Australia news live: Victoria to slash 1,000 public service jobs including 300 executives; Chalmers warns energy bill rebates ‘not forever’

Meanwhile Marles and Wong say sanctions against Russia will be ramped up as aid for Ukraine announced. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastChalmers says GDP growth figures ‘very positive and very promising’Chalmers also said he was encouraged by the release of national accounts figures yesterday, which showed annual GDP growth hitting 2.1%, even though the quarterly pace of growth was a disappointing 0.4%.The reason for that is because the overwhelming story of these national accounts was a very substantial recovery in the private sector. We saw business investment absolutely galloping. We saw investment in the building of new homes growing strongly as well. We saw the fourth consecutive quarter of productivity growth.And so, overwhelmingly, this is a very positive and a very promising story emerging out of these national accounts. Continue reading...