As it happened:Treasurer Jim Chalmers to unveil budget tonight; Sally Rugg settles unfair dismissal case against teal MP Monique Ryan

Thanks for joining us today. Here are some of our main headlines. Please tune in to our Federal Budget blog anchored by Latika Burke.

• The government confirmed there will be an increase to the base rate of at least three support payments as part of a $14.6 billion cost-of-living package today’s Federal Budget with a focus on relieving energy bill costs for 5 million voters. The rate of JobSeeker, Austudy and Youth Allowance will all be increased, while there will also be additional support for renters.

• Commonwealth Bank announced its profits are up 10 per cent to $2.6 billion.
• Qantas is appealing two rulings by the Federal Court, which found the outsourcing of baggage handlers, cleaners and ground staff was illegal during the pandemic.
• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has acknowledged an over reliance by governments on big consulting companies and the need for “frank and fearless advice” from public servants.

• Weight loss company Jenny Craig’s Australian and New Zealand operations have officially folded, just five days after reassuring the public that they were “currently [continuing] to operate and support our clients”.FTI Consulting’s Vaughan Strawbridge, Kate Warwick and Joseph Hansell have been appointed voluntary administrators of the Melbourne-founded business after the US parent company officially filed for bankruptcy on Friday.

• Victorian Liberal leaders are being asked to postpone a vote on expelling controversial MP Moira Deeming.
• US ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy has met with supporters of Julian Assange.

After 12 years in opposition, it was the first time sitting on the government benches for most of the newly elected Labor government, including Premier Chris Minns. They arrived with a spring in their step and a cunning plan to install a member of the Coalition into a plum job.

As the upper house filled with MPs from both chambers for a ceremony to open the new parliament, there was much bonhomie and back-slapping. First day back at school for students at the University of the Ruthlessly Ambitious. Some new enrolments, a few weighed down by doctorates.

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New premier Chris Minns with his deputy, Prue Car, at the opening of the new parliamentCredit: Kate Geraghty

Some important details of tonight’s budget are starting to trickle through.

Ahead of Treasurer Jim Chalmers handing down the budget at 7.30 pm, the government has confirmed there will be an increase to the base rate of at least three support payments as part of a $14.6 billion cost-of-living package.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is trying to sell his budget to a rattled nation.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The rate of JobSeeker, Austudy and Youth Allowance will all be increased, while there will also be additional support for renters.

The budget will forecast inflation to be lower in 2023-24 than was forecast in the October Budget, which the government will say is because of its cost-of-living package.

As previously canvassed by the government, there will also be electricity bill relief for more than five million households, according to the government.

Gross debt will also peak five years earlier and significantly lower than expected in October.

It is projected to be almost $300 billion lower by 2033, saving $83 billion in interest costs over that period.

Ahead of a new documentary about the highs and lows of John Farnham’s life, his sons have said the legendary singer is recovering well from a chest infection that followed surgery for mouth cancer last year.

Fans of the 73-year-old singer were concerned when, after successful surgery to remove the mouth cancer last August, a chest infection sent him back into hospital in March.

His family now say he has made a full recovery and is comfortable as he gets continuing treatment and rehabilitation care.

“We’ve seen him a lot and spirits are high,” Robert Farnham, 41, said. “We’re excited for the future. He’s very happy and things are going good.”

Farnham’s eldest son was speaking with his brother, James, 34, about the documentary John Farnham: Finding The Voice, which is premiering in Melbourne on Tuesday night ahead of a cinema release next week.

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John Farnham is on the mend according to his family after a string of health issues.Credit: Mario Borg

After helping millions of Australian women fight the battle of the bulge, weight loss company Jenny Craig’s Australian and New Zealand operations have officially folded, just five days after reassuring the public that they were “currently [continuing] to operate and support our clients”.

FTI Consulting’s Vaughan Strawbridge, Kate Warwick and Joseph Hansell have been appointed voluntary administrators of the Melbourne-founded business after the US parent company officially filed for bankruptcy on Friday.

Jenny Craig Australia will continue to trade even as the administrators investigate options for restructuring the business.

Read the full story here.

Jenny Craig’s Australian business has fallen into voluntary administration.Credit: Steven Siewert

As a budget night aside, the The Sydney Morning Herald will celebrate a significant milestone for its treasured economics commentator, Ross Gittins.

Gittins will today cover his 50th federal budget for the SMH.

Gittins joined the Herald as a cadet in 1974 and was appointed economics editor in 1978. He is the longest continuous columnist in the Herald’s 192-year history – an achievement recognised through the prestigious Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism in 2020.

“My views have evolved over a lot of that time, and every budget is different, with the economy at a different stage, so I never tire of doing one more,” Gittins said of Tuesday’s record.

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Herald economics editor Ross Gittins at Tuesday’s budget ‘lock-up’.Credit: Brook Mitchell

Following on from Independent MP Zoe Daniel’s question in parliament about the need for more frank and fearless advice, the big consultancies continue to come under scrutiny.

Our columnist Elizabeth Knight writes about the rare glimpse under the hood of one of the big four accounting firms, PwC, and how it used its privileged position as a government adviser on tax policy to turbocharge a drive for new clients.

“The Duco finish may look pristine, but the inner workings reveal the opposite,” she says.

As we reported earlier this week, the inner workings of one of the most secretive and powerful consulting firms in the world, PwC, was laid bare in a 148-page document made public last week. A Senate inquiry released the document which detailed the evidence that the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) used to ban former PwC tax partner Peter Collins for breaching a confidentiality order with Treasury. The document revealed the firm’s attempt to use confidential government tax plans to cultivate fresh business from notorious corporate tax avoiders, including a group dubbed the “dirty 34”.

Read Elizabeth Knight’s full commentary here.

PwC CEO Tom SeymourCredit: Michael Quelch

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has acknowledged an over reliance by governments on big consulting companies and the need for “frank and fearless advice” from public servants.

Independent MP for Goldstein Zoe Daniel raised the issue during question time, saying the government had been warned that consulting firms were tailoring advice “to earn more money instead of giving frank and fearless advice for the nation”.

Goldstein asked the prime minister what his plan was to address the innate conflicts of interest between government and big consulting to “shut down this obscene use of billions in taxpayers’ money and to enable public servants to be frank and fearless”.

Independent MP Zoe Daniel.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Albanese said his government had reduced an “over-reliance on consultants”. He said the government had encouraged the public service to come to the government with frank and fearless advice.

“We have put on additional public servants to deal with the challenges that we had with the backlog in visas of one million people,” he said.

He said the government wanted to “maximise the respect and the capacity of the public service”.

“I do that personally as well on any occasion,” he said. “When I visited the UK, we had a meeting with the High Commissioner for all of the staff at the High Commission.

“It is to me common courtesy that if you treat people with respect, you will get better outcomes.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton joined Australians who were glued to their televisions on Saturday night to witness a new King and Queen crowned.

“The crowning of our new Sovereign – King Charles III – and the Queen at his side – Camilla – was a truly momentous occasion,” he said.

“It was a moment when an age-old tradition brings with it both a sense of reconnection to history and regeneration in our times.

“Today, on behalf of the Coalition – and joining with this House – I congratulate His and Her Majesties.”

Opposition Leader Peter DuttonCredit: Alex Ellinghausen

Referring to King Charles as “the prince of patience - the king seven decades in the making”, Dutton said no other royal had been so prepared to sit on the British throne.

Dