Budget 2025 live updates: Dutton calls Labor’s tax cuts ‘cruel hoax’; Australia politics news and federal budget reaction
Dutton says Labor’s tax cuts a ‘cruel hoax’
Peter Dutton is now on ABC AM. We know the opposition won’t support the top-up tax cuts, which the Coalition has called a “cruel hoax” and a measure for “the next five weeks, not five years”.
The opposition leader repeats those same lines.
Dutton also won’t give away whether the Coalition will offer an alternative tax package (as the Liberals have continuously said tax would be lower under them). He says more will be revealed during his budget reply tomorrow night.
The mandate I see for the next election is around making sure that we can provide support to families in a cost of living crisis that Labor’s created. And that means fixing our energy system. It means providing hope for young Australians in terms of home ownership. So that means cutting back on the massive, big Australia policy that has been implemented by stealth under the Albanese government.
The Coalition has kept bringing migration numbers into the debate – that they’re having an impact on the cost of living and housing (but experts have previously said migration doesn’t have a significant impact, and can pull more money out of the economy).
It’s an area they see as a policy strength they have over Labor – and you can expect to see more of that debate during the election campaign.
Key events
Treasurer Jim Chalmers was asked on RN Breakfast why the government hadn’t lifted the rate of jobseeker, and instead chose to cut taxes.
Chalmers said jobseeker is indexed (which means it automatically goes up every year – though advocates have said it’s by not nearly enough), while taxes are not.
He also argues that other measures for health and education have helped those on jobseeker payments.
The single rate of job seeker, I think from memory, is $138 higher than when we came to office. And part of that, but not all of that, is that we gave a permanent increase to job seeker in one of our budgets, we found room to do that from budget to budget, you use a different combination of ways to help with the cost of living in this budget, tax cuts for every taxpayer, strengthening Medicare, because more bulk billing means less pressure on families. Cheaper medicines, cutting student debt and the energy rebates as well.
Cait Kelly
Antipoverty Centre spokesperson and Disability Support Pension recipient Kristin O’Connell said:
This is an irresponsible budget that once again has betrayed millions of welfare recipients and left us in deep poverty – poverty that causes sickness, homelessness and suicides. This budget puts the nail in the coffin of Anthony Albanese’s cruel, false promise to leave no one behind.
So-called energy bill relief does nothing to help when energy companies keep ratcheting up prices. The government needs to stop pretending to help poor people with more handouts for big business, landlords and corporate charities.
For people on Centrelink payments life is harder now than it was three years ago, and this budget does nothing to change that.
Cait Kelly
Welfare groups have accused the government of leaving the poorest Australians behind by not lifting the rate of welfare payments.
Economic Justice Australia CEO Kate Allingham says the cost of living relief in the budget, including the $150 energy rebate and cutting the cost of medicines, will do little to alleviate pressure.
Allingham said leaving vulnerable groups out is an “act of cruelty”.
There are more than 1.5 million Australians who are living off working-age payments such as JobSeeker, Youth Allowance and parenting payments. As an example, the base rate for JobSeeker is $390.55 per week. Routine indexation that took place last week increased this by $1.55 per week. That is just not enough money for a person to live on.
Carers, parents, students, people living with a disability or illness, volunteers, people in crisis, people who can’t work, low-wage workers or those who are looking to find employment – these are people that rely on our social security system. We should be investing in a system that financially supports people when they need it.
It is an act of cruelty, to put out a Budget promising to assist those struggling through the cost-of-living crisis and yet to completely ignore those most in need of economic relief.
Budget bolsters Australia against global shockwaves – Chalmers
On Donald Trump’s tariffs and the economic impacts of that, Chalmers says the budget has been designed to help insulate our economy against global shocks.
Some of that is what the government has been saying before about diversifying trade, and putting our export eggs into more baskets.
The other part of that, Chalmers says, is bolstering manufacturing in Australia.
