Federal budget 2024 LIVE updates: Jim Chalmers set to hand down budget as cost of living pressures continue to bite Australians

Tonight’s federal budget will include new energy bill relief and government money for people struggling to pay rent.

Full details of the budget will be revealed at 7.30pm when Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivers a speech on the floor of parliament.

But the government has released a snippet of information about its cost-of-living package to be reported by TV outlets in their 6pm news bulletins.

Labor has confirmed it will provide an “energy bill rebate for every household” and an increase in Commonwealth rent assistance for those using the program to help cover housing costs.

The precise numbers attached to these announcements will be confirmed later.

A previous energy bill reduction round offered rebates only to lower-income households, so a rebate to all households, as flagged, would represent a significant expansion of the old program.

The treasurer has to balance providing cost-of-living support, while not adding to economic pressures and inflation, which could force the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates further.

We already know that in tonight’s budget, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has found $27.8 billion in savings over the next four years, most of which come from changes to Defence spending and $1 billion from cutting back on departments’ use of consultants and contract workers. The remaining $3.8 billion of additional savings will be unveiled in the budget.

Read more on what we already know about the budget here.

This will be the cornerstone of the budget, and the biggest cost-of-living relief measure will be the change to the stage 3 tax cuts, which the government announced at the start of the year.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said any further cost-of-living relief would be targeted, and last month the prime minister gave a strong hint that further energy bill relief could be on the table.

There’s also been a range of indirect cost-of-living support measures announced, like the changes to indexation of higher education debt, the $12.3 billion injection into housing programs, and paid professional placements for students in certain industries.

Read more on what we already know about the budget here.

It’s becoming more and more common for the government to make extensive budget announcement prior to budget night, with commitments worth anything from a few million dollars to tens of billions already in the public domain.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that the budget will have three principles at its heart: cost-of-living relief, additional cost-of-living support that will put downward pressure on inflation, and a future made in Australia.

Our economics correspondent Rachel Clun has put together this helpful summation of what we know, and I’ll be running through the four categories she’s highlighted in the next four posts.

They are: cost-of-living support, budget savings, the Future Made in Australia plan and defence capabilities.

Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the 2024 federal budget.

My name is Josefine Ganko and I’ll be helming our rolling coverage. We’ll get started by looking at what we already know is in the budget, then we’ll bring you a live feed and updates from the treasurer’s address at 7.30pm, which will be followed by all our reporting and expert opinion.

As our live blog gets under way, our federal politics bureau is in lock-up at Parliament House in Canberra. They’ve been without phones and internet since 1pm as they plough through the budget documents and file their yarns.

They’ll be freed once Treasurer Jim Chalmers starts talking in the House of Representatives, which is also when their work can be published.

I’ll be keeping you abreast every step of the way, so stick with us.