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NSW Coalition unveils shadow ministry list
Tamsin Rose
New South Wales Nationals MP Paul Toole has retained his position on the frontbench after being axed as party leader in favour of Dugald Saunders.
The state Coalition has this morning unveiled its shadow ministry list after a long night of negotiations following the leadership change.
Toole has retained the police portfolio and Saunders has picked up regional NSW.
Kellie Sloane has been elevated to the frontbench and handed the environment portfolio just weeks after being elected into parliament for Vaucluse.
The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, will hold a press conference at parliament this morning before the 58th parliament is opened later today.
Key events
Josh Butler
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the cost of living package in tonight’s budget will be wider than speculated, as he talked up the benefits of the government’s financial plan for both the most vulnerable people as well as “middle Australia” – as well as finally confirming the worst-kept secret in Canberra, that the budget will show a surplus.
Labor or Liberal, Budget day has a few standard traditions. On the day, the treasurer does a staged walk in through the ministerial entrance of Parliament House, along a pond set into the stone floor, and holds a quick press conference. It’s early May in Canberra, so it’s usually chilly as heck (today was the first day your correspondent had to scrape ice off the car windscreen – an omen? We’ll tell you after 7.30pm).
Chalmers stuck to the tradition and in a few brief comments before walking in, he told waiting journalists that there would be a surplus projected in tonight’s budget. Just minutes earlier, PM Anthony Albanese told 5AA radio that he wouldn’t confirm the surplus, and told the hosts to wait for the treasurer’s speech tonight.
“This is a responsible budget which helps people doing it tough and sets Australia up for the future. It’s carefully calibrated to address cost of living pressures in our communities, rather than add to them,” Chalmers said.
“It’s a budget in Labor’s best traditions but also Australia’s best traditions, help for the vulnerable, broadening and extending more opportunities, and investing in the future of our country and its people.”
Who does Angus Taylor think are getting ‘handouts’? (I think you can guess)
We’ll see exactly who it is tonight.
But you know, if I take Jobseeker as an example. Jobseeker is indexed, it goes up with inflation. There was a $50 a fortnight increase under our government during the pandemic at an appropriate time.
But we have right now 430,000 more than 430,000 job vacancies. That’s almost one job vacancy for every unemployed person in Australia. We haven’t seen that sort of ratio in living memory.
So the task here is simple. Help people into a job, that raises their income and it takes pressure off inflation. That’s the kind of policy we need to see.
Not a policy where people are encouraged not to get into work. So this is … we need to see a budget that’s focused on the pressures that we are facing now.
A budget that unites all Australians. A Budget where more Australians are in a job. A Budget where they earn higher pay because they’re earning that pay. I mean, this is a very simple principle. It’s a good traditional Liberal National principle. That’s how you solve inflation. The problem with Labor governments is they’ve never been able to solve these sorts of inflationary pressures because their natural instinct is to throw money around and that makes the situation worse.
It shouldn’t need to be said “again” but it is not as simple as there are X amount of jobs and X amount of people on jobseeker and therefore there is a job for everyone. There are plenty of people on jobseeker who have chronic health issues, disabilities, caring responsibilities, issues with transport, different skill levels to what the market wants, language barriers – all sorts of things.
‘A drover’s dog could deliver a budget surplus this year,’ Angus Taylor says
This is a serious take from the shadow treasurer who seems to be hoping that people don’t really know how budgets work and that it uses tax payments to help fund things and that includes things that might help different groups of people.
You can actually see how much of your tax goes to different parts of the budget in your tax return. And you will see that most of it goes to things like health and education with a very small part going to social security. And it is how a progressive tax system is supposed to work – if you earn more, you should pay more tax to help those who do not earn as much. It’s about fairness.
Angus Taylor:
[Australians] don’t want to see a budget that divides between those who get a hand out and those who pay for it. That is not the budget that Australia needs right now. There are specific tests within that which are very important. We don’t just need to see a budget surplus this year. A drover’s dog could deliver a budget surplus this year. We need to see budget balance across the forwards and that will take pressure off inflation on a sustainable basis.
The treasurer has completed the “walk into parliament on budget day holding the budget” phase of the day.
