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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Tory Shepherd, Amy Remeikis and Josh Taylor (earlier)

Jim Chalmers delivers 2024 budget speech – as it happened

Labor Budget Angus Taylor Jim Chalmers Bridget McKenzie Nick McKim Greens Inflation David McBride Monique Ryan

What we learned – Tuesday 14 May (budget day)

That, my friends, was the budget. The denouement has begun, and will continue apace all week, with the opposition leader’s reply on Thursday night. Here are the highlights:

And in the non-budget world:

  • Whistleblower David McBride was sentenced to five years’ prison, with 27 months’ non-parole.

  • The AFP has to explain its deal with the “secret police”, the Coalition says.

  • The weather bureau says there is now a 50/50 chance of La Niña forming this year.

  • Everybody should read about the Maugean skate today, and appreciate its beauty.

  • And a huge crocodile that lunged at a man on a houseboat has been captured.

We’ll be back tomorrow!

Updated

Look, we’re not buying into the generation wars, but…

Updated

It seems a bit brutal to sort the budget into winners and losers … but you know you want it, and Elias Visontay has your back:

Updated

Master Builders give their take

The country’s top builders have praised budget measures to boost the construction workforce, but joined concerns the government’s spending will stoke inflation.

Denita Wawn, chief executive of Master Builders Australia, said the industry’s woes would be helped by extra spending on apprentice incentives, training, women in construction, fee-free TAFE places, and recognising migrants’ qualifications.

But Wawn said budget spending needed to stay attentive to inflation and interest rates which were cruelling housing demand:

We’re concerned, though, with a lot of spending. We’re also concerned about what inflationary measures that means, which means … stagnant private sector investment into the housing market.

Updated

Australian Conservation Foundation and Royal College of GPs respond

The chief executive officer of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Kelly O’Shanassy, welcomed the Future Made in Australia package’s focus on renewable energy.

But she said it was wrong to continue subsidies for fossil fuels, including $54bn over five years for the fuel tax credits scheme. O’Shanassy said it made “sense to fund the industries that help us solve climate change, not the industries that got us into this mess”.

Dr Nicole Higgins, the president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, described the budget as a “missed opportunity”. She general practice remained “devalued” and added: “At a time when we’re trying to strengthen Medicare and support our patients through a cost of living crisis … this budget has dropped the ball.”

Updated

Boost for parliament workplace enforcement body

A parliamentary workplace enforcement body will get $10m over the next four years as it looks to open its doors by 1 October this year.

The shape of the long-awaited sanctions body is still being debated by a cross-party taskforce but the federal budget papers reveal it will get millions to make Parliament House a “safer and more respectful” workplace following findings in Kate Jenkins’ Set the Standard report.

The funding includes $3.8m in initial funding to the Parliament Workplace Support Service - the newly-established standalone human resources body for parliamentarians and their staffers - to help establish the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission.

Another $3m will be given upfront to the finance and prime minister and cabinet departments to support and review the implementation of Jenkins’ report.

While the type of sanctions and punishments against misbehaving MPs and senators is yet to be finalised, it’s expected to include potential measures, such as docking pay.

Updated

Smart Energy Council gives budget an ‘A’ as public sector union welcomes ‘good budget’

John Grimes from the Smart Energy Council gave the budget an ‘A’ grade, saying it was a “red letter day” for the sector with the Future Made In Australia investment in clean energy projects.

He claimed the budget “changes Australia’s future”, pointing to investments in critical minerals, jobs, manufacturing and economic development.

“It’s a huge shot in the arm for communities across the country,” Grimes said, adding Australia would be an “exporter of climate solutions”.

Melissa Donnelly of the Community and Public Sector Union said it was a “welcome budget”, backing investment in public servants and the public service.

“This is a good budget for the public sector and the millions of people relying on public services every day,” she said.

Greg McIntyre, president of the Law Council of Australia, was concerned that there wasn’t more long-term funding for community legal centres and services. There is only a short extension of the National Legal Assistance Partnership, the agreement funding community legal centres.

McIntyre said there was concern that community legal services may have to wind back their services, and may not be able to renew contracts for workers.

Updated

The Parenthood welcomes wage rises for childcare workers

The chief executive of The Parenthood, Georgie Dent, has welcomed the federal budget’s commitment to funding wage increases for early childhood educators.

Guardian Australia’s Amy Remeikis revealed one month ago that the government was set to sign off on a boost to childcare workers’ pay, as part of efforts to stem the flow of educators from the sector.

Dent told reporters tonight that early childhood educators were some of the lowest paid workers in Australia and were doing “demanding, skilled and valuable work”. Improving their pay was important for women’s economic security, she said, warning that educators were “leaving because they cannot afford to stay”.

While the final size and timeframe for increasing wages was yet to be announced, due to the yet-to-be-finalised Fair Work Commission process, Dent said:

We are very confident that a substantial pay rise will be funded by this government.

Updated

Budget still leaves Australian in poverty, Greens say

Further to Greens leader Adam Bandt’s earlier comments to the ABC, the party told reporters earlier that Labor’s budget leaves Australians in poverty and ignores domestic violence workers.

Bandt said the government’s boost to rent assistance would be no help to most renters:

Most renters won’t see any relief from this budget … This very small sprinkling of money that there is in this budget, for those who are doing it tough, still leaves people in poverty.

Nick McKim, co-deputy leader, said the signature future made in Australia package highlighted the government’s inaction on climate change:

They’ve abjectly failed on climate. $22bn for a future made in Australia over 10 years – in that period of time, there’ll be well over 100billion public dollars invested into subsidising the burning of fossil fuels in this country.

Senator Barbara Pocock called for increased spending on services for women escaping domestic and family violence, comparing the budget’s $925m spending package on domestic violence to the federal and Queensland government’s joint near-$1bn investment in computing company PsiQuantum:

We give more to large new computing systems than we do to women’s violence and programs that assist women to lead violent circumstances. … look at the asks of women who provide services in domestic violence. They are looking for a billion dollars a year, each year for the next 10 years. This budget gives them nothing. We are in a crisis for those women.

Updated

Jim Chalmers' budget speech – in pictures

Time for some magic from photographer-at-large Mike Bowers:

Updated

Pocock says household electrification a missed opportunity

Lambie is followed by independent senator David Pocock. He says the budget missed an opportunity to invest in household electrification, investing in smart meters. We would be “much smarter as a country” he says, and households could save thousands every year.

Updated

Lambie: ‘We’re just chucking money, left, right and centre’

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie is the next up. She’s got somewhat of a beef with everyone getting that $300 electricity bill rebate:

Are we back in Covid days? We’re just chucking money, left, right and centre. You’re too lazy to do some means testing. We don’t need $300. I can assure you.

She says she finds it “bizarre” when there’s mental health issues. “You have to be joking me,” she says. She’s worried about “kids out there that are completely out of control”.

Updated

Bandt says they’ll fight for more:

We would like to see electricity treated as an essential service. There’s a lot more that could be done to bring down the cost of electricity, treat it as an essential service. On rent assistance, Labor is boasting about this increase to rent assistance, about 75% of renters in this country don’t get rent assistance. Of the ones who do, not all of them get full rent assistance. Of the full rent assistance, they’ll get about $1.40 a day. At the same time the Reserve Bank says that average rents are going to go up by $46 a week. So Labor has the capacity to do much more.

Bandt says budget provides only ‘Band-aid measures’

Greens leader Adam Bandt is on the ABC now. He says the budget measures are “Band-aid measures” (but no mention of a bullet wound):

Labor’s bandaid budget is a betrayal of people who are doing it tough and a betrayal of renters, mortgage holders, women, students.

Updated

Chamber of Commerce and Industry says deficits higher than previously projected

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s chief executive, Andrew McKellar, says the federal budget treads a narrow path, noting the surplus success dips considerably in the next financial year.

McKellar said while a second surplus was welcome, it is forecast to be $28.3bn in the red next financial year.

McKellar said with expenditure increasing, and with higher deficits than previously projected, he said it was difficult to see how the Labor government’s strategy is taking significant pressure off inflation:

In those circumstances, equally, it would be difficult to see that this budget will lead to a lowering of interest rates any sooner than we otherwise might have expected.

Updated

AMA says budget a missed opportunity

The Australian Medical Association describes tonight’s budget as a “disappointment” for health, and a “missed opportunity”.

Prof Steve Robson noted “significant investment” previously in public hospital care and general practice, which he didn’t see again today.

We have not seen a lot of investment tonight … We’ve seen some welcome things. We’ve seen increased rebates for patients and women who have endometriosis and chronic pain, very important. We’ve also seen some modest indexation in the rebates available to patients with some pathology tests ... We’ve also got a sense of missed opportunity tonight.

Robson wasn’t ecstatic about the boost to Medicare urgent care clinics, saying that money could have been better spent elsewhere. He said the mental health funding was welcome investment but suggested again that could have been spent better.

Updated

Mental Health Australia ‘disappointed’ reform ‘hasn’t been fully funded’

Next up in reacting to the federal budget is peak mental health body, Mental Health Australia.

Its chief executive, Carolyn Nikoloski, said the group was “disappointed” the urgent need for mental health reform “hasn’t been fully funded in this budget”.

Nikoloski said an additional $2.4bn should be spent on mental health annually in line with the Productivity Commission’s 2020 recommendations.

“We’re still not seeing that level of investment,” she said.

Updated

Acoss head condemns absence of general increase to jobseeker payments

Cassandra Goldie, head of the Australian Council on Social Services, is livid that the budget does not have any general increase to jobseeker unemployment payments - calling the absence of that boost “the gaping hole at its heart” and a “cruel denial”.

In the budget “conga line” of stakeholder reactions, Goldie pointed out the boost to commonwealth rent assistance was just $9 a week for a single person – contrasted against “exorbitant” rises in rental prices.

Goldie said the tinkering with jobseeker eligibility, which will give access to a higher payment rate to people assessed as unable to work 14 hours a week, was welcome - but that it would only benefit fewer than 5,000 people out of 1 million Australians on that payment.

She was furious that the government was giving out tax cuts and energy rebates to the highest earning Australians (as part of those programs going to all taxpayers and households respectively) but not boosting the incomes of the lowest paid.

Updated

Taylor’s not keen on the Future Made in Australia policy. He says:

If you want to get those resources sectors really firing … you’ve gotta drive down energy prices, you’ve got to do the approvals in a timely way, not [take] 14 years.

And that’s him done for now. We’ll turn to the so-called “conga line” now, which is actually a queue of very passionate people wanting to respond to today’s news.

Updated

Angus Taylor says Coalition will support Labor subsidies

Taylor says the subsidies are a “Band-aid on a bullet wound”. (He really likes that line, he’s used it three times already).

That is all Labor is offering here. We will support that, but not because we think that is ultimately the right answer.

He wants to see the right “fiscal rules” in the budget to tackle inflation, and says Labor has failed to deliver previously promised energy price reductions.

Updated

No surprise, Taylor says the budget is inflationary. He says:

When you plan to spend money it is inflationary. We have a 16% increase in spending over two years and the economy is only growing at close to 7%, so that is spending growing at double the pace of the economy, and that takes you to a $43bn structural deficit in two years time. That is inflation.

Big apologies to both Sabra Lane and Sarah Ferguson, because my post-budget lock up brain melted down and I put Lane in Ferguson’s seat!

The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, is up now.

Updated

Chalmers finishes up that first post-speech interview promises ongoing reform. He points to changes around tax compliance in the budget, as well as multinational tax avoidance and the way foreigners are treated in the capital gains system. He says:

We’ve made way more tax changes and tax reforms than people usually acknowledge. And that is part of the reason why we’re making such stunning progress, cleaning up the mess that we inherited.

Moving now to the Future Made in Australia plan. Ferguson asks how big the investment to win back blue-collar workers is. Chalmers says (and this’ll be starting to sound a little familiar to you by now):

This is about making sure that people are front and centre in a future made in Australia.

(And so on.)

This has led to a little to-and-fro on whether the budget, a cornerstone of politics, is political, if the future made in Australia plan is to lure voters, but Chalmers says neither he nor the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, see it in political terms.

Updated

Ferguson: How do they explain how more cash in people’s pockets doesn’t cause demand?

Chalmers: People don’t have a lot of spare cash lying around.

Ferguson: You’re about to give them some.

Chalmers: People are under extreme cost of living pressure. That’s the first point. Secondly, there is a behavioural difference to sending someone a cheque and encouraging them to spend it or taking a bit of an edge off their bills. There’s a world of difference between those things.

Updated

Ferguson asks if it’s a “magic formula” that turns payments to households into an inflation-fighting instrument.

If we take some of the edge off electricity bills, and we take some of the edge off rents, that will put downward pressure on inflation. That’s a very different thing to spraying around cheques or cash in the economy. It’s taking the edge off bills. That’s what we want to see and one of the reasons why we expect inflation to moderate faster than what we anticipated at Christmas.

Updated

Chalmers says:

It’s about pressures on people right now and the priorities of the future. These are things that we care about, whether it’s the third year of a term or the first year of a term. This budget is about the economic cycle, not the political cycle.

Ferguson’s not satisfied with his answers.

Updated

Treasurer asked why high earners given energy subsidy

Why do high-earning Australians deserve a subsidy? Chalmers says:

There’s multiple parts of our cost of living package, a tax cut for every taxpayer and energy bill relief for every household. Those are the broad parts of our cost of living package and targeted parts, up to a million renters will get some help. Some help with medicine costs and in other ways as well. And that’s because we recognise that a lot of people are under a lot of pressure. And because of this budget, more help is on the way. We found a responsible and affordable but meaningful way to help people with the cost of living, not just people on low and fixed incomes but people in middle Australia too.

Ferguson says he still hasn’t really explained why wealthy people are getting the $300, he says again there’s pain “up and down the income scale”.

Updated

Chalmers rejects responsibility for interest rate rises

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is up now on the ABC’s 7.30. Sarah Ferguson asks him if he accepts that if the RBA raises interest rates he’ll be held to blame. He says:

The Reserve Bank will take its decisions independently. I take responsibility for my part of the inflation fight and the budget is making a big effort in that regard. This budget is about easing cost of living pressures, it’s about putting downward pressure on inflation at the same time as we invest in the future.

Updated

Gallagher says Labor wants the NDIS ‘to be successful’

In the press conference, Gallagher said more than $14bn would be saved on NDIS spending. “We want the NDIS to be successful,” she said.

“We want people to get the right support but it cannot keep growing in the way it’s currently growing.”

On the housing policy, Chalmers said the target of 1.2m homes was “ambitious but achievable”.

“It requires everyone to do their bit… I’m confident states, territories and local governments will be prepared to do their bits as well,” he said.

Updated

Finance minister says budget has ‘a big emphasis on women’s safety’

Along with a saunter through the press gallery, the other budget lockup tradition is a press conference with the treasurer and the finance minister. Just when people have (almost) wrapped their heads around the numbers, off we hoof, to be treated to PowerPoints and talking points for a bit. It’s a necessary evil. Chalmers used the presser to revisit (previsit? practice?) the themes of his speech. It’s a budget about “near-term pressures” and “long-term priorities”, It’s “equal parts relief, restraint and reform”, and also “reform and renewal”.

He said while inflation had moderated it was not “mission accomplished” because “people are still hurting”.

He described the five main packages in the budget as the cost of living relief; more homes for Australians, the future made in Australia, university reform and strengthening Medicare and the care economy, with “all of this underpinned by sensible economic management”.

