What we learned: October budget 2022-23
And that was the 2022-23 budget. (Again.) There was lots of talk of inflation, promises of loads of houses, and a smattering of talk about how boring it was.
The Joe Hockey/Tony Abbott 2014 budget was the last one that really blew everyone’s socks off (and not in a good way). Since then, governments have played it relatively safe. And as Katharine Murphy points out, for a range of reasons, this was one of the safest budgets yet.
Today saw more dire warnings about the global and domestic economic outcome, after the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the floods and other factors rendered the pre-election Coalition March budget all but redundant.
We already knew that inflation was going crazy, but the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, put a forceful emphasis on the resultant need for “restraint”.
In that restrained environment, though, he put together a cost of living package, the highlight of which was the government’s ambitious, not-yet-fully-formed plan to aim for a million new homes within a decade.
There was some unforeseen revenue, some “reprioritisation” of spending, and the news that cumulative deficits over the four years of the forward estimates now total $181bn, which is an improvement of more than $40bn over what was forecast before the election.
And we learned that future tax reforms and energy regulations are on the cards. Chalmers delivered some pretty strong hints that we should stay tuned.
The Guardian Australian team will keep on ferreting and fossicking away, so we’ll see you here again tomorrow as we unspool more of the budget. In the meantime, catch up here.
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Here’s Daniel Hurst again, this time with the defence update and Australia’s help for Ukraine:
Greg Jericho has pulled together some brilliant graphs to explain the budget – and because he’s from South Australia, that’s graaaaphs, not grafs, thank you very much:
Experts and stakeholders offer responses to October budget
Back to the conga line of experts reacting to the budget: Georgie Dent, of The Parenthood, said the budget was “good news for families with children”, singling out the changes to the childcare subsidy, paid parental leave and gender equality as her highlights.
Dent has met with Albanese several times in recent months, most recently last week in his office for a photo op after he announced the boost to paid parental leave. Dent said she would have liked to see the changes come in “yesterday” instead of gradually phased in over several years, but said it was a very positive move.
John Falzon, of progressive think tank Per Capita, was quite disappointed that the government didn’t do more on addressing poverty in Australia, particularly perturbed by no raise to the jobseeker welfare rate. Falzon said there was “something very wrong when those who have the least are expected to do the most”.
He accepted that the government “can’t change everything in one budget” but said the 3 million people living in poverty were suffering a “daily form of mental torture that cried out for immediate relief”.
“You can’t talk about wellbeing while ignoring the impossible task of surviving on $46 a day,” he said.
Melissa Donnelly of the Community and Public Sector Union welcomed better resourcing of the public sector, saying it would have benefits for the treatment of veterans, NDIS participants and on visa processing backlogs.
Aged care workers from the United Workers Union said “thanks for recognising us finally – ScoMo didn’t”.
Tim Costello, former CEO of World Vision Australia and poverty advocate, welcomed updates to the aid budget. He congratulated the foreign minister, Penny Wong, for “arresting and stabilising the decline”, which he said would be the difference between life and death for people living in absolute poverty.
But Costello said he was disappointed the government hadn’t sent more money to address famine in Africa, with food shortages directly linked to the war in Ukraine and grain shortages. He said Australia was not doing its fair share, calling it “a loss of our moral senses” as he called for $150m in extra funding.
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Daniel Hurst has delved through those NDIS figures, and what will happen next:
Too much budget barely enough? Here is treasurer Jim Chalmers’ budget speech in video form!
Mike Bowers has been framing budget day for you:
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And here’s some more detail from Paul Karp on the projects that are set to miss out on regional and infrastructure spending:
Caitlin Cassidy has produced an excellent example of that staple of the budget coverage – the winners and losers:
The Greens have moved a second reading amendment to one of the budget supply bills.
MP Max Chandler-Mather moved:
Whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House: notes the Government’s first budget gives a $9,000 per year tax cut to billionaires and locks in the $254bn stage three tax cuts for the wealthy; and calls on the government to repeal the stage three tax cuts and provide cost of living relief that will make people’s lives better, including by putting dental and mental healthcare into Medicare, building more affordable housing, and making childcare free.
The leader of the house, Tony Burke, accused the Greens of a “stunt” to draw attention to the stage-three tax cuts - warning the house that the effect of the amendment was to “negate the bill”.
Burke said if the amendment were carried, the supply bill would have to come back tomorrow, putting “the wages of every public servant” in “jeopardy”.
It’s too late for any votes this evening, meaning any division on the second reading amendment would be tomorrow anyway. Burke urgent them not to call a vote.
The Liberals’ shadow assistant treasurer, Stuart Robert, confirmed the opposition will hold to an agreement with the government to progress the supply bill. So nothing will come of it, but Labor is dialling the outrage up.
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Further to that last conversation between Angus Taylor and Sarah Ferguson – Daniel Hurst was paying closer attention than me and has re-created the scene:
Angus Taylor: “Going back to your original question ...”
Sarah Ferguson: “Please.”
Taylor: “... which was – remind me?”
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Australians will wait years for cost of living relief, Greens leader says
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, told reporters in Canberra that Australians voted for change at the election and “after the budget they are still waiting”.
Bandt said Australians will wait “years” for cost of living relief, while the government gives the very wealthy a quarter of a trillion dollars (over 10 years, starting in 2024) of tax cuts. The Greens wanted free childcare, dental care and mental health on Medicare.
Bandt said the pledge to build 1m houses is a “house of cards” that builds only 10,000 houses while relying on the private sector to build the rest.
The Greens welcomed the funding for truth telling and agreement making with First Nations people, crediting senator Lidia Thorpe for her advocacy.
The Greens have signalled they will move to amend (but not block) the budget to remove fossil fuels subsidies.
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Angus Taylor says $6bn of deferred infrastructure spending ‘has disappeared’
Now Taylor is talking about regional grant funds – Ferguson gives him an opening to have a crack at Labor for diverting some of those funds.
Taylor, though, goes straight back to wages and electricity prices. “The problem is the budget lays out a plan where they don’t meet those commitments,” he says.
He gets there, though, saying $6bn of infrastructure investment has been deferred. He says:
We don’t know when it’s going to be spent. That’s $6bn lost. Much of that is in regional areas. Not all of it. A lot of it is in outer suburban areas, like Western Sydney.
That has disappeared, over $6bn. We don’t know exactly which projects have been lost. But we do know that’s a very significant part of the infrastructure pipeline to lose. And there will be many important projects that regional areas, suburban areas, are relying on for their future, for their aspirations, for the opportunities they’re pursuing that will be lost as part of it.
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Taylor says the NDIS is an “important program”, when he’s asked about Jim Chalmers’ comment that the spending would grow by hundreds of billions of dollars.
“It needs to be sustainable,” Taylor says. “There’s no question about that. We’ll work with Labor on ensuring that it is sustainable.”
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Forecast rise in energy prices breaks Labor’s election commitments, Angus Taylor says
Angus Taylor, the opposition’s treasury spokesperson, is on the ABC now. He says Labor’s forecast that electricity and gas prices would go up was a “major breach of an election commitment”. “They promised that they would go down by $275,” he said.
(They did, but times have changed dramatically since then.)
Taylor says:
The war in Ukraine happened before the election. They could have changed their policy, and they didn’t. It was their policy going into the election. They’ve broken that commitment. The fastest way we can support them to get the gas price down is to get more supply into the domestic network. That’s always been true.
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Another budget day tradition is the “conga line” of stakeholders and expert groups that forms in the press gallery of Parliament House shortly after the treasurer’s speech, to give their snap analysis and comments to media.
We’ll bring you dispatches from various groups through the evening, with the conga line now beginning. First up, we had a conservation group calling on the government to “fund the extinction crisis properly” and take more action on wildlife protection.
Next was Steve Robson, president of the Australian Medical Association. He said it was a budget that was about “inking a lot of promises” made in the election campaign, but called on the government to do more on hospital and health funding in its next budget in May.
Robson said the 2023 budget would require “real change and real reform”, saying access to health in regional and rural areas was being “choked off” and public hospitals being overwhelmed. “This is going to take a large investment,” Robson said, adding “the real work will have to begin” next year.
Ian Henschke, of National Seniors Australia, said his group was disappointed that the government hadn’t done more to let pensioners work more without affecting their pension payments.
Henschke said he was “frustrated” that the pensioners work policy was only time-limited until next year, and claimed the income cap wasn’t high enough. He said the government could start to solve workforce issues in aged care and childcare by letting seniors work more, claiming many people were being left in “pension poverty” because they couldn’t supplement their income enough.
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Katharine Murphy’s verdict is in, and it is probably something you should read sooner rather than later. She says:
The Albanese government has an unofficial mantra. No sudden movements. Don’t surprise the voters.
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Chalmers is pressed again on tax reform – that “conversation” he’s keen to keep having with Australia. He ducks a question about whether he’s committed to actual reform. He says:
I’m interested in hearing all of the ideas from every corner of the community about how we can make our budget more sustainable. Tax is a part of that but not the only part of it.
And that’s the traditional ABC post-budget interview done. On with the show!
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Review under way to look at increasing revenue from gas exporters: Chalmers
Chalmers is now asked about about getting more revenue from the gas exporters. There’s a review under way, Chalmers says, adding that he is doing work “right now” on the code of conduct and on prices. He says:
We want to support local industry. We want to keep faith with our international partners and export partners in particular. We need to strike the right balance here. The energy market is not working right now for local industry or for Australians. Any responsible government looks at steps it could take to change that.
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Ferguson brings up the stage three tax cuts, which the government seemed to flirt with ditching before saying they would keep them. Chalmers says:
We’ve said it’s important that people get some tax relief when the budget can afford it. Those tax cuts are legislated. We haven’t changed our plans.
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Wages are “already moving … in the right direction”, Chalmers says, but he concedes that wages are not keeping pace with the high inflation levels.
“Our job is to do what we can on the inflation side and on the wages side,” he says:
I’m really confident that we’ve lined up nicely the spending restraints side of the budget, the cost-of-living relief, but, just as importantly, the investment in a stronger economy.
Because this budget is more than battening down the hatches. It’s about backing in families. It’s about building a better future. And I think we’ve struck the right balance.
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Treasurer on forecast power prices: ‘We’ve got a big problem’
I mentioned earlier that the government has promised there’s “more to come” on potential regulatory action on power prices – with predictions of huge increases in the coming years.
Those forecasts are “relatively new”, Jim Chalmers says, and the work in that area is “ongoing”. He says:
I think it’s reasonable that we flag, as I did before today, and as I did today, that whether it’s gas, whether it’s electricity, we’ve got a big problem. We’ve got an inflation problem.
The biggest or most concerning part of that, in addition to the impact of natural disasters, is what’s happening in energy. That’s happening right around the world. But we care about its impact on Australians. We’ve got more work to do.
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NDIS review will ensure ‘every dollar’ gets ‘value for money’: treasurer
The NDIS is going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars over the next ten years, Chalmers says, and it’s putting “incredible pressure” on the government. He says:
We don’t approach the NDIS as the source of savings for the sake of it. We believe in the NDIS. We created it. We think it’s doing important work for Australians with a disability. We support it. We want it to endure and survive. That means every dollar needs to get value for money. And that’s what the review is about. Now, if it turns out the trajectory of spending is better than it is currently, that’s a good outcome as long as we’re maintaining the level of service.
We’ve started with some substantial budget repair tonight. There is more to come, whether it’s in this area or in other areas. We’ve already flagged that. The best way for your viewers to understand this budget tonight is that it’s the first of three or four in the life of this parliamentary term. It is the beginning of a more responsible approach to the budget, not the end.
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Ferguson is grilling Chalmers on his spending, saying he’s spent $1bn more than he’s saved this year. She’s quite sceptical that equates to a budget with “hard decisions”.
Chalmers says they’ve made a “good start”. “You need to start somewhere,” he says:
We’ve got big, persistent, structural spending issues in the budget. That means we’ve inherited a budget with structural deficit. You need to start somewhere. $1tn in debt and deficits as far as the eye can see – you’ve got to start somewhere. We’ve made more savings than recent budgets.
He’s talking about the blowouts in hospitals, aged care, and the NDIS – the biggest cost on the budgets, though, is the interest on their borrowing.
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Jim Chalmers begins interview with Sarah Ferguson on ABC
And now he’s up – Jim Chalmers is talking to the ABC’s Sarah Ferguson. He’s defending the number of “hard decisions” his government has made. Chalmers says:
The hard decisions are in every dollar of those $22bn in savings. The hard decisions are in every dollar not spent from this very temporary, but substantial, welcome improvement in tax revenues from some of temporary conditions like higher commodity prices.
When you sit around the Expenditure Review Committee table as we have for many hours with my colleagues, one of the hardest things to do is to exercise spending restraint. I think what defines this budget and distinguished it from our predecessors is restraint.
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Finance minister, Katy Gallagher, pointed to the women’s budget statement - which briefly disappeared under former prime minister Tony Abbott but was reinstated in recent years. The statement was an important first step, Gallagher said. “We’re putting women’s economic equality and women’s safety as an important part of this budget,” she said.
