Australian news and politics live: Treasurer Jim Chalmers defends Budget and Labor’s sense of progress

Senator Lambie was asked for her thoughts on Australia potentially being in the hands of the Independents; however, before she could answer, Senator Hume said: “Heaven help us.”

“That’s really rude Jane. Those Independents, the Teals down there, have performed since they have been in. Give them a go,” Senator Lambie said.

“You people don’t like them. You know, there’s just no need for that. They performed well.

“Let’s be honest, you don’t want them in there.

“There is a place for every ordinary Australian in this Parliament and every move you make when you are doing electoral reform you are taking every chance off them. That’s the truth of the matter.”

Senator Lambie asked Senator Hume how many public servants would be cut under a Coalition Government, suggesting a large quantity of consultants would likely be hired, something the Liberal Senator didn’t answer.

Senator Lambie said both she and Senator Hume didn’t need the Government’s tax cut.

“That is worrying, we don’t target things very well in this country,” Senator Lambie said.

“That’s like defence spend. We have a lot of waste in there because we don’t target.”

As Senator Lambie vented her frustration, she turned her attack directly at the Liberal Party.

“Australians are starting to laugh at you. You are becoming a joke,” Senator Lambie told Senator Hume.

“The Liberal Party is a joke because there is nothing on paper that is positive in what you are going to do for the nation.”

A furious Senator Jacqui Lambie has unleashed on Liberal Senator Jane Hume following Labor handing down The Budget, with the Tasmanian saying the Coalition is becoming “a joke”.

“We supported the last tax cut because Australians were doing it tough,” Senator Hume said on Sunrise.

“That was meaningful change. This is an election bribe.”

“I think it’s profoundly disappointing and Australians should be rightly upset.”

The Liberal senator’s view of Treasurer Jim Chalmers didn’t sit well with Senator Lambie, who was visibly shaken as she launched a verbal attack on Senator Hume.

“Oh, my goodness, I cannot wait to see their budget reply on Thursday night,” Senator Lambie said.

“What is in your budget paper apart from you spending $360 billion on a nuclear power plant?

“All I have heard out of you out of this budget is negative, negative, negative. You have no answers. What is the Coalition doing because we haven’t heard?

“You have no plan.”

Latika M Bourke says, “Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers don’t want a national security election, that much is clear.”

“The Prime Minister and Treasurer correctly assess that Australians are voting on the cost of their groceries, mortgages and electricity bills.

“They will, overwhelmingly so. Which is why Tuesday’s Federal Budget is a politically savvy document crafted to get Labor over the line for the election in May.

“It may just work. Labor is pouring money into Costello-esque tax cuts, and funding health services.

“But the Budget is predicated on the idea that the global environment doesn’t change between now and election day, which is either May 3, 10 or 17. “

​Read Latika M Bourke’s full analysis. ​

Australian workers will get two years of bracket creep back in tax cuts, but income earners will be increasingly called upon to prop up the government’s bottom line without genuine tax reform.

The “modest” cuts announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers in the federal budget will save Australians $10 a week once fully implemented in 2027/28.

But the documents revealed government spending was on track to reach a 40-year high, with deficits stretching into the middle of next decade.

Even with the cuts, personal income tax will still rise to 54 per cent of tax revenue, as young working age Australians bear a larger share of the tax burden.

Without further tax cuts, income earners will lose an increasingly higher proportion of their wages to the tax man as inflation pushes them into higher brackets.

Underlying deficits are predicted to total $179.5 billion over the five-year forward estimates period before eventually shrinking as spending declines.

But it is unclear how this will be achieved in practice.