Gallagher said the budget “has the Australian people right at the centre”. She also pointed to the women’s statement, which Labor puts out as part of the budget. She said:

Obviously in this budget there’s a big emphasis on women’s safety. Superannuation on paid parental leave, housing, our revisions to the care economy … all of this should be seen not in isolation [they’re] measures that tell a bigger story about how we’re trying to shift the dial.

Chalmers was asked again about why everyone deserves $300 off their power bills. He said it’s because the pain of the cost of living is “felt up and down the income scale”.

He also said they had to make “responsible contingencies” for “a whole range of imminent policy decisions and outcomes which are not ready to be fully costed yet”, when asked about money budgeted to be spent, without being yet allocated. “We had to do a lot of provisioning,” he said. Paul Karp asked him what safeguards were in place for the future made in Australia investments, and he said there was a “very vigorous, very robust framework which is designed to leverage private investment”. Everyone has an interest in making sure they get value for money, he said.

And, when asked again about any potentially inflationary effects of the budget, he said some people would always call for a “scorched earth” approach, but:

We think we can engage meaningfully in the fight against inflation without smashing the economy.

He also clarified how the $300 electricity rebate will work. The government will rely on energy retailers to provide it, so what you’ll see is a $75 credit on your quarterly bill over the next year.

Updated

Chalmers grilled over whether power bill relief inflationary

Chalmers and the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, did the rounds of the Canberra press gallery while we were all locked in our offices getting wired on sugar and caffeine.

Political editor Karen Middleton was grilling Chalmers on how they chose to give every household $300 off their power bills, and how they knew it wouldn’t be inflationary. He said:

Our advice is really clear … our cost of living package will put downward pressure on CPI. We are taking some of the edge off electricity bills and rent. Those are two of the most challenging parts of the inflationary problem.

We’re not mailing cheques to people.

We understand that the cost of living [pressures] don’t begin and end with people on pensions and payments. They’re obviously a high priority for us… but whether it’s tax cuts for every taxpayer or [energy bill relief] for every household, that’s just realising that the cost of living pressures are broadly felt.

He conceded there were “a range of views” about spending, saving and inflation. “Opinions at this time of the year are pretty thick on the ground,” he said, adding it would have been “mad” to have a “slash and burn budget”.

Updated

Here’s Paul Karp with the guts of today’s budget:

Treasurer takes gamble on pre-election cost-of-living package that is likely to spark debate about whether the government is doing enough to tame inflation

And Greg Jericho’s put the headline figures into graphs:

Here’s Karen Middleton’s take on today:

For a government trying to design a budget to address both a cost-of-living crisis and a looming election, it’s a measure that serves several purposes at once.

Barnaby Joyce, sitting on the opposition frontbench, has given his “champagne cork popping” verdict on the budget:

There’s a standing ovation from the government benches as Chalmers finishes his speech. He sticks around to shake hands and wave to the galleries.

On the other side, numerous Coalition backbenchers can’t race out of the chamber quick enough.

Updated

The public galleries in the house are packed for Jim Chalmers’ budget speech. The special seats on the floor, reserved for VIPs, are filled with government senators - as well as Chalmers’ wife and children, Anthony Albanese’s fiancee, Jodie Haydon, and his son, Nathan.

Chalmers’ words about addressing domestic violence get a hearty “hear hear” from the government benches – and a relatively bipartisan cheer when he mentions extending superannuation to government funded paid parental leave.

Nearly all government MPs are attentively tuned in. There’s more than a few Coalition MPs who are scrolling on phones or tablets, or chatting to their neighbour.

Updated

Right! That was the speech, now the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, will start doing the rounds of the media, and I’m going to start bringing you the fine work of the Guardian Australia team.

Updated

Treasurer says budget aims to make Australians ‘more secure’

Chalmers is wrapping up his budget speech now, then he’ll head off into the media maelstrom. He says the story of Australia is “more than a tale of challenges we have endured”:

And in our future, we must strive for more than muddling through or making do.

This budget shows we are realistic about the pressures people face now – and optimistic about the future.

It reflects our biggest ambitions and our highest aspirations – to make Australians the primary beneficiaries of a world of churn and change … to manage their pressures and maximise our advantages, to forge a new economy and a new generation of prosperity.

And in that effort, to make Australians and Australia more secure in the bigger opportunities we shape, and the future we make, together.

And that’s why I commend this bill – and this budget – to the house.

Updated

Treasurer says pressures on budget to intensify

Now we’re getting into the hard numbers. Chalmers says they’re expecting a surplus of $9.3bn this year, after last year’s surplus, meaning the “first back-to-back surpluses in nearly two decades”. But it’s not all good news, folks.

“Pressures on the budget intensify after that, rather than ease,” Chalmers says, while Treasury expects to hit the inflation target this year instead of next:

We are expecting a deficit of $28.3bn in 2024–25 – but a stronger fiscal outcome in every year, compared to when we came to government. On our watch, the budget is $215bn stronger over the six years to 2027–28. Gross debt is now expected to peak at 35.2% of GDP in 2026–27 before declining to 30.2% by 2034–35.

This year gross debt will be $904bn instead of the more than one trillion we inherited – meaning debt is $152bn lower. A stronger budget means we save around $80bn in interest costs over the decade. These are the dividends of our responsible economic management.

We’ve found $27.9bn in savings and reprioritisations in this budget and $77.4bn since the election.

We’re limiting real spending growth to an average of 1.4% per year since we came to government, less than half the average of the last 30 years and around a third of the growth under our predecessors.

And we are banking 96% of revenue upgrades this year – keeping pressure off inflation while it is still above band.

Updated

More remote housing for First Nations people in budget

There’s more remote housing for First Nations people and a new remote jobs and economic development program, and 3,000 new jobs in remote Australia “to build new skills and new confidence within communities”.

Updated

“We know cost of living pressures fall heaviest on the most vulnerable,” Chalmers says. The energy rebates and rent assistance mentioned earlier will help, he says, as will a freeze on social security deeming rates until 30 June, 2025, $41m to extend eligibility for the higher rate of jobseeker (“so people who can only work up to 14 hours a week will see their payment increase at least $54.90 a fortnight”).

Updated

Government to pay superannuation on parental leave

The government will pay superannuation on parental leave. Chalmers points out that the majority of workers in the care economy are women. Lifting wages has helped bring the gender pay gap to a historic low, he says, adding that the government is “100% committed to women’s equality, opportunity and safety”. He says:

Violence against women is a national shame – and it requires national action. We’re delivering $925m to establish the permanent leaving violence program, which takes our total investment to address violence against women to $3.4bn. But we know there is more work for all of us to do.

And we are very proud that this budget extends superannuation to parents on paid leave.

When it comes to those first months of your child’s life, you can’t put a price on being there. And you shouldn’t pay a price for being there.

There’s $1.1bn to pay super on government-funded parental leave, which he says will benefit 180,000 a year. There’s also more support for women’s health services and for carers.

Updated

Chalmers says there’ll be more for aged care and childcare workers:

This government is ensuring Australians can earn more and keep more of what they earn – in the care economy and in every industry. We will ensure those who look after our kids as they learn, and our parents as they age, have the secure, well-paid jobs they deserve.

We will fund a further increase in award wages for our aged care workers, building on the $11.3bn we funded last year. And we have provisioned for a wage increase for child care workers as well. This will help recruit and retain more early childhood educators, giving more Australian children the best start we can.

Updated

Labor announces $469m to crack down on fraud and exploitation in NDIS

Chalmers says the government will work with national cabinet to “put participants at the centre of the [NDIS] scheme, and design and fund additional foundational supports outside of it, and [ensure] every dollar invested in the NDIS goes to those who need it most”.

There’s $469m to crack down on fraud and exploitation within the scheme.

Updated

Government to invest another $2.2bn in aged care

Chalmers says the government will invest another $2.2bn in aged care, with $1.2bn to improve systems so services remain “accessible, up-to-date and reliable” and $531m for 24,000 home care packages:

As more Australians live longer, healthier lives, demand for aged care services is growing – and the sort of care we need is changing. Ensuring dignity and security for older Australians means allowing people to choose the care that’s right for them – including staying in their own home.

Updated

Treasurer announces increase to Medicare urgent care clinics

Chalmers says the foundation of the “world class” Medicare system is bulk billing by GPs and in the new Medicare urgent care clinics. There’ll be $227m for another 29 of those, he says, on top of the existing 58. The clinics are open for longer hours than normal GP clinics, which will “take pressure off emergency departments … making it easier for Australians to access free healthcare”.

“Making Medicare stronger means doing better on mental health too. That’s why we’re investing $361m to strengthen our mental health system,” Chalmers says.

That includes new funding for a national digital mental health service giving free support to 150,000 a year.

Updated

Government sets tertiary education target

The government has set a national target of eight out of 10 workers getting a tertiary qualification by 2050. Chalmers says they’ll back that target in with new funding including $350m for fee-free “uni-ready” courses. “These courses give those who would have missed out on studying a degree, a foot in the door,” Chalmers says:

And we are paying students in critical sectors like nursing, teaching and social work to do the practical placements which are an important part of their studies.

We’re also investing $500m in skills for priority industries like clean energy, construction and manufacturing, and supporting women to build careers in these fields. These landmark reforms will improve the quality, affordability and sustainability of the tertiary education system and drive lasting, transformative change for our students and our economy.

He says the government will expand the reach of tertiary education to “seize the transformative opportunities of a more modern economy”:

Because it shouldn’t matter whether you live in the suburbs or the regions, whether your parents are rich or poor, whether you were born with disability or grew up with disadvantage, whether you’re a First Nations Australian or a first-generation Australian – the chance and the choice to go to university or Tafe should not be out of reach.

Updated

Four million small businesses will get $290m in “cash flow support”, and the $20,000 instant asset write-off has been extended to 30 June 2025. There’s $625m to “help farmers and rural communities reduce emissions and better prepare for climate change and drought”.

Labor to add $50.3bn to national defence strategy

Chalmers says there’ll be $50.3bn over a decade as part of the national defence strategy (one of my biggest bugbears about budgets is the loose approach to timelines, which sometimes seem picked to give a rounder overall figure).

Chalmers says the government is “also boosting economic resilience and strengthening supply chains”:

Giving Australian firms the chance to manufacture more of the next generation of solar panels, moving our nation along the critical minerals value chain through investing in battery production, and backing the Australian creators of the world’s first commercial-scale quantum computer.

Updated

Chalmers says future depends on renewable energy

Chalmers says if we “hang back” on renewable energy, “the chance for a new generation of jobs and prosperity will pass us by, and our people will be poorer and the economy more vulnerable as a consequence”.

The budget commits $13.7bn for incentives for green hydrogen and processed critical minerals, and $1.7bn for the “future made in Australia innovation fund” to develop new industries such as green metals and low carbon fuels. There’s also $520m to “deepen net zero trade and engagement with our region” and $566m “to map the geological potential of our entire country”.

That mapping will provide a “comprehensive picture of our critical minerals and groundwater”.

Updated

Treasurer gives details of “Future Made in Australia” package

Next up is the “future made in Australia” package. “The world is committed to net zero by 2050,” Chalmers says. “This will demand the biggest transformation in the global economy since the industrial revolution”:

Australian energy can power it.

Australian resources can build it.

Australia’s regions can drive it.

Australian researchers can shape it.

And Australian workers can thrive in it.

The package will “will help make us an indispensable part of the global economy”, he says, adding that the agenda is all about:

  • Attracting investment in key industries.

  • Making our country a renewable energy superpower.

  • Strengthening our defence capabilities and economic security.

  • Supporting small business to grasp the opportunities of our transforming economy.

  • And expanding and reforming tertiary education for a more skilled workforce.

Chalmers says:

To realise the opportunities of a future made in Australia we’re changing the way we attract and deploy investment. A new act and new framework will impose the rigour – Focusing investment on transformational opportunities – and setting conditions to ensure investors benefiting from our incentives are supporting their people and communities to lift private investment in skills, workforces and local supply chains.

Chalmers says the government will establish a “national interest account” that “adds discipline to investments in the national interest and strengthen and streamline approvals across environmental, planning, cultural heritage and foreign investment.

(I’m still not entirely clear how that national interest account works, so more on that later).

Updated

More houses means more need for transport and infrastructure, Chalmers says. The government’s “vital projects” include “a new rail link that will bring the communities of the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane together”, $2.3bn for better infrastructure and the new international airport in western Sydney, and $102m “to upgrade regional airports and remote airstrips, better connecting remote communities to essential services”.

Chalmers says budget promises $1.9bn to help build social holmes

This budget also promises an additional $1.9bn in loans to help build 40,000 social and affordable homes. Chalmers says:

We have also secured the national housing agreement, which would otherwise have run out. We’re building more remote housing in the NT, doubling funding dedicated to address homelessness, and we’re directing $1bn towards accommodation for women and children fleeing domestic violence, and youth.

Updated

Treasurer promises increase to maximum rates of commonwealth rent assistance

The housing crisis is up now. This budget adds $1.9bn to increase maximum rates of commonwealth rent assistance by 10%, on top of 15% announced last year. Chalmers says:

It’s the first back-to-back increase to commonwealth rent assistance in more than 30 years. And more much-needed help for young people and renters of all ages doing it tough.

And on to the government’s $32bn “homes for Australia” plan, under which the government aims to build 1.2m homes in five years. Chalmers says:

Our goal is ambitious – but achievable, if we all work together and if we all do our bit.

He says $6.2bn in new investments will help clear local infrastructure bottlenecks, provide more housing for students, and fund more social and affordable housing. There’ll also be $1bn to help the states and territories get building, and $89m for 20,000 additional fee-free Tafe and VET places to “train more construction workers to do the work we’ll need”.

On top of that is the government’s plan to make universities build more accommodation. Chalmers says:

If universities want to take more international students, they must build more student accommodation. We will limit how many international students can be enrolled by each university based on a formula, including how much housing they build.

Updated

We’re on to power bills now, and the promised $3.5bn in “new energy bill relief”. Chalmers says:

From July 1, Australians will receive an energy rebate of $300 – and one million small businesses will get a bit more.

Those rebates will be spread over a year, so $75 each quarter for those with quarterly bills.

Chalmers says electricity prices only rose 2% last year because of the government’s efforts, without which they would have risen 15%.

Cutting those bills will put downward pressure on inflation, he says. Other cost of living measures that get a guernsey now include: $3bn for cheaper medicines; freezing the maximum cost of PBS prescriptions so no one will pay more than $31.60; freezing the cost of scripts for pensioners and concession cardholders; $3.4bn to add medicines to the PBS; capping indexation of student loans; holding supermarkets accountable through the food and grocery code; abolishing “nuisance tariffs”; and reducing compliance costs for business.

I’m trying to imagine what Chalmers would be saying in an alternate universe where the government hadn’t rejigged the stage three tax cuts so that more goes to low and middle income earners. But they did, so he says:

Our new tax cuts for middle Australia are the biggest part of the cost of living relief in this budget. From July 1, all 13.6m taxpayers will get a tax cut. And for 84% of taxpayers, and 90% of women, a bigger tax cut than they would have under the previous government.

This is about rewarding the hard work of our nurses and teachers, truckies and tradies. And the 2.9m people earning $45,000 or less, who would have received nothing. The average benefit is $1,888 a year, that’s $36 a week.

More bullet points. This budget:

  • Delivers a tax cut for every taxpayer.

  • Provides new power bill relief for people and small businesses.

  • Freezes the cost of medicines.

  • Makes student loans fairer.

  • Boosts competition in our economy so families and farmers get a fairer go.