The idea is that eventually the gender equality information would be “part of the normal process of budgeting”, she said:
The idea is that we would mainstream it into the budget papers, my hope is that at the end we don’t need a women’s statement.
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Treasurer hints at more controls on energy sector as huge price increases predicted
Chalmers also hinted at more regulatory control on the electricity industry, with predictions of huge price increases.
“I’m not going to pretend that we’re not worried about these electricity prices,” he said, blaming the war in Ukraine for “playing havoc” with energy markets, and a decade of energy policy indecision. He said:
I think any responsible government facing these kinds of price hikes … needs to consider a broader suite of regulatory interventions than they might have considered in years gone by.
We have more work to do … More will be done and we’ll have more to say about that in due course.
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Housing will be built ‘where the job opportunities are’ in the regions, treasurer says
There were a couple of questions in the presser about all those “aspirational” houses. Chalmers said they were looking at parts of the market where “low vacancy rates and high rents are pricing people out”.
He was asked where they would be built, and said it would be wherever jobs and opportunities were – and he said that meant in the regions.
He said alongside other ways of making homes more affordable to buy, there was also an opportunity to help people rent. That’s where the superannuation industry and other institutions come in. He said:
Our overwhelming priority is to be where the job opportunities are, and clearly the job opportunities are in regional areas.
There will be more work to do with the really quite committed group that I’ve put together.
He said the superannuation industry had signed up: “Superannuation is such an important part of this puzzle and a number of the big funds have signed up, properly signed up and we’ve engaged with them properly and repeatedly.”
Chalmers said it was “very deliberate” that work towards the target was set to begin in 2024, because there was inflation in the sector, along with supply chain and workforce issues.
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Chalmers must be having a relatively relaxed stroll over to the ABC studios, so I’ll squeeze in a bit of the press conference he held earlier today.
One of the highlights (or annoying time sucks, depending on how your day is going) of lockup is the afternoon press conference. It’s quite a polite affair, even though it features PowerPoints.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, was joined by the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, for today’s presser. Chalmers started off by repeating many of the main points from the speech, with a particular emphasis on the “spending restraint” in his first budget.
“Restraint is the name of the game in this budget,” he said. He was also keen to emphasise that 99% of the increased revenue in the budget was being returned to the bottom line.
Chalmers also talked about tax reforms, without directly mentioning those stage three tax cuts that everyone has been talking about. He mentioned several times that he was delighted there appeared to be a public appetite for conversations around tax reform. He said:
I think tax needs to be part of the conversation going forward … what we’ve done in this budget is we’ve built the foundation of a more sustainable budget but there’s more work to do.
He said there was more work to do on multinational taxes and tax compliance measures as well as any future reforms:
“I have been incredibly heartened by people and their willingness to engage,” he said.
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While we wait for Chalmers to pop up on the ABC, here’s Sarah Martin’s overview of the October budget for 2022-23:
Jim Chalmers will swiftly head for the ABC studios for a grilling on the budget.
When I get a chance, I’ll share some of the highlights of the afternoon’s press conference, and point you to what my colleagues have been working on all day.
And then we will all brace for the onslaught of reactions from lobby groups, the opposition (particularly the Nationals), and, of course, the public.
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In the conclusion to his first budget speech, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says:
Australians know there are hard days to come, and hard decisions to accompany them.
Getting through this period stronger than we were before will rely on the best of our character – our resilience, our pragmatism, our cooperation and our confidence, and above all, our belief in each other.
And it will rely on a government dedicated and determined – to confront challenges ignored for too long, and to seize the opportunities that won’t wait any longer.
This Budget does more than end a wasted decade – a decade marked by energy chaos, a crisis in aged care, skills shortages and stagnant wages, and not enough to show for a trillion dollars in debt.
It does more than draw a line under the drift, decline and decay that defined it. It begins to put things right.
It begins to build a better future, that befits our people and the sacrifices they make for each other.
A future we can all have a stake in, all sharing in its success.
A stronger, more resilient Australia.
With more opportunities for more people, in more parts of our amazing country.
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Defence spending will restore Australia’s role as ‘diligent and dependable’ Pacific partner: Chalmers
There’s $6.1bn more in this budget for hospitals and healthcare, Chalmers says, and more money for aged care. On the NDIS, he says the budget “begins the task” of repairing it. He talks about money to end violence against women and children, to close the gap and start getting ready for the voice to parliament referendum, as well as establishing “the long overdue” national anti-corruption commission.
Defence funding will rise above 2% of GDP over the forward estimates, and Chalmers says we are restoring our role as a “diligent and dependable partner and friend to our Pacific neighbours – for a stable, peaceful and more prosperous region”.
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Government will limit spending while inflation is high, treasurer says
This budget “makes hard decisions for hard times”, Chalmers says.
While our economic policies put a premium on resilience, our fiscal strategy puts a premium on restraint.
This is important – to keep spending under control, to give ourselves a better buffer for any further downturns, and to make sure we are not adding to inflation.
Chalmers points to that forecast $36.9bn deficit and warns that “while the temporary revenue boosts we are getting from higher employment and higher commodity prices will fade and fall, the profound and permanent spending pressures on the budget are forecast to grow and grow”.
There’s a “bigger job to do” to make the budget sustainable, he says, and tonight is just “the first step”.
Almost all the new revenue will go back to the bottom line, he says, and the government will limit spending growth while inflation is high. New spending will be focused on “investments that grow the capacity of the economy”.
Chalmers has been increasingly keen to start a conversation about tax reform, and now he says:
This is just the beginning of our budget repair work, and it’s just the beginning of the conversation we need to have as a country – about our economic and fiscal challenges, and about the choices we need to make on what’s affordable and what’s fair.
So we can pay to service the debt that was left to us – when borrowing costs are the fastest growing budget pressure, rising at more than 14% a year over a decade.
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Chalmers outlines goal for Australia to be ‘a country that makes things again’
Chalmers says “a better future for Australia must mean a future made in Australia”. He says the $15bn National Reconstruction Fund will help “finance projects that expand our industrial base, diversify our economy, create sustainable, well-paid jobs, and grow our regional centres”:
No more sleepwalking while other advanced economies seize new opportunities. No more surrendering industries and jobs overseas.
No more selling out our future, by clinging to the past.
In clean energy manufacturing; in medical manufacturing; in new technologies; in agriculture; in critical minerals.
So that we can be a country that makes things again.
So that we can add more value to the things that we sell to the world. And so that every part of the country can have a stake in our Australian-made future.
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Government’s energy plan will provide certainty to investors, treasurer says
Chalmers is talking about the “generational and economic imperative of acting on climate change”. He says the government has a plan to provide stability to the energy grid and certainty to investors.
He lists a range of projects the government has backed to stabilise the electricity grid, from windfarms to Tasmania’s Marinus Link project, as well as plans to make electric cars more affordable and increasing solar battery storage.
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The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is now moving on to education, and the need for an economy that is “more resilient, more inclusive, more modern”, with skills at the centre of it, along with “cleaner, cheaper, more reliable energy”. He’s talking about the plan for nearly half-a-million fee-free Tafe courses, and 20,000 new university places over the next two years:
Because no Australian should be denied – by poverty, by postcode, or by lack of privilege – their chance at a better future.
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Accord promising 1m new homes a ‘serious start’ to solving crisis, treasurer says
On the childcare payments, Chalmers says it’s a “gamechanging investment in families our workforce, and our economy”. The expanded paid parental leave scheme, he says, is “about greater equality and greater security for Australian women – and more dads doing their bit”.
He’s going through that new housing accord, which has a few different elements, and was (apart from some grim economic figures) the standout story of today’s budget.
The accord is a “serious start” to solving the housing crisis, he says.
And on wages, he says: “Australians now know this: deliberately keeping wages low is no longer federal government policy.”
Bringing it all together, Chalmers is talking about the need to make the economy more resilient.
He says too much of Australia’s potential has been “wasted … and the costs of that are clear with falling real wages, flatlining productivity, widespread skills shortages, and too many Australians denied the opportunity of a better future”.
He adds:
We agreed there that full employment, productivity growth and equal opportunities for women should be core objectives of government policy.
And we know the key to this is quality investments in the capacity of the Australian economy and the capabilities of the Australian people.
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Cost of living relief package is $7.5bn to address childcare, parental leave, housing: treasurer
That cost of living help mentioned earlier is a $7.5bn package, Chalmers says (readers, part of the magic of budgets is the way different measures can be sliced and diced and put back together into impressive sounding “packages”).
The policies on childcare, parental leave, cheaper medicines, more affordable housing, and wage increases will boost productivity, grow the economy, and put some money back in people’s pockets, he says.
The paid parental leave will be scaled up to six months, with a portion reserved for each parent, to encourage both to take leave.
Medicines on the PBS will be reduced by $12.50 to $30.
The new bit is the housing accord with that aforementioned ambitious target of 1m new homes within the decade.
And there’s the plan to “get wages moving again”.
(The Guardian Australia team has been ferreting through all those policies, so we’ll have all the details for you shortly.)
Photograph: Evgeniia Siiankovskaia/Getty Images
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Chalmers warns about the impact of the floods that have hit large parts of southern and eastern Australia. These are human tragedies that also affect the budget, he says.
$3bn has been “provisioned” as a response to the floods, he says, and more than 5,000 extra volunteers will be deployed through Disaster Relief Australia.
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I was so excited about following treasurer Jim Chalmers’ first budget speech that I very rudely forgot to thank Josh Taylor for looking after the blog while we were in lockup. Sorry, Josh!
Chalmers: Wages expected to start growing in real terms by 2023-24
Then, of course, there are the inflationary pressures, both domestic and global. Chalmers has talked a great deal about the need to align monetary policy (the Reserve Bank of Australia’s bit) with fiscal policy (the government’s bit).
He says:
While we intend to avoid the worst of the turbulence from overseas, we cannot escape it completely …
Global challenges, along with high inflation and higher interest rates, will have an impact.
Our economy is expected to grow solidly this financial year, by 3.25% – before slowing to 1.5% growth for 2023–24, a full percentage point lower than what was forecast in March.
That hit to growth will affect jobs, Chalmers says, with unemployment set to hit 4.5% in 2023-24 (which is still pretty low).
Inflation will peak at 7.75% later this year, but will go down to 3.5% in 2023-24, which is when real wages should start growing again.
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Treasurer warns of prospect of a ‘third global downturn’ due to Ukraine war
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, warns about “the prospect of a third global downturn in a decade and a half”. He says:
This time, not a financial crisis or a pandemic, but a war driving high prices and higher interest rates here and around the world, and the risk of another global recession. This time demands a different response.
One that puts a premium on what’s responsible, affordable, and sustainable.
That’s why this budget pays for what’s important, strengthens our buffers against adversity, and begins to build a better future.
He says it delivers on the government’s commitments to deliver:
Cheaper child care, and more paid parental leave.
Better access to health care, cheaper medicines, and a better standard of aged care.
Fee-free Tafe and more university places.
Cheaper and cleaner energy.
More affordable housing.
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The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has started giving his budget speech. I will now hand you over to Tory Shepherd for the ongoing budget coverage tonight.
The budget lock up has been unlocked, the doors flung open, the piles of papers released to the world.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has just got to his feet in the House of Representatives to deliver the budget speech on this “do-over” budget, which was made necessary by ever-grimmer economic conditions both here and globally.
Key words in Chalmers’ speech and in the budget papers include “inflation”, “restraint”, “housing”, “responsible”, “resilience”, “cost of living”, “challenges” and the slightly euphemistic “reprioritisation” (which means cutting from somewhere to spend somewhere else).
Here’s your first, once-over lightly, look:
There’s a five-point cost of living plan, including a new national housing accord that aims to deliver 1m new homes; $4.7bn for cheaper child care; $531.6m for expanding paid parental leave; $787.1m for cheaper prescriptions and a plan to support wage increases.
There are more fee-free Tafe places, 20,000 university places for disadvantaged Australians, and a range of other investments in education, along with support for women’s workforce participation, $20bn for “powering Australia”, money for disaster resilience and reconstruction, and for infrastructure including the NBN and transport.
And there’s the start of “budget repair”, through “spending reductions”, that “reprioritisation” and a crackdown on tax dodgers. The deficit for this financial year is forecast to be $36.9bn. The government says its audit identified $22bn in savings over the next four years, while a tax compliance crackdown will deliver another $4.7bn. About $950m will come from getting multinationals to pay their fair share.
That housing accord aims to deliver 1m “new, well-located homes” by the end of the decade. It’s not clear exactly how it will get to the magic million, but it includes 40,000 more affordable homes, another 20,000 from the states and territories, and will encourage institutions (including superannuation funds) to invest in social and affordable housing.
The government will make housing investments more attractive by helping to cover the gap between market rents and subsidised rents.
It is an “initial, aspirational” target, by the way.
