Speaker 1: From Schwartzmedia In seven am. I'm Ashlyn McGee. This is
Speaker 1: the cost inside the living crisis. Last night Treasurer Jim
Speaker 1: Chalmers delivered a budget that may decide the fate of
Speaker 1: the Albanesi government. There's billions of dollars in new spending,
Speaker 1: with another round of powerbell rebates for all of us,
Speaker 1: no annual price hike on PBS medicines, and a boost
Speaker 1: to the rent assistance payment. But as so many Australians
Speaker 1: struggle to put food on the table or keep a
Speaker 1: roof over their head, has the government spent enough or
Speaker 1: has it spent too much? And are they're more rate
Speaker 1: hikes now on the cards today? Chief political correspondent for
Speaker 1: the Saturday Paper Karen Barlow and what support the government
Speaker 1: delivered and whether there's devil in the detail. It's Wednesday,
Speaker 1: May fifteen. Karen, First of all, welcome to the show,
Speaker 1: our new chief political correspondent and we're talking on budget night.
Speaker 2: Hello, great to be.
Speaker 3: Here, mister speaker. This is a budget for the here
Speaker 3: and now, and it's a budget for the decades to come.
Speaker 3: It's a response.
Speaker 1: So I want to begin with what Jim Charmers had
Speaker 1: to deliver in this budget, like what choices were the
Speaker 1: Albanesi government grappling with and how significant was it for
Speaker 1: the Treasurer to get it right?
Speaker 2: Hugely important. We're in an election year without a date.
Speaker 2: Households are really crying out for cost of living relief
Speaker 2: and the Treasurer's main job is to not make it worse.
Speaker 3: This uncertainty combines with cost of living pressures and higher
Speaker 3: interest rates to slow our economy, with growth forecast to
Speaker 3: be just one and three quarter percent this financial year
Speaker 3: and two percent next.
Speaker 2: We have Jim Chalmers presenting also relief and reform and
Speaker 2: a lot of talk about promise and potential of a
Speaker 2: more prosperous future. But this budget, Jim Chalmers third is
Speaker 2: an economic and heavily political doctor speaker.
Speaker 3: The number one priority of this government and this budget
Speaker 3: is helping Australians with the cost of living responsible relief
Speaker 3: that eases pressure on people and directly reduces inflation.
Speaker 2: For Jim Chalmers, this is what he's been working on
Speaker 2: all year since the last budget. It has been taking
Speaker 2: his every waking hour. He's been spending a lot of
Speaker 2: time with the Finance Minister Katie Gallaher. But this is
Speaker 2: also while you know there's people screaming out for more
Speaker 2: cost of living relief, but at the same time urging
Speaker 2: that the inflation problem is not made worse by extra spending.
Speaker 3: So, mister speaker, the story of Australia is more than
Speaker 3: a tale of the challenges that we have endured, and
Speaker 3: in our future we need to strive for something more
Speaker 3: than muddling through or making do so.
Speaker 1: The biggest issue for many Australians in this selection will
Speaker 1: probably be that's sawing cost of living. So how big
Speaker 1: did the government go on support for people?
Speaker 2: Look, it was a fair bit, but as I said before,
Speaker 2: it's tempered by not making the whole situation worse. But
Speaker 2: what we have here seven point eight billion dollars in
Speaker 2: new spending. We have the amended Stage three tax cuts
Speaker 2: that's worth twenty billion dollars a year over ten years.
Speaker 2: Remembering this is for all taxpayers and they kick in
Speaker 2: shortly on July one, and there's a benefit about thirty
Speaker 2: six dollars a week. But what's new is three point
Speaker 2: five billion dollars in across the board energy bill relief
Speaker 2: over three years.
Speaker 3: Just as every Australian taxpayer will get a tax cut
Speaker 3: every Australian household will get energy price relief From July one.
Speaker 3: Australians will receive an energy rebate of three hundred dollars
Speaker 3: and one million small businesses will get a little bit more.
Speaker 2: There's some freezing of the maximum costs of medicines.
Speaker 3: And we are freezing the maximum cost of people prescriptions
Speaker 3: for everyone this year and next year. No one will
Speaker 3: pay more than thirty one dollars sixty.
Speaker 2: There's also common Wealth rent assistance that's being increased to
Speaker 2: further help young people and renters.
Speaker 3: It's the first back to back increase to common Wealth
Speaker 3: rent assistance in more than thirty years, and more much
Speaker 3: needed help for young people and for renters of all
Speaker 3: ages doing it tough.
Speaker 2: The budget papers insist that the energy bill relief and
Speaker 2: rent assistance will directly reduce headline inflation by point five
Speaker 2: of a percentage point in the next financial year. Every
Speaker 2: percentage point counts, as we know, but look, if it's possible.
Speaker 2: There's also another centerpiece of the budget in the reform
Speaker 2: of Aspiration. I guess the Future Made in Australia package.
Speaker 1: So yeah, Doad, we more about that Future Made an Australia
Speaker 1: plan because Essentially, it was a bit of a slogan
Speaker 1: at the start and there wasn't much flesh on the bones.