  • Supports renters.

Chalmers says about 780,000 jobs “have been created under this government” (phrased carefully in the passive voice):

This is stronger jobs growth than in any major advanced economy. Real wages are growing again for the first time in almost three years. Business investment is now expected to record its longest annual expansion since the mining boom – and we’re addressing the pressures caused by population growth, with net overseas migration next year now expected to be half what it was last year.

In budget narratives treasurers must warn people about economic headwinds early on so they can understand the struggle. And so we go to the economic outlook. The global conditions are “fraught and fragile”, the world economy “resilient in parts but subdued overall”. The global uncertainty, cost of living pressures and higher interest rates are the three headwinds slowing growth to 1.75% this year, and 2% next year. Chalmers says:

Slower growth means a softer labour market, with unemployment expected to rise slightly to 4.5% next year, even as we create tens of thousands of new jobs.

People are “still under the pump”, Chalmers says, even though inflation has gone down. He says government policies will take another .75% off inflation this year, and .5% next year.

“Treasury is now forecasting inflation could return to target earlier, perhaps even by the end of this year,” he says. Note that “could” and “perhaps”, meaning don’t take it to the bank just yet.

We’re not finished with the bullet points yet! Deep breaths. Chalmers says the budget delivers:

  • A tax cut for every taxpayer.

  • Wages growing in every industry.

  • A better deal for every working parent.

  • A fairer go at every checkout.

  • New help with energy bills for every household and for small businesses.

  • Stronger Medicare in every community.

  • More homes in every state and territory.

  • More opportunities in every TAFE and University.

  • A dignified retirement for older Australians.

  • Energy and industry policies that help bring the jobs of the future to every corner of our country.

  • An economic plan where growth and opportunity go together.

  • A government and a budget for every Australian.

The written copy of the speech is headlined “cost of living help and a future made in Australia”, a handy visual cue to where the emphasis will be. Chalmers says it’s a “budget for the here-and-now” and “for the decades to come”. He outlines the government’s priorities:

  • Helping with the cost of living.

  • Building more homes for Australians.

  • Investing in a future made in Australia – and the skills and universities we’ll need to make it a reality.

  • Strengthening Medicare and the care economy.

  • Responsible economic management, which is set to produce another surplus and help fight inflation.

Jim Chalmers begins budget speech

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is on his feet in the chamber, which means the budget embargo is lifted and the onslaught begins. We’ll bring you the speech as it happens, but here’s a little primer:

  • There’s $300 off every household’s electricity bill and a strong emphasis on the cost of living crisis in what could be a pre-election budget.

  • We already knew about Labor’s rejigging of the tax cuts so more relief would flow to low and middle income earners, but along with “$300 for everyone!” there’s a lot of “tax breaks for everyone!” here. Australians will get an average $36 a week.

  • Chalmers says the power bill rebate, as well as some additional rent assistance, will not be inflationary, a claim that is sure to be tested.

  • The “future made in Australia” program does a lot of heavy lifting. The glossy handout says it will see $22.7bn invested over a decade to maximise “the economic and industrial benefits of the move to net zero”. We’ll bring you all the details.

  • There’s a projected $9.3bn surplus this year, but things go downhill after that. There’s a projected deficit of $28.3bn for 2024-25 and $42.8bn for 2025-26. There’s $27.9bn in “savings and reprioritisations” and a rather hopeful if soft prediction that inflation will be back within the 2-3% target band by the end of the year. The government says it’s clawed back $14.4bn from the growing NDIS costs.

  • The government is working on an “ambitious but achievable” plan to build 1.2m houses over five years, and has earmarked $6.2bn in this budget for new investments. And there’s a bunch of spending in every state and territory on infrastructure and transport.

  • There’ll be another 29 Medicare urgent care clinics built, and a range of other health and care economy investments including improvements in aged care and mental health care, and new listings on the PBS. There’s also $1.1bn for superannuation on government-funded paid parental leave.

The Guardian Australia team has been fossicking through the figures, unspinning the spin, and searching for the budget black hole, so stay tuned.

Updated

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is about to get on his feet to deliver his third budget speech. At this point I will hand over to my esteemed colleague, Tory Shepherd.

We are half an hour from the treasurer beginning his budget speech. Not long to go now.

As Amy flagged earlier, the new MP for Cook has been sworn in.

Queensland deputy premier wants ‘prompt action to reduce migration’

The Queensland deputy premier, Cameron Dick, says prompt action must be taken after record numbers of migrants flocked to the state.

AAP reports Dick said Queensland would struggle to keep up with housing demand, revealing the state’s population had grown by a record 144,000 – including 88,000 from overseas – in the year to September 2023.

A nationwide spike in the number of people coming to Australia in the past year recently prompted the federal government to announce an overhaul of the migration system, including a plan to halve net overseas migration by 2025.

Dick on Tuesday backed the strategy but urged the government to “get on with that”.

“Something needs to happen and that is why we are calling on the federal government to take prompt action to reduce migration,” he said.

Dick said on current figures Queensland would need about 60,000 new houses to keep up with the influx.

“We have got a demand problem now when it comes to housing in particular,” he said. “That’s just the reality. We’ve done everything we can. We’ve pulled every possible lever.”

Asked if his Labor party was stealing One Nation’s policies before the election, Dick said: “I reject that entirely. That is quite an offensive thing to say.

“That’s not our position at all ... Queensland has built its history on migration.”

Dick said skilled migration was still needed, with the state government reportedly welcoming the commonwealth’s agreement to prioritise visas for construction workers.

Updated

The independent MP for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel, has shared photos of a vigil held outside parliament tonight.

Australia has been placed on La Niña watch by the Bureau of Meteorology with early signs the climate pattern linked to cooler and wetter conditions across most of the country could form later this year.

The bureau said there was now a 50/50 chance of La Niña forming this year with sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific steadily cooling since December.

While we wait for the budget, the legislation giving Australian content prominence on digital devices, as well as changes to the anti-siphoning list, has passed through the House of Reps.

Updated

Bonza workers to remain stood down for at least another two weeks

Hundreds of workers for embattled airline Bonza will remain stood down for at least another two weeks, AAP reports.

Administrators on Tuesday told more than 300 staff members the suspension of flights would continue until 29 May.

Talks are continuing, with parties reportedly interested in bailing out the cash-strapped airline, which owes about $110m.

The talks have been held with about 20 interested groups, including airlines and companies from the travel industry, administrator Richard Albarran from Hall Chadwick, told a creditors’ meeting on Friday.

A timeline on any sale of the company was due to be set out at the weekend but the deadline for expressions of interest was extended to Thursday.

The extent of the low-cost airline’s financial woes were laid bare in Sydney on Friday when creditors were told Bonza owed nearly $77m across two loans, almost $16m to trade creditors and another $10m to landlords.

Other debt includes more than $5m in staff wages and annual leave entitlements and $3m to government authorities such as the Australian Taxation Office.

The Transport Workers’ Union national secretary, Michael Kaine, said it was a deeply distressing time for workers facing two more weeks off the job after receiving no pay since March.

Updated

Labor hints at budget cost-of-living measures

Before the budget detail coming out at 7.30pm, we’ve confirmed that the cost-of-living packages included will have an energy bill rebate for every household and an increase in the commonwealth rent assistance.

The government has indicated these measures will help to reduce headline inflation by about half a percent in the 2024-2025 financial year and will not add to inflationary pressures.

Updated

Optus argues Deloitte report into cyber-attack should be kept secret

Optus has been in court today attempting to keep secret the Deloitte report into the 2022 cyber-attack.

Optus last year lost a bid for class action lawfirm Slater & Gordon to obtain the report in the federal court, and appealed against the decision. The appeal was heard today.

Optus had argued the dominant purpose of the report was for legal advice, and it was subject to legal privilege, but Justice Jonathan Beach said it was a real problem that an Optus press release announcing the review did not mention this.

Optus’s legal representative today argued that it was not surprising that the press release did not mention that Deloitte had been recruited for legal advice because the press release “speaks mostly to what is being done, it’s plainly meant to reassure”.

One issue raised about Optus’s position is that the press release quotes the then-chief executive, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, but she has not provided evidence to the court about what was in her mind when she was making the statements about the report.

The full court reserved its decision. The class action case is due back in court on 24 May.

Updated

This is the result of the division on gas policy that Amy mentioned earlier. As she said, the government defeated it.

Updated

Mildura airport rules to change after narrowly avoided collision in 2023

The pilots of two aircraft involved in a near-miss had no idea they were taking off on intersecting runways, with the incident prompting changes to a regional airport’s rules, AAP reports.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau released its final report on Tuesday, almost 12 months after the planes almost collided at Mildura airport.

A Piper PA-28 Cherokee was on a solo private flight to Broken Hill, while a QantasLink Dash 8, with three crew and 33 passengers, was departing on a scheduled service to Sydney on 6 June 2023.

Both aircraft made the required mandatory calls on the local common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF), used by pilots to coordinate and self-separate at non-controlled aerodromes, like Mildura.

The ATSB director of transport safety, Stuart Godley, said the pilot of the Cherokee had incorrectly identified the plane was on runway 35 instead of runway 36.

This mistake meant the Dash 8 pilots didn’t believe the Cherokee was at Mildura, given that the nearby Wentworth airport used the same CTAF.

When the Cherokee was ready for its take-off roll, its pilot believed the Dash 8 would be still backtracking on the other runway, as the Dash 8 did not give a rolling call – a notification the aircraft was beginning take-off – on the CTAF.

At the time, such calls were not mandatory.

Mildura airport has since introduced a requirement for mandatory rolling calls immediately prior to take-off while QantasLink has made the calls part of the minimum requirements for operations at CTAF aerodromes.

Updated

Bandt says most renters will not benefit even if budget contains rent assistance

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, says if the budget does contain increases in rent assistance it won’t help most people, because 80% of renters do not qualify for the assistance, and for those who do, top-ups will “barely touch the sides” given the massive increases in rents.

In response to ABC Afternoon Briefing host Greg Jennett asking whether it will be inflationary to provide more assistance, Bandt says:

It is not inflationary to cap rents. The Reserve Bank of Australia governor has made it crystal clear that rising rents are a big part of the reason we’ve got this inflation problem. There is a different way which is capping and freezing rents, making price gouging at the supermarkets illegal and making the corporations who are making billions of dollars of profits in the middle of a cost-of-living pay their fair share of tax. You cap and freeze rents and make price gouging illegal and use the money you get from corporate giants to fund dental and Medicare. That’s how you tackling inflation and make life better for people.

Updated

The Nationals leader in the Senate, Bridget McKenzie, was asked on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing if the Coalition would undo the federal government’s announced almost $1bn in funding to US-based PsiQuantum for a quantum computer if the Coalition were to win the next election. McKenzie did not directly answer but indicated that the focus would be on local companies.

She said:

Well, if we are blessed to actually win the next election and seek to lead Australia out of the economic malaise that this government has been able to create in two years, then we will be backing Australian jobs on shore in obviously manufacturing and adding value, not just to our critical minerals, but our agricultural products and the like.

Updated

And on that note, I will hand you over to Josh Taylor, who will guide the blog through the next few hours until Tory Shepherd takes over at 7.30 to take you through the budget and the treasurer’s speech.

Thank you so much for joining me for budget day – I’ll be back tomorrow for all the reaction and the wash-up as we muddle our way through this budget week. Until then, take care of you.

Updated

Bandt criticises Labor policy to keep coal and gas mines running past 2050

Adam Bandt followed that up with a speech:

We are in a climate crisis. We are in a climate crisis. And scientists on the weekend said they are despairing at the possibility of delivering something close to a safe climate to our kids and our grandkids.

With people in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales still unable to get back into their homes after the devastating floods; people in Queensland and Brisbane unable to afford to insure their house because the risk of coal and gas-fuelled floods is now so high; the Great Barrier Reef bleaching yet again, on the very same day that the prime minister and the resources minister turned out to celebrate the 1,000th gas shipment going out of ports there.

It is vital that today, we debate now and call on the government to stop approving new coal and gas mines because what is crystal clear now, after the announcements were saying over the last few days, is that Labor wants coal and gas past 2050. Past 2050.

At a time when they told us they were going to get to zero pollution, they now want to pass 2050. The environment minister has approved coalmines to run past 2050. The government now in a cabinet-endorsed gas strategy says they want gas to 2050 and beyond. 2050 would have been too late to reach zero but now we’re not even going to reach it then because Labor’s policy is crystal clear: it’s to keep opening new coal and gas mines and to have them running past 2050.

He again told the Labor MPs who criticised the plan “those lions in their electorates who are mice in the parliament” to quit and join with the Greens if they truly feel so strongly against the gas strategy.

Max Chandler-Mather seconded the motion

And at the end of all of this, at the end of all this what do we get? The World scientists have said that warming is going to expand past one and a half degrees. God only knows what’s going to happen as the world surges past two and a half and three degrees and the men and members of this place won’t have to be here to suffer the consequences as concluded.”

The debate was pushed off until after the matter of public importance debate (but will be defeated as the government holds the numbers in the house.

Updated

Having a look at what else the house got up to today, I see that Adam Bandt attempted to suspend standing orders to move this motion, asking that the house:

(1)Notes the world is on track for a catastrophic 2.5-3C warming of the planet based on current policies;

(2)Acknowledges that coal and gas are fuelling the climate crisis;

(3)Condemns the Future Gas Strategy which intends to expand gas production to 2050 and beyond; and

(4)Calls on the Environment Minister and Resources Minister to stop approving new coal and gas mines.

Updated

Question time ends

Milton Dick asks all members to note the courtesies given for the budget speech and the budget-in-reply speech, and if someone is going to be booted out, it will be done through written note.

There is also a warning that members are responsible for their guests in the gallery.

There is no time limit for the speeches.

And the members file out.

Updated

No. No he does not end it. We now have to hear a dixer about PNG and the prime minister’s Anzac trip to Kokoda.

OK, this should be the end of this QT session. SURELY.

Updated

Anthony Albanese gets one last question from the opposition on inflation and it seems like he is about to wind this all up and free us all.

Chris Bowen gets a dixer that is designed just to tease the opposition about its lack of energy policy.

“They won’t be bullied into meeting a timeline they announced,” Bowen says, about the opposition’s original claims it would announce its nuclear plan before the budget, which it is now saying it will announce in June-July (maybe).

Updated

Shorten announces funding for extra security for Centrelink and Medicare workers

Among all those dixers, Bill Shorten announced a bit of budget funding – with Centrelink and Medicare offices to get additional security.

Unfortunately, violence against our public servants is not as uncommon as it should be. Last financial year there were 9,000 assaults, acts of aggression in the first six months of this year, 6,852 of them serious. There are 10 million Australian visits to Centrelink offices and Medicare offices. There are 6,000 people who work there, and governments have an obligation to keep both the users of the system and the workers safe.

Shorten went on to say:

I am pleased to advise that in tonight’s budget, there will be $314 million extra over the next two years. This will lead to 606 extra security guards. There will be improved features of security at the offices that Australians visit. There will be improved liaison capacity with local police. If an incident does occur, we’ll be establishing for the first time a centralised security operations centre with better CCTV and real time monitoring of the 318 officers. We’re also overhauling 35 of the busiest centres to improve the safety features of those which have the highest traffic.

Updated

Dan Tehan gets a question now.

Apparently question time will now continue forever (we joke, but there was that time when Malcolm Turnbull continued QT for more than an hour after its usual ending time, because he was trying to stave off a no confidence vote).