In his budget speech, Chalmers declares this a “responsible” budget that “delivers on the priorities of the Australian people, and … repays their faith in a new government”.
He sets out the headwinds facing the nation – from the pandemic, to natural disasters, global uncertainty and “painful price rises” as the world is buffeted by rising inflation.
Chalmers says:
The Australian people have demonstrated the best of our national character. Resolute and resilient in hard times. Practical and pragmatic about the challenges we confront. Optimistic and confident in a better future. And ready to work together to build it.
The budget, he says, will provide cost of living relief, invest in a “stronger, more resilient, more modern economy”, and “begin the hard yards of budget repair”.
The Guardian Australia team has – for the second time this year – waded through an enormous stack of budget papers to bring you the best and the worst of it.
Katharine Murphy is in Canberra with Sarah Martin, Daniel Hurst, Paul Karp, Josh Butler, Greg Jericho and photographer-at-large Mike Bowers.
Lenore Taylor is in Sydney with Anne Davies, Adam Morton, Michael McGowan, Caitlin Cassidy and Nick Evershed.
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We are now just 10 minutes away from the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, delivering his first budget speech in the House of Representatives, and all the journalists being let out of the lockup.
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— Latika M Bourke (@latikambourke) October 25, 2022
Severe thunderstorm warning in south-east Queensland and Proserpine
⚠️⛈️Severe thunderstorm warning update. Warning has been extended to include areas near Proserpine. https://t.co/FBmpsInT9o pic.twitter.com/BiKyJVkeVs
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) October 25, 2022
Updated
Parts of Perth airport evacuated after fire
A small kitchen fire has forced the evacuation of parts of Perth airport, AAP reports.
The fire activated alarms in terminals three and four on Tuesday afternoon.
“As per normal safety procedures, the terminals were evacuated,” an airport spokesperson said. Airport firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze.
Crowds of people were forced to gather outside the terminal, with many contemplating delays thanks to the disruption.
Although passengers were set to be allowed to return, authorities conceded delays for some departing flights were expected.
Updated
Experts warn against cuts to NDIS in budget
National Disability Services, which represents the industry for National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) services, has warned the government ahead of the budget not to make cuts to the scheme.
The NDS chief executive, Laurie Leigh, said:
Regarding NDIS expenditure, it’s important to recognise that the NDIS has fundamentally changed the lives of people with disability and we must remember that at the heart of all of this, it is them who will be affected by cutting down the system without proper, thought out consultation with sector. The individuals and organisations providing life changing and lifesaving services are the key to making sure the scheme delivers on its promise.
Beyond its social benefits the NDIS is an investment in the Australian economy. Research by economic consultants Per Capita found that for every dollar spent on the NDIS, the scheme delivers $2.25 to the broader Australian economy. In 2020-21 the NDIS generated $52.4bn in value to the broader economy.
The NDIS review announced recently by Bill Shorten, minister for the NDIS, represents an opportunity to ensure that this investment is efficiently spent in effectively providing quality services to people with disability. Providers have unique practical expertise in service delivery to contribute to the review process.
Updated
Cruise ship passengers visiting WA test positive to Covid
Passengers and crew on the first major cruise liner to visit Western Australia since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic have tested positive for the virus, AAP reports.
Health authorities and the ship’s operators, Carnival Australia, have not revealed how many cases are on board the Coral Princess but say they are being managed according to recently established protocols.
That includes the small number with the virus being isolated for five days.
After spending a day in Broome on Monday, the ship was sailing to Geraldton on Tuesday and was also due to dock at Fremantle, Busselton and Albany.
WA Health said it had been advised that some passengers and crew members had tested positive for Covid-19 but the operators were managing those cases on board.
“WA health has not been asked for assistance in managing the cases,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Carnival Australia president, Marguerite Fitzgerald, said as a result of early detection and isolation measures, case numbers on board remained steady.
“These guests are being cared for in their staterooms by our medical and support staff,” she said in a statement.
“We are pleased to share that all cases on board have been mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic.”
Fitzgerald said the majority of the ship’s 2,000 passengers were unaffected and were allowed to move about freely on board and disembark at upcoming locations.
This includes Geraldton where any disembarking guests will be required to undertake a rapid antigen test prior to going ashore.
This is standard procedure and one that is well understood by our guests to protect themselves, other guests, our crew and the community.
The Shire of Broome said many of the Coral Princess passengers came ashore, spending Monday in town or involved in organised shore excursions.
It said they were expected to inject about $190,000 into the local economy.
But the arrival of the ship was met with mixed reactions from locals.
In social media posts, some welcomed the return of the cruise liners and the boost to the economy while others expressed concern about the health risks, particularly to vulnerable groups.
Large cruise ships were banned from WA waters in 2020.
Those restrictions were lifted in April this year for ships with up to 350 passengers.
Larger ships were allowed to return from 1 October.
Updated
This EMERGENCY WARNING - RIVERINE FLOOD - Move to Higher Ground is being issued for the Loddon River Loddon Weir to Kerang. Act now to protect yourself and move to higher ground. More details at https://t.co/RP7QseKkhB... pic.twitter.com/QjSQkF6SyH
— VicEmergency (@vicemergency) October 25, 2022
Gear up, fellow Melburnians.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning - Melbourne Area for HEAVY RAINFALL.
— VicEmergency (@vicemergency) October 25, 2022
For people in parts of Inner East, Northern and Outer East Local Warning Areas.
Issued at 5:20 pm Tuesday, 25 October 2022.
Stay informed: https://t.co/T05ONtObdB pic.twitter.com/iEXYA6FFph
Ruling on Opal card reader switch-off postponed
The Australian rail union will have to wait until next year to learn whether it can legally turn off Opal card readers at Sydney trains stations in its ongoing industrial dispute with the NSW government, AAP reports.
On Tuesday afternoon, Justice Elizabeth Raper refused an application by the Rail, Tram and Bus Industry Union to expedite a hearing on whether the proposal to turn off the readers was legal and protected.
The judge dismissed the expedition bid, which was also backed by the NSW-government run Sydney Trains, after saying last week that the courts would not be a mere “adviser” to organisations about whether certain industrial action was permitted or not.
The rail union asked for a quick answer from the federal court so it knew as soon as possible whether it could proceed without putting itself or its members at legal risk.
On Monday, Raper also refused a separate request by the RTBU that she step down from overseeing the matter.
The hearing will now occur over two days in February or March next year on a date yet to be fixed.
The court will determine whether proposals to turn off the Opal card readers in August and September this year were actually industrial action which was protected by ballot orders made by the Fair Work Commission.
The question of whether the current proposal to switch off the readers announced by the union on 16 October is industrial action will also be considered.
The union and government are locked in a protracted stoush over a new enterprise agreement, and are also at loggerheads over a South Korean-built fleet of intercity trains, in storage since 2019.
The union argues the trains are not safe to operate in NSW yet while the government insists they are.
The RTBU and Sydney Trains did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Updated
Josh Taylor is going to guide you through the next couple of hours before Tory Shepherd steps in when the budget embargo lifts around 7.30pm (the actual embargo is when the treasurer starts his speech so it is not an exact time).
I’ll be taking a look at the budget once lock up is over, but make sure you keep checking back through the night as coverage is added to the website.
Thanks so much for joining me today and have fun with Josh. I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Until then, take care of you A x
Updated
NSW SES commencing flood assessments across the north of the state
The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast widespread intense rain to ease, with warnings being downgraded today in some locations on the east coast.
The NSW SES deputy commissioner, Daniel Austin, said NSW SES members had conducted 452 damage assessments primarily in Moree and Gunnedah, and had responded to 559 requests for assistance over the past 24 hours (3pm-3pm).
Despite the severe weather easing over the next couple of days, the flood threat remains in many areas across the state as major flood peaks moving downstream and road closures continue.
Storms are still possible and can cause flash flooding, so we ask drivers to take care as any amount of rainfall can create a dangerous situation with saturated catchments.
There are 126 flood warnings current this afternoon (Tuesday, 25 October), including 24 emergency warnings for parts of the Gwydir, Namoi and Murray rivers.
With 7,000 people still affected by emergency warnings, NSW SES members are working with emergency service partners to help residents in western and south-western parts of the state who are isolated by floodwater including at Moree, Gunnedah and Moama.
This is in addition to major flooding continuing along the Macquarie, Bogan, Lachlan, Barwon, Darling and Macintyre rivers.
With the situation rapidly changing, we ask members of the community to follow directions from emergency services, follow road signs and never enter floodwater.
Updated
ABC appoints new editorial director
ABC’s managing director, David Anderson, has announced the appointment of Judith Whelan to the role of editorial director, effective in February 2023.
Currently ABC’s director of regional and local, Whelan is one of Australian media’s most respected editorial leaders, bringing more than thirty years of journalism experience to the role.
Whelan replaces Craig McMurtrie, who recently announced his retirement.
Anderson said the ABC’s editorial policies, standards, and processes were in good hands with Judith’s decision to take on this very important role.
The ABC’s responsibility as the most trusted media provider is more vital than ever, and I am delighted Judith is taking up this important leadership position.
The Australian public and ABC employees can have confidence that a journalist and editorial leader of Judith’s calibre will support fearless independent public interest journalism, while ensuring that the ABC continues to meet high editorial standards.
With the newly announced role of the ABC Ombudsman, the ABC is committed to upholding the highest and most rigorous standards of journalism and production.
Since joining the ABC in 2016 Judith has led her teams through change and growth and successfully delivered enhanced content and services to our audiences.
As director, regional and local since 2019, Judith has tirelessly championed the stories and reporting of our teams working in our capital cities and in rural and regional communities, ensuring Australians everywhere can access the content they need. This has been especially critical during emergency broadcasting events.
I congratulate Judith on the contribution she has made to the ABC so far and look forward to working with her into the future.
Updated
Adam Bandt on Thorpe: ‘I’m not going to take lectures from Peter Dutton about that’
Adam Bandt was also asked about Lidia Thorpe in this pre-recorded interview on the ABC:
Senator Thorpe has paid a price. She has stood down from the deputy leadership of the Senate. She has admitted that she was wrong. And has requested that it be looked into by the Senate. That is far more than any Liberal politician has ever done.
And for the Liberal politicians and Peter Dutton to now come out and talk about pretending to care about integrity after presiding over a decade of rorts and scandals is utter hypocrisy. And I’m not going to take lectures from Peter Dutton about that.
Senator Thorpe admitted that she did the wrong thing and has stood down from a her position and has asked for it to be inquired into. When was the last time anyone from the Liberal party ever did anything similar?
Updated
There are still meetings happening that have nothing to do with the budget, though.
We are so grateful at the @ASRC1 to have so many MPs meet with us on a very busy #budget day. The amazing @zdaniel who has been an unwavering supporter for refugees & people seeking asylum since being elected again committed to fighting for permanency for all 31,000 in limbo. pic.twitter.com/iRCbjIG0Za
— Kon Karapanagiotidis (@Kon__K) October 25, 2022
Updated
Greens: government could ease pressures on everyday people without adding to inflation
Adam Bandt tells the ABC the government could be reprioritising spending:
There is money that could be spent right now on doing things like getting dental into Medicare that would ease the pressure on everyday people without adding to those inflationary pressures. We can do that. But it’s a matter of choices for the government.
So there’s things that the government could do right now to make life better and deal with these external pressures – but at the moment, their priority seems to be to spend a quarter of a trillion dollars on tax cuts for Clive Palmer, politicians, and the very wealthy. That is only going to add to the pressures, including the inflationary pressures, that people are feeling.
Updated
Now the budget lockup is underway in earnest, the parliament will quieten down a little, as a lot of the MPs enter the lock up or wait for some clear air when people are actually paying attention (which is not now).
Updated
Liberals: ‘what we’ve seen already in the budget papers is a plan to fail’
Jane Hume appears to be following the Coalition line of wanting the government to do something about the cost of living, but it remains very unclear what that something is.
Hume tells the ABC the Labor government inherited a good economy from the Coalition:
Their inheritance has been low unemployment, a AAA credit rating, an improving budget bottom line and reductions to debt. So we want to make sure that they can consolidate on that.
But we also want to see a plan … to reduce inflation down to that 2-3% band that the RBA work within. And that’s so that the RBA don’t have to do all of the heavy lifting. We don’t want the government to be working one direction and the RBA to be working in another – foot on the pedal and one side and foot on the brake on the other.
We also want to see the government introduce a plan to help with the cost-of-living crisis right now. Not in two years – right now. Because we know that Australians are doing it tough, at the bowser, at the grocery checkout, and particularly when they’re paying their mortgage. And they’re looking to their government for help.
And then in the medium term what we want to see is a plan for growth. A plan for productive capacity and for participation. Because unless your growth is outstripping your spending, then you’re in a consistently deteriorating economy. My concern is that what we’ve seen already in the budget papers is a plan to fail.
You know, Labor have raised the white flag already. They’ve said that inflation is going to continue to rise for another two years. That growth is going to continue to fall. That real wages are going to continue to fall. So, what we want to see from Labor is a plan to address these issues, rather than just saying, “It’s inevitable.”
