Reserve Bank is expected to raise interest rates to an 18-year high on Tuesday, the fifth hike this year

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Asked why Labor can’t guarantee it won’t find net savings in the mid-year budget update, Chalmers told RN the government is undertaking that task this month ahead of December’s release.

We are currently working our way through the spending pressures, the economic forecasts, and the savings options to come up with the best, most responsible budget update that we can.

There have been savings in all eight of our budget updates so far. There’ll be savings in the ninth as well.

People are under substantial pressure already, and obviously, if rates go up today, that will make things much harder, especially when there are already a number of rate rises in the system and their full effect hasn’t been felt yet

Regardless of the decision that the Reserve Bank takes independently this afternoon, we know that there is more work to do to make the budget as tight as it can be.