Tehan asks:

Before the election, the prime minister promised that the coalition’s operation Sovereign Borders would remain unchanged given there have been three illegal boat arrivals in the last week. Has the Prime Minister lost control of our borders? How many people have drowned at sea since labor took office? And how many women and children are in immigration detention under this government?

Albanese:

I can do no more than quote Rear Admiral Brett Sutton, who made it very clear in February when he said this: ‘The mission of Operation Sovereign Borders remains the same today as it was when it was established in 2013: to protect Australia’s borders, combat people smuggling in our region and importantly, prevent people from risking their lives at sea.’

He went on, of course, he’s gone on to make it very clear, as has the ABF commissioner, Michael Outram, about funding, with regard to rebuking the opposition for some of their false claims when they’ve said this: ‘Border Force funding is currently the highest it’s been since its establishment in 2015. And in the last year, the ABF has received additional funding totalling hundreds of millions of dollars to support maritime and land based operations.’

Updated

Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown asks Anthony Albanese:

Today David McBride was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison for the crime of telling the truth about war crimes. Why won’t your government admit that our whistleblower laws are broken and commit to urgent reform to keep whistleblowers like Mr McBride out of prison?

Anthony Albanese says there will be an appeal in this matter and he won’t say anything which could interfere with the court.

Updated

Dutton describes PM responses as ‘obfuscation’ and ‘complete refusal to answer’

Peter Dutton:

Mr Speaker … I appreciate your guidance. I would add, though, that the conduct of the house would be assisted if the prime minister was able to approach his answer to the questions in a genuine way. The question was, Mr Speaker, very simple. It was put succinctly. It’s without ambiguity. And the prime minister creates a dynamic in this parliament, which is against the spirit that you’re trying to enforce. Through his obfuscation and his complete refusal to answer the questions as you direct, Mr Speaker.

Milton Dick thanks Dutton “for his support of me”. He says he’ll be listening to make sure the prime minister stays relevant.

Albanese says pretty much the same thing he said previously.

Updated

Liberal MP Melissa Price asks:

Will the prime minister rule out any changes to or any limitations on live cattle exports from Australia?

That is because the government has given notice that the live sheep export trade will end in 2028.

Albanese:

The only people who’ve argued to stop and pause the live cattle trade in recent times are those opposite where when foot-and-mouth disease was an issue. That’s right. In Indonesia.

Those opposite, including the leader of the opposition, called upon the trade to be stopped … And Murray Watt kept it open. So I suggest members, I suggest, just like on live sheep, they should have a discussion in their shadow cabinet on this.

Peter Dutton has a point of order which is not a point of order, but we now have to spend three minutes arguing whether or not it was a point of order.

Updated

PM asked to guarantee his government won't pork barrel with ‘decisions taken’ funds

Indi independent MP Helen Haines asks Anthony Albanese:

Prime minister, when the budget is handed down by the treasurer this evening, it will include a budget line labelled ‘decisions taken but not yet announced’. Billions of dollars to be spent, but we won’t know where or on what. As we approach the next election, can you guarantee that your government will not pork barrel these funds to win votes in marginal seats?

Which is actually a very good question.

Albanese:

What we will do is make sure that our investments, our investments are ones that build nation building.

If you look at the work that the minister for infrastructure, for example, has done, [it] is to put integrity back in the system. That’s why she did the review. That’s why we’re out there making positive, constructive, nation-building announcements on things that actually matter.

The member refers to decisions taken but not announced. Some of those are, of course, for national security reasons as the reason why that’s included. And there are often very good reasons why that is the case.

And that should always remain the case.

But my government has committed to transparency, and we’re committed to making sure that taxpayers dollars are spent wisely, which is why so many of the reforms that we’ve done as well are universal. They’re not for some people in some seats, they are absolutely universal.

Updated

Here is part of the condolence motion which was ahead of question time, where the parliament paid tribute to the victims and survivors of the Bondi Junction Westfield attack:

There are a group of people who helped build Parliament House in the gallery today, including a chap named Richard Nixon, who gets a personal shout out from Milton Dick, mostly so he can say “Richard Nixon contributed to the building of Parliament House”.

Hard to believe such gold is just given away for free.

Updated

Albanese attacks Morrison government’s economic record in response to opposition questions

Paul Fletcher asks Anthony Albanese another accidental dixer, meaning Albanese gets to talk about the previous government’s economic record, which is one of his favourite ever topics.

Fletcher:

Families are feeling the impact of Labor’s homegrown inflation, with the cost of almost everything going up. Food is up 10%, housing is up 12%, insurance is up 26%, electricity and gas are up 18% and 25%, respectively. Why are Australians paying the price for the weak economic leadership of this prime minister?

Albanese takes it exactly where you would think he would – to the Morrison government record. Fletcher says that wasn’t the question. Tony Burke says it was. Milton Dick says the question was broad and the prime minister is being relevant.

If a tree screams in the forest, does anyone hear?

Updated

The LNP MP for Groom, Garth Hamilton, is booted out under 94A.

Lucky guy.

Milton Dick tells him to write down a little note next time he is warned – “I’m on a warning” – so he doesn’t forget.

Updated

Sussan Ley is up.

Yay.

Australians are poorer than they were two years ago. The cash rate which this dismal prime minister couldn’t even name during the campaign has gone from 0.35% to 4.35%, real disposable incomes have fallen, soaring energy prices are hurting families and businesses are being crippled by huge cost increases. Why are Australians paying the price for the weak economic leadership of this prime minister?

Milton Dick gives a reminder about language. The language he means is “dismal”.

He can’t hear me describing question time as dire, dreary and depressing though, so the warnings only go so far.

Anthony Albanese is pretty happy to be handed a dixer from the deputy Liberal leader.

I thank the member for her question, and she gets a bonus point for asking a question about the economy on budget day, so I’ll give that. But the truth is that the member opposite raises a range of issues. One is inflation and interest rates.

Now inflation was twice what it was, twice what it is now when they were in office. Inflation peaked at 5.1% in the March 2022 quarter in just a quarter, whereas now inflation is at 3.6% on an annual basis, which is lower than the 3.75% which is what was predicted in Myefo.

You would think that when inflation was peaking, what there should be was a responsible budget, but instead we got dollars flowing out everywhere.

That’s right … The big cash splash in the lead-up to the May 2022 election. That made things worse.

The answer goes on, but alas, I cannot.

Updated

Anthony Albanese answers:

Violence against women is indeed a national crisis. We know that when on average, once every four days a woman is murdered by someone they know by an intimate partner or former partner.

That is a national crisis. It’s a scourge, and it’s a stain on our nation. And we need to do better.

Our governments need to do better, but we as a community need to do better as well, because this is about more than just government action. This is about our whole society and how it functions and about respect for women. We can change it and we must change it.

He then moves on to the announced measures:

Our record investment in the national plan, I do disagree with her depiction of the national plan. The national plan from 2022 is a recognition that, tragically, you can’t solve this overnight. You need to change behaviour across a whole range of ways.

We need to change the way the education system works. The royal commission in Victoria in 2016, one of the things that they found was that they needed to get that education about respectful relationships in school, and that has happened.

And one of the things about the national cabinet meeting I convened was that people talked about replicating best practice, and that included the issue of sentencing.

And I note that New South Wales has made a significant announcement, and I support it.

Stronger action for people who have AVOs, stronger action to make sure that people aren’t just released into the community who are a threat to a woman.

Very strong action indeed.

And I know that other states’ premiers and chief ministers as well agreed at that meeting to look at all of their laws, including bail laws, and to return to the national cabinet. They are state laws. They’re not national laws, but we can encourage best practice when it comes to that.

Updated

PM asked to overhaul federal sentencing laws for violence against women

Independent MP Zali Steggall turns attention away from international and budget issues with her question asking:

Prime minister, when two young men died, the New South Wales government introduced mandatory sentences for one-punch attacks. When it was terrorism, laws were changed to jail people on the apprehended risk of crimes. But when Australian men kill Australian women, the government’s national plan is to take 10 years [to enact].

Today, our advocates are here to hold a vigil for the 192 women killed by men since the 2020 1st March for justice.

We have a crisis of male violence and women’s safety.

Will you be tough on this domestic terrorism by leading an overhaul of national sentencing laws, including AVOs?

Updated

The next dixer is essentially “how amazing is Future Made in Australia” to which Ed Husic says it is completely amazing (paraphrasing).

FMIA is essentially a roadmap for how the government sees the future of manufacturing and the energy transition. So there isn’t a lot of information yet, or clear direction on which minister (or ministers) are in charge with making sure it becomes a reality.

But if you think of it as a direction, or a map showing where the government is heading when it comes to energy and manufacturing (so think critical minerals, backing in renewables and projects which will be needed during the transition and supporting manufacturing of either parts or products needed as part of the transition) it’s a little easier to follow.

Updated

Anthony Albanese finishes with this:

The senior members of the government received – through all of the appropriate bodies – briefings. We made clear our position, both privately and publicly and unequivocally – our opposition to what occurred. And I would have thought that there are times when an opposition leader has the strength, has the strength, to say, “I’m with the Australian government on this.”

… And what is weak – what is weak – is trying to look for political differentiation where this is an issue where you are either on the Australian government’s side and on the side of the Australian defence force and its personnel, or you are questioning that, and therefore undermining the government’s position in relation to the representations we have made to China.

The ADF were in international waters, responding in international air, providing support for an international action against North Korea. I would have thought it wouldn’t be beyond the opposition to say, “We agree with the government.”

Updated

Albanese asked about incident with Chinese navy

The first dixer was “how amazing is this budget?” (I am paraphrasing), to which Anthony Albanese answered “unbelievably amazing” (again, paraphrasing).

So it is a whiplash when Andrew Hastie gets up and asks:

In November 2023, Royal Australian Navy divers were injured by sonar pulses fired at them by a Chinese navy destroyer. 10 days ago, a Chinese fighter jet fired flares in the flight path of an RAN [Royal Australian Navy] Seahawk, risking the lives of our people. Why hasn’t the Prime Minister called President Xi about these clear acts of intimidation?

Albanese:

Why doesn’t the opposition back up Australia?

There are ahhhhhs and oooooohhhhs from the Labor benches and noises of outrage from the opposition.

Albanese continues:

Why do they look for political differentiation when this is about our national interest?

This mob – who never had a phone call, let alone a meeting during their entire last term in office – nothing.

This mob, who were happy to have President Xi speak in this parliament but had no conversations with them the entire time.

We have made it very clear that the actions of the [People’s Liberation Army] are unprofessional and unacceptable. And I would have thought … that that was not a hard ask for you to say, “Yes, we agree we are at one, we are at one in defending the Australian defence force” – rather than trying to send confusing messages to the People’s Republic of China.

I would have thought it wasn’t a hard ask. We have made all of the appropriate representations. We continue to say we will agree and cooperate with China where we can. We will disagree where we must. And on this, we must, and on this, we have.

There are points of order, which are not points of order.

Updated

If you missed it earlier, American rapper Macklemore has caused a stir after paying a visit to the University of Sydney to declare his support for pro-Palestine student encampments.

Last week, the artist dropped a surprise political anthem “Hind’s Hall” that backed student protests in the US and called for the president to intervene on Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

You might remember Macklemore from 2017, when he issued a call for marriage equality after performing his song Same Love in a pre-game show at the NRL grand final – much to the distaste of the then-Liberal government.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin has hit back at the rapper, describing Hind’s Hall as “political gibberish”. Macklemore is visiting Australia as part of an international tour, and performed the song during his string of shows in Sydney.

He’ll have his photo op and will go but Jewish students and academics will continue to live with the reality of harassment, exclusion, shadow boycotts and attacks on their identities … we don’t need his hateful song here.

Updated

Anthony Albanese answers that question with:

Of course, this house – with the support of the Labor party, the government members, as well as the members of the Coalition – passed a resolution expressing our unequivocal outrage at the events and horror at the terrorist act on October 7. We continue to call for Hamas to release hostages.

We continue to express our concern at the loss of life – every life – that is innocent, whether that be an innocent Israeli life or an innocent Palestinian life.

Contrary to the leader of the opposition’s depiction of this, the Australian government has had a long-term position of support for a two-state solution.

And in this, I accept responsibility for government decisions as prime minister. We had a proper process to make that decision through all of our appropriate channels.

The resolution that was carried by the United Nations called for support for a two-state solution based upon the 1967 boundaries.

That is something that is supported by the Australian Labor Party and has historically been supported by those opposite as well.

The people who do not support a two-state solution include Hamas and have included, at times – there are some members of the current Israeli government who make clear their opposition to that as well. We, in supporting that resolution, when we saw the wording, I believe that it’s consistent with providing a pathway to peace that is so necessary as we go forward. The people who are vehemently opposed to that resolution, include Hamas, include people who have a view that there should just be a single state “from the river to the sea”, as the chant goes.

That is not my position. That is not the government’s position. And it’s also not the position of Japan, Korea, the New Zealand conservative government led by Christopher Luxon, or Asean – of all of those countries who all overwhelmingly voted for that motion.

Updated

Peter Dutton opens up the questions with:

My question is to the prime minister … 130 hostages still remain in tunnels after the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel last year. In which 1,200 people were massacred and violent antisemitism is on the rise here in Australia, and indeed around the world. Why did the prime minister make a captain’s call to back Palestine’s bid for full United Nations membership, breaching faith with our Jewish community and decades of bipartisanship, and putting us at odds with allies including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada?

Australia’s allies including Japan and South Korea were among the 143 nations who voted for the UN resolution.

Updated

Question time is under way

Anthony Albanese says the treasurer will be absent from question time (gee, wonder where he could be) and he will answer questions on his behalf.

Question time begins.

Updated

It seems the light and airy vibes were short-lived and the upper house’s question time is back to its usual antics.

As the lesser-known, lesser-watched sibling of the House of Representatives question time, there’s a tendency for senators to up the ante in order to rise above the political noise.

The Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie puts a question to the agriculture minister, Murray Watt, about Labor’s recent announcement to ban the exportation of live sheep by sea on 1 May 2028.

McKenzie says the export ban “legitimises extreme animal activism at the expense of farmers and their families”. She asks whether Watt consulted with those impacted by the ban and whether it will concede Labor’s policy is “simply the ideological agenda of animal activists”.

Watt responds there was a 1.5m decrease in overall live sheep exports over the period the Coalition was in government.

Watt said:

If you want to talk about getting rid of the trade via exports of sheep, maybe have a look at your own record.”

Updated

Question time in the Senate

Senate question time is also on today while most of the press gallery is locked away with the federal budget.

It’s been a relatively jovial time so far compared to the usual viciousness of the upper house.

The Senate president, Sue Lines, pauses questions from the floor for a moment to welcome a delegation from New Zealand. Except it’s not the delegation, as Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson points out.

There’s a lot of laughter from all sides of the chamber, particularly on the opposition side. Eventually, the right delegation comes in and Lines correctly notes it this time to some giggles.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s certainly still some jabbing between the major parties going on down there, but with fewer eyes on them, the theatrics seem somewhat dialled down.

Updated

(continued from previous post)

Rowswell went on:

Victorians get none of that, thanks to this Labor government … That money just vanishes every day to pay off Labor’s interest bill.

His solution is to pause the Suburban Rail Loop:

So many people are doing it tough right now. So pouring billions into a project like that during times like these make absolutely no sense. Pause it, prioritise people, improve quality of living instead of just infrastructure.

The opposition took a policy to scrap the 90km underground railway line, running between Cheltenham in the south-east and Werribee in the south-west, to the 2022 state election. Labor won a third term with an extra seat.

