00:01Well, Jim Chalmers was pretty unequivocal that one of the predominant priorities going
00:07into the preparations for the mid-year budget update will be to find more savings, and he's
00:14also downplayed the prospect of additional cost of living relief measures, despite comments
00:21made by the Prime Minister earlier in the week on Thursday that there would be more
00:26cost of living relief measures in MIEFO, handed down in December and again in the May budget.
00:33Now, Jim Chalmers' comments and, you know, highlighting the fact that the government
00:38has found nearly $180 billion in savings since coming to office really comes in the context
00:45of what's been a pretty bruising week for federal Labor. We've seen the Reserve Bank hand down
00:51another interest rate rise, the cash rate now sitting at 3.6%, a 15-year high. Inflation
00:58data that came out the following day saw headline inflation rise over the year to August to 4%.
01:05The comments made by the RBA governor, her predecessor and independent economists are that government
01:12spending, and that is both state and federal, is fuelling the inflation challenge. It is being
01:18made worse by war in the Middle East, but Michelle Bullock was clear. That's not the only factor
01:24driving inflation. And then we also saw interventions from the New South Wales Premier, Chris Minns,
01:30who appeared to try to distance himself from the federal government, saying that New South Wales
01:36is finding savings. And there was also South Australian Premier Peter Malinowskis also underscoring
01:42the need for governments to spend wisely. So all of these factors and the public and political
01:50commentary is at the forefront of Jim Chalmers' mind this morning. He's saying that, look, the mid-year
01:58budget update will hand down savings. However, the bond yields globally hitting record 24-year highs
02:07in the U.S. means that higher borrowing costs globally will push the interest repayments
02:14on government debt up to the tune of several billions of dollars. Here's what he had to
02:19say when asked whether Australians could expect fresh cost of living relief measures.
02:25I think people understand that the mid-year update will necessarily be a pretty tight ship,
02:32and that's because of these pressures on our budget, the ones that are existing already,
02:37but also these additional pressures coming at us from around the world. And so we'll weigh
02:42all of that up. And also the other important thing is that there is cost of living relief
02:46on the way already with those legislated tax cuts that our opponents voted against. So we're
02:52cutting taxes, we're boosting bulk billing, we're boosting wages, we're making the housing market
02:57fairer for first home buyers because we recognise that these cost of living pressures are still
03:02a feature. So the Treasurer talking about existing cost of living relief the government's brought
03:08in. He did again hose down the prospect of another cut to the fuel excise, and the Treasurer
03:17will this week head to Japan where he'll have high-level talks with Japanese business leaders
03:24and investors in Tokyo, selling Australia as an attractive investment destination.
