‘Need to be careful where you get your news from’: Treasurer defends controversial budget

Whether you’re for it or against it, the economy is on everyone’s lips.

The Federal budget, according to the treasurer, is the most ambitious reform of the last 25 years - a fix for the intergenerational inequality plaguing our country which has been driven by the crisis in housing affordability.

The good news is economists say it will most likely work.

The bad news, they concede, is it will take at least 20 years.

So where does that leave the very people the budget was designed to help?

First home buyers fear it’s now even harder to break into the property market and experts agree their dreams have been crushed - they’re Australia’s lost generation.

Ever since the budget was handed down in May, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has added “salesman” to his job title.

He agreed to explain his reforms, which have been described not only as the most consequential in 25 years but also some of the most unpopular.

When asked by Tara Brown if he intended to make life harder for younger Australians, he replied: “Of course not.”

“I mean, this is all about making it easier for young Australians to buy their first home and it’s also about cutting taxes for workers and better aligning the tax treatment of labour income and asset income,” he said.

Amid experts declaring the changes will take 20 years to work, Chalmers claimed he’s making it easier for young Aussies.

“We are ensuring that when people go to auctions, for example, they aren’t competing with people subsidised by the taxpayer buying their 10th or 12th or 15th home,” he said.

“We understand that the reaction in some quarters will be spirited.

“We understand that people will say and do anything to defend this broken status quo, but for too long, too many Australians have been locked out of the housing market, and that’s why we’re acting to address it.”

When Tara told him it wasn’t “just the voices of the status quo,” adding, “it’s young people today suffering,” the treasurer replied: “You need to be careful where you get your news from.”

Tara said by investing in other income streams like shares or starting new businesses, young Aussies are now finding Chalmers has made it both harder and longer for them to achieve their dream of buying their first home with the proceeds from that wealth.

The treasurer responded: “That is overwhelmingly not the experience of young people in our economy and in our communities.”

Boost Juice founder Janine Ellis, who has slammed the budget on social media told 60 Minutes if she was starting her business today she’d consider doing so overseas.

“I’d describe it as a budget that crushes innovation, which will create fear, and it’s a budget that does not encourage businesses to grow, which is the engine room of this country,” she said.

Watch the full episode of 60 Minutes on 9Now.