Updated

Victorian opposition delivers budget reply

While we all wait for the federal government to hand down its budget, the Victorian opposition has delivered its reply to last week’s state budget.

Shadow treasurer, Brad Rowswell, blamed the state’s finances on “mismanagement” and “waste” by the Labor government, citing cost overruns on projects such as the Metro Tunnel, the West Gate Tunnel, North East Link and the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games.

He said the state had “no plan” to bring down its debt, forecast to hit $187.8bn in 2027-28, beyond two “Covid debt repayment levies” introduced in last year’s budget:

“They have a plan to pay off their dishonestly labeled Covid debt. But even being generous that plan is only dealing with about 17% of the total debt. Imagine if someone boasted about only planning to pay off 17% of their mortgage with no plan to pay off the rest. They’d lose their house pretty quickly. They aren’t being honest with themselves.

Rowswell said interest payments on the government’s debt by 2027-28 will be $26m each day. He said $26m could pay for:

  • 128 ambulances or

  • Two breast cancer centers or

  • 2,715 elective surgeries or

  • The annual salary of 350 nurses or

  • 510 Victorian police recruits, paramedics or park rangers.

Updated

Allegra Spender finishes her speech with:

Finally, we must heed the words of Jade Young’s mum. She said,

“On a personal level, I want Jade’s girls to grow up believing there is security, goodness, and love in the world. But on another level, I want politicians – both federal and state – to address the gaps in mental healthcare to make for a safer world for our girls and all Australians.”

As parliamentarians, I know we can’t always stop the awful things that happen in our wonderful country, even though I believe every one of us wants to.

Nothing we can do will bring those beautiful people back.

But we can use our heads and our hearts to honour Jade Young’s mum’s words. We can and we must.

There were six people whose beautiful lives were cut short that day. They mattered, and their memories are up to all of us to honour. The whole community, the whole country, and everyone in this place is sorry for their loss.

The house stands in a moment of silence and the condolence motion moves to the Federation Chamber (the spillover chamber for the House of Reps).

Updated

The independent member for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, is giving her condolence motion.

Spender is the local member for Bondi Junction and said there is not a member of her community who doesn’t remember where they were when they heard of the attack.

Spender:

The word I heard most often in the days that passed was “senseless”.

It was an act without sense, without reason – purely destructive of life and love.

But as a community, we cannot let that word “senseless” be the last word.

In the words of Ash Good’s family – as her loved ones come to terms with her immeasurable loss, they celebrate the positive legacy of her 38 years, her practice of gratitude, her diligence and discipline – but most of all, her selfless dedication and care for her loved ones, as demonstrated in her final act as a mother.

We must celebrate the positive legacies of those we have lost. The difference in the world that they created.

The joy and the love. The people they cared for.

The memories that will be cherished. We must also hold onto the heroism and kindness that so many showed on the day in which the prime minister and the leader of the opposition have articulated so beautifully.

For there was one person who sought to do terrible harm, but there were hundreds who did everything they could to protect others, to provide comfort and care, in the darkest hour.

Updated

Peter Dutton also paid tribute to people who responded on the day to help where they could and said police inspector Amy Scott should be awarded an Order of Australia for her actions.

He finishes with:

We will always remember this terrible incident. We will remember it for its tragedy, but tragedy is also revealing.

Amidst the evil, the horror, and the death caused by a murderous rampage, we saw other things too.

We saw presence of mind. We saw fortitude. We saw compassion. And we saw heroism.

We saw the triumph of the human spirit.

We saw us, the Australian people.

We saw the mettle of our character and the magnitude of our camaraderie. We saw exactly what we’re made of, what we’re capable of, in our darkest hours.

And let’s never, ever forget it.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is now giving his condolence motion:

We remember the six victims today to acknowledge their lives’ achievements.

To recognise the joy that they brought to so many. And to mourn all that they were to do or what they would have become.

The tragedy is not just the loss of what was.

The tragedy is the loss of what would and could have been.

Updated

Anthony Albanese:

At the worst of times, we once again saw the best of the Australian character. Remarkable acts of courage.

Remarkable acts of compassion.

Remarkable acts of love.

I spoke with the member for Wentworth [Allegra Spender] that night. It was a very difficult time. And I praised her for the work of a local member that no local member wants to engage with.

It was a very fine representation indeed of her local community at what was a very difficult time.

So, if we have any small solace – and it’s impossible, of course, to think that anything good comes from something like that – but some solace is that humanity really stood tall, I think, on those days – and since, as well, it must be said.

May the survivors heal. May the people who are dealing with trauma and loss recover to the extent that they can. Of course, they’ll never be the same.

And that’s something that they, of course, need to come to terms with.

Updated

Albanese leads condolence motions for Bondi stabbing victims

Ahead of question time, Anthony Albanese is leading a condolence motion for the people who were killed, and injured, at the Bondi Junction Westfield attack:

  • Faraz Ahmed Tahir

  • Pikria Darchia

  • Ash Good

  • Yixuan Cheng

  • Dawn Singleton

  • Jade Young

Albanese:

A month on from the shocking events at Bondi Junction Westfield, the distress has barely faded. The grief never will. It should have been just another Saturday – the unremarkable happiness of people going about their lives, shopping.

That’s so familiar, I think, to just about every Australian. Everything changed in just a few minutes that day. Just a handful of minutes that changed so much forever. We mourn all those whose lives were wrenched from them so brutally, and so pointlessly.

Albanese has also paid tribute to police inspector Amy Scott, who confronted the man who had carried out the stabbing spree at the shopping centre, and shot him after he refused her direction to drop the knife he had raised.

Updated

The new member for Cook, Simon Kennedy, has been officially sworn into the parliament.

Updated

Vandalism of Bendigo Chinese museum ‘disgraceful and disrespectful’, premier says

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has described the vandalism at a Chinese museum in her electorate as “disgraceful and disrespectful”

Police on Tuesday released a statement confirming it was looking for two people who allegedly “used a liquid” to damage $100,000 worth of paintings and statues at Bendigo’s Golden Dragon Museum on 5 May.

The duo – a man and woman – allegedly left two children in the car while they entered the museum at about 1.30pm.

Allan told reporters the alleged incident was “just senseless”. She went on:

It’s disgraceful and it’s disrespectful. Our Golden Dragon Museum is a wonderful place to celebrate Chinese culture and heritage and how Bendigo and the broader goldfields was built off the back of so many Chinese migrants ... and that rich heritage lives on today.

Updated

Some new faces in budget lock-up

But here is a little new tidbit for you – this year, the government has decided to bring in some new media voices in the briefing as it switches up who he speaks to and how it reaches those different audiences.

New media outlets including the Squiz, the Daily Aus and MamaMia will receive briefings on the policies contained in the budget, and I’m told that some very popular (but unnamed) podcasters with large social media followings will also be included in the media briefings.

The (new) media outlets have a combined audience reach of about 3 million people and the podcasters can reach about 2 million people.

So why the switch-up? Well, it has been done before – it is how the Biden administration helped sell its Inflation Reduction Act. The White House has made a point of bringing in social media influencers as well as it attempts to reach new people.

Labor’s own electoral review of the 2022 election also made reference to the need to reach new audiences and to ensure the party was doing more to engage different groups of voters.

And it’s also in response to the lessons from the voice referendum campaign, where the gaps in who was being reached, and how, became abundantly clear.

So expect this strategy to be rolled out more and more as we head to the election – and remember where, and how, it all started.

Updated

More on how budget night unfolds

A few hours in, the treasurer will hold a press conference, where you’ll see what everyone has picked up on from the calibre of the questions.

Once the press conference is held, the news organisations begin knuckling down because the deadline is looming, and headlines and tone are decided, along with what stories are missing.

Cartoonists begin handing in their takes, while the editors make sure everyone is on the same page over what needs to be filed, what the biggest issues are, and what questions are remaining.

The treasurer will then usually individually visit each bureau, along with some harried-looking staff, and deliver the main message once more (which is pretty clear, because included in the embargoed documents is the treasurer’s speech) and take a couple more questions that people didn’t want or get a chance to ask in the big press conference.

The treasurer’s staff will chase the treasurer out to keep to their own schedule and then it is a rush to make sure everything is filed and ready to go by 7.30.

Once the treasurer takes to the floor of the parliament to deliver the budget speech, the embargo officially lifts and the whole thing goes live. The treasurer gives their speech in the parliament and then walks straight into the ABC studios for the traditional post-budget 7.30 interview. At the same time, a conga-line of stakeholders and advocates give their reaction to the budget – it is a literal line of people who queue up in the press gallery at a place called “the boxes” (where media releases used to be delivered before the internet and emails) and give their very quick reactions.

And then that’s it – until Wednesday morning, when every major broadcast network sets up on the parliament lawns and the prime minister, treasurer and their opposition counterparts walk from tent to tent giving interviews.

Updated

Budget day – what happens now?

With the press gallery mostly locked in their offices now – yes, they get toilet breaks, and the coffee cart at the end of the press gallery hallway will be open and taking orders (paid for by the journalist), and they can speak to Treasury boffins who are standing ready to take their questions, and yes, there is food (no, the taxpayer does not pay for it, the news organisation does) – it might be worth looking at how it all works.

The lock-up is mostly for the government’s benefit. It is the only time of the year that the government can control how information is released. And so they guard it tightly. The budget drops in the lead-up to the budget are what the government would like some clear air for, ahead of the budget being delivered. Think of it as the headlines the government wants. News organisations make decisions on how to treat that information – you might have noticed a lot of the Guardian’s coverage filled in the gaps (where possible) of what was NOT going to be in the budget at the same time (and that can take a lot of work).

Once in the lock-up, a Treasury official makes everyone sign a statement acknowledging that breaking the embargo with any of the information they are about to receive is a literal crime.

Phones are taken, the internet is switched off (and this is checked several times during the lock-up) and while there is an intranet to enable Canberra bureaus to communicate with their Sydney motherships, most news organisations have to send their tech gurus to make sure everything is done without breaking any laws.

Before Covid, the media (and approved stakeholders) would all be locked up in parliament’s committee rooms – so media organisations would find themselves in a room with their competitors. This all worked fine, because everyone is working on the same documents, and for the most part it was like an open-book exam, where different organisations are focused on different exam questions.

But since Covid, bureaus are locked up in their individual offices. Treasury officials set up in an area of the press gallery and journalists can head down, state what area they are asking questions about and be sent in the direction of the expert.

Here’s a few articles we prepared earlier.

Updated

The House of Representatives has moved on to the MPs’ airing of the grievances (and fete/fair/event bragging) with the 90-second statements.

This is one of the only times in the parliamentary schedule where MPs can speak on whatever they want (if they manage to get a speaking spot).

You can tell what the main messages of the day are by the statements which are held closest to the start of question time – because that is when the cameras and media start to switch on, and the dream is that the tail end of one of those statements is picked up by the live broadcast.

Updated

OK.

NOW the budget lock-up has begun. (I was 30 minutes early in calling it before – but in my defence, time has no real meaning.)

You’ll see most of Australian media back on X/Twitter at 7.30pm.

Updated

Coalition and Senate crossbench try to force Labor to table ‘secret manual’

The Coalition and Senate crossbench have come together to force the Labor government to table what Liberal senator Simon Birmingham calls “a secret manual distributed by the Prime Minister’s Office to departments instructing them how to avoid answering questions from the Senate”.

Anthony Chisholm tabled it – you can find it here – moments before the Senate was about to vote on a motion to force the government to table it. Which, the Coalition and crossbench would have won.

The document outlines ‘general principles’ for departmental staff on how to answer Senate estimates questions, when it is the job of the department to answer, when it is the minister’s. It reads a little like what my police detective father used to teach me about answering questions – including refer to what is already public, and only answer the question you have been asked.

The document seems to be less orders and more a cheat-sheet – it is full of caveats of ‘where applicable’ and ‘where appropriate’ (almost as though someone had an eye on the whole thing becoming public!).

Birmingham says the whole thing is “very disturbing”.

The revelation of this secret manual brings into question Labor’s ability and willingness to perform the minimum requirements of government.

What Labor had promised was greater transparency, however what it has delivered is secrecy of the highest order.

He wants the guiding principles pulled from every department and will now spend his (post-budget, one would assume) time reviewing it. (Thoughts and prayers to the senator’s staff.)

Updated

Over in the House of Representatives, the house is considering this bill which gives Asio and other security agency workers more protections around protecting the identities of current and former staff.

It also streamlines security clearances and leaves that in the hands of the security agency itself, to further help protect people’s identities and data.

Updated

What is a budget lock-up anyway?

Oops – I got a bit ahead of myself. The lock-up is starting in about 30 minutes. Not 1pm, as I originally thought.

But the rest works

Once the lock-up begins, most of the press gallery (and a bunch of journalists and editors in newsrooms in Sydney) are now under the watchful eyes of a Treasury official, with no input from the outside world.

No phones, no internet, no contact.

Why? Well, once it was because there was sensitive information which could impact markets. But those days are long gone (markets are 24 hours and most can guess at the numbers in the documents). Now it is mostly for the drama – it is the one time of the year the government can control the message by controlling how the information comes out – and no political party is giving that power up.

Updated

Ahhh, have to love the pre-lock-up vibes –Labor senator Anthony Chisholm has just tabled the answers to a bunch of questions on notice from Senate estimates – 15 minutes before most of the press gallery goes into the budget lockup.

Updated

Welfare Rights Centre loses 40% of funding

A NSW community legal centre that helps people adversely impacted by Centrelink decisions will have its funding drop by 40% after the state and federal government did not commit to maintaining its current funding beyond July.

The centre receives 11,000 calls from 3,000 people annually from people facing issues with Centrelink, yet with current funding can only support half those inquiries. Chief executive of Welfare Rights Centre, Katherine Boyle, said the drop in funding will see more left without support.

Boyle said the service was a lifeline for victim-survivors of domestic violence. In the past year, the centre has seen a 20% increase in women and children at risk or experiencing domestic and family violence seeking its help. She added:

Every day, we witness the struggles of women who have had their claims rejected or payments cancelled due to their association with perpetrators of domestic violence. These women turn to us because there is no other service in NSW equipped to navigate the complexities of social security law.

As the federal government prepares its budget following the robodebt royal commission’s findings, it has a prime opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to adequately funding and supporting organisations like the Welfare Rights Centre.

Updated

McBride sentence a ‘bitter pill’, ex-wife Sarah says

As we reported earlier, the former army lawyer, David McBride, was sentenced to five years and eight months in jail shortly before lunch for taking classified defence documents on the Afghanistan war and passing them on to journalists.

As ACT supreme court justice David Mossop read out his ruling, the courtroom erupted. A number of McBride’s supporters began shouting “shame”.

Mossop said “if you don’t be quiet, I’ll clear the court” before finishing his remarks. The court rose and the shouting continued as Mossop left the court room.

ACT corrections officers went to McBride to begin taking him into custody. He was allowed to hug some of his family members and friends, including his ex-wife, Sarah, who was visibly upset.

Outside the court, Sarah said it was a “bitter pill to swallow” and was devastated to now have to share the news with their two daughters. Sarah added one was at school today while the other was overseas on a trip.

For more on this story:

Updated

Speaking on behalf of the Labor government, Anthony Chisholm says:

The Australian government has a zero tolerance approach towards violence and expects all students to act respectfully towards each other antisemitism, Islamophobia and any other form of racism, harassment, discrimination or intimidation must not be allowed to threaten the safety of students and staff in Australian university campuses.

