Treasurer admits debt burden is climbing but says Labor are on the right track. Follow today’s news live
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The treasurer was asked if there was extra money in the budget tucked away to help Australian companies that could be harmed with reciprocal tariffs that might come, and jobs that might go as a consequence.
Jim Chalmers said one of the “major themes” of the budget is “making our economy more resilient in the face of all this global economic uncertainty”.
We’re a very trade exposed country. We’re not uniquely impacted by these tariffs out of Washington DC, but we’ve got a lot of skin in the game. And so what the budget will be about, in addition to helping with the cost of living and strengthening Medicare, it will also be about making us more resilient to these external shocks …
Our contingency is to make our economy more resilient … This is a new world of uncertainty, and the budget will be a platform for prosperity in that new global context. A lot of the investments that we’re making in a Future Made in Australia are all about that.
We are working very hard to ensure that there’s the necessary gas supply to make sure that we can get this energy transformation right, and I’m confident that we will …
We’ve made it very clear with our future gas strategy that we’re striking the right balance here and making sure that there’s enough gas, at the same time as we invest in cleaner and cheaper sources of energy into the future.
