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Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, becoming the first former US president to face criminal charges even as he makes another run for the White House.

The charges, arising from an investigation led by Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, could reshape the 2024 presidential race. Trump previously said he would continue campaigning for the Republican Party's nomination if charged with a crime.

The specific charges are not yet known and the indictment will likely be announced in the coming days, the New York Times reported. Trump will have to travel to Manhattan for fingerprinting and other processing at that point.

Susan Necheles, a lawyer representing Trump, said she was informed of the indictment but did not know when he would surrender. A law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the indictment.

Bragg's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump, 76, sought re-election in 2020 but was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden. Trump has falsely claimed he lost to Biden due to widespread voting fraud and has called the investigation that led to his indictment a "political witch hunt". Bragg's office last year won the criminal conviction of the businessman-turned-politician's real estate company.

The Manhattan investigation is one of several legal challenges facing Trump, and the charges could hurt his presidential comeback attempt. Some 44 per cent of Republicans said he should drop out of the race if he is indicted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week.

The grand jury convened by Bragg in January began hearing evidence about Trump's role in the payment to Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election that he ended up winning. Daniels, a well-known adult film actress and director whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she received the money in exchange for keeping silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006.

The former president's personal lawyer Michael Cohen has said Trump directed hush payments to Daniels and to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also said she had a sexual relationship with him. Trump has denied having affairs with either woman.

Federal prosecutors examined the Daniels payoff in 2018, leading to a prison sentence for Cohen but no charges against Trump.

No former or sitting US president has ever faced criminal charges. Trump also faces two criminal investigations by a special counsel appointed by US Attorney General Merrick Garland and one by a local prosecutor in Georgia.

Trump, a divisive figure in US politics with support particularly among white blue-collar and conservative Christian voters, served as president from 2017 to 2021, governing as a right-wing populist. He was impeached twice by the House of Representatives, once in 2019 over his conduct regarding Ukraine and again in 2021 over the attack on the US Capitol by his supporters. He was acquitted by the Senate both times.

Trump on March 18 wrote on social media that he had expected to be arrested on March 21 and urged his supporters to protest to "take our nation back," reminiscent of his exhortations ahead of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Trump in 2018 initially disputed knowing anything about the payment to Daniels. He later acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for the payment, which he called a "simple private transaction."

Daniels has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump at a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2006, the year after he married his current wife Melania and more than a decade before the businessman-turned-politician became president.

The US Supreme Court in 2021 rejected her bid to revive a defamation lawsuit she brought against Trump over a Twitter post in which he accused her of a "con job" after she described being threatened over publicising her account of a sexual relationship with him. Lower courts had thrown out her suit.

Special counsel Jack Smith is separately investigating Trump's handling of classified government documents after leaving office and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

© RAW 2023

Australia's lowest-paid workers have the Albanese government's backing for a wage boost that will stop rising living costs from eating into their pay packets.

The government is expected to flesh out its case for the lowest-paid workers in a submission to the industrial umpire's yearly update to the minimum wage on Friday.

Few are arguing against an increase in light of painfully high inflation, which clocked in at 6.8 per cent annual growth at the last official count, but the opposition and business groups have called for moderation or risk inflation staying higher for longer.

Last year, Labor supported the case for a lift in the minimum wage roughly in line with inflation, which at that point had already started to track upwards sharply.

The Fair Work Commission ultimately landed on a 5.2 per cent pay increase, bolstering low-wage worker wages by $40 a week.

The government's submission will not include a specific figure but will recommend the "real wages of Australia's low-paid workers do not go backwards".

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Employment Minister Tony Burke said high inflation has seen wages fall when accounting for inflation.

"This is having the greatest impact on Australia's low-paid workers and their families - many of whom don't have the savings to fall back on or wages that cover the rise in living costs," they said ahead of the submission's release.

But Labor will not suggest automatic across-the-board wage increases in line with inflation, nor that inflation should be the only factor the commission factors in.

For the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the cost pressures weighing on small businesses should also be considered.

The business group is backing a 3.5 per cent boost plus the 0.5 per cent lift in the superannuation guarantee starting from July 1 - its highest proposal ever in a submission to the annual wage review.

The chamber's chief executive Andrew McKellar warned a wage blowout would take a toll on small businesses and potentially prompt employers to cut hours or headcount.

He also said matching the minimum wage to inflation would keep inflation stubbornly high.

"Our concern is if we end up with a wage increase, which is going to be in line with inflation, then in reality, that's only going to end up eroding living standards," he said.

"It puts more pressure on small business, it's feeding back into higher costs. In the end, we're not going anywhere.

"We've got to get things back on track, we've got to get inflation under control, we've got to take the pressure off interest rates."

Peak union group the ACTU is pushing for a seven per cent rise to minimum and award wages.

© AAP 2023

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has set out eight priorities for the next federal budget, while warning Australia is not immune to the ongoing volatility in global financial markets.

"Events of recent weeks show we now have more volatility in the global financial system, brought on by sharp and synchronised rate rises around the world," he wrote in an opinion piece published in The Australian on Friday.

"We can't hope to be completely unaffected by global financial frictions, but our banks are well-capitalised, well-regulated and well-placed."

The 2022/23 budget to be handed down in May will need to strike the right balance between near term and longer term priorities, Dr Chalmers said.

The government's books are well into the red and remain under pressure due to high government debt and the costly, longer term funding requirements of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, aged care, health and defence, he warned.

"That all means we have eight priorities for May," Dr Chalmers said.

These include cost of living relief, driving supply-side growth, funding national security priorities like the AUKUS submarine project, and supporting the care economy while improving essential services and women's economic participation.

The framing of the budget will also consider how to address entrenched disadvantage in the community, cleaning up unfunded programs and "restraint and responsibility across the board".

"This is the best way to manage uncertainty abroad, pressures at home and maximise our opportunities in the years ahead," Dr Chalmers said.

The treasurer's remarks come ahead of a Reserve Bank of Australia board meeting on monetary policy on Tuesday.

The meeting is under the spotlight over whether the central bank again raises interest rates, or pauses in the wake of a recent moderation in inflationary pressures in the economy.

But annualised inflation remains high at about 6.8 per cent, compared to the RBA's goal to maintain inflation within a target band of two to three per cent over the course of the economic cycle.

Meanwhile, government frontbencher Richard Marles has rejected speculation the budget could impose a tax rise on the soaring profits of gas producers.

Asked if gas producers would be slugged, he said "no", adding the talk was centred around a review commissioned by the former coalition government.

"This is a review of the petroleum resource rent tax which was commissioned by the former government," Mr Marles said.

"They undertook this review. We haven't got the result of the review yet. When we do, we'll have a look at it."

The Australian Financial Review on Friday cited unnamed industry sources saying the Treasury review of the 40 per cent PRRT has "morphed into a much bigger" and "more material" overhaul, including a plan to raise more revenue from record oil and gas profits.

© AAP 2023