Chisholm said universities are taking action where they have identified a need to. He accuses the Greens of political grandstanding and then asks the motion to be put (voted on).

The government and Coalition will easily defeat the motion to suspend standing orders (meaning the Greens will lose the vote).

Updated

Liberal senator Sarah Henderson has risen to speak against the motion and condemned Mehreen Faruqi “who failed to condemn Hamas”.

Henderson “salutes” Deakin university for asking for the encampment to be dismantled.

Senator accuses Labor of ‘moral bankruptcy’ over Gaza

Back in the Senate, Mehreen Faruqi is moving to suspend standing orders to move the motion that Paul Karp reported on a little earlier (it calls on the government to protect the students participating in university encampments)

Faruqi addresses the Senate and says:

You should be haunted by the slaughter of newborns, toddlers and children in Gaza. You should be haunted by the attacks on hospitals, schools, refugee camps and mass graves. But you are cold, callous and calculating politicians who are instead full of contempt for those protesting this genocide.

You are full of contempt for students who are camping out for Gaza.

The moral bankruptcy of Labor and other so-called leaders in the face of this massacre. Is a stain on our collective conscience.

The Gaza encampment at unis across the continent are a reminder though that all is not lost.

Faruqi asks why politicians are more concerned with the protests than what they are protesting.

Power to the students who have the integrity, the bravery, the humanity that is completely lacking in this government.

Updated

Dan Andrews urges states to adopt recommendations of Victorian royal commission into domestic violence

Former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says recommendations from the state’s 2016 family violence royal commission report should be adopted across other jurisdictions.

Amid a recent spate of Australian women allegedly killed by men in violent attacks, the federal government has ruled out a royal commission. Last month, the federal attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said the government should instead focus on implementing policies it has already identified.

Speaking at a event in Melbourne, alongside domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty, Andrews says Victoria’s inquiry can serve as a national blueprint:

Each of us can share and demand of other governments, the national government and other state and territory governments, that they quite simply adopt each of the 227 recommendations.

It is frustrating to follow the debate in recent weeks and months ... it’s all just sitting there. Grab that.

Andrews says there is “no need to be starting from scratch if you don’t need to”.

Last week, the NSW premier Chris Minns ruled out a royal commission into family violence, saying the government did not have the time and needed to inject funding immediately into the sector.

Updated

Don Farrell claims immunity on documents

Over in the Senate, Don Farrell has said the government will not be supplying information and documents ordered by the Senate over the NDIS legislation negotiations.

Farrell is using a public immunity claim, saying it would impact the discussions with the states and territories.

The Coalition and Greens are on a unity ticket on being scathing about this.

Updated

Qantas cuts Sydney-Shanghai service

Qantas has announced it will cut its Sydney-Shanghai service due to low demand, as it redirects aircraft to more profitable routes.

The airline announced it would suspend the Sydney-Shanghai route from 28 July, less than a year after its post-Covid resumption in October, because “demand has not recovered as anticipated”.

In a statement, the airline said:

Qantas will continue to monitor the Australia-China market closely and will look to return to Shanghai when demand has recovered.

Customers booked to travel on Shanghai flights from 28 July will be contacted and offered a full refund,

Qantas will launch a new route from Brisbane to Manila, beginning from 28 October this year. It will also increase flights to other Asian destinations, with Sydney to Singapore services increasing from 14 to 17 return flights per week from December.

Brisbane to Singapore services will also increase, from seven to nine weekly return flights, from October, while Sydney-Bengaluru flights will increase from five weekly to daily over peak holiday seasons.

Updated

New Greens senator sworn in

The new Greens senator for Victoria, Steph Hodgins-May, has been officially sworn into the Senate.

Hodgins-May replaces Janet Rice (continues the tradition of newly elected Greens MPs (mostly) having double barrel surnames).

Rice is cycling from Melbourne to Canberra to raise awareness of the role people can play in their democracy and I believe she starts that massive ride today.

Updated

Deadlock over deportation bill

Guardian Australia understands there is still no resolution between Labor and the Coalition on the deportation bill, which is listed for Wednesday in the Senate.

In fact, the opposition hasn’t heard back what the government makes of its amendments, which include specifying that people who have legal cases afoot can’t be given a direction to cooperate with deportation and that, before giving a direction in relation to any child, the minister must conduct an assessment of whether the direction is in their best interests.

The Coalition will seek the senate’s support for its amendments.

Updated

David McBride sentenced to five years' jail

David McBride has been sentenced to five years and eight months in jail for his role in stealing classified documents about the Afghanistan war and leaking them to the media.

ACT supreme court justice David Mossop delivered his judgement on Tuesday morning sentencing the former army lawyer to 68 months of imprisonment with a non-parole period of 27 months.

Full story here:

Updated

Parliament gets under way

The bells are ringing signalling the start of the parliament session.

And also signalling that it’s time for the press gallery to wrap up the morning coffees and meeting and start getting ready for lock-up.

There isn’t the big lock ups of old – since Covid, lock-ups have occurred in individual offices (as well as individual sites in Sydney) but the same rules occur – no outside contact until the treasurer stands on the house of reps floor to deliver the budget speech.

Updated

Government response to domestic violence 'tokenistic', teal MPs say

Zali Steggall has described the government’s response to the domestic violence crisis as “good but tokenistic”, calling for more real support in tonight’s budget.

The “community independents” in the lower house (who many refer to by the shorthand “the teals”) held a press conference with women’s safety advocates in Parliament House today, urging more action on violence against women. Steggall, Zoe Daniel, Monique Ryan, Kylea Tink, Sophie Scamps and Kate Chaney were among the speakers calling for more.

Steggall said:

We saw in response to the Bondi attacks and the tragic deaths that we’ve had recently, in relation to domestic violence, the prime minister called a national cabinet. That national cabinet lasted 90 minutes and came out with the extension of a program that was already in existence, that offers essentially $1500 in cash for women looking to set up an entirely new life, with $3500 [in support] ... it’s good, but it’s tokenistic. We have to get going.

She called the weekend announcement about more money for housing “great” but said more was needed.

On budget night we get a lot of announcements. The question is, what kind of delivery are we going to get? Is delivery going to happen with urgency? Or is it going to take 12 to 18 months before a dollar goes out the door?

Scamps said the community independent movement had grown on the back of Coalition government inaction on issues like a national integrity commission and climate change, and warned the movement could pose a threat to the Labor government if it didn’t move more strongly on violence against women.

Scamps said:

They became huge political issues at the last election. I have no doubt it will be a huge issue at the next election and we will continue to drive it.

Updated

Here is what the house will be dealing with today (thanks to the helpful people behind @Aboutthehouse

Greens move Senate motion in solidarity with pro-Palestine university protests

The Greens party room has met and decided to move the following Senate motion in support of university encampments in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The Greens will also be moving in the lower house and Senate for parliament to reject the government’s gas strategy and keeping coal and gas past 2050. They say supporting this is the test for Labor MPs who expressed concern about the gas strategy.

There’s still a standoff with Labor on the offshore gas bill, with the Greens warning they won’t allow the fuel efficiency standards to proceed unless the section fast-tracking offshore gas is removed.

The Greens are also expecting that Senate amendments to increase the asset write-off threshold from $20,000 to $30,000 will be rejected by the lower house, but the Senate will insist on them – meaning this previous Labor budget measure won’t pass.

There are question marks over the deportation bill, after the Coalition called for a suite of amendments. The Greens note that without a deal with the Coalition, there is no guarantee the bill will come to a vote this week.

We understand the bill is also being discussed by the Coalition party room this morning. We’re working out what they’ll do if Labor say no to their amendments.

Updated

David McBride’s actions driven by ‘misguided self-belief’, judge says

We’re getting to the pointy end of Justice David Mossop’s sentencing of former army lawyer David McBride.

After an hour of summarising the written submissions put before the court, Mossop is getting to his findings.

Mossop said he ultimately believed McBride was of “good character” but that he “appears to have become obsessed with the correctness of his own opinions”.

Mossop said his actions were driven by “misguided self-belief” and “he was unable to operate within the legal framework that his duty required him to”.

Updated

Universities ‘can be a place for protest, but must be peaceful’, Victorian premier says

Jacinta Allan is asked what she makes of pro-Palestine protests at university campuses across Victoria. She replies:

I’m calling for calm on university campuses across the state. I say that in the context that universities can be a place for protest, but that protest must be peaceful. It must be respectful and it also shouldn’t be compromising the safety of students who are going to university to further their education and further their opportunities ...

Universities should never, never be a place of violence, and they should most certainly never be a place for antisemitic behaviour. That is not acceptable.

Asked whether anything should be done to limit the use of the chant “from the river to the sea”, which protestors say is rallying cry for freedom for Palestinians, but that many pro-Israeli groups say is a threat for the destruction of Israel, Allan replies:

This is primarily a matter for the federal government, who have been looking at this issue … we continue to support actions that provide a safe and secure environment for students on campus.

Updated

Victoria to ‘look closely’ at NSW family violence bail law changes

Jacinta Allan is asked about a proposal currently being considered in New South Wales to remove the presumption of bail for family violence offenders. She says Victoria will look closely at the proposal:

We already have the toughest bail laws in the country, we already have a very strong regime around this level of offending. But as I have signalled some time ago now, we are looking at what more we can do ... so yes, we will have a look at what NSW has introduced. Bail laws do vary from state to state and one of the outcomes from the national cabinet meeting that was held just two weeks ago was for the states to work together, to learn from each other.

She said police ministers and the federal attorney general met last week to “commence that discussion”.

Updated

Justice David Mossop has continued with his sentencing remarks before delivering his decision against former army lawyer David McBride.

We are over an hour into the remarks so far and Mossop has outlined some of the reasons the commonwealth has argued McBride’s decision to leak secret defence documents to journalists was harmful.

Mossop said there were three main risks – the removal, transportation and storage of secret documents, the disclosure of those documents to three journalists and the publication of those documents on his blog in 2016.

The ACT supreme court judge said the Commonwealth gave evidence that the harm, or potential harm, of the release of the Australian military’s rules of engagement documents meant there was a possibility other unauthorised people could access them.

It also argued the disclosure of such documents could harm Australia’s standing with “foreign partners” resulting in sharing less information. The copying of documents and lax storage of them, such as being kept in storage tubs, could also lead to access by foreign intelligence officials.

Mossop noted the Australian defence force had “taken no steps” to investigate whether any of these risks actually happened. He added there was no evidence to suggest this happened.

The remarks continue.

Updated

Victorian premier announces 827 new homes in expanded Richmond development

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference in Richmond, where she’s announced the government has fast-tracked the planning approvals for the expansion of the Victoria Gardens development.

She says the $780m expansion will see 827 new homes built across six buildings – including 10% dedicated to affordable housing.

The project was submitted as part of the government’s development facilitation program, unveiled last year as part of plans to build 800,000 new homes over the next decade.

Under the program, planning applications for developments valued at over $50m in Melbourne and $15m in regional Victoria are assessed by the state government rather than by local governments, provided they include at least 10% affordable housing.

Allan says since the program was introduced in September, seven residential projects delivering 1,113 homes have been fast tracked. A further 10 applications are currently under assessment, comprising more than 1,000 homes, and 101 projects are in the pre-application phase, comprising more than 33,000 homes.

She says:

We know the key issue in our community right now is either they can’t buy their first home, they can’t find a home close to family, they can’t find a home close to jobs or they’re priced out of the market altogether. That is why we are using every lever we have across government … to build more homes.

Updated

Deakin University requests dismantling of pro-Palestine student encampment

Deakin University has become the first institution in Australia to request the dismantling of its pro-Palestine student encampment, as protestors vow they will “not be moved”.

In a letter sent to organisers from the deputy vice-chancellor of Deakin, Kerrie Parker, the university requested the immediate dismantling and removal of the current encampment to ensure the “safety, security and amenity of all campus users”.

It noted organisers had flagged the camp would run from 7 May to 10 May, a date which had now lapsed, adding the university took its obligations in relation to the health, safety and wellbeing of students, staff and visitors “very seriously”.

The Deakin Gaza Solidarity Encampment called the move “Orwellian” and reiterated its demand that the university immediately divest its ties with the state of Israel and all weapons manufacturers, and for the vice-chancellor to meet with protestors.

While the university insists that our camp has carried on long enough, our demands have been met with not a single response. This shows us that we have not been here for long enough … We will not be moved. We have the right to freedom of speech and protest.”

The shadow education minister, Sarah Henderson, praised Deakin’s “leadership” and urged the federal government and remaining universities to “show the same commitment to the right of every person to access and enjoy a safe and secure learning and working environment”.

Updated

Judge releases reasons for not extending eSafety injunction against X

The federal court yesterday refused to extend an injunction on Elon Musk’s X over 65 tweets containing the video of the Wakeley church stabbing the eSafety commissioner had ordered to be removed globally. We now know why.

In reasons released this morning, Justice Geoffrey Kennett found that forcing a US-based company like X to remove content globally would have “potential consequences for orderly and amicable relations between nations” and most likely the notice would be “ignored or disparaged in other countries”.

He said:

For these reasons, I have come to the view... that the commissioner will not succeed in establishing that compliance with the removal notice entails blocking access to the 65 URLs by all users of X Corp.

He also noted that the removal of the tweets would not stop the video being available widely as it still currently is.

It wasn’t all bad news for the eSafety commissioner, however, with Kennett not agreeing at this stage with X’s argument that the notice issued for the removal of the tweets to X was invalid.

He said there is not a substantial possibility that X will be able to establish that the removal notice is invalid, and while the onus is on the eSafety commissioner to prove validity, there’s not sufficient reason at this stage not to assume the onus can be met.

There is a further case management hearing for the case on Wednesday morning, with a final hearing expected in June.

Updated

The House of Representatives and the Senate will both sit at midday today.

About an hour later, the budget lock up will begin, which is traditionally the quietest time on Australian Twitter, as most of the political media class is locked away for six and a half hours.

Not me though – you will still receive your updates, as normal, as the parliamentary day rolls on.

Updated

What does Anthony Albanese think should happen with the encampments and protests? Does he think they should be shut down?

Albanese said:

Well, it certainly is a matter for the authorities, for the police. I think that – look, we in this country have a right to protest. That’s really important.

It’s important, but it’s important as well that it be respectful. And I say this to people, how they protest reflects on whether that protest is winning support or losing support.

And when people see division like that being deliberately done, for the Jewish community, suffering from increase the rise in antisemitism, they’re going through an incredibly difficult period.

And for people who have relatives in Gaza, I get that this is a distressing time as well. It’s important that there be respectful debate in this country and what we’re seeing at the moment, and you only have to look at any of my social media feeds to see what is hatred, what is ignorance, what is divisive.

And it doesn’t have a place.

You can have different views about the Middle East, and people do, and they should be conducted though in a peaceful and respectful manner.

And it’s beyond me why people would think that it advances their cause to engage in the sort of behaviour that we are seeing.

Updated

In that same interview, Albanese was again asked about the anti-genocide university encampments and the chant “from the river to the sea”. He was not as dismissive as he was in the interview Josh Butler reported on earlier, but he did repeat his assertion that people who use the phrase “wouldn’t be able to find the Jordan on a map”:

Well unfortunately, what that chant says essentially, is that there should be one state. Now from time to time, some people have said that one state should be Israel. And in the case of those people chanting, they’re saying that one state should be Palestine.

And the tragedy here is Israelis and Palestinians have a common interest in being able to live in peace and security.