And the only way to deal with that is to raise taxes. And that would be the worst possible thing that you could do right now. Because Australians are crying out for help and relief.
It remains unclear what the Coalition wants.
Updated
Judgement ordering VicForests to protect tree geebung a ‘win for the rule of law’
A little more on the supreme court judgment in Victoria which has ordered VicForests to protect an endangered tree species known as tree geebung.
Warburton Environment, the group that brought the case, has described judgment as a “win for the rule of law”.
The judgment orders VicForests to properly survey for tree geebung, to record the location of individual trees and apply a protective buffer zone of 50 metres. However, the court did rule that the survey and buffers would not be required if they were not “practicable”, with VicForests required to inform Warburton Environment and the Office of the Conservation Regulator when this occurred.
Warburton Environment’s spokesperson, Nic Fox, said the Victorian government had “spent vast amounts of taxpayer money on this court case to allow its money-pit woodchipping company to send a great Victorian tree extinct”.
She said “the verdict was a win for the rule of law”.
Updated
The matter of public importance debate is being held … the topic: reversing the Morrison government decision to recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
(The opposition picks the topics).
Updated
Speaker reiterates budget speech rules
Milton Dick tells the chamber that as is practice, Jim Chalmers gets to deliver his budget speech in silence and if anyone needs to leave the chamber, they have to give a hand-written note to ensure no interruptions.
The same courtesy will be given to Peter Dutton when he does the Coalition’s budget in reply speech.
And while the speech clock will be on, there is no time limit – Chalmers can speak all night if he wanted to.
Updated
Question time is over
And at 3.51pm, after largely escaping questions, Anthony Albanese declares question time over.
Updated
Catherine King defends the $2.2bn the federal government has committed to the Melbourne suburban rail loop, which she says will also benefit regional communities, and improve access to infrastructure such as hospitals.
And then Chris Bowen once again talks about the government’s energy transition plan.
Updated
You can read more about the case here:
On the Lehrman trial
For those asking, there are times when juries are dismissed after being unable to come to an agreement. But usually, the judge speaks to a couple of jurors and questions them, to make sure for themselves that they will be unable to come to a decision.
Being asked to return to deliberations happens quite frequently, when juries report being unable to come to a verdict.
Updated
Kristy McBain is giving an update on the support and assistance available for the floods.
And Chris Bowen is answering another question about electricity prices.
Question time is going a little bit longer because of the half hour which was dedicated to condolence motions at the beginning.
Jury in Bruce Lehrmann trial to continue deliberating after saying it was unable to reach unanimous verdict
The jury in the Bruce Lehrmann trial has been urged to continue attempting to reach a verdict after signalling to the court they were “unable” to agree unanimously.
Updated
Opposition continues the energy prices time warp, again
There are more questions from the opposition on energy prices, as if the Coalition had nothing to do with the energy policy for the best part of the last 10 years. And the fact that the energy regulator warned higher prices were coming, and then energy minister Angus Taylor delayed the announcement until after the election (changing a regulation in order to do it).
We are stuck in a time loop where opposition MPs ask about electricity prices in their area and Chris Bowen responds with “talk to Angus Taylor” and then around and around we go.
Updated
Labor has activated the national coordination mechanism on the Medibank hack
Clare O’Neil continues:
We are taking this seriously and the work that is being done is being undertaken by the smartest and toughest people who work for the Australian government. I want to thank the Australian Signals Directorate and the Australian Federal Police on the intensive work that is under way to hunt down the attacker.
They are undertaking a very significant operation. The AFP are leading a criminal investigation into the matter. Services Australia and the Department of Health are working to protect the government information that may be exposed here. Services Australia has done an immense amounts of worker to protect their own network which has an interaction with Medibank. We are putting in place substantial to Australians should the worst [happen] and some of this information be made public.
Because of the way this situation developed over the weekend through Friday and Saturday, on Saturday I asked my department to activate the national coordination mechanism to coordinate the work that’s being done on Medibank.
It was set up by the former government as a crisis response mechanism to deal with the most difficult and complex aspects of managing the pandemic. We’re picking up that model.
What we can see is Medibank is just as complex and urgent as some of what we dealt with there.
… I’d say finally, combined with [the] Optus [data breach], this is an enormous wake-up call for the country here. Cybercriminals are the thugs of the 21st century, the bag snatchers and the armed robbers. We need to do more to step up as a country. This government is doing everything it can to protect Australians against this breach.
Updated
'Dog act, scum of the earth, lowest of the low territory' says home affairs minister on Medibank hack
Clare O’Neil, the home affairs minister, takes a dixer on Medibank but it is worth reporting so here is what she has to say:
One of the reasons why the government is so worried about this is because of the nature of the data that’s been held here. In a lot of cyber-attacks, our big fears are around identity theft and financial crime and those are very difficult complex and important cases.
Ultimately something can usually be done to protect consumers. We can replace bank cards. When it comes to the personal health information of Australians, the damage here is potentially irreparable. Australians who are struggling with mental health conditions, drug and alcohol addiction, with diseases that carry some shame or embarrassment, they are entitled to keep that information private and confidential.
For a cybercriminal to hang this over the heads of Australians is a dog act. It is scum of the earth, lowest-of-the-low territory.
Updated
More on power bills
Angie Bell (LNP, MP for Moncrieff in Queensland) to Chris Bowen (minister for energy and climate change):
22,000 small businesses in south-east Queensland, including many businesses in my are currently on electricity standing offers. Instead of their electricity bills falling, as you promised, they’re set to increase by up to $1,700. Why is the government making the cost of living crisis worse for small business owners?
Bowen:
Thanks again, Mr Speaker. I welcome the honourable member’s interest in the energy costs of small business in Queensland. I imagine she was outraged by my predecessor hiding the increase in energy prices for Queensland businesses prior to the election. I imagine she’s outraged the minister changed the law by signing a regulation to hide this increase, which he was told was inevitable. I’m sure she shares my anger. I’m sure she shares my disrespect. I’m sure she shares my disdain for such a thing to be dishonest to Queensland small businesses.
Paul Fletcher, interjecting:
… it’s very clear that all imputations of improper motives to a member are highly disorderly. We keep hearing the minister attributing improper motives to the former minister for energy. He ought not to do ...
(There is no point of order)
Bowen:
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. The honourable member well knows the plan we took to the election was to take energy to renewables, 82%, by 2030, to put downward pressure on energy prices, to build the transmission network right across the country. She well knows that’s why we went to the election and that’s what we’re doing and we’ll continue to do.
Updated
Andrew Wilkie (independent for Clark in Tasmania) to Julie Collins (housing minister)
The housing crisis is getting worse, particularly in Tasmania. With increasing homelessness, too little crisis accommodation, unaffordable rents and attainable home ownership - clearly this is not good enough and we need to act now. Will the government commit to working with all levels of government to remedy things and to extend the national rental affordability scheme, increase Commonwealth rent assistance, and revisit investment property tax reform?
Collins:
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I want to thank the member for his question. I know he like many people in this place is concerned about those Australians who are struggling to find safe and secure housing, particularly affordable housing at the moment. Certainly we understand that safe and affordable housing is central to the security and dignity of all Australians.
We want every Australian to have the security of having a roof over their head but we’re dealing with increasing housing affordability costs. Far too many Australians are being hit by increasing rents and far too many Australians are struggling to purchase a home still. And sadly far too many Australians are facing or at risk of homelessness today.
The situation is completely unacceptable which is why we’ve hit the ground running to deliver on our ambitious housing reform agenda we took to the election … we want to make it easier for Australians to buy a home and want to increase the supply of housing to reduce overcrowding and reduce rents. We want to improve access to social and affordable housing and we want to address the needs of those who find themselves at risk of homelessness or who are indeed homeless.
We want to ensure investments and reforms are both long-term and sustainable. To this end we have brought forward the start of the regional first-home buyer guarantee to 1 October and that will allow up to 10,000 eligible Australians into home ownership sooner. We’ve acted quickly to unlock up to $575 million through the national housing infrastructure facility. And of course we’re doing it while we wait for the Housing Australia Future Fund which is our significant $10bn investment that will build 30,000 new affordable homes in the first five ...
Wilkie asks about relevance, but Milton Dick rules that his question was broad, so the minister resumes:
Collins:
We want to develop a national housing and homelessness plan and want to work with the other tiers of government. We’ve had two meetings already of state and territory housing ministers.
The first we had in July was the first meeting in almost five years because we inherited a system where those on the other side did very little when it come to housing affordability across this country.
We also are going to introduce a national housing supply and affordability council to ensure the commonwealth does play a leadership role in ensuring housing supply and improving housing affordability. There will be details on these reforms in the budget tonight.
The initiatives and reforms need to be sustainable and lead to long-term permanent housing for those that need it most. We learnt the lesson the hard way from those when we saw important housing programs abolished. One was abolished by Tony Abbott back in 2014, the NRAS (the National Rental Affordability Scheme).
The reports that we’re proposing will be permanently boosting the supply of affordable housing and take pressure off the rental market. When too many Australians don’t have a safe place to call home, we can’t afford to waste a day and we absolutely won’t.
(An earlier version of this post incorrectly named Justine Elliott instead of Julie Collins. Entirely my fault. I am very tired)
Updated
Court rules VicForests must protect endangered tree geebung
The supreme court of Victoria has ordered VicForests to protect an endangered tree species known as tree geebung after it found the state-owned corporation’s activities had led to the loss of “many hundreds or even thousands of mature trees”.
The judgment in a case brought by Warburton Environment was handed down today.
The court found VicForests failed to conduct targeted surveys to detect mature tree geebungs before harvesting, failed to provide sufficient or any buffers to protect mature trees, and failed to protect mature trees from regeneration burning in coupes after harvesting.
The judgment states that unless these problems were addressed, tree geebungs “will not be protected and will continue to be lost in considerable numbers during coupe harvesting and regeneration burning”.
It says given the evidence presented to the court, it was highly likely significant numbers of tree geebung had been lost in the Central Highlands as a result of harvesting and regeneration burning.
The judgment states:
The precise extent of the loss will never be known, but on the basis of recent records is likely to amount to many hundreds or even thousands of mature trees.
The court has ordered VicForests to conduct thorough surveys for tree geebung, to record the location of individual trees before harvesting, and to apply 50 metre protective buffer zones.
Updated
More on power bills
Terry Young (The LNP MP for Longman in Queensland) to Chris Bowen:
RGS, a proudly Australian-owned and operated manufacturer in my electorate, had a power bill under the Coalition of around $39,000 last year. Their power bill under Labor will spike to around $73,000. An increase of $43,000. Just one of the many cost increases seen by businesses in Longman this year. When will the government deliver on its promise to cut power bills?
Bowen:
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I’m sure the figures provided by the honourable member are correct because they reflect the DMO, the default market offer, which outlined an increase on average of a Queensland small business of energy prices of $705 or 12.8%. That’s what the previous government knew about and wilfully misled Queensland businesses, small, medium, large, about. In a matter of fundamental, direct dishonesty.
I welcome the fact they’re now somehow interested in energy prices. They weren’t interested when they were changing the law to hide energy increases for Queensland businesses. Queensland businesses will benefit from our policies to introduce renewable energy and introduce the transmission which apparently the Opposition is opposed to, the integrated systems plan, which we are getting on and delivering to reduce power prices for businesses in Queensland and around Australia.
Updated
Bowen on renewables: we have a lot of catching up to do
Ted O’Brien then delivers his question to Chris Bowen (as the climate change and energy minister) in a very angry voice – maybe because he is once again having to look into nuclear power, which his party had already rejected while in government, but now in opposition appears to be embracing.
O’Brien (who really should be less cranky – the Sunshine Coast, which he represents, is a lovely part of the world):
On 10 October the minister said in a speech: ‘we will need to install about 40 7- megawatt wind turbines every single month and 22,000 500-watts solar panels every single day to meet the government’s 82% renewable target by 2030’. How many wind turbines and solar panels have been installed since you’ve come to government?
Bowen:
I really do think the honourable member for that question, I really do, because it gives me an opportunity to remind the honourable members in the House of our plans to get to 82% renewables by 2030, [our] plans to reduce emissions by 2030.
I thank the honourable member for quoting my speeches. He’s welcome to do it as much as he likes. I was … making the point in that speech we have a lot of catching up to do after a decade of denial and delay.
We are walking out to the crease late in the match because we are making up for a decade of doing nothing when they were in office. So now we have to work faster to reduce emissions by 2030. Yes, those figures I quoted were correct. It underlines the size of the task. It underlines the size of the task of transmission.
And I welcome questions on transmission because this government has actually delivered a deal with the government of Tasmania and the government of Victoria which they talked about for six years and we delivered in six months and you’ll see more of that type of action tonight and tomorrow and next week as well.
Updated
And for the first time in a very long time, I just saw the coloured bar screen on the ABC – seems like the connection was cut for just a moment.
