Political leaders and commentators have picked apart the centrepiece of Labor’s federal budget – the $300 energy rebate meant to help Australians with the cost of living. “There’s a … fight out for those people really doing it tough, and seriously, this budget doesn’t go anywhere near addressing that,” says independent Senator Jacqui Lambie. “If they think $300 is going to fix it, bloody hell, come back to the planet mate.”

Sky News host James Macpherson has reacted to a conservative YouTuber asking college students the “ridiculous proposition” of donating a testicle to the fight against “toxic masculinity”. “Can you imagine a more ridiculous proposition,” Mr Macpherson said. “And yet, how ridiculous have our universities become.”

South Australian government has proposed tougher penalties for vicious dog attacks. Under the proposed reforms if a dog attacks a person or animal the owner will face a maximum fine of $25,000 instead of the current $2,500 penalty. Sky News host James Macpherson has discussed the new laws proposed by the state government.

Sky News host Caleb Bond has reacted to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's criticism of the woke movement. Lee Hsien Loong has criticised the ‘woke’ movement that has overtaken much of the West and its institutions. “You are super-sensitive about other people’s issues, and you become hypersensitive when other people, somehow others say things or mention things or refer to you without the respect, which you or your super-subgroup feel you are entitled to,” Mr Lee said in a CNA interview. “Life becomes very burdensome”.

Sky News host Caleb Bond says Labor’s pledge to use $469 million to crack down on fraud and exploitation in the NDIS shows it is “hardly a working system”. “Then of course we had, to draw it all out, the NDIS, which keeps ballooning out, and out, and out, it will be $60 billion a year within a few years’ time,” Mr Bond said. “So they are spending $469 million which is nearly ten per cent of the NDIS budget to stop people defrauding the NDIS, I mean it is hardly a working system.”

Join Paul for a special extended episode as he dissects Labor's 2024 federal budget.  See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.

Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell has revealed the federal Opposition believes there is an early election ahead after Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered the 2024 budget. “I have messages from this evening and even this morning from the Opposition,” Mr Clennell said. “I can tell you their view at least is that this budget means, with the inflation forecast, that there is an early election. “There is a belief in Labor at the moment – they can still win majority government.”

Sky News political contributor Chris Uhlmann has said the budget is in a “structural deficit” given government spending. The 2024 federal budget has boasted a second surplus but with deficits projected in the years to come. “We are essentially, over time, spending way more than we have the capacity to raise,” Mr Uhlmann told Sky News Australia. “The good thing that the government has recognised at the moment, is that resources do pay the rent. “We export more metallurgical coal than any other country on earth and almost as much as any country on earth when it comes to liquid natural gas. “At the moment, they are the sources of our wealth.”

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor says Australians are poorer under Labor as their energy rebate is necessary to address their pre-election $275 bill reduction promise failure. “That energy rebate is necessary because Labor has failed to deliver on its pre-election promise of a $275 reduction,” Mr Taylor told Sky News Australia. “Now admitting it has failed and it is putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound, it should have dealt with the bullet wound but it hasn’t.”

Judo Bank Economic Advisor Warren Hogan has warned there is a "strong chance" the RBA might raise interest rates following the federal budget. Mr Hogan joined Sky News Chief News Anchor Kieran Gilbert to discuss the 2024-25 federal budget. “I do think they have shown some restraint. I think many Australian governments in the past might have spent more like $20 billion on new measures, but they’ve only done $10 billion," Mr Hogan said. “That might mean we only need one or two rate hikes, but it doesn’t change the underlying story about the economy. “I think there is a very strong chance the RBA might have to raise rates again.”

Greens Senator Barbara Pocock says there’s a great deal missing from the 2024 federal budget which gives a lot of money to the “big end of town.” “I think it’s a budget that delivers a lot for some people," Ms Pocock said. “Where is the $1 billion that frontline women service providers tell us we need to deal with the domestic violence crisis? “There’s a lot missing, and there’s a lot of spending going to the big end of town.”

Former US president Donald Trump has vowed to send “Joe Biden’s illegal aliens back home where they belong” on “day one” of his administration. Trump has been focusing on the immigration crisis ahead of the presidential election in November. “On day one of my new administration, I will seal the border, stop the invasion of people pouring through our border and send Joe Biden’s illegal aliens back home where they belong,” he addressed a rally in New Jersey.