And I think that, one of the really disappointing things is that I reckon if you asked those people chanting it, heaps of them wouldn’t have a clue, wouldn’t be able to find the Jordan on a map.

And you know, this is a complex issue, but the sort of slogans which are being used, I have heard another chant that was used last night as well, in which I featured heavily in.

Why would a group of people deliberately go towards, in this case pro-Palestinian protesters, go towards a group of Jewish students, so deliberately those groups were brought together? It’s a provocative act, and it’s just like the people who went near the synagogue…(he is interrupted by the next question)


Updated

Albanese says government wants to bring inflation down to ‘around half of where it peaked’

In an interview with Melbourne radio 3AW, Anthony Albanese was asked about cuts to migration and said:

We want to bring it down to around about half of where it peaked. You’ll see a range of measures in tonight’s budget aimed at doing that, including a clamp down on integrity issues when it comes to higher education – that’s really important. The students travelling to Australia to get an education is an important economic resource, it’s also a way which we assist people in the region. Good for Australia, good for those people who are getting a proper education.

But we don’t want the system to be gamed so that it becomes a way where people aren’t getting proper training, or proper skills, proper education, because that undermines the entire system and does not bring credit to Australia. So you’ll see tonight, in tonight’s budget, as part of our higher ed review, a range of measures supporting higher education, including that area as well.

Updated

State and territory Labor MPs ask Albanese government to recognise Palestine

Labor MPs from across the states and territories have written to the foreign minister, Penny Wong, asking the Albanese government to recognise sovereign Palestine:

Updated

I’d just like some cupcakes, but to each their own.

Updated

Albanese suggests pro-Palestine demonstrators ‘wouldn’t be able to find River Jordan on a map’

Anthony Albanese has again condemned the “from the river to the sea” chant heard at pro-Palestine rallies, claiming those voicing the phrase “wouldn’t have a clue”.

Albanese was on a round of pre-budget interviews this morning, landing on Melbourne’s 3AW around 9am. He gave the lines about the budget focusing on cost of living relief and inflation, before the conversation turned to the pro-Palestine university rallies.

Albanese has previously condemned the chant “from the river to the sea”. It’s a phrase protesters say is a rallying cry for freedom for Palestinians, but that many Israeli groups say is a threat for the destruction of Israel.

Albanese said, “unfortunately what that chant says, essentially, is there should be one state. From time to time some people have said that one state should be Israel, and in the case of the people chanting, they’re saying that one state should be Palestine.”

The PM said Israelis and Palestinians had a “common interest” in being able to live in peace and security.

One of the really disappointing things is, I reckon if you asked those people chanting it, heaps of them wouldn’t have a clue, wouldn’t be able to find the [river] Jordan on a map.'

This is a complex issue. But the sort of slogans being used, I’ve heard another chant being used last night as well in which I featured heavily.

Albanese accused some participants at the rallies of “provocative” behaviour, saying some of the acts were a matter for the police.

We in this country have a right to protest, it’s really important, but it’s important as well it be respectful ... how they protest reflects on whether that support is winning support or losing support.

The PM called for “respectful debate”.

You only have to look at any of my social media feeds to see what is hatred, what is ignorance, what is divisive, and it doesn’t have a place.

Updated

Budget’s focus on surplus irresponsible while people are in poverty, Antipoverty Centre says

The Antipoverty Centre has also reacted to the news that Jim Chalmers will be handing down his second surplus, particularly given the rate of jobseeker and other associated payments won’t be raised.

Antipoverty Centre spokesperson and disability support pension recipient Kristin O’Connell said there was “no such thing as a ‘responsible budget’ that left people in poverty”.

People in poverty are not the ones fuelling inflation, and helping us would not hurt the economy.

The treasurer has already signalled he will be announcing inadequate and flawed measures such as energy payments and Commonwealth Rent Assistance that are ostensibly to help welfare recipients but in reality achieve little more than giving the government an unearned veneer of humanity.

We and other community-led organisations have been clear about what we will assess Chalmers’ performance on tonight, and a surplus without meaningful support for people in poverty will give them a failing grade.

Updated

Judge says David McBride ‘did not comply with commonwealth security clearance protocols’ in sentencing remarks

Justice David Mossop is continuing his sentencing remarks this morning in the ACT supreme court ahead of his delivering his judgment against former army lawyer David McBride.

Mossop is detailing some of the events that will contribute to his decision. In one section, Mossop detailed that McBride had removed a total of 235 documents from Australian defence force facilities between May 2014 and December 2015

Of those, 207 documents were classified as secret.

After McBride removed these documents – many of them from the ADF’s operations headquarters north of Canberra in Bungendore – he stored them in four plastic tubs in a cupboard in his lounge room, the judge said.

On one occasion in February 2018, McBride’s house was up for sale and a real estate agent opened the property up for a public viewing.

Mossop said the plastic tubs full of secret military documents remained in the cupboard in the lounge room while members of the public walked through the house unaccompanied.

Mossop said it clearly did not comply with the commonwealth government’s security clearance arrangements.

Updated

(Continued from previous post)

Mary-Anne Thomas says the state has 76 individual health services, which is “twice as many as the rest of Australia combined”:

For instance, New South Wales has 16 or 17. Queensland is similar. One of the issues associated with that is a fracturing and fragmenting of care. Patients are not always treated as close to home as soon as possible and variations in care can compromise safety.

She says all the individual health services are “competing against one another for staff” leading to higher costs:

We’ve got to face this issue of the competition between health services driving costs up and quite frankly paying clinicians costs that just do not meet the pub test. $10,000 for a day for an anaesthetist in a regional hospital is just not acceptable.

Similarly, a 23% increase in the cost of agency staff is not acceptable. We need our health services to work better together to manage their staffing in a way that is cost effective and focused on the delivery of frontline health care.

Thomas also says “too much money” is being spent on “consultancies and PR”, which she plans to rein in.

Updated

Expert report recommends merging some Victorian health services, minister says

Victoria’s health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, says she’s received a report from an expert advisory committee which could see some of the state’s health 76 services merge.

Thomas says she asked the committee in September last year to look at the way the system is designed “to ensure that more Victorians can get care closer to home as soon as possible”. She told reporters outside parliament she’s received their final report and is considering its recommendations:

Obviously there is a lot of consideration to be undertaken before any decisions are made. But I want to be clear, no hospitals will close as a result of this process. What we have at the moment is a situation for instance, where some of our regional hospitals are overflowing yet 45 minutes away we’ll have some small hospitals that have between one to three patients. They should have more patients because we should be working better together so that people can be transferred closer to home as soon as possible. That’s what I want to see in our health service system.

Updated

Queensland housing minister says Albanese government should cut migration

Queensland’s Labor government (which is currently on track for defeat at the October election) has decided to use budget day to ask the Albanese federal Labor government to cut migration to the sunshine state.

As part of its housing policy, Queensland has linked its plans to migration with the housing minister, Meaghan Scanlon, writing in an op-ed in the state’s News Corp daily that there needs to be a slowdown:

We need to have a sensible conversation about migration, and about the amount of funding the Commonwealth can and must deliver to meet the needs of a growing population.

We need this because we want to make sure there is a home for everyone.

Updated

David McBride awaiting sentence

David McBride is awaiting his sentencing after pleading guilty last year to stealing classified documents about the Afghanistan war and leaking them to the media.

Justice David Mossop is delivering his sentencing remarks in the ACT supreme court this morning before he hands down his sentence against the former army lawyer.

At a sentencing hearing last week, the commonwealth revealed it is pursuing jail time of more than two years for McBride.

The courtroom is filled with his supporters and media, one of whom yelled “shame on the court” as the judge entered before being told to be quiet.

Prior to entering the court, McBride told a rally outside the court, “I did not break my oath to the people of Australia and to the soldiers that keep us safe”.

The sentencing will mark the end of a years-long saga beginning in 2014 when McBride began taking documents from defence offices in Canberra in a backpack, with charges first laid against him in 2018 for passing those documents on to journalists at the ABC.

Updated

National EV tax not feasible ‘unless Victoria is satisfied with it’, state treasurer says

Following on from Paul Karp’s piece yesterday on the slow speed at which the federal government is moving to reform road user charges, Pallas says the commonwealth must work with the state on any changes.

Last year, the commonwealth intervened in a case to strike down Victoria’s electric vehicle tax, much to the anger of the state’s treasurer.

Asked if the federal government should get a move on and introduce its own tax for low and zero emissions vehicles, Pallas told reporters outside parliament:

They won’t be doing it unless the state of Victoria is satisfied with it. We control the registration system, we own the roads. I don’t think they’ll be taking the charge without it being satisfactory to the state. I’ve been very clear with the federal government about this.

He says there needs to be a national conversation “about how effectively we move to an appropriate system of charging for the use of our roads”. He goes on:

Clearly, the idea of it applying exclusively to EVs was a matter of concern. I think everybody who pays fuel excise at the moment would say they don’t want to be subject to double taxation. So we’re going to have to work constructively with the commonwealth to come up with a solution. I’m up for that. I just want the commonwealth to recognise they can’t take a windfall in fuel excise and use it to prop up the bottom line.

Fuel excise when it was originally put in by the states was about repairing the road base ... to effectively pay the states for the wear and tear on the road network. That’s over time being taken away from the states, so we get less than a quarter of that money back for the wear and tear on the road base. As a government, we’ve said from the commonwealth, [we are] happy to work in cooperation with you, but the whole idea of usage charges ... has to be about proper repair and maintenance of our own road network.

Updated

Queensland gender ID laws to take effect next month

Historic legislation granting legal recognition to gender diverse Queenslanders will take force next month.

Despite being passed last year, the births, deaths and marriages registration act had yet to get the governor’s assent, the final stage before going into effect. In February Matilda Alexander from Rainbow Families said the delay was putting the reform at risk, with an election due in October.

Attorney general Yvette D’Ath announced this week that the act will take effect on 24 June.

D’Ath said:

We want all Queenslanders to feel respected and recognised for who they are.

This act ensures that people can align their legal identity with their lived identity.

It also provides for recognition of same-sex and gender diverse parents.

There has been a lot of work to prepare for these changes, including significant updates to registry IT systems, policies and practices.

But I’m pleased to say that we’re on course to commence this legislation on 24 June, which will be a momentous occasion for trans and gender diverse people across the state.

This is yet another example of our commitment to the rights of Queensland’s LGBTIQA+ community.”

The law allows people to change their sex on their birth certificate without sexual reassignment surgery, among other reforms.

Updated

Victorian treasurer expects federal funding for priority care clinics

Tim Pallas says he is also expecting the commonwealth will pick up some of the bill for the state’s priority care clinics, which he says were created to fill the gap between GPs and emergency departments.

Pallas says:

I’m really keen to see that the commonwealth, they’re doing more in this space, I hear that ... they will be doing more in the primary care space. I think that was one of the pre-budget speculations.

That’s great. I’ve been working with our health minister, looking at basically the nature of the problem that we’re confronting. What we are seeing is so many people who cannot get access to GPs are basically presenting our emergency departments, people who ordinarily wouldn’t need to be in an emergency department, and therefore constitute a drain on an acute service, if I could put it that way.

That’s not their fault, they’re denied access somewhere else. So as a government, we’ve been keen to provide for improved primary care services in order to take the pressure off our emergency departments.

Updated

Victorian treasurer says Chalmers’ inflation estimate more accurate than Reserve Bank’s

Victoria’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, says he’d like to see cost of living “relief” in the federal budget.

He says:

There is no doubt that people are hurting at the moment. You can see it in the increasing cost of goods. Twelve interest rates in 13 months has had a cumulative effect that has been challenging for everybody. I’m pretty confident that we’re at the top end of the rate cycle now. I’m a little more confident than the Reserve Bank appears to be. I think they’re a little slow in picking up what’s happening in the market. I think the lag in the data is becoming increasingly apparent.

What is interesting is the massive disparity between the Reserve Bank’s assessment on where inflation is at and where the commonwealth thinks it’s at. I think the commonwealth is right.

Updated

Rapper Macklemore joins pro-Palestine student protesters in Sydney

Dipping out of budget news for a moment, and American rapper Macklemore has paid a visit to the University of Sydney while touring Australia to declare his support for pro-Palestine student encampments.

Last week, the artist dropped a surprise political anthem “Hind’s Hall” that backed student protests in the US and called for the president to intervene on Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

“What up?” the rapper says, in a video with student protestors posted to social media.

It’s Macklemore. Just wanted to shout out all the students at Sydney University encampment. Come down. Support. Free Palestine.”

It comes as an open letter from Australian academics and professional university staff in support of student protests has exceeded 500 signatures in less than 24 hours.

The letter, drafted by Monash Staff 4 Palestine, upholds free speech on campuses and rejects media and political characterisations of the protests as antisemitic.

Updated

Coalition ‘not a small-target opposition’, Taylor says

(continued from previous post)

Asked about the government’s overnight drop forecasting a $9bn surplus, Taylor said “what we need is a structural surplus, not a windfall surplus”. He pointed to the opposition opposing the Housing Australia Future Fund, the National Reconstruction Fund and the Indigenous voice referendum as spending the Coalition wouldn’t have backed, but when asked if they would seek to unwind those programs if they won election, Taylor was reticent to commit.

We’ll announce all our policies in the lead-up to the election, but we’ve opposed it in the parliament. We haven’t been frightened to take strong positions as an opposition on many issues.

Asked if the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, would give more policy direction on what a Coalition government would do, Taylor said:

We’ve seen a lot of policies already.

He seemed to draw a link between the opposition’s stand against the referendum and its yet-to-be-detailed plans on nuclear energy.

This has not been a small-target opposition, let’s be clear. We took a position on the referendum when 65% of Australians had a different view, because we took the view that if we argued the case, we’d bring Australians with us. And we did. We did and we’ll continue to do that.

We’re moving towards a major shift of energy policy with nuclear and gas in the shorter term, alongside the renewables investment, record renewables investment we saw when we were in government, not a renewables only strategy that involves 28,000 kilometres of transmission lines, it’s going to be paid for by every Australian, I mean, these are major shifts in direction. And I’ll tell you what we’ll do, we’re going to announce our policies before the election.”

Updated

Shadow treasurer calls previous Labor budgets ‘flops’

The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, says the Coalition isn’t a “small-target opposition” but wouldn’t commit to any new policies being announced in Peter Dutton’s budget reply speech this week.

Taylor was out on the morning media rounds, calling the government’s first two budgets “flops” and saying tonight’s budget needs to do more on cost of living and inflation.

He said:

Both have completely failed to beat, to tame, the cost of living crisis that we continue to see in this country. And only weeks ago, we saw new data on inflation that shows it’s going up, not down.

Meanwhile, this treasurer has said everyone is overreacting. Australians aren’t overreacting with the cost of living crisis they’re facing right now. They are seeing the real pain in their household budgets, they’ve seen a huge reduction in the purchasing power of their pay packets. And they want to see a government that has a plan to beat inflation sustainably. The test for this budget, the first and most important test, is that it has a pathway to tame inflation, having failed twice before.”

Updated

The picture ops are going to just keep on coming on today.

Mike Bowers caught these of Jim Chalmers entering parliament this morning

NSW pharmacists to keep treating uncomplicated UTIs

New South Wales is expanding a program which allows people with uncomplicated UTIs receive treatment from a pharmacist.

After a 12-month successful trial, the government is expanding access from 1 June to any pharmacist who has undergone the required training.

It means people with standard urinary tract infections can head to their chemist to receive the necessary treatment, and not have to visit the doctor.

