Politics with Michelle Grattan: Jim Chalmers, Angus Taylor and Danielle Wood on the budget

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says of his first budget: “Inflation is the dragon we need to slay”. Chalmers’ worry about inflation was reinforced by Wednesday’s release of the September quarter CPI, which showed inflation at 7.3%.

In this podcast, we talk to Chalmers, shadow treasurer Angus Taylor, and the head of the Grattan Institute Danielle Wood. Among the topics we canvass are the budget’s broad fiscal settings, the huge increases in power prices it forecasts and the government’s response, the pressures for tax and spending reforms in future budgets, the new housing initiative, and the implications of the childcare policy for women’s workforce participation.