Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has admitted for the first time that public service departments have been directed to identify the least important 5 per cent of their spending for potential budget savings.
After two days of flatly rejecting reports by The Australian Financial Review that the public service has been asked to outline sweeping spending cuts worth up to 5 per cent of annual budgets, Gallagher clarified the situation on Thursday.
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John Kehoe is economics editor at Parliament House, Canberra. He writes on economics, politics and business. John was Washington correspondent covering Donald Trump’s first election. He joined the Financial Review in 2008 from Treasury. Connect with John on Twitter. Email John at jkehoe@afr.com
