසයි. මෙම පනත ඇතුළුව බදු සංශෝධන කිහිපයක් සඳහා ඊයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී අනුමැතිය ලැබුණු බව ඔහු පැවසීය. බදු සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත සම්මත වීමත් සමඟ එම බදු බලාත්මක වන බව ද නියෝජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරයා

At AusNewsLanka, we aim to keep the Australian community informed with timely updates. New Zealand is considering a nationwide visitor accommodation levy to help fund tourism infrastructure and support long-term growth in popular destinations. The proposal comes from Regional Tourism New Zealand, which represents 31 regional tourism organisations. The group says the levy could provide extra funding for projects such as infrastructure upgrades, events and community facilities.

At AusNewsLanka, we aim to keep the Australian community informed with timely updates. The Greens have agreed to support the first stage of Labor’s tax reform package in the Senate, clearing a major hurdle for the legislation to pass into law. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 includes a $1,000 instant tax deduction for workers and a $250 Working Australians Tax Offset. It also sets the framework for changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax dis

This is a developing story brought to you by Aus News Lanka, your trusted source for news for Sri Lankans in Australia and beyond. රටේ ඇඟලුම් ක්ෂේත්‍රය මුහුණ දී සිටින අභියෝග සඳහා කඩිනම් විසඳුම් හඳුනා ගැනීම සහ අපනයන මූලික කරගත් ආර්ථික වර්ධනය ශක්තිමත් කිරීම අරමුණු කරගත් ඉහළ පෙළේ සාකච්ඡාවක් ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලයේදී පැවැත්විණි. ජනාධිපති මාධ්‍ය අංශය නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කරමින් සඳහන් කළේ, මෙම සාකච්ඡාව සඳහා ප්‍රමුඛ පෙළේ ඇඟලුම් කර්මාන

At AusNewsLanka, we aim to keep the Australian community informed with timely updates. NSW motorists are set to receive cost-of-living relief, with private vehicle registration fees to be cut by up to $100 under the state budget. The $435 million measure will apply to around 4.4 million vehicles, while motorcycle owners will receive an $80 registration discount. Caravans and trailers are not included. The government is also reducing the weekly toll cap from $60 to $50 for 12