Jim Chalmers says the cost-of-living relief will go wider than what has been speculated – and will also help “middle Australia”.
The backbencher poses with the “finance minister and treasurer ahead of the budget for social media content” photos always has an element of “we paid for the meet and greet at Comic Con” vibe to it.
Matt Canavan brings lump of coal to work
For “reasons”, LNP senator Matt Canavan has brought a lump of coal to parliament and is showing it off on Sky News.
So I guess the Nats are coping really well today (and in general).
Very normal behaviour. And also – proof that there don’t seem to be that many new tricks in that bag. Scott Morrison did his “this is coal, don’t be afraid” speech to the parliament in 2017.
Angus Taylor has released a statement on what he wants out of the budget:
A drover’s dog could deliver a surplus with the record revenue being served up to Labor as part of this budget.
Labor should focus on not just delivering one surplus but maintaining it over the forward estimates as well. The only way this government can do that is by putting the interests of Australians first and resisting traditional Labor principles of higher taxes and higher spending.
The challenge of inflation is that spending more just makes it worse. Fighting inflation with handouts is like putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. The government must address the source of inflation, not the symptoms.
If the Labor government was serious about tackling inflation, it would build on the Coalition’s strong economic management and restore the fiscal guardrails to the budget, including restoring the goal of budget balance into the budget and the tax-to-GDP cap.
We have updated our “you be the treasurer” tool because Nick Evershed and Andy Ball are geniuses.
What would you spend money on?
CBA posts $2.6bn profit amid rising mortgage stress
Jonathan Barrett
Commonwealth Bank has warned that customers are under strain from rising borrowing and living costs after recording a $2.6bn cash profit for the March quarter, up 10% from a year earlier.
Australia’s biggest lender said loan impairments were edging higher and that it was preparing for increasing customer stress.
Many of our customers are feeling the strain of higher interest rates and the rising cost of living. We remain committed to supporting our customers through these challenges,” CBA chief executive Matt Comyn said.
As higher interest rates impact the Australian economy in the period ahead, we expect economic growth to continue to moderate.
The period of rising interest rates dating to May last year has provided a powerful tailwind to bank profits, with Australia’s biggest financial institutions cashing in on the difference between interest collected on loans and interest paid to fund them, primarily from deposits.
CBA’s quarterly results, however, show that its profit margins have started to decrease amid more competition in the mortgage market.
The cash profit result is largely in line with analyst forecasts.
Coalition call on China to release Cheng Lei
Outside of budget news for a moment, and Peter Dutton and Simon Birmingham have released a statement calling for the Chinese government to bring “closure to the case of Australian citizen Ms Cheng Lei and released her from detention”.
Daniel Hurst has the latest here:
Dutton and Birmingham says the Coalition will continue to provide bipartisan support to the government in working to end the detention.
It is impossible for any of us outside this situation to imagine the physical and emotional trauma of being detained for such a long period of time.
Most disturbing is Ms Cheng’s continued separation from her children. Compassion, as well as justice, should see her allowed to return home to give a Mum’s love to her children.
The Coalition appreciates the sensitivity and complexity of a consular case such as this. We acknowledge that considerable effort has been applied under this government and the former government.
The same applies to the case of Dr Yang Hengjun (Dr Yang Jun) who was “detained in China in circumstances similar to Ms Cheng. Dr Yang similarly deserves to have justice served and to be released.”
The Coalition continues to provide bipartisan support to the Albanese Government to do all that is possible to secure the release of both Ms Cheng and Dr Yang.
We hold Ms Cheng, Dr Yang and their families in our thoughts during this difficult time.
NSW Coalition unveils shadow ministry list
Tamsin Rose
New South Wales Nationals MP Paul Toole has retained his position on the frontbench after being axed as party leader in favour of Dugald Saunders.
The state Coalition has this morning unveiled its shadow ministry list after a long night of negotiations following the leadership change.
Toole has retained the police portfolio and Saunders has picked up regional NSW.
Kellie Sloane has been elevated to the frontbench and handed the environment portfolio just weeks after being elected into parliament for Vaucluse.
The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, will hold a press conference at parliament this morning before the 58th parliament is opened later today.
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