So, Paul, you've just come out of the budget lockup. What was it like in there?
Oh?
Well, it's quite a new experience really. The lockups these days are actually done in the press gallery and in the bureau. So we were, as it were, locked in the Saturday Paper bureau with a treasury official who took our phones office and made sure that we could not communicate with the outside world.
Paul bon Jorno is a columnist for the Saturday Paper and this is not his first rodeo.
It's very different from the first lockup I attended. I can tell you thirty seven years ago, Ruby, probably before you were born, but I won't say anything.
Tell me about that. What was it like thirty seven years ago?
Well, in nineteen eighty eight, Paul Keating was the treasurer. On the morning that he delivered the budget, he got into the mood by listening to Richard Wagner's four Last Songs from one of Wagner's operas, and I think the version was sung by J.
Norman.
I went out and bought the CD, and I must say it's very moving music. I was just trying to work out how many budgets I've actually covered in those thirty seven years and it's thirty five. I've missed two, so that's not a bad you show up rate.
Thirty five budgets. Okay, So how does this budget then, as someone who's been around for three and a half decades, how does this compare?
Well, this is a pre election budget. Even though the treasurers tried to convince us all that it was economics first and politics second. I know a lot of the gurus at the other end of the corridor and the financial press aren't all that impressed. They just look at the budget bottom line and all they see is read and they say, Aha, that proves it's all about politics rather than good economic management.
As the government makes its pitch for reelection, gross public debt is forecast to hit one trillion dollars next year and a decade of deaficie it's loom, But Treasurer Jim Chalmers used his budget night pitch to argue that if
it wasn't for labor, the picture would be worse. It's a tough sell at a time when cost of living is biting, but with a record investment in Medicare, energy bill relief and a surprise tax cut for everyone, the government is hoping to secure a second term from Schwartz Media. I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven AM today. Budget veteran Paul bon Jorno on whether Labour's election budget will pay off and what's in it for you. It's Wednesday, March twenty six. Paul, let's begin by talking about the budget
bottom line. The total gross debt is expected to peak at thirty seven percent of GDP in coming years and we're now expecting death it's for the next decade. So why is that, Paul, Given that we've had surfaces for the past two budgets.
What has changed, Well, a few things have changed, But I think we should make this point that Australia, with thirty seven percent of the total economic output that's what GDP means, is amongst the lowest in the world. The United States is one hundred percent of its GDP, as is the United Kingdom. So the Australian economy, even on that measure, is in much better shape than other major
democratic economies. But the explanation is that commodity prices have come off, energy prices have risen as a result of the continuing war in Ukraine and also the war in the Middle East, which is disrupting energy supply chains. So all of that is an explanation. The other explanation is that the revenue that our commodity produces we're getting in recent years meant that they were paying a lot more tax. Well, this year, the government's not getting the revenue bonanza it
was and it has gone into deficit. And a big reason for that is because it knows, and the Treasurer made a big point of this in his budget speech and throughout the budget papers, that people are hurting and they do want relief.
We've made a lot of progress together, but we know that many people are still doing it tough. Our plan to rebuild living standards starts with cost of living help and wages growth. It includes more hip pocket help for households.
And labor which spoke about delivering relief at its budget last year but didn't see any reward in the opinion polls for it knows that it has to have another big go this year because within six weeks we'll be going to an election and I think that's one of the reasons why we've seen the sort of budget that we have.
Can you talk to me a little more about that, Poul I mean, there's no doubt that this is an election budget, but what does it say to you about how labor is positioning itself to voters. What is the overarching message here.
Well, the overarching message is to quote the Prime Minister, though there have been some critics of him for saying that Labour's got your backs. This is what they're trying to say. There's a lot of measures that we've already heard about, more bolt billing, more help with electricity bills, cheaper medicines, less student debt, and a big investment into
manufacturing in Australia as well as more homes. The Treasurer really hit the fact that a lot of money will be directed in the area of providing more housing, and there'll be more investment in skills and education.
This is a responsible budget with five main priorities. Helping with the cost of living, strengthening medicare, building more homes, investing in every stage of education, and making our economy stronger, more productive and more resilient.
But what we did see really as the surprise centerpiece of the budget tonight was Jim Charmers pulled a scrawny rabbit out of the hat.
These additional tax cuts are modest, but they will make a difference. The average earner will have an extra five hundred and thirty six dollars in their pocket each year when they're fully implemented. Combined with our first round of tax cuts, this is two thousand, one hundred and ninety dollars, and the average total tax cut will be two thousand, five hundred and forty eight dollars, or about fifty dollars a week.
So that's adding the five dollars to the tax cuts you got in July, which is a very clever political way in my view, of upgrading and updating the tax cuts as something new.
Okay, so we have this small tax cut. Let's talk spends though. A big focus of that is healthcare. We're seeing eight point five billion dollars for bulk billing incentives. There's also this plan to reduce the cost of scripts under the PBS. There's a women's healthcare package as well. So tell me more about the details of the health spending and why you think it is that labor is focusing on this.
