Q: Tax cuts are popular, but still political, are you stealing Peter Dutton thunder?

Jim Chalmers:

I see these cuts in economic terms, partly in recognition that as we make this quiet remarkable progress together as Australians in the fight against inflation we know that people are under pressure, and so we are providing cost-of-living relief, one of the defining features of this budget is the cost-of-living relief that we are providing an often the best way to do that is through the tax system.

We see the cost-of-living, we said terms of the economic benefits to participation, we found room in budget to provide these cuts and the politics will take care of themselves.

Q: Are they fiscally responsible in the environment we have?

Chalmers:

Yes. There is an appetite, obviously, and an enthusiasm, often, to provide the tax cuts and we have to provide those we think the budget can afford and we have to do that in the most responsible way and that is what has guided us, to give us as much cost-of-living help as we can in the most responsible way, judges of pressures on the budget and pressures coming at us from around the world.