Australia politics live: Angus Taylor ejected after lights briefly go out during question time; childcare costs up 11% as inflation spikes

Follow latest updatesInflation up to 3.8% as price pressures rise and hopes for Reserve Bank interest rate cuts fallGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe treasurer, Jim Chalmers, who’s doing the media rounds this morning, is next to defend the “savings” the departments have to come up with.On the Today show, he is asked: is the government being hypocritical here, considering the criticism they hurled at the Coalition for their proposed public servant cuts during the election?What the Coalition was proposing was to cut tens of thousands of jobs. What we are proposing or what we’re asking departments to suggest is ways to reprioritise their lower priority spending so that we can invest it in higher priority areas.There’s absolutely areas in the public service where we do need to think about making sure that we’re spending taxpayers money wisely.[There’s a] trillion dollars worth of debt, $50,000 in interest repayments every single minute of every single day because they refuse to make the tough decisions and now you’ve got Christmas job cuts on the table that they’re saying won’t be cuts. Continue reading...