That noise the no-signal signal makes is very annoying. And this used to be a regular happening? No stars.
Updated
Treasury gets a dixer
Assistant treasurer Stephen Jones got to be angry about the Coalition in a dixer, which is one of his favourite things. So that’s like a little budget day treat for him, with lots of “political bin chicken” insults hurled at the opposition.
Jim Chalmers is in the lockup – he’ll be doing the rounds soon, speaking to each media outlet about the budget ahead of his press conference, which happens, in the lockup, just before the embargo lifts (it’s held in the second half of the lockup usually).
Updated
David Littleproud to Chris Bowen:
How many hectares of prime agricultural land and national parks will be impacted from the construction of 28,000km of poles and wires in communities as a result of the government’s energy policies?
Bowen:
I think the honourable member for his question. In relation to the announcement made by the prime minister and I last week, [the] Marinus Link goes under the Bass Strait, that’s the biggest investment we made in transmission and we will be working with ...
Littleproud:
Relevance, Mr Speaker. The question was very tight, it was around poles and wires on the 28,000km of them. That is above ground, not below it ...
Milton Dick: The minister is 20 seconds into his answer. Order on my left. The manager of opposition business will cease interjecting, so will the leader of the Nationals. The minister is entitled to a preamble. I’ll ask him to return to the question and I give a call to the minister.
Bowen:
I thank the honourable member for his question and understand his sensitivity because they talked about Marinus Link for six years. We are delivering it in six months. That is the difference and Marinus Link is an important link between Tasmania and the mainland, the second and third links, because we believe Tasmania can become a 200% renewable economy.
Paul Fletcher:
Mr Speaker you made a very clear ruling the minister needed to return to the question, he is ignoring your ruling.
Dick: You may resume your seat. Order. The minister is being relevant and I would like to hear what the minister is saying. Members on my left will cease interjecting. I give the call to the minister.
Bowen:
I am more than happy to deal with issues raised by the opposition because they are important ones. They are important because Marinus Link and other transmission projects, which it’s connected to like the north-west transition link, which the prime minister and I announced with the premier of Tasmania and the energy minister last week, as well as the Kerang link in Victoria, and we’re working with other states … I presume given the tone of questions from those opposite, they are very annoyed with the announcements from New South Wales in recent days, very annoyed by the announcement of the treasurer and energy minister in New South Wales and deputy premier about compensation for aboveground wires which have to be built in New South Wales by the New South Wales government as part of the Rewiring the Nation plan!
We know transmission is necessary for transition. We made it very clear as part of our election commitment that we will roll out and we made this clear …
We will reform the regulatory process for aboveground wires that they left in place for nine years because it is not fit for purpose, because it does not provide for adequate compensation for people who are impacted, as the member for Ballarat and the member for Hawk well know, because they’ve taken the time to engage in these issues and they actually understand these issues, unlike, it appears, the leader of the National Party!
Updated
Mike Bowers caught a few pictures inside the chamber before heading into the lockup (you can go into the lockup late, but once you leave the lockup, you can’t re-enter it).
Updated
Opposition continues questioning on electricity prices
Sussan Ley to Chris Bowen:
My question is to the minister for energy and climate change. The Labor party promised to cut electricity bills by $275. Now we are told prices will increase up to 50%. Minister, with the energy regulator saying people are using solar fairy lights in their houses and ice bricks in the esky because they cannot afford their power bills, why won’t you apologise to struggling Australians for shamelessly misleading them?
(The promise was to cut bills by 2025, just fyi.)
Bowen:
I can confirm the Australian Energy Regulator is advising ministers, federal and state, that the energy market and prices continue to be under pressure because of the war in Ukraine and also, Mr Speaker, and also because of 10 years of denial and delay!
(Lots of shouting at this point from both sides of the House. Dutton tries to raise a point on relevence but gets rejected).
I can also confirm the Australian energy regulator gave the same advice to the now shadow treasurer – [they] advised that residential prices will go up $227. Or for a New South Wales small business, $130.
The difference is, Mr Speaker, I confirm this government will not hide the facts from the Australian people like my predecessor did. I can confirm I won’t be changing the law to hide that fact from the Australian people like the member for Hume did. I will also confirm we will be getting on with the job of delivering cheaper energy.
The cheapest form of energy is renewable energy, Mr Speaker. We will be getting on, like last week when the prime minister announced the largest investment in energy by a federal government since Ben Chifley was the prime minister when he announced the original Snowy Mountains Scheme.
We know we need to upgrade the electricity grid. What can the opposition say about that? The shadow minister issued a release saying this was a sweetheart deal between us and the Victorian government.
This was an announcement made by the prime minister and I in Hobart with the Liberal premier of Tasmania!
(He makes some jokes about where the Victorian border ends according to the Liberals, who were apparently saying Dan Andrews was in on it.)
I’m not really sure what they think. We don’t know what they think about many things. We know what this government is getting on with the task of rebuilding the energy system in this country after 10 years of denial and delay is what we are getting on with.
Updated
There is a dixer about how brilliant the Labor budget will be.
Moving on.
Scott Morrison, the prime minister at the time the decision was made to recognise West Jerusalem, was shown during that answer and he did not seem happy.
Question time begins
After the bipartisanship of the motions, we move into the questions and Peter Dutton opens with:
I refer to the decision taken by the Labor government on a Jewish holy day to stop recognising Israel’s capital of West Jerusalem … a decision which deeply offended our closest ally in the Middle East and the Jewish community in Australia, but was praised by two violent terrorist groups. Has the prime minister spoken to or communicated with Israeli prime minister and offered an apology?
Anthony Albanese:
Australia was among the first countries to formally recognise Israel under prime minister Ben Chifley, and it occurred when Doc Evatt was head of the United Nations.
Australia will remain a steadfast friend of Israel. We have reaffirmed Australia’s previous longstanding and bipartisan position that Jerusalem is a final status issue that should be resolved as part of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian people.
The same position that is held by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, by Spain, by Japan, by South Korea, by Singapore, by New Zealand, by Canada. The same position held by John Howard. The same position held by Tony Abbott. The same position that was held …
Dutton:
The Israeli prime minister has criticised this prime minister and this decision …
There is no point of order.
Albanese:
The same position held by Menzies, Holt, Gorton, Fraser, Howard. The same position held by Tony Abbott. The same position that was held by Malcolm Turnbull. The same position that they sat there, up until 2018, and held.
And what happened in 2018 was there was a byelection held in the electorate of Wentworth. And they said … that they would change what had been a bipartisan position since the creation of Israel in 1948.
They said that, but once they got through the election, they did not follow it through … they did not move the Australian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
… Say what you like about Donald Trump – at least he followed it through. At least he followed through the position. Those opposite did not … thereby showing that this was not a decision of substance, it was a decision of gesture. What we need in the Middle East to secure piste is substance, not just as.
We need peace in the Middle East to be based upon a two-state solution which recognises the right of Israel to exist in secure borders and also recognises the rights of the Palestinian people.
My government will not waver in our support of Israel or of the Jewish community in Australia. We also unwavering support of the rights of the Palestinian people.
What we need is a solution to the Middle East, not playing domestic politics during a byelection in order to secure a so-called advantage.
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And to question time. Anthony Albanese:
The treasurer will be absent from question time today. The assistant treasurer will answer questions on the Treasury’s behalf given we only have one treasurer.
There is laughter at this Scott Morrison callback.
Updated
Peter Dutton:
For those Australians facing the prospect of rising waters, please continue to heed the advice of emergency services, especially when given rain forecasts and are likely wet summer ahead. Long after the waters have receded, the cleanup has commenced on the cameras have moved on, communities need ongoing support for the slow and costly recovery.
I want to acknowledge the work of the former prime minister, prime minister Morrison and emergency services ministers [that] put in place the regime that prime minister Albanese … referred to before, the support we provide[d] to communities … in glove with our state counterparts and local government authorities.
That support makes a real difference … in the hours, days, weeks, months in the aftermath of these natural disasters. Infrastructure and homes will need to be built, fences replaced, roads repaired and in the aftermath of this disaster, Australians can feel like they are on their own, that they’ve been forgotten by governments.
The Coalition encourages government at all levels to be generous [in] the assistance they offer … delivered in an effective way to those [affected] by natural disasters. Not just in the current response phase [but] over the days, months and in some cases many years ahead.
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Anthony Albanese on the floods: ‘We stand in solidarity with those people going through this difficult time’
Mr Speaker, it’s an inescapable fact that natural disasters have become more frequent and more intense, it’s what the science told us would happen.
That’s why it’s so important the disaster recovery funding also supports efforts for better planning, or building back in such a way that makes communities safer and more resilient.
So that the next time disaster strikes, we are better prepared. Mr Speaker, I hope the rain stops soon and the waters recede.
The briefings I’ve had an eye [on] – the opposition have received briefings as well – indicate that we are not at the end of this, we are more towards the beginning probably than we are towards the end. There are difficult weeks and perhaps even months ahead.
The long-term consequences are severe for our economy, for agriculture that was anticipating a bumper season in the Riverina and the Goulburn Valley and other parts of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and indeed Tasmania, so it’s been particularly heartbreaking for the farmers who were looking forward to something so positive – but some people of course have lost their homes and others of course have lost their lives.
The most important thing that we can do to people is to stay safe, to make sure they follow the advice when it is given. If they are asked to evacuate, please do so, the authorities are acting upon the advice of the experts and we will continue to, as a government, continue to offer every support possible.
I’m sure that will be offered in a bipartisan way and I think the opposition for that. All we can do is to do what we can as a parliament, to say that we stand in solidarity with those people going through this difficult time.
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Another reader question about lock ups: “How do you know if you have something wrong?”
Treasury officials are on hand to ask questions to (each have their area) and to try and clear up any misconceptions, but if you are wrong, you usually don’t find out until after the lockup ends.
It doesn’t happen too often though. But if it does, you find out fast.
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From the John Spender condolence motion, the House moves to a motion acknowledging the floods and what people are going through.
Updated
Allegra Spender finishes with:
I remember the day he lost his seat. Sitting together at breakfast, writing a list of things we could do now that he was out. It was a very difficult time for him, rebuilding his life outside this place.
I learned from him then that when you are in parliament, make the most of it. You don’t have a second to lose. But remember, one day you will be out, that it will be over and be ready for that too.
35 years ago, my father gave a condolence speech in the house for his father, my grandfather, who also served in federal parliament. There is a certain poignancy and that, though if any of my children stand for parliament I know it will be time to get my affairs in order.
(There is laughter at this.)
But I would like to finish with a quote from the condolence motion, a favourite of my grandfather’s, which seemed apt for dad too:
‘I have tried to do my duty. No-one can do more and no-one should do less.’
I thank the House.
Updated
Allegra Spender pays tribute to her father, former Liberal MP John Spender
Allegra Spender, the member for Wentworth, has been listening to the tributes, laughing softly at some of the stories.
She then rises to make her own speech:
My father was a gracious man. He built relationships across the house and he would have been particularly gratified by the graciousness of the prime minister in proposing this motion and the leader of the opposition in speaking on it. He was many things. He was loving, he was extravagant, generous, droll and fun.
But there are lessons that I take to his life in this place: our courtesy, originality, and standing for something.
So many remembrances have noted that he was a gentleman, that he was gracious and gentle. Whether he was representing the union, as he so often did, or accepting the apology of a prime minister – [Bob] Hawke, who publicly mocked him for his accent, but later apologised. He was courteous. He played the ball, not the person.
He took this gentleness home and he never shouted at us, but when he was very irritated he would take himself for a drive. Now, I think he just liked cars.
He wasn’t afraid to think differently and was generally interested in alternative view. He and his father spent many Sunday afternoon debating events of the day with a whiskey and encouraged us as kids to do the same – without the whiskey. You could change his mind with a good argument. This is a rare quality and quite the opposite, I think, of Twitter.
No doubt it was that open-mindedness that enabled him to support my campaign, despite being perhaps the first party person in a safe seat to be dislodged by a community independent, as he was.
Updated
Ahead of question time there is a condolence motion for John Spender, a former Liberal MP for north Sydney – and Allegra Spender’s father.
Zoe Daniel is pushing for the parliament to recognise what is happening in Myanmar:
Today I have lodged the following Notice of Motion on #Myanmar #auspol pic.twitter.com/MC0izjelxh
— Zoe Daniel (@zdaniel) October 25, 2022
Here’s the latest on the widening violence in the country.
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More lockup questions:
How do they stop internet access?
We have to get our IT people to basically create an intranet for us, but we can’t look up websites. A Treasury official is in the room and checks we are all offline and will check as the day goes on. It would be pretty obvious if we leaked out information or broke an embargo and there are serious consequences if you do. We have to hand over our phones and don’t get them back until the lockup is over.
What if the journos wish to look something up?
You have to think ahead and bring things/articles/previous budget books in with you. Or ask a colleague in the lockup.
Is there a briefing at the start?