Well, labor is focusing on that there for various reasons, namely that health is an issue that voters have identified as something that's impacting on their well being in a very big way.
Tonight, we are proud to make the single biggest commitment to Medicare since its creation, a record eight and a half billion dollars to lift bulk billing rates and build our health workforce. Because of this investment, nine out of ten GP visits should be fully bold built by the end of the decade.
The calculation politically, the hard edged calculation, is that Peter Dutton, when he was Tony Abbot's Health Minister, launched a full frontal attack on bulk billing by wanting to have a co payment. Now, when the Senate at the time refused to play ball with that, what the Abbot government followed by then the Turnbull and Morrison governments did they froze
the Medicare rebate paid to doctors. And what we've seen over those intervening years, instead of a co payment imposed by the government, they've forced the doctors to charge when you visit them. In other words, it was still the
co payment by stealth. Now, the eight billion dollars that's going back into raising the rebate for doctors plus the incentive for them to bulk bill is hoping to readdress that, but it also gives a line of political attack of the government on Peter Dutton because of his record in this area.
Coming up after the break, is this budget enough to get Labor re elected?
Hi, I'm Daniel James. Seven Am tells stories that need to be told. Our journalism is founded on trust and independence and now we're increasing our coverage. Every Saturday until the election will bring you an extra episode to break down the biggest political moments of the week. If you enjoy seven Am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at seven am podcast dot com dou slash support. Thanks for listening and supporting our work, Paul.
This is Jim Chalmer's fourth budget and depending partly on how this lands, it could be his last. And I think over the years it's fair to say there have been a lot of small changes, a lot of little mechanisms that might make things cheaper for households, but there's never been a big centerpiece policies, something like making childcare universal,
for example, or putting dental into medicare. So when you look at the last few budgets, what does it tell you about the sort of treasurer that you think Jim Chalmers is showing himself to be Yeah.
Well, I think that he would take great exception to what you've just said. And by the way, what you've just said is not unusual.
There are many.
Critics, both from the left of the right that make similar comments.
It just seems like there's lots of long lists of small things rather than tent pole policies.
Well, and for example, on childcare, the government is now moving to three day free childcare for everybody you know, so sure, that's not five days a week, and a lot of working parents point out that that still leaves them with a terrible gap, but it's a hell of a lot more than what was on offer before. The other point to be made too, like, for example, the government is spending billions now on raising the salaries and the wages of care workers. Now that in a real sense,
will be a signature policy as well. I also myself don't have a lot of sympathy for the criticism in the sense that Medicare is a major, big ticket item and eight billion dollars more that's on top of what's already been spent, has been put into what is in a legacy sense, an historic labor policy. But when you come to medicare dental, how much would dental medicare cost? Now, there are a lot of arguments to say, whatever it costs, it's going to save your billions more because of the
relationship between dental and overall health. And I guess all budgets come down to choices, and this is a choice that the current government and treasure at this stage aren't prepared to make.
So.
Look, Charmers, I think has established a reputation already a competent treasurer. Should we be demanding more of him as a competent treasure Well, he would say, as he in fact did today at the news conference inside the lockup, that we've laid the foundations. Elect us again, and we'll do even more. So whether voters by that, we won't have to wait very long to find out.
And so, as we've said, Paul, this is ultimately an election budget. So is it enough to get Labor re elected?
Look, Ruby, I think any pre election pitch does depend not only on what one side offers, in this case the Labor government, but what the alternative side will offer to entice voters to go for it.
Now, as I.
Moved around the lock up this afternoon after doing my homework so I could talk to you. Talking to other journos and lobbyists, they were saying that Peter Dutton, they think, might have left it a bit too late. What does he put out there as a real alternative to what the government is doing. All he's been left to say, and I'm sure he'll say this on Thursday night is
me too, me too on this? And it's as if Dutton was convinced that Albernizi and his government were completely on the slide and he didn't have to do much but stand to the side and cheer as they self destructed. Well, what we've seen, especially since the beginning of this year, far from self destructing. The Labor government is fighting back.
Paul, Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you Ruby bye.
Also in the news today, the Coalition will not support the tax cuts announced in last night's budget, the Shadow t Dura Angus Taylor has revealed. Taylor called the cuts an election bribe by a week prime minister and a cruel hoax will do little to improve the standard of living. The Opposition has previously claimed that taxes would be lower under a Peter Dutton led government, but has not yet
revealed its tax policy. Peter Dutton's Budget in Reply speech will be delivered on Thursday night, and Brisbane is set to get a new sixty three thousand seat stadium for the twenty to thirty two Olympic and Paralympic Games. The stadium will be built at Victoria Park, a popular inner city public park. The Queensland Premier David chris A fully unveiled the plans for the venue yesterday, despite promising multiple times during the election campaign that he would not be
building a new stadium for the Games. I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven am. Thanks for listening.