The Coalition announced on Monday that it would cut housing, industry and climate spending to create $31bn in budget savings.
What we know:
- “It is absolutely critical at this time to control spending,” Opposition leader Angus Taylor said at a press conference on Monday, while MPs were paying tribute to Helen Haines in the lower house. He framed the savings as a “down payment” to pay for tax cuts (ABC).
- The largest cut would be a $9.4bn plan to scrap agencies designed to help meet emissions reductions targets, along with popular home battery programs and tax breaks for EV purchases (The Age).
- Other proposed savings include $7.3bn from cutting business subsidies and critical minerals tax credits, $4.7bn from scrapping Labor’s housing schemes and $2bn from blocking NDIS and welfare payments to permanent residents (The Age).
- “The problem with Labor is it loves throwing money around, and we don’t have the money to throw around right now because taxpayers are having to pay too much already,” Taylor said. “We need to take the pressure off.”
- Housing Minister Clare O’Neil criticised the Coalition’s plan to make cuts to housing policies in the midst of a housing crisis. She said, “Australians need more homes, and Angus Taylor is promising less support to build them” (Nine).
Read more: The Coalition’s ‘chainsaw’ climate policy (The Saturday Paper)