Since Covid, the lockups happen in our office, so we know where the bathrooms and emergency proceedings are. But there is a briefing from a Treasury official who makes sure we all understand that we are signing a document that says we can not break the embargo.
Do you have to be registered with a media organisation to get into lockup, or could anyone go in, if they knew how to apply appropriately?
You don’t have to be registered with a media organisation (and we can’t register people who don’t work for us) but you can apply to be part of the lockup through Treasury (months in advance) if you have a reason.
Updated
Nick Evershed is a genius at data journalism – if you haven’t already, have a go at being the treasurer:
First question about the lockup is in: “Who pays for the food?”
We get this one a lot. Much like when the press gallery travels with the prime minister, we pay our way.
So we pay for the food. You can either pay the Department of Parliamentary Services to cater, or you can just bring in your own food.
(When the press gallery travels, even when it is on the PM’s plane, we still have to pay for our seats.)
Updated
Budget lockup now on
And the lockup is underway. Australia’s Auspol journalists are without internet access or phones for six hours.
Enjoy.
Updated
Medibank confirms former customers likely to be part of company’s data leak
Former Medibank customers are likely to be caught up in the hack of the company’s data, with the insurer revealing it is required to retain customer data for at least seven years.
The company is in the process of informing current and former customers about the extent of the breach following the disclosure to the market this morning that the breach could now affect all 3.9m customers, not just those who are with ahm health insurance or are international students.
Medibank confirmed to Guardian Australia that within the first 100 records released by the hacker to the insurer there were records of former customers, so it is believed others who have left the insurer could also be caught up.
The company said it is required to retain health information of adults for at least 7 years and for people below the age of 18, until that person is at least 25 years old, under health records legislation in NSW, Victoria and the ACT.
Updated
Mike Bowers was in the senate for the Lidia Thorpe motion.
Senator Thorpe did not flinch.
Updated
Budget lockup about to begin
And yes, Twitter is about to get very quiet. This is the time of year (well, the fourth time in two years) where all the political journalists are locked up, so social media spaces tend to calm down.
Given I am usually in the lockup, this is a novel experience for me too. If you have a question about the lockup – how it works, what we do, that sort of thing, let me know at amy.remeikis@theguardian.com and I’ll answer some questions for you.
Updated
For those who were asking – yes, there will be a question time today.
Updated
There are now 30 minutes until the budget lock up begins
Worry not though – the blog will continue.
I (Amy Remeikis) will take you through to the afternoon and we will keep rolling on until the budget lockup ends, and Tory Shepherd will take you through the evening and bring you all the budget news.
So you are all covered.
Updated
The rest of that Adam Bandt statement can be found below:
In making inquiries about this matter, I’ve also caused a search of the emails sent to my private and public parliamentary email accounts to be made.
It appears in 2016, prior to [my] becoming Greens leader … Mr Dean Martin sent an email to our public inbox about the deportation of Mr Shane Martin, as part of an email chain that referenced both the former minister for home affairs and other members of parliament.
As Mr Dean Martin was not a constituent of mine at this time, it does not appear that my office took any further steps on his behalf but I’m making further inquiries on this front.
It appears that a number of people were advocating for Mr Shane Martin at the time and the emails were sent to a number of politicians.
Matters have also been raised publicly about the handling of a complaint made to my office by former staff member about the government’s parliamentary complaint processes.
In the initial ABC report last week, there was a suggestion that we have not followed our own rules [in] dealing with a complaint made by staff to our office … in respect of that complaint I’m advised the initial review of senator Thorpe’s office, auspiced by the Department of Finance, has commenced as requested by the complainant. We are awaiting the outcomes of that review which will then be dealt with according to our processes.
I’ve also asked the PWSS to independently review the Greens’ internal compliance processes and recommend any changes.
It is absolutely vital that current and former staff feel supported in coming forward and raising any issues they wish.
We’re currently reviewing our processes including in light of recent events to ensure this is the case.
Mr. Speaker, I want to assure anyone who wants to raise any issue with us and wants it to be dealt with by either us or an independent body, we will support you.
The actions I’ve taken including the statement are based on inquiries I’ve made, searches in my private and public emails, of course, to be made, advice I’ve received and the facts as I understand them today. However, as I’ve made clear publicly, if any further information is provided to me or becomes apparent, I will of course consider it and act on it, including updating the House further if necessary.
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Greens leader gives explanation in House of Representatives about his knowledge of Thorpe’s relationship
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has given a personal explanation in the House of Representatives about his knowledge of Lidia Thorpe’s relationship with the ex-bikie Dean Martin.
Bandt said Thorpe was a member of the joint law enforcement committee at the time (2021) and has acknowledged it should have been disclosed, and as a result she resigned as deputy leader of Greens in the Senate. He repeated that he first became aware when contacted recently by the media.
Bandt said that Thorpe’s then chief of staff raised the issue with his chief of staff, Damien Lawson, but he “did not inform me of these matters at the time”. Bandt said Lawson is a “very good and competent chief of staff” who makes many good decisions but “this wasn’t one of them”.
He said:
I should’ve been told, but I wasn’t. In failing to inform me, my chief of staff did not meet the expectations of my staff in such matters. I have counselled my chief of staff.
Bandt said the “principal responsibility” to inform him lay with Thorpe, but backed her to continue her work because she had assured him information was treated in confidence and “nobody has suggested otherwise”.
Bandt said his office had contact from Martin in 2016 to protest his brother Shane Martin’s deportation, but it is “not clear” his office took any steps to help him.
Bandt also referred to a “complaint by a former staff member” suggesting the Greens had not followed its own rules for dealing with complaints against Thorpe. He noted an “independent review auspiced by the Department of Finance” has commenced into Thorpe’s office and the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service is reviewing the Greens’ procedures.
Updated
The Greens leader Adam Bandt made an explanation to the house just after prayers:
I want to address issues have been raised publicly last week. Senator Thorpe has advised she remains friends with Mr Martin. [Her] connection with him began in 2021. This means that she was the Greens justice spokesperson and also a member of the joint committee on law enforcement at the time.
Senator Thorpe has acknowledged this should have been disclosed. Following my request, Senator Thorpe has resigned from the position of deputy leader [of the Greens] in the Senate.
As I said last week, I first became aware of these matters after I was recently contacted by the media. After I made inquiries, and as it’s been reported, it has become clear that Senator Thorpe’s then chief of staff raised a connection with Mr Martin in 2021. My chief of staff tells me he advised … that the issue should be raised with [the] senator before.
He’s also told me that after a subsequent conversation between the chiefs of staff, my chief of staff understood that the issue had been addressed.
He did not inform me of these matters at the time, and I wasn’t aware of these matters until the media raised them. They’ve been a very good and competent chief of staff who makes many good decisions. The failure to inform me of this matter was not one of them. I should have been told that I wasn’t informed … my chief of staff did not meet the expectations of staff in my office. I’ve counselled my chief of staff.
I’ve also since reinforced with my staff [to raise such issues with me]. I also bear in mind I consider the principal responsibility for disclosing these issues to me sat with senator Thorpe and she’s agreed that she should have disclosed this to me.
Senator Thorpe assured me that committee information was treated in confidence. She completely rejects any suggestion she would do anything other than treat all such information confidentially. I also note that no one has suggested otherwise.
... Senator Thorpe is an incredible fighter … [and] has important work to do on First Nations justice, including on progressing truth-telling, treaty and voice, and I want her to be able to do that work.
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Lidia Thorpe referred to privileges committee
This referral to the privileges committee (which Lidia Thorpe said she was already going to do) has sailed through the senate.
Labor senator Anthony Chisholm moved it:
That— (1) The Senate notes:
(a) the matters canvassed in the media regarding a possible conflict of interest between an undeclared personal relationship of senator Thorpe and her role while a member of the joint committee on law enforcement;
and (b) the importance of maintaining the integrity of parliamentary committees.
(2) The following matter be referred to the standing committee on privileges for inquiry and report, whether senator Thorpe’s failure to declare the relationship:
(a) obstructed the work of the joint committee on law enforcement;
(b) if so, whether this amounted to an improper interference with the work of the committee;
and (c) whether any contempt was committed in this regard.
Updated
'I'm not going anywhere' says Lidia Thorpe
The Greens senator, Lidia Thorpe, has given a personal explanation to the Senate of her relationship with ex-bikie Dean Martin, adding little more detail than her existing statements.
Thorpe said:
Mr Martin and I met through blak activism and briefly dated, we remain friends and have collaborated on our shared interests advocating rights of first nations people. All confidential information I received … was treated in confidence. I strongly reject any suggestion that I would do anything other than comply with the committee’s requirements. I note: nobody has offered any evidence to the contrary.
However, I accept that I should have disclosed this connection with Mr Martin to my leader and to the joint committee on law enforcement of which I was a member. In light of this I resigned as deputy leader in the Senate.
Thank you to all who have sent messages of love and solidarity. The support has been overwhelming...
I’m not going anywhere, especially while we don’t have a treaty in this country which I will continue to fight for.
Having now given this explanation to the Senate, I turn my attention to important portfolio work especially fighting for first nations justice.
Earlier, the Liberal Senate leader, Simon Birmingham, spoke in favour of referring Lidia Thorpe to the privileges committee.
Both Anthony Chisholm and Birmingham called on Adam Bandt to give an explanation in the House of Representatives.
Updated
Parliament begins budget day sitting
The parliament has begun sitting (as you may have gathered from Paul’s post) and there is a feeling of anxiety in the air (there always is during budget day).
The house is continuing the debate on the early childhood education bill – Angie Bell is pointing out the lack of plan to get more early childhood educators working in the sector, given there are already shortages.
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Senate president agrees to give precedence to debate on Thorpe referral to privileges committee
The Senate president, Sue Lines, has agreed to give precedence to a Senate debate about whether Lidia Thorpe should be referred to the privileges committee over her previously undisclosed relationship with ex bikie Dean Martin.
Lines said that it was “unusual” for a senator to refer themselves, and Thorpe’s letter requesting it “doesn’t go to her reasons for doing so, [nor] give additional details about allegations or her responses to them”.
Lines noted that senators “should not sit on committee if the senator has a conflict of interest” and so the matter “meets the criteria I am required to consider”. “In those circumstances I have concluded precedence should be given at the earliest opportunity to determine if [the matter] warrants investigation.”
Labor senator, Anthony Chisholm, sought leave to refer the matter to the privileges committee, telling the Senate the government believes it is “appropriate” to do so.
Updated
ABS births data released
Australia embraced the pandemic baby trend it seems.
The ABS reports:
Australia registered 309,996 births in 2021, an increase of more than 15,600 on registered births in 2020 and lifting the total fertility rate (TFR) to 1.70 babies per woman following a record low in 2020 (1.59).
According to the latest births data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today, women aged 30–34 years continued to have the highest fertility rate, followed by women aged 25–29 years.
Emily Walter, the ABS’s demography director, said: “From 1991 to 2021, the fertility rate of mothers aged 35–39 years doubled, and for mothers aged 40–44 years, it has nearly tripled. In contrast, births to teenage mothers have reached an all-time low, with 5,102 babies born to teenage mothers in 2021. Both of these factors contribute to the continuing rise in median age of mothers (now 31.7 years).”
The total fertility rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers was 2.3 babies per woman. In contrast to the total population, the fertility rate was highest among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers aged in their 20s.
The Northern Territory recorded the highest fertility rate, with 1.82 babies born per woman in 2021.
Queensland closely followed with 1.79 babies per woman, while the Australian Capital Territory recorded the lowest, at 1.45 babies per woman.
(Seriously, if you made it through the lockdowns without purchasing an air fryer, making bread, or having a baby – let us know.)
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Everything, everywhere, all at once:
Tom Connell "There's some waste out there isn't there? What about commuter car parks? They weren't merit-based"
— Squizz (@SquizzSTK) October 24, 2022
Jane Hume "That's an easy sledge"
Tom Connell "Is it wrong?"
(let's talk about something else, Tom ...) #auspol pic.twitter.com/HooO5SsxTj
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I assume the prime minister is pointing at the spot where the infamous cigar smoking photo was taken.
Also these are the sort of neat post-it tabs Patrick Bateman would approve of:
Updated
Australia Institute pushes to close loophole in resources tax
The Australia Institute believes closing some loopholes in the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) would help to raise revenue for the budget without creating a new tax.
The Institute’s executive director, Dr Richard Denniss, said:
Current loopholes in the PRRT mean that despite windfall gas profits of up to $40bn, companies are avoiding paying tax on these super profits with PRRT revenue projected to increase by less than $1bn in 2022-23.
A new report, Reforming the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, suggests these loopholes could be closed by ensuring PRRT is paid when a super profit is earned instead of being exempt until after companies have paid down capital and “uplift factors”.
Companies are making windfall profits and avoiding paying tax by using sophisticated accounting techniques and loopholes permitted in the current PRRT.
The report also suggests that loopholes which allow revenue splitting practices between companies in gas extraction and liquification equates to a form of multi-national tax avoidance which could also be targeted.
