Treasurer Jim Chalmers
This week on Q+A… Treasurer Jim Chalmers will answer your questions in a one-on-one special with Stan Grant. After a year in government, Labor has handed down its second Budget – but is there enough help for the millions of Australians struggling to make ends meet?
The Treasurer is spruiking a $4 billion surplus – the first in 15 years – but there is more pain to come. High inflation will linger for at least another year. And in the scheme of the overall budget, the much-hyped surplus is a drop in the ocean. Is it more about the politics than the economics?
Among the cost-of-living measures – more rent assistance, energy bill relief, a boost to bulk-billing and cheaper prescriptions. The single parent payment cutoff is being lifted from eight to 14 and there's a modest boost to JobSeeker, Austudy and Youth Allowance – but the extra money won't flow until September. And with the stage three tax cuts still in the mix, how much difference will the changes make?
The Opposition is accusing Labor of making life harder for working people, saying plans for an additional 1.5 million migrants over the next five years will put pressure on housing, transport and wages. Do Australians share these concerns?
And how does this budget align with Labor's claim to be good economic managers? Is it simply postponing some difficult decisions that must be made as the global economy continues to falter?
Trailer
Recently Updated Shows
Hudson & Rex
Detective Charlie Hudson, a cunning Major Crimes detective for the St. John's Police Department, teams up with an unusual partner – Rex, a former-K9 German Shepherd, whose heightened senses keep Charlie hot on the trail of his suspects. Together, they investigate puzzling crimes, from a kidnapping which reveals a much larger conspiracy at play to an art theft murder which runs deep into the world of high society. With Charlie's deft detective work and Rex's keen canine senses, this crime-fighting pair is unstoppable.
Prime Target
Prime Target features a brilliant young math postgraduate, Edward Brooks, on the verge of a major breakthrough. If he succeeds in finding a pattern in prime numbers, he will hold the key to every computer in the world. Soon he begins to realize an unseen enemy is trying to destroy his idea before it's even born, which throws him into the orbit of Taylah Sanders, a female NSA agent who's been tasked with watching and reporting on the mathematician's behavior. Together they start to unravel the troubling conspiracy Edward is at the heart of.
Hell's Kitchen
In Hell's Kitchen, aspiring chefs are put through an intense culinary academy to prove they possess the right combination of ingredients to win a life-changing grand prize.
General Hospital
General Hospital, which celebrated its golden anniversary on April 1, 2013, continues its tradition of passion, intrigue and adventure that takes place in the fictional town of Port Charles in upstate New York. The glamour and excitement of those who have come to find their destinies in this familiar seaport town intertwine with the lives, loves and fortunes of beloved, well-known faces. As always, love, danger and mind blowing plot twists continue to abound on General Hospital with contemporary storylines and unforgettable characters.