Speaker 1: But have we now got a bit more detail around that,
Speaker 1: like is it a sizeable poly see that's going to
Speaker 1: have some serious impact on the country.
Speaker 3: Our twenty two point seven billion dollar Future Made in
Speaker 3: Australia package will help make us an indispensable part of
Speaker 3: the global net zero economy.
Speaker 2: It's seen as a bit of a slogan, but look,
Speaker 2: the Treasurer says, this is the big reform piece in
Speaker 2: the budget. It's been revealed as a ten year, twenty
Speaker 2: two point seven billion dollar package, but it's largely made
Speaker 2: up of tax incentives to attract and deploy they say, investment,
Speaker 2: and to get the nation of fossil fuels along the way.
Speaker 3: We know that the global energy transformation presents a golden
Speaker 3: opportunity for Australia. The world is changing and the pace
Speaker 3: of that change is accelerating, and our approach to growth
Speaker 3: and investment needs to change as well.
Speaker 2: What we have here are production incentives. There's a seven
Speaker 2: billion dollar critical minerals production tax incentive and there's also
Speaker 2: a six point seven seven billion dollar hydrogen production tax
Speaker 2: incentive and that's going to provide a two dollar incentive
Speaker 2: per kilo of renewable hydrogen.
Speaker 3: If we hang back, the chance for a new generation
Speaker 3: of jobs and prosperity will pass us by, and our
Speaker 3: people will be poorer and our economy will be more
Speaker 3: vulnerable as a consequence.
Speaker 2: And a real focus on batteries, renewable hydrogen, quantum computing,
Speaker 2: low carbon liquid fuels. So a lot to see, but
Speaker 2: there's also concern about like a risk to tax payers
Speaker 2: money and we're talking about a lot here. Chalmers is
Speaker 2: stressed that there will be protections built into the system
Speaker 2: to stop any abuse of the billions.
Speaker 1: So, Karen, it feels like a lot of the detail
Speaker 1: in this budget has really already been spoon fed to
Speaker 1: us over the past week or so. And one of
Speaker 1: the headlines that the government's been really keen to talk
Speaker 1: about is its surplus. So in this economy, how did
Speaker 1: we end up with a surplus? And why is it
Speaker 1: such an important thing for the government.
Speaker 2: Well, there's an incredible political imperative to this. It's the
Speaker 2: mantle of better economic manager. It's a key indicator of
Speaker 2: basic performance, I guess for a government. It's in most
Speaker 2: opinion polls, and it's something that we know is a
Speaker 2: vote winner.
Speaker 3: Last year, our responsible economic management delivered the first surplus
Speaker 3: in fifteen years. We now expect another surplus of nine
Speaker 3: point three billion dollars this year. These would be the
Speaker 3: first back to back surpluses in almost two decades.
Speaker 2: That's expected, and that comes after twenty two point one
Speaker 2: billion dollars the previous year. Chalmers is warning though, that
Speaker 2: there are pressures on the government that are only going
Speaker 2: to get worse, and while he and Katie Gallagher are
Speaker 2: working to reign it in, there's a sea of red
Speaker 2: about to pour in and the coming deficits are much
Speaker 2: larger than previously forecast.
Speaker 1: After the break the hidden details that hinted what's coming
Speaker 1: in the next election campaign, Karen, So, for a lot
Speaker 1: of yesterday, you're in the lock up pouring over the
Speaker 1: budget of papers. Tell us about some of the more
Speaker 1: interesting things you uncovered in there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay. So, even if the three hundred energy bill
Speaker 2: credit and the increase to comwealth rent assistance is not
Speaker 2: enough of a big election sign, there's a promise of
Speaker 2: more to come. But a promise this column on a
Speaker 2: table in the papers which the government does not want
Speaker 2: to focus on. Is a place where we find what's
Speaker 2: called the decisions taken but not yet announced and not
Speaker 2: for publication. A pretty weighty little set of words there.
Speaker 2: But it's about a figure that comes in at one
Speaker 2: point one two billion dollars. So this is spending closer
Speaker 2: to an election when voters are starting to firm. But
Speaker 2: it is a very interesting number because we don't know
Speaker 2: what it's for. We have to have a guess. It
Speaker 2: is not for us to know just yet.
Speaker 1: In the budget papers. Even though we know so much
Speaker 1: detail before the budget is actually handed down now there
Speaker 1: still can be some surprises. Did you find anything that
Speaker 1: was a.
Speaker 2: Surprise for me? I think the surprise can be found
Speaker 2: in services for veterans. Three billion dollars has been found
Speaker 2: there and part of that is bolstering staffing at the
Speaker 2: Veterans Affairs Department.
Speaker 3: And we've achieved all of this despite much smaller revenue
Speaker 3: upgrades in the budget and still providing an extra three
Speaker 3: billion dollars to ensure Australians, including our veterans, receive better
Speaker 3: essential services.