Updated
Taiwan welcomes Japan-Australia security declaration
Taiwan’s representative in Canberra has welcomed Japan and Australia’s call for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, met with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, in Perth last weekend. The two leaders signed a security declaration that committed Japan and Australia to “consult each other on contingencies that may affect our sovereignty and regional security interests, and consider measures in response”.
While the deal does not explicitly commit the countries to respond jointly to a military crisis across the Taiwan Strait or in the South or East China seas, it appears to be a clear statement of intent of increasing closeness between Japan and Australia on security issues. Albanese and Kishida also “reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”.
Elliott Charng, representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia, said in a statement to the Guardian today:
Regarding the recent statement between Japan and Australia to strengthen their security cooperation, Taiwan welcomes the leaders of Japan and Australia for reaffirming the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and encouraging the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues.
We believe that such joint efforts among the like-minded countries will help to maintain and enhance a free, open, resilient and rules-based Indo-Pacific region.
Taiwan, as a responsible member in the international community, is committed to developing its deterrence capability and maintaining status quo of the cross-Strait relations, and also willing to deepen engagements with like-minded partners to address regional security challenges and to safeguard a shared vision of free and open Indo-Pacific.
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Parliament will sit from midday
The Senate is not where the action is today, but it still has things going on!
It's budget day today, and the #Senate is meeting at midday. Our order of business (the Red) is available from ParlWork https://t.co/W0mvG4D8zj pic.twitter.com/T9dJvE4Q17
— Australian Senate (@AuSenate) October 24, 2022
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Transparency, it seems, has some caveats.
Mark Dreyfus has used a PUBLIC INTEREST IMMUNITY claim, refusing to say when he added the "exceptional circumstances" bar for public hearings to anti-corruption bill.
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) October 24, 2022
Fuels fears Labor did so as stitch-up deal with Coalition.https://t.co/XX43Apv7LP
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Ley: It’s not about fault, it’s about dealing with the issues of the day
Which leads to this question from Laura Jayes: Okay, Labor’s only been in power for six months. If energy prices are going up 50% that’s your fault isn’t it?
Sussan Ley:
It’s not about fault. It’s about dealing with the issues of the day. And budgets are about a government’s priorities. Unless there’s a plan to address the cost of living crisis, then this budget fails ordinary Australians.
A 35% increase, you cannot say that a business can necessarily afford that. You certainly cannot say that they can afford an increase of 50%. So where is the plan? That’s the ultimate test.
All of the factors that are challenges for the Australian economy were known as Anthony Albanese came into government and he still made the promise that he would leave no one behind. And this budget unfortunately, will I believe do that. I have seen nothing to indicate that millions and millions of Australians will be helped with the current cost of living crisis.
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Ley: Labor budget does nothing for your household budget
The Liberal’s deputy leader, Sussan Ley, wants to wait and see what is in the budget, but also, says there is nothing in the budget.
She told Sky News:
Let’s see what comes down tonight, Laura. But the problem with this Labor budget is that it does nothing for your budget, for your household budget. We know this because power prices are forecast to go up 35% and even 50%, according to forecasts from the AER (Australian Energy Regulator). Mortgage payments are up hundreds of dollars each month and every time you go to the supermarket it’s more and more expensive to buy your weekly groceries. That’s the point … this Labor budget does nothing for your budget.
Anthony Albanese promised, he promised, that he would leave no one behind, and five to six months in, millions and millions of Australians are being left behind.
Updated
Meanwhile, in the parliament:
#breaking Both Greens leader Adam Bandt and senator Lidia Thorpe intend to make statements in House and Senate today about her failure to disclose relationship with ex bikie Dean Martin. #auspol @AmyRemeikis
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) October 24, 2022
Updated
The hours before budget are usually filled with last-minute calls from advocacy and lobby groups calling for the government to include something in the budget.
The budget was printed on Sunday afternoon – it is now done.
So now it is about whether or not those earlier calls were heeded.
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Consumer sentiment cools as higher inflation expectations set in
As treasurer Jim Chalmers hones his lines ahead of the release of the 2022-23 budget later this evening, it’s worth a look at how “punters” are feeling about the economy.
The ANZ and Roy Morgan’s weekly survey of consumer confidence sagged again, extending it to a month of softening sentiment. (And it’s already pretty low.)
Ahead of the #Budget2023 today, the weekly consumer confidence gauge compiled by @ANZ_Research and @RoyMorganAus reveals another decline - the fourth in a row. #auspol pic.twitter.com/4vkvea6j0J
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) October 24, 2022
The concerns about inflation are not heading in a helpful direction, either.
Perhaps it’s all the talk of how much more food might cost in the wake of the seemingly endless belts of rain soaking eastern Australia.
And not quite what the RBA wants to see: expectations about inflation are picking up. (Source: @ANZ_Research, @RoyMorganAus ) pic.twitter.com/fM20RJgaI3
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) October 24, 2022
Chalmers has talked about food prices being as much as 8% higher, but we won’t really know the impacts until we know how much more rain (and other wild weather) awaits.
Against the cost-of-living gloom, it’s worth keeping in mind that some prices started to rise a year ago as economies began roaring out of lockdown.
That means the “base” was already on the rise, hence why some economists think “peak inflation” might not be too far off.
We’ll also get an important update about inflation tomorrow, when the ABS releases September quarter consumer price index figures. An annual rate of about 7.1% is expected but a big spike might make some of the budget figures a little dated.
Anyway, investors are pretty sure the RBA has a lot more rate lifting to do. As of yesterday, they were all but set on a 25 basis point cash rate rise when the central bank board next meets on Melbourne Cup Day (1 November).
And ahead of today's #Budget2023, investors were all but pricing in another 25bp rate rise by the RBA on Nov. first (as a 91% chance). Further out, they expect the cash rate will climb from 2.6% now to reach 4.25% this time next year. pic.twitter.com/fqBiqdZm1V
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) October 24, 2022
Assistant RBA governor Chris Kent yesterday reminded a breakfast audience at CBA in Sydney of the point of those rate rises: ‘‘We do actually want it to have an effect on household spending to rein that in somewhat.”
Chalmers’ challenge is to deliver a budget that doesn’t mean the RBA has to yank on that rein any harder or longer than necessary.
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Liberal senator takes aim at Labor over Medibank cyber-attack
The shadow cybersecurity minister James Paterson appears to be blaming Labor for what Medibank customers are going through at the moment.
Medibank customers will be very distressed to hear confirmation today that their personal medical information has been stolen in a cyber attack.
Despite the company’s initial denials, customers worst fears have now been realised.
After a slow and confused response to the Optus cyber attack, it is concerning that it took the Cyber Security Minister took a week to publicly respond to the Medibank hack.
Ms O’Neil should explain why she accepted the company’s initial denial this was serious, delaying government engagement by a week.
In a cyber attack, time is of the essence. Early engagement by the government allows the facts to be established, data theft to potentially be disrupted, and gives customers time to take any necessary steps to mitigate the consequences of the breach.
Every day lost worsens the damage done.
Medibank victims have every right to know what steps the Albanese government took, and when. The government should release a clear timeline of the actions they took following the initial disclosure of the attack on 13 October.
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Independents call for Australia to protect asylum seekers subjected to ‘cruel system’
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and members of the crossbench including Allegra Spender, Andrew Wilkie, Zoe Daniel and Kate Chaney have released a joint statement calling for the government to do more for refugees:
There are 31,000 people who sought asylum by sea between August 2012 and January 2014, including children born to these families, who have been denied the ability to rebuild their lives in Australia. The time for action is now, with recent polling finding that three out of four voters from across the political spectrum support permanent protection for this group.
Instead, women, men and children who are part of the community have been forced through the so-called ‘Fast Track’ determination process established by then Prime Minister Tony Abbott. This process is slow, defective, and has not provided procedural fairness for many subjected to it.
We welcome the government’s commitment to abolish ‘Fast Track’ and temporary protection visas.
However, the lack of timeframe for when people subjected to this cruel system will be provided permanent protection is concerning.
As time drags on with no announcement, refugees are unable to properly rebuild their lives in Australia, and face significant barriers to access education, stable work and to see loved ones.
The lack of an announcement or information has added significant distress to refugees in our community.
As of September 2022, there were nearly 20,000 living on Temporary Protection Visas (TPV) and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas (SHEV), around 1,900 people who are still at the review stage and close to 10,000 who have been failed by the ‘Fast Track’ process.
All people need a place they can call home and there needs to be clear information on when this will happen.
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‘We’re now beyond Covid – it is time to consolidate the budget’: Angus Taylor
And who does Angus Taylor think can take credit for the lower budget deficit?
Well, we should look at what we saw today on the deficit, now we’ll see more tonight. So, I don’t want to pre-empt all the numbers we’re going to see, but Labor inherited a budget deficit for the last financial year, which was substantially lower, just around $50 billion lower than was expected at about $32 billion.
What they’re saying today is it’s going to be higher this year, and higher again in future years. We want to see a clear and comprehensive plan that includes improvement in the budget position. We’re now beyond Covid, it is time to consolidate the budget.
It is time for a responsible budget. We don’t want to see a bigger taxing budget. We don’t want to see a bigger tax take and higher tax rates. We want to see a budget that ensures that Australians are paying their fair share, but no more than their fair share and having the vast majority of Australians keeping 70 cents in the dollar.
That is a way forward for a prosperous, active economy where people are investing in their jobs, their careers, their businesses, that’s what we want to see.
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Angus Taylor says superannuation is for retirement
Despite the long campaign from some in the Liberal party to allow Australians to access their superannuation for a housing deposit, Angus Taylor now says super is for retirement. He is referencing how super funds may be called upon to invest in or build affordable and social housing:
There has been a shortage of housing and we want to see more, and much of this lies with state governments, but there’s a role that the federal governments can play, and we certainly want to see it. I know, in my own electorate, we want to continue to see housing growth – that’s been an important source of jobs and opportunity for Australians, but it’s also important for young Australians to be able to get access to a home.
What we don’t want to see is people’s superannuation being used for pet projects, that we don’t want to see that. Superannuation is there for people’s retirement, a nest egg that they can rely on so that they can have a prosperous retirement and we don’t want to see governments using that money as though it is theirs for their projects.
But that doesn’t mean that Taylor is walking away from the ‘use super for a home deposit scheme’. Superannuation, it seems, remains a political football.
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Angus Taylor says Labor’s budget is a ‘test’ (of many things)
The shadow treasurer Angus Taylor (who is also the next potential Liberal leader, depending on who you speak to) had this to say about Labor’s first budget, which will be handed down later tonight:
A budget is a test of a government’s true intentions and this particular budget will be a test of whether Labor consolidates on the strength of the economy and the budget that they inherited when they came into government.
It’s also a test of whether they deal with the challenges that Australian households and businesses are facing. Challenges with rising cost of living and rising the cost of doing businesses.
It’s also a test of whether or not they create a platform for longer term growth for the economy, a fast-growing prosperous economy where there’s opportunities.
Now, Labor made a lot of promises at the last election … and this budget is a test of whether they have a clear and comprehensive plan to deliver on those promises, and to deliver on the challenges that Australians are facing right here and right now.
So far, I have to say, what we’ve seen has been disappointing. So far, what we’ve seen is that in the budget there will be a deteriorating jobs market, a deteriorating economy, a deteriorating deficit, no material gains in real wages in this term of government.
And we know Labor is walking away from their promise to reduce electricity bills. All Australians want to see a clear and comprehensive plan to deal with those pressures they’re facing and to consolidate the position that Labor inherited.
We want to see a successful budget, but ultimately, the test for Labor is whether they have that clear and comprehensive plan to deal with those pressures Australians are facing.
He said all of this with a straight face, given it has been five months since his party lost the election after almost 10 years in power.
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Mike Bowers caught the busiest man in Canberra today, being busy:
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Murray River expected to peak in Victoria today as flood danger continues
The Murray River is expected to peak today after several days of anticipation and high river heights for communities in the north of Victoria and border towns in southern NSW.
In Echuca, the SES says that the town is still 20cm away from reaching its flood peak which is expected this afternoon or potentially tomorrow, according to the ABC who spoke to authorities on the ground this morning.
Evacuation orders remain in place at Echuca, Echuca Village, Barmah and Lower Moira, Bunbartha and Kerang.
Overnight, the Victorian SES have warned residents of Barmah and Lower Moira it is too late to leave.
SES also issued a watch and act warning last night downstream of Euroa for Seven Creeks.
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Opposition searches for a line on Labor’s budget
The opposition, who left office in May, seem a little all over the place trying to come up with a line for this budget.
They don’t want to see any changes to the stage-three tax cuts.
They want to see inflation come down.
They want cost of living relief.
They want Labor to address things like energy costs (the increase of which Angus Taylor delayed until after the election).
They want people to know that the debt was previously just UNDER a trillion dollars, not actually a trillion dollars.
But they don’t have a lot of answers, at this stage. Budget reply should be fun.
