Energy Minister Chris Bowen has been taken to task over Australia’s skyrocketing energy costs, with a Sydney radio host highlighting the Albanese government’s failure to meet a key election commitment.

Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume has slammed the Albanese government for a “clear lie” in the budget papers. The Coalition is accusing the Labor government of having an $11 billion hole in their budget. Data analysis from the Parliamentary Budget Office reveals more than 20,000 public service jobs will be cut over the next four years. “It can only be one of two things – either they’re lying in their budget papers, or they are planning a cut to the public service,” Ms Hume told Sky News Australia. “We noticed when we were looking at the MYEFO numbers in December that public sector wages flatlined over the next four years. That’s despite an increase to the public service of around 36,000, that’s a 20 per cent increase and an 11 per cent pay rise that was signed off by Katy Gallagher. “Labor, we have always known, lacked economic credibility, but this is a clear lie; something has gone very wrong in their budget.”

Social media is a press gallery that never shuts up. This is particularly true of X, formally Twitter, under the ownership of Elon Musk who has made pestering political leaders with damaging home…

Social media is a press gallery that never shuts up. This is particularly true of X, formally Twitter, under the ownership of Elon Musk who has made pestering political leaders with damaging home…