Speaker 2: This comes after the Veterans Royal Commission and after the
Speaker 2: government has got through a claims backlog for veterans earlier
Speaker 2: this year. That's quite a bit of money that's been
Speaker 2: found related the Australian War Memorial had money more money
Speaker 2: found for it, another eight million dollars. After nearly all,
Speaker 2: just over half a billion dollars has been spent upgrading
Speaker 2: the Canberra based site. And I did find that the
Speaker 2: National Mental Health Commission is being defunded and the money
Speaker 2: is going back into the health budget and they're going
Speaker 2: to delay the decisions on what to do with that
Speaker 2: particular area. But that's part of it across the board
Speaker 2: health spend and reprioritization, So that was particularly interesting. So
Speaker 2: for people.
Speaker 1: Concerned about the cost of living, what do we know
Speaker 1: about whether this kind of spending we're seeing in the
Speaker 1: budget is going to make that better or whether this
Speaker 1: spending could actually make the situation worse. It could lead
Speaker 1: to more interest rate rises well.
Speaker 2: So the budget papers tell us that the spending on
Speaker 2: cost of living relief is de inflationary and will amend
Speaker 2: the situation by point five of a percentage point.
Speaker 3: Annual inflation has more than half from its peak in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two, and it's now lower than anticipated in
Speaker 3: the media update. But we know that people are still
Speaker 3: under the pump. That's why we designed our cost of
Speaker 3: living policies to ease these pressures and take another three
Speaker 3: quarters of a percentage point off inflation this year and
Speaker 3: half a percentage point next year.
Speaker 2: If you talk to the opposition, they've got other views
Speaker 2: and they expect that this is going to be inflationary,
Speaker 2: and they say that the government has been causing inflation
Speaker 2: to rise over the entire term. I think the jury
Speaker 2: is out at this stage. The RBA will be particularly
Speaker 2: looking at the outcome of this particular budget and it
Speaker 2: will be factoring it into its next decisions. But there
Speaker 2: are some elements of spending that are what they call
Speaker 2: off the books, and so therefore there is that question
Speaker 2: mark about whether the new spending will add to the
Speaker 2: possibility of making inflation worse.
Speaker 1: So finally, Karen, as you've said, this could be a
Speaker 1: really consequential budget for who wins the next selection. So
Speaker 1: coming out of tonight there's some pretty clear battle lines
Speaker 1: you can see that have been drawn with a coalition.
Speaker 2: So Peter Dutton will officially have his say on Thursday
Speaker 2: night with his traditional budget, replies Opposition leader. But as
Speaker 2: you would expect he's not cheering charmers on Before seeing
Speaker 2: the entire budget, he addressed the Liberal and National colleagues
Speaker 2: saying this was a magic putting exercise by the Treasurer
Speaker 2: and he's not delivering hope rather broken promises. And the
Speaker 2: surplus has been denigrated by the Coalition as a windfall
Speaker 2: surplus and what they are seeking is a structural surplus,
Speaker 2: one by design. And you do point out here that
Speaker 2: this is a coalition that did not deliver a surplus
Speaker 2: when it was in office over nine years. There's a
Speaker 2: blame game going on over inflation and that will continue.
Speaker 2: Dutton with his economic team of Angus Taylor and Jane Hume,
Speaker 2: saying this inflation is now home grown and it's the
Speaker 2: government's decisions of the past two years that have really
Speaker 2: driven it up. The government, of course nis this and
Speaker 2: it's budget measures are in fact deinflationary and it has
Speaker 2: the budget papers to prove that. Dutton is hinting at
Speaker 2: alternative policies. Budget Day and the day after is not
Speaker 2: the day for that reveal, so we'll get to see
Speaker 2: what the Coalition is yet to provide. But traditionally oppositions
Speaker 2: don't give out too many things this far out from
Speaker 2: the election, but essentially what we've got here with this
Speaker 2: budget is game on and.
Speaker 3: That's why I commend this bill, mister Speaker, and this
Speaker 3: budget to the House.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Karen, thanks so much of your time today, Thanks
Speaker 1: very much.
Speaker 4: Ash.
Speaker 1: In other news, former military lawyer David McBride has been
Speaker 1: sentenced to nearly six years in jail for stealing and
Speaker 1: sharing classified documents with journalists. The files alleged Australian soldiers
Speaker 1: had illegally killed civilians in Afghanistan earlier this month. McBride
Speaker 1: spoke to us here at seven am and said he
Speaker 1: had no regrets about his actions, and the sentencing judge
Speaker 1: yesterday agreed he'd shown no remorse. Act Supreme Court Justice
Speaker 1: David Mossip said McBride had decided he knew best and
Speaker 1: didn't want to follow the rules of the army. McBride
Speaker 1: will have to serve two years and three months before
Speaker 1: he is eligible for parole. And in another court, former
Speaker 1: Jetstar pilot Gregory Lean is on trial for the murder
Speaker 1: of campus Russell Hill and Carol Clay at an ice
Speaker 1: later Victorian Campsite in twenty twenty. Prosecutors Allegedlyn dumped the
Speaker 1: couple's bodies and burned the evidence, but Linde's defense teams
Speaker 1: say the deaths were a tragic accident in a dispute
Speaker 1: over hunting in the high Country. The trial continues in
Speaker 1: the Victorian Supreme Court. That's all from us for today.
Speaker 1: Thanks for your company. We'll see you again tomorrow