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Medibank boss says cyber-attack developments ‘distressing’ for customers and community
Medibank CEO David Koczkar apologised to victims of the says the cyber-attack, which he said was “committed by criminals with a view of causing maximum fear and damage”.
I unreservedly apologise to our customers who have been the victims of this serious crime.
As we continue to uncover the breadth and gravity of this crime, we recognise that these developments will be distressing for our customers, our people and the community – as it is to me.
This is a malicious attack that has been committed by criminals with a view of causing maximum fear and damage, especially to the most vulnerable members of our community.
We continue to work closely with the agencies of the Federal Government, including the ongoing criminal investigation into this matter. We thank them for their ongoing support and assistance.
Medibank will remain in a voluntary trade suspension:
For the avoidance of doubt the voluntary suspension continues until the earlier of a release of a further announcement by Medibank and commencement of normal trading on Wednesday 26 October 2022.
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That statement from Medibank continues:
What should customers do
Medibank urges our customers to remain vigilant to suspicious communications received via email, text or phone call.
We encourage customers to review the advice of:
The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) at cyber.gov.au
The Australian Government factsheet which has been developed for affected customers Medibank and ahm will never contact customers requesting passwords or other sensitive information.
All Medibank and ahm customers can contact our cyber response hotlines by phone (for ahm customers 13 42 46 and for Medibank customers 13 23 31) or visit the information page on the website for any updates (https://www.medibank.com.au/health-insurance/info/cyber-security/).
Our customers can also speak to Medibank’s experienced and qualified mental health professionals 24/7 over the phone for advice or support around mental health or wellbeing (1800 644 325).
Ongoing investigation
In addition to supporting the AFP criminal investigation, Medibank continues to work with specialised cyber security firms, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) and government stakeholders.
Medibank will continue to provide regular, transparent updates.
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Medibank receives 1,000 more customer records from hacker after data breach
Medibank has released a statement to the ASX giving more details of the data breach.
The health insurer says it has received 1,000 policy records from the “criminal” and that these files include personal and health data.
Medibank says it is “too soon to determine the full extent of the customer data that has been stolen” and the company expects the number of affected customers to grow.
The company will also announced a customer support package that includes mental health and wellbeing support, support for customers who are in uniquely vulnerable positions and access to specialist identity protection advice.
Medibank says:
We have received a series of additional files from the criminal. We have been able to determine that this includes:
A copy of the file received last week containing 100 ahm policy records – including personal and health claims data
A file of a further 1,000 ahm policy records – including personal and health claims data
Files which contain some Medibank and additional ahm and international student customer data
Given the complexity of what we have received, it is too soon to determine the full extent of the customer data that has been stolen.
We will continue to analyse what we have received to understand the total number of customers impacted, and specifically which information has been stolen.
We have taken the step of making this announcement as we believe it is important to notify our customers of this development.
As we continue to investigate the scale of this cybercrime, we expect the number of affected customers to grow as this unfolds.
What we are doing now
Medibank is assisting the AFP in its ongoing investigation.
Today we will announce a comprehensive customer support package, which will include:
24/7 mental health and wellbeing support
Support for customers who are in uniquely vulnerable positions
Access to specialist identity protection advice with IDCARE for all customers Given the distress this crime is causing our customers we will also defer premium increases for Medibank and ahm customers until 16 January 2023.
Last week, we began directly contacting affected customers to provide support and guidance on what to do next.
As a result of today’s update, we will begin contacting current and former customers to recommend steps they could take. We will also begin contacting customers whose data we now know has been compromised.
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Albanese says budget makes ‘sensible investments’ while removing waste
Anthony Albanese started the morning at a childcare centre in Queanbeyan in NSW, near the ACT border.
He says the budget will address cost of living pressures through programs like changes to the childcare subsidy, cheaper PBS medicines and infrastructure investment:
You will see improvements in the budget bottom line tonight, compared with what was projected under the previous government at the pre-election fiscal outlook.
You will see that because we have been diligent and gone through line by line to make sure that this budget makes sensible investments but also removes some of the waste that was there from the former government.
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Thorpe says she’s ‘made mistakes’ but she’s ‘not going anywhere’ until there is Indigenous treaty
Lidia Thorpe self-referred herself to the privileges committee yesterday, over her short relationship with Dean Martin, a former Rebels bikie club president, which overlapped with her time on the law enforcement committee.
The Greens senator then tweeted out this statement:
Back on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country with the Green team, ready to get to work. Thank you to all who sent messages of solidarity. The support and understanding has been overwhelming. pic.twitter.com/D9loY8FXje
— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) October 24, 2022
I’m proud of who I am and where I come from. I was raised to believe in Blak power and pride and I’ll continue to fight for this in the Senate. I’m not going anywhere, until we have Treaty in this country.
— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) October 24, 2022
I’m human and have made mistakes. I believe in owning up and taking accountability when I’ve messed up. That’s what I am focused on doing right now.
— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) October 24, 2022
I remain strong in my fight for First Nations people and other communities that are being left behind. I won’t stop speaking out against systemic racism, classism and colonisation.
— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) October 24, 2022
Blak women are resilient. My Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung matriarchs keep me strong and I’ll keep fighting so others won’t experience the same racism and sexism I have.
— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) October 24, 2022
My ancestors, my Elders, my community and your allyship is what keeps the fire burning. I wouldn’t be here without you and I couldn’t do it without your support.
— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) October 24, 2022
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Narrabri ordered to evacuate as flood waters rise in northern NSW
We will be breaking into the political coverage today to keep you updated on the floods as well:
Overnight, residents of the north west NSW town of Narrabri have been ordered to evacuate due to flooding, with the SES issuing the warnings for the town’s industrial and residential areas.
The town hit the major flood level of 6.9 metres yesterday and is expected to reach 7.4m today, as the flood waters from the Narrabri Creek move through.
Yesterday afternoon the NSW SES deputy commissioner Daniel Austin said 139 warnings were current across the state, including 18 emergency warnings where community members were told to evacuate or move to higher ground.
Parts of Lismore are seeing flooding yet again, but not on the catastrophic scale seen earlier in the year. Lower north Lismore was ordered to evacuate before 8pm by the SES last night.
The NSW emergency services minister Steph Cooke said this morning the threat of flooding remains and would continue “for days to come.”
The rivers are very, very full and, of course, our dams are mostly at full capacity at present. So, even the smallest rainfall can cause an elevated risk of flash flooding and riverine flooding. We will see rivers decline, but the risk is real.
We are bracing for another wet weather system into the state on the weekend.
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Jim Chalmers takes a moment to congratulate Rishi Sunak
He is a friend of Australia as the UK is a friend of Australia. We congratulate him on his elevation to the Prime Ministership. The UK, like Australia, has no shortage of challenges and no shortage of economic challenges.
So, we wish Rishi Sunak well. Some of us had the opportunity to work with him briefly when we first came to government. I was able to exchange messages with him when he was unsuccessful in the last leadership ballot. I think it says something about his commitment and his persistence, the way that he conducted himself in the interim. I don’t think it’s insignificant that a country like the United Kingdom has its first Prime Minister of colour.
For those of us who are used to be at the younger end of the spectrum, his age is also quite a thing, but we wish Rishi Sunak well as he elevates to the Prime Ministership. He’s a friend of Australia, the UK is a friend of Australia Australia. We look forward to working with him as the new Prime Minister and I personally look forward to working with whoever he names as Chancellor of the Exchequer
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Australians are ‘incredibly engaged’ when it comes to the budget, Chalmers says
The treasurer says he is not kidding himself that “every Australians is across every detail of the budget” but he says he believes they are “incredibly engaged when it comes to the fundamentals”.
This budget will get the fundamentals right. It will nicely line up our efforts in the budget and the hard work of the independent Reserve Bank to make sure we can confront this inflation challenge together.
I’ve been really heartened by the level of engagement from the Australian community when it comes to our efforts to make the budget more responsible and our economy more resilient.
Australians know we can provide cost-of-living relief in a responsible but not reckless way. We can’t spray money around indiscriminately but that would impact inflation and could be counterproductive.
I think Australians understand that. I think what happened when government changed hands five months ago is it wasn’t just a change of government but there was a change of mindset.
There is a sense that the big challenges in our economy and budget, we need to begin to deal with them. We have had this wasted decade that gave us skills shortages and stagnant wages and aged care crisis and energy policy chaos and not enough to show for a trillion dollars in debt.
I think Australians are up for a genuine conversation about how to address the budget and the economy. I’ve been heartened by the engagement. I look forward to this ongoing conversation in the weeks and years ahead.
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Budget to outline plan to build affordable new homes, Chalmers says
Jim Chalmers says one of the things in the budget will be more detail on the government, working with the states and the private sector, building up to 1m new affordable homes.
Chalmers:
As as I move around Australia consulting with local communities, workers and employers, one of the big challenges we have in our country and economy is that it’s harder and harder for people to grab the opportunities of low unemployment if they can’t live near where the opportunities are. I’ve made that a big priority. I have consulted widely.
I want to thank the superannuation industry and the institutional investors, my counterparts in the states and territories. I want to thank the building industry for engaging with us over the course of recent weeks and months. It’s a high priority for us to get more affordable housing, closer to where the jobs and opportunities are. You will hear more tonight.
Labor had promised to create a $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund at the election, with the promise to build 30,000 new social and affordable housing properties in its first five years. There is no detail yet on the time frame for the other homes, but I guess they need to save some things for tonight.
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Chalmers says budget will do 'more than batten the hatches against global uncertainty'
Jim Chalmers has begun his first press conference of the day:
There are Australians in flood affected communities doing it especially tough today.
They are in our thoughts and in the thoughts of all Australians as they deal with these natural disasters which come with alarming regularity.
Australians are there for people when they do things tough and the Albanese government will be there for them.
This government will be solid, sensible and suited to the times.
It will recognise in a time of extreme global uncertainty our best defence is a responsible budget at home.
It will understand, that even these economic pressures are coming from around interest world, they are felt most acutely around the kitchen table.
Inflation will be the primary influence on the budget I hand down tonight. The budget has three objectives: responsible cost of living relief, strengthening the economy, and beginning the hard yards of budget repair.
Chalmers says there are “welcome and substantial improvements in the near term”.
That will not make up for the persistent structural spending pressures on the budget.
What we’ve been able to do with our responsible approach to these revenue upgrades is to ensure that there will be less debt over the forward estimates than our predecessors had, but we will have more to show for it.
This budget will buffer us against global uncertainty, but it will also begin to lay the foundations of a stronger, more modern and more resilient economy as well. This budget will do more than batten the hatches against global uncertainty.
It will back in families and begin to build a better future that Australians need, deserve. This budget is for Australians who battle through hard times and believe in a better future and we will keep faith with them tonight.
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Budget to feature wellbeing section for first time
There will be a wellbeing chapter in this budget, in what will be an Australian first.
What that means is that the government will no longer just be measuring GDP – it will also be measuring the wellbeing of the Australian people.
This budget will outline how that will work, and what exactly the government will be measuring.
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Jim Chalmers is doing the media rounds this morning.
He’s doing all the breakfast programs but his message is the same – this is a stable and responsible budget which is right for the times.
Greens (again) call for stage-three tax cuts to be scrapped
The Greens’ treasury spokesperson Nick McKim is on ABC radio RN Breakfast, making the case for scrapping the stage three tax cuts and introducing a corporates super profit tax.
Labor went to the election promising no changes to stage three and a super profits tax was not part of the platform. Neither of these things will happen (in this budget)
Updated
Good morning and happy budget day
Welcome to budget day!
It’s the second budget of the year but the first for Jim Chalmers who has come to the treasury portfolio determined to change things.
And so, he has spent the months since the election laying out Australia’s economic position. There have been treasury updates galore as Chalmers sets out the case for why Labor won’t be doing all people expect in this first budget. What Labor will be doing has been announced ahead of time – changes to paid parental leave, the childcare subsidy changes, cheaper medicines.
But there will be no raising the jobseeker rate beyond the indexation changes, no huge cost of living relief, and no big new social programs.
And no changes to the stage-three tax cuts. In this budget, at least.
So that’s the big show from 1.30pm, when the lock-up begins, before Chalmers gives his budget speech at 7.30pm tonight.
Meanwhile, parliament will sit as normal and the government will introduce its industrial relations bill where a big fight is brewing with the Coalition and the business community over multi-employer bargaining. We’ll also see the privacy laws introduced, which will be less of a fight given how fresh Optus and Medibank’s data breaches are in everyone’s minds.
We’ll cover it all off as it happens and keep you updated while the Canberra team enter the budget lock up.
Ready? It’s going to be at least a five coffee day.
Let’s get into it.
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Jim Chalmers is following in the grand tradition of naff budget social media photos.
It’s Budget Day - really looking forward to delivering a family-friendly Budget tonight that is solid, sensible & suited to the times #OctBudget2022 #auspol #ausecon pic.twitter.com/OEOHpcT7oW
— Jim Chalmers MP (@JEChalmers) October 24, 2022
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