Sky News contributor Kristin Tate says Donald Trump’s current campaign is “very reminiscent” of 2016 as it was his views on immigration which got him into the White House. The former US president has vowed to “send Joe Biden’s illegal aliens home where they belong”. “I’m glad to hear Donald Trump talking about this,” Ms Tate told Sky News host Chris Kenny. “It’s an even bigger issue now than it was then.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ upcoming budget is a “drop in the ocean” compared to Australia’s total debt of around $892.1 billion, Sky News host Peta Credlin says. “We were told that tonight’s surplus would be some nine billion dollars, well, in that respect, Chalmers is better than his old boss but how real is this surplus, 9.3 billion we are told,” Ms Credlin said. “Given Australia’s three trillion-dollar economy it is not, indeed it is scarcely one per cent of total Commonwealth debt, and that is racing towards one trillion dollars, or 1,000 billion … it is a drop in the ocean.”

Radio 2CC host Stephen Cenatiempo has slammed Treasurer Jim Chalmers for “giving us a bit of cash” to distract from the cost-of-living crisis. This comes amid the Labor government’s failure to reduce cost-of-living for Australia. “The reality is that we’ve got a cost-of-living problem,” Mr Cenatiempo told Sky News host Chris Kenny. “He can’t bring the cost of living down, so what he’s going to do is keep raising the cost-of-living but he’ll give us a bit of cash to try and cover up the fact that he hasn’t been able to lower the cost of living.”

KPMG Chief Economist Brendan Rynne says tax receipts from high employment and stable commodity prices “won’t be strong enough” to cover the government’s full spending plan for the medium term. Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Tuesday morning said we can expect a surplus of $9.3 billion, but the deficits will blow out in the coming years, due to what he calls, “unavoidable spending.” “We’ve had a forecast budget deficit in terms of a structural budget balance for a long time, and it’s now just catching up with us,” Mr Rynne told Sky News Australia. “What we are seeing is that some of the revenue benefits that we’ve got from very high employment, strong commodity prices are starting to run out of steam. “And so those tax receipts won’t be strong enough to be able to cover the full spending that the government plans over the medium term.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government believes the United Nations resolution on Palestine they voted for will provide a “pathway to peace” between Israel and Palestine. Australia supported a resolution at the United Nations, calling on the Security Council to reconsider granting full membership to Palestine on Friday night (local time). “The Australian government has a long-term position of support for a two-state solution,” Mr Albanese said during Question Time on Tuesday. “In this, I accept responsibility for government decisions as prime minister. “We had a proper process to make that decision through all of our appropriate channels. “We, in supporting that resolution, when we saw the wording, believed that it’s consistent with providing a pathway to peace that is so necessary as we go forward.”

Former Labor Senator Stephen Conroy says Treasurer Jim Chalmers will be “right about his inflation forecast” and not the “Reserve Bank”. “They have been wrong 80 per cent of the time about their inflation forecast, that is an embarrassing position for Michele Bullock to be backing up after Phil Lowe,” Mr Conroy said. “They have been consistently wrong, they’ve been consistently wrong because they’re modelling is wrong because they make assumptions about wages and how that feeds into the system. “That is why treasury has consistently … had different figures. “The economy has been crushed by interest rates that the Reserve Bank have a handle on the lever.”

Former Labor senator Stephen Conroy says neither political party has “any attention to the economic concept of a structural deficit”. “I’ve been having this discussion about the ‘structural deficits’ for 25 years,” Mr Conroy told Sky News Australia. “Neither party has any attention to the economic concept of a structural deficit. “This is not a measurement the Australian people understand or care about … structural deficits are an economic theory.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is “using the budget” to “pressure and intimidate” the Reserve Bank of Australia into not raising interest rates before the next election, says Former Victoria Liberal Party president Michael Kroger. Mr Kroger’s comments come as Treasurer Jim Chalmers is set to hand down the federal budget on Tuesday night. “Back in black temporarily, because of massively high commodity prices, massive increases in taxations and full employment,” Mr Kroger said. “Chalmers is using the budget and all the commentary around the budget to pressure and intimidate the Reserve Bank into not raising interest rates before the next election.”