Labor is using a $150 power bill rebate at the centre of its fourth budget to spruik its economic credentials ahead of a federal election.
The Albanese government will use the federal budget as a springboard into an election campaign set to be dominated by price pressures.
Both major parties are vowing to make Australians better off as Labor focuses on healthcare and the coalition slams the government for increases in power bills and grocery prices following a stinging run of inflation.
Ahead of his fourth budget, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced a $150 energy bill rebate divided equally across the final two quarters of 2025 to help ease hip pocket pain.
It’s an extension of the government’s $300 subsidy that spanned a year’s worth of power bills, but Dr Chalmers denied it was a pre-election bribe for voters.
“I would describe it as a government responding to the pressures that people still feel despite this progress that we’ve made on inflation,” he said.
Member for New England Barnaby Joyce, speaking on Sunrise this morning, reminded voters that election budget sweeteners are “your own sugar”.
“I think one of the biggest issues is people have got to understand when you come to a budget, it’s your money. It’s not the government’s money,” he said
“The government’s merely handing back or allocating the funds that you have paid in your taxes when you worked all of Monday and half a Tuesday to pay your taxes.
“So, sweeteners are really just you getting paid in your own sugar.”
The coalition has promised to slash public spending by pruning the public service headcount by more than 30,000 people, arguing the services Australians rely on hadn’t improved. The coalition hasn’t outlined where it would cut but ruled out taking the axe to frontline services.
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said the coalition would work on boosting productivity and reducing spending to below economic growth to lower inflation.
He pointed to the 20 per cent growth of the public service as wasteful spending “at a time when households are struggling to pay the bills”.
“We need a productive, effective public service and we have some amazing people in our public service but a bigger team is not always a better team,” he said.
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