Are the tariffs keeping him up at night? asks Sally Sara. The treasurer said:
These escalating trade tensions are obviously keeping us awake at night, because trade tensions are bad for growth and they’re bad for inflation. They are a big part, but not the only part of the global economic uncertainty, which does cast a dark shadow, not just over our budget and our economy but the budgets and economies of the world.
Chalmers adds he still believes the economy will continue to grow – which is why the government keeps saying it has “turned a corner”.
Small business group ‘disappointed’ at budget
The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (Cosboa) told RN Breakfast this morning it was “shocked and quite disappointed” the budget didn’t have more for small business, and didn’t bring certainty on the instant asset write-off.
Cosboa CEO Luke Achterstraat told the program:
The government’s trying to make reassurances that they’ll have more to say about the instant asset write-off in coming weeks. But we’ve said that we need certainty about this program … So we were quite shocked and quite disappointed that, you know, the budget did not cater for that last night.
Sally Sara put that a little earlier this morning to Jim Chalmers, who blames the Coalition. The treasurer said:
If Luke is looking for certainty, then he should call the Liberal party and tell them to stop holding up the earlier round of instant asset write-off for small businesses.
We are enthusiastic supporters of small business, whether it’s the instant asset write-off we’ve been trying to legislate, whether it’s the energy bill relief, whether it’s the competition policy reform to try and level the playing field, changes to the relevant acts to make it easier for small business.
Tax cut tease? Dutton says ‘significant announcement’ coming in budget reply
We haven’t gotten any details out of the Coalition on whether they’ll offer tax cuts, but Dutton did give us something of a forward sizzle on the budget reply tomorrow night.
Thursday night will be a big night, because we’ll make a very significant announcement, and it will be about how we can help Australian families deal with Labor’s cost of living crisis.
A “significant announcement” – we’ll try and see if we can get any more hints as to what that will be.
But Dutton adds that on Thursday he’ll “start” to detail out the Coalition’s plan, but there’ll more outlined during the election campaign
PM says government will work ‘constructively’ with Queensland on 2032 Games
We’ve also had some reaction to the Queensland Olympics announcement that state premier David Crisafulli made yesterday.
Albanese told News Breakfast a bit earlier that the government would continue to work “constructively” with the state for the Games.
Our funding is is there for the Queensland Olympics. We’ll work constructively with the premier, we know that Brisbane 2032 Games is an opportunity for Queensland – and importantly an opportunity for the nation – to showcase us to the world, just as Sydney 2000 and Melbourne 1956 did. I’m sure they’ll be a tremendous success and we’ll work constructively with Queensland.
Meanwhile, Dutton was asked on News Breakfast whether building a stadium at Victoria Park was “a good idea”. He said:
I’m really excited about the announcement that the premier made yesterday. It’s been a couple of years of stuffing around and the premier, I think, has finally put out a plan which we can all accept, and which now we can get on with constructing. I think that the 2032 Games will be an inspiration…
David Crisafulli has nailed it, and let’s get on with building it now and build a great opportunity for our country.
Dutton reiterates public service cuts target of 40,000
What about public servants?
The opposition has waged a war against the public service, saying they’ll cut down staff and make most of them come back and work from the office.
Dutton tells News Breakfast he wants “efficiency” in the public service and will look to save money from the public service growth that’s been seen over the past few years.
More than 3,000 public servants have been added in last night’s budget – which the government says is necessary (and you can read the details of that here).
Host James Glenday asks: “Just to be specific – about 40,000 is the target to cut?”
Dutton replies:
That’s exactly right, and we’ve been very open and honest with that. Because we want an efficient public service, but growing by 40,000 the number of public servants in Canberra is not going to help families put food on the table or deliver the services that they need as a family or as a pensioner. And we will always manage the economy more effectively, and we will always keep Australians safe.
Budget a ‘missed opportunity’ – Dutton
The opposition leader is focusing on energy, migration, housing and security in his criticism of the budget.