The health minister, Ryan Park, said the program took pressure off GPs and enabled easier and faster access for people who needed simple treatments:

Enabling pharmacists to do more will mean many women will get timely access to the care they need.

Ensuring continuity of care will be crucial as pharmacy service offerings increase, including strengthened communications between pharmacists and doctors about a patient’s treatment.

Updated

Second surplus ‘not an end in itself’, Chalmers says

Chalmers went on to concede that a second surplus - the $9.8bn figure he will unveil in tonight’s budget, which was dropped out to the media overnight - was “not an end in itself”, saying it was more important to do something with it.

He said:

It’s a demonstration that we’ve been able to get the budget in much better nick, so that we can make room for our priorities including easing the cost of living and investing in a future made in Australia. A second surplus is not an end in itself. It’s an important way that we make room to help people and to invest in the future of our communities.

Asked further about what else the government was doing to ease cost-of-living relief for average Australians, beyond the tax cuts, Chalmers simply said budget-watchers should have “a very close look” at the final documents tonight, again hinting more was coming.

Updated

‘Help is on the way’ for low income earners in budget, treasurer says

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says “help is on the way” when asked about further relief for those on the lowest incomes in tonight’s budget, but wouldn’t be drawn on what that might look like.

The treasurer did his usual budget morning photo op of walking in through the ministerial entrance of Parliament House, in one of the strange little budget traditions we’ve all just accepted (which also include, inexplicably, a strange focus on the treasurer’s jogging habits in the lead-up to the big day).

His entrance was almost upstaged by the prime minister, whose C1 limousine swept into the courtyard just a moment before Chalmers.

When the treasurer took the floor in front of a waiting media pack, he described his budget as one that “eases cost of living pressures, and fights inflation, and invests in a future Australia”.

Chalmers said:

The cost-of-living relief in this budget will be substantial and it will be responsible. There will be a tax cut for every taxpayer. And there will be more help to help people make ends meet.

We asked about those on the lowest incomes, like pensioners or those on jobseeker payments, who likely won’t see much help from the tax cuts. Chalmers coyly answered “help is on the way”, but didn’t give any hints.

The tax cuts are the biggest part of the cost-of-living relief in the budget, but not the only part of the cost of living relief in the budget. Our big priority here is to put the people front and centre. We know that people are doing it tough and that’s why more help is on the way tonight.

Updated

Wong announces more sanctions against Iranians

The foreign minister, Penny Wong, has announced targeted sanctions against Iranians and Iranian entities.

In a statement Wong said the government was imposing sanctions on another five Iranian individuals and three entities “in response to Iran’s destabilising behaviour”.

From the statement:

Senior officials sanctioned today include Iran’s Defence Minister, Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, and the Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Qods Force, Brigadier General Esmail Qaani. The IRGC is a malignant actor that has long been a threat to international security, and to its own people.

Those sanctioned also include Iranian senior officials, businesspeople and companies that have contributed to the development of Iran’s missile and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) programs. Iran’s proliferation and provision of these technologies to its proxies has fostered instability across the region for many years.

Targeted entities include the IRGC Navy, which seized an Israeli-linked (Portuguese-flagged) civilian vessel in international waters on 13 April 2024. Australia continues to call for the immediate release of the ship and its crew.

Today’s listing means there are now 90 Iranian linked individuals and 100 Iranian linked entities sanctioned by the Albanese government.

Updated

‘People are really excited about it’: Victoria rolling out digital driver’s licences

Victorian roads minister, Melissa Horne, is speaking outside Victorian parliament about the rollout of digital driver’s licences. She says:

People are really excited about it. We’ve done a couple of things to make sure it is as secure as possible. So over the last few months, we’ve had a group of people doing a process called red teaming. That’s basically where you get a group of hackers to come on in and actually see if they can hack the system so that we can actually make sure that this is absolutely as secure as possible.

Horne says the team of hackers found “some quirks in the software” that have been “ironed out”.

She says there are so safety features which allow people to conceal their personal details when using their digital licence:

It’s your full driver’s licence, so that you can show anyone exactly what your licence entails and all the details on that. Secondly, it [displays] an identity sort of card so that if you’re going to a post office to pick up a parcel or something like that, you may not necessarily want to disclose all the details on your driver’s licence, such as your driver’s licence number, for example, or, in the case of people probably much younger than me who need to get into a venue over when they’re over 18. They can just show the proof of age.

Updated

Housing and grocery relief top budget priorities for constituents, independent MP says

Independent Curtin MP, Kate Chaney, has spoken to the ABC about what her constituents wanted out of the budget:

I did a survey in the last week asking people about how cost-of-living pressures are affecting them and what they would like to see, and the two things that came out on top were tax reform so it’s easier to buy a home than an investment property, and also … grocery relief and tax reform were some of the things people wanted to see.

Oh, the other thing was more social and affordable housing.

Updated

Anthony Albanese has popped up on budget day to speak to Brisbane radio B105.

The topics:

  • “Getting laid for the nation”, also referred to as “shag our way out of it” (Jim Chalmers telling people to have more babies).

  • Jim Chalmers being a proud Queenslander.

  • The Broncos.

  • The Rabbitohs.

  • The budget for Albanese’s wedding (it won’t be as large as Kyle Sandilands’, but it won’t have a cash bar).

  • The ring he designed for his partner, Jodie Haydon.

  • The NRL grand final ring.

  • PNG maybe joining the NRL which the host explains as “the rumour is that it could actually help keep China away”, which is a very succinct way of describing sports diplomacy.

  • Kokoda.

Updated

Governments ‘need to respond to challenges as they arise’, McKim says

Nick McKim said he believed Australians were ready to have serious conversations about changing how things are done:

I think Australians absolutely understand that circumstances change. So since the last election, we’ve seen a record series of interest rate rises, we’ve seen rents going through the roof, we’ve seen cost-of-living pressures.

Those things happened since the last election.

People understand that governments need to respond to the challenges as they arise. And honestly, I think a government that actually took significant action to assist with cost-of-living pressures, stopping the supermarkets’ price gouging, putting dental and mental health in the Medicare, doing something serious on wiping student debt – I think those (policies) will be popular and I think they would be genuine assistance to people who need it most.

Updated

Nick McKim said he agrees with EY chief economist, Cherelle Murphy, who says that you can look after people without impacting inflation by taking the money you are spending on people who don’t need it, and redirecting it to people who do. (Therefore it is the same pool of money, but targeted differently.)

McKim:

For example, you could end the massive tax breaks for property investors who own multiple investment properties then put in place a rent freeze and a rent cap, for example.

You could tax billionaires and CEOs on the basis of their wealth and you could use that revenue to raise income support, which would lift a large number of Australians out of the grinding poverty that they experience every day.

I mean, budgets are about political choices. Labor can absolutely do those things. It’s just choosing not to.

Updated

Surplus shows Labor ‘prioritising political benefit’ over investment, Greens senator says

Does the Greens economics spokesperson, Nick McKim, welcome the surplus?

He tells ABC radio: no, no he does not. But for different reasons than Angus Taylor, obviously.

No, certainly not. I mean, what the surplus shows is that they’re prioritising their own political benefit over investing in the kind of programs that would provide genuine help to people who are really doing it tough at the moment.

So what you’re going to see in the budget tonight is that having talked up an absolute storm on things like climate change and on things like cost of living, Labor is simply not prepared to take the action necessary to respond to those challenges that the urgency and the scale that is required.

Updated

Budget not doing enough to target inflation, shadow treasurer says

Angus Taylor is still holding on to the inflation dragon (inflation is given the persona of a dragon because it needs to be “tamed” and can lay dormant for many years, before roaring back, setting the economy on fire, before it can once again be sent back to its cave. I didn’t invent the analogy, just passing on the info) as proof Labor can’t manage the economy.

Inflation is an issue across the world. This isn’t happening in isolation.

Taylor says that people seeing the budget will want to see relief from cost-of-living pressures (at the same time, though, the Coalition does not support direct payments, as they say it would be inflationary):

I think what Australians want to see in this budget and from this government is the taming of the homegrown inflation that’s been raging so much across this country. That’s the overwhelming issue we see as we get out and about.

Sabra Lane says: “it’s actually come down”. (It peaked at 7.8% in December 2022)

Taylor:

Well, it’s still well above target.

(the target band is 2-3% and inflation is currently 3.6%)

They promised that they were going to beat it. There’s no sign of that yet. It’s nowhere near the target range.

(it is 0.6% above the target range)

And of course the Reserve Bank just in the last week or so has set off the warning bells, telling us that this is a very serious problem right now. It is not beaten.

And yet the treasurer is saying everybody’s overreacting – well, Australians aren’t overreacting to the pressures they’re feeling right now.

Updated

Budget surplus a result of Coalition government policies, shadow treasurer says

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor is not giving the Labor government any credit for its second surplus.

Taylor told ABC radio that it was the work his government did that set this up for Labor:

The key to achieving ongoing buy balance is to make sure that your economy is growing faster than your spending. That’s what we did between 2013 and 2019.

The government is benefiting from from that being done during that time period.

And that ensures that you can get back to structural balance.

So no credit?

Well, the reporting we’re seeing today is that it’s a sea of red. And we’ll see – we haven’t seen the final numbers.

But that’s not what we need if you want to tame inflation.

You’ve got to get the budget back into balance. You’ve got to make sure that there’s restraint in the sense of ensuring that the economy is growing faster than spending.

So far, we haven’t seen that from Labor budgets.

Updated

Budget ‘puts people front and centre’, Chalmers says

Jim Chalmers said he wasn’t focused on the politics, but the economics:

My job is to get the economics right and I’m confident that we have in this budget, and our job as a government is to put the people front and centre and that’s precisely what we’ve done as we’ve put this budget together.

I think if you make the right decisions for the right reasons – you concentrate on the economic cycle, not the political cycle – the politics and the pundits will take care of themselves.

Updated

Chalmers flags budget investment in housing, Medicare and skills sector

Jim Chalmers has already released the information that this budget will have a surplus of $9.3bn. That’s the second surplus he has handed down (back to back) but it has been criticised by people who question why the government is refusing to raise fixed incomes, while forgoing billions in tax cuts, spending billions on Aukus, and then holding money back (a budget surplus is money governments are not spending on services).

Chalmers told ABC radio:

There’s always a lot of opinions and therefore is a lot of people who’d like you to spend more or less on a particular policy. I think that just comes with the job. What people can expect to see tonight, in addition to that primary focus on cost of living, and the focus on investing in the future and fighting inflation, is there’ll be important investments in more homes for Australians.

There’ll be big investments in Medicare and the care economy, in universities and skills and in the industries and jobs which will power the future.

Updated

Speaking of the deportation bill and Australia’s borders, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie and the independent Kooyong independent MP, Dr Monique Ryan, had a “debate” on Channel Nine this morning, where McKenzie used the latest arrival of Vietnamese asylum seekers near Broome as proof Labor had “lost control of the borders”.

With a global economic downturn, increased impacts from natural disasters and climate changes, conflicts and shifts to more authoritarian governments occurring across the world, people seeking asylum is not something limited to Australia. It is happening across the world.

McKenzie trotted out the usual lines about cost cutting and not being “tough” enough on borders:

We need this government to get serious about our borders and to keep people safe. We’ve had enough.

Ryan disagreed:

We don’t know what happened during the last government in terms of how many people came to our borders, but I do know that the government has actually increased spending on border protection since it came to office in May 2022.

So what Senator McKenzie just said was not true. And, you know, the reality is that we have borders. People are always going to come to this country.

We’re going to manage them and we should manage them humanely… (McKenzie interrupts)

…no, it’s an issue. But we managed it sensitively and humanely and I think this, this faux outrage that comes from the conservatives every single time someone seeks asylum in this country is inappropriate and it’s inhumane.

Updated

Good morning

Welcome to the 2024 budget day, where Australia’s 41st treasurer (41.5, if you count Scott Morrison’s second go around), Jim Chalmers, will hand down his third budget.

That’s a lot of numbers for an intro, so here is what you need to know; there will be a projected $9.3bn surplus, Treasury anticipates a return to the RBA’s inflation band (3%) by the end of the year and there is no increase to the base rate of jobseeker.

Most of everything else will be revealed at 7.30 when the treasurer takes to the floor of the parliament.

The budget lock-up starts from 1pm, so you can expect most of social media to go quiet, but not your dedicated politics blog – Politics Live will continue throughout the day and into the night, bringing you all your political news.

The parliament will sit as usual and top of the agenda will be Labor’s deportation bill, which was held up by the coalition at the last sitting of the parliament, when the opposition joined with the Greens to send the bill to a committee.

That report is back and the debate will continue in the Senate, with both sides pointing the finger at the other for the issue being created in the first place. Refugee advocates continue to say the bill’s powers are too broad and risk sending people back to countries they have no connection with, or where their lives will be in danger.

But if the government gets the coalition’s support, which is the most likely outcome, then the Greens and the crossbench’s attempts to improve the legislation will be a moot point.

We’ll bring you all those updates as they come, as well as everything else happening in the political sphere.

Ready?

Let’s get into it.

Updated

Former army lawyer David McBride to find out his fate today

The man who leaked classified military documents that revealed allegations Australian soldiers committed war crimes in Afghanistan will find out his punishment after pleading guilty, Australian Associated Press reports.

David McBride pleaded guilty to stealing classified material and leaking it to journalists.

The prosecution has pushed for the former military lawyer to spend a minimum of two-years behind bars to reflect the severity of his crime but his lawyers argued for leniency, saying what he did was in the public interest.

Justice David Mossop will hand down his decision in the ACT supreme court today.

The justice also has the option to impose a suspended prison sentence or an order to serve his time in the community.

In sentencing hearings, McBride’s barrister Stephen Odgers SC argued his “impaired emotional wellbeing” due to PTSD and substance abuse issues contributed to his decision to disclose the documents.

McBride felt he had a public duty to do so, he contended.

But prosecutor Trish McDonald countered this, saying McBride had maintained he did the right thing after getting his mental health under control and recovering from his abuse issues.

McBride not only breached defence protocol but his duty as a lawyer to not disclose confidential information, she argued.

Further, he was motivated by “personal vindication” to show he knew more than others, the prosecutor told the court.

Updated

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of another budget day. I’m Martin Farrer and of course the big event is later on today when the treasurer hands down his budget.

But in the meantime there will be plenty of news to cover, from Canberra and around the country. I’ll be bringing you some of the best overnight news lines before Amy Remeikis takes the helm.

Anthony Albanese is calling today’s budget one for “every Australian” and it projects the first back-to-back surplus since the global financial crisis. Jim Chalmers hands down the federal budget in Parliament tonight. The $9.3bn surplus for 2023-24 follows last year’s $22bn surplus. Let budget day begin.

On the financial markets, BHP has failed for a second time to buy Anglo American after the London-listed mining rival rejected an improved offer of A$65bn. BHP is hoping that swallowing up Anglo – which has significant copper assets – will strengthen its position in the commodities sector. The price of copper has surged recently, because it is a crucial raw material as the global economy attempts to transition to low-carbon energy.

Bosses at Woolworths will be rushing to try to have shelves restocked this morning after a “terrible” IT problem left stores empty of fruit and vegetables in parts of Queensland. Customers went on social media to comment on the bare shelves which were reminiscent of the early days of the Covid pandemic. Paul Harker, the chief commercial officer, said the problem came down to a “warehouse management system upgrade” that had gone wrong. “We’ve had a terrible IT problem,” Harker said, adding it had caused “carnage”.

Updated

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