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KEY SAVINGS AND CUTS IN THE FEDERAL BUDGET * Reducing debt to save $83 billion in interest over 10 years * $3.8 billion over five years from GST compliance crackdown * $3 billion over five years in tobacco tax * $2.4 billion from changes to petroleum resource rent tax *...

ENERGY BILL RELIEF Who is eligible: * Pensioners, veterans, seniors and other concession card holders. * Recipients of the carer allowance and family tax benefit. * People in existing state and territory electricity concession schemes. In NSW: * More than 1.6 million households and 300,000 businesses will be eligible for energy...

Australian motorists have less than two years to claim a tax discount on hybrid vehicles before it is removed in a budget restriction expected to save the federal government $30 million. The cost saving was revealed in budget documents on Tuesday and came after the Greens...

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is playing down the prospect of a second consecutive budget surplus as he pitches his economic blueprint. The government expects to book a $4.2 billion underlying cash surplus in this financial year – the first in 15 years. This will be followed by a...

Workers are in line for a bigger-than-expected boost to their pay packets. Fierce competition for labour has spurred faster wage growth that’s tipped to reach four per cent through the year to the June quarter of 2024 – its fastest pace since 2009. Treasury wage forecasts in...

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended the billions in budget spending on vulnerable and low-income Australians as the coalition warns it will feed higher interest rates. The $14.6 billion cost-of-living package confirmed on Tuesday night in the 2023/24 budget won’t fuel inflation, Mr Albanese said. “This is...