Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Payman for the supplementary. We have been responsibly assessing, line by line through the budget process, where Australian taxpayers' money is going. We want to ensure the budget is managed properly and that we are able to meet our commitments and manage some of those incoming budget pressures.

Apart from implementing our election commitments, which are obviously important in terms of our economic plan for Australia—things like cheaper child care, cheaper medicines and fixing the aged-care crisis—we've also had to deal with issues left behind by the previous government. This includes around $5½ billion in unavoidable spending. Around $3½ billion of this was extending COVID relief payments in line with isolation requirements, vaccine eligibility, support for aged-care facilities and replenishing medical stockpiles—all unfunded by the previous government—and around $2 billion was in relation to disaster recovery—all necessary funding not provided for. (Time expired)