On ABC News Breakfast Dutton says the budget is a “missed opportunity” to properly address those issues:
Labor’s created not just an economic crisis, not just a housing crisis, but a crisis of confidence…
There’s nothing structural around the energy system of trying to address grocery price problems that people are experiencing every day in their own budgets. And that’s the missed opportunity of this budget.
In this, and other interviews this morning, Dutton has said the opposition’s nuclear policy will bring down energy prices and be 44% cheaper than a renewable heavy grid.
You can read more about the facts of the Coalition’s nuclear policy here:
New tax cut a ‘rounding error’ – Dutton
Peter Dutton has moved over to Sky News – the gist of the interview is: you’ll here more during the budget reply on Thursday.
Host Pete Stefanovic tries to get answers on whether the Coalition will introduce tax cuts (something every journalist in the press gallery has been chasing), and when the opposition would be able to get the budget back to surplus.
Dutton skirts the question on tax cuts and says:
I’ll provide my response on Thursday night. I think the fact is that the government offering 70 cents a week in 15 months’ time is a cruel hoax. It’s not 70 cents a day, either way. It’s just a rounding error for families.
I believe calling the tax cut top up a “rounding error” is a new one – we’ll see how many times it’s repeated.
Tax cut top-up will help households under pressure – PM
The government is trying to remain optimistic about the budget and the economy, despite the growing deficits.
Albanese and Chalmers are both emphasising that the top-up tax cuts, in conjunction with their other policies on health and education, will make a difference for households.
Are the tax cuts designed to win votes? Albanese says no, telling ABC News Breakfast:
All of these measures are aimed at assisting Australians at a time when people are under financial pressure. We’re turning the corners. The economic figures that were put in the budget last night show that inflation, which had a six in front of it, now is at 2.4. Employment is continuing to grow, with 1.1 million jobs created.
We’re continuing to see positive growth, real wages increasing. All of those measures mean that people will feel that support which is there, and the government is doing our bit by adding a top-up, if you like, for the tax cuts that we introduced last year.
The economy turning a corner was a key moment in Chalmers’ budget speech last night too – and you’ll probably hear more of it in the lead-up to the election.
Budget weather warms PM
Albanese and Chalmers are doing their interviews this morning from a Parliament House courtyard.
While the earlier budget (in March rather than the normal time slot of May) means the budget tree isn’t a stunning shade of red and orange, it does mean it’s not as freezing as it often is – something Albanese told ABC News Breakfast he’s pretty grateful for.
One advantage that we have here in having a March budget is that it is a little bit warmer than it usually is in May. So I think that it is not a bad idea to maybe continue this!
Lane also asks Dutton about the leaking coming out of his party room – which you can read more about from my colleague Henry Belot here:
Does Dutton have his house in order? He says:
When you look at where we are as an opposition, we are in the most significant position that an opposition has been in first term opposition’s been in since 1931, we’re on the cusp of bringing to an end a bad first term government.
We have a sense of unity, as people have seen over the course over the last two and a half years, and not every day is going to be a perfect day in opposition, I can promise you. But what we’ve done is held the government to account.
Dutton says Labor’s tax cuts a ‘cruel hoax’
Peter Dutton is now on ABC AM. We know the opposition won’t support the top-up tax cuts, which the Coalition has called a “cruel hoax” and a measure for “the next five weeks, not five years”.
The opposition leader repeats those same lines.
Dutton also won’t give away whether the Coalition will offer an alternative tax package (as the Liberals have continuously said tax would be lower under them). He says more will be revealed during his budget reply tomorrow night.
The mandate I see for the next election is around making sure that we can provide support to families in a cost of living crisis that Labor’s created. And that means fixing our energy system. It means providing hope for young Australians in terms of home ownership. So that means cutting back on the massive, big Australia policy that has been implemented by stealth under the Albanese government.
The Coalition has kept bringing migration numbers into the debate – that they’re having an impact on the cost of living and housing (but experts have previously said migration doesn’t have a significant impact, and can pull more money out of the economy).
It’s an area they see as a policy strength they have over Labor – and you can expect to see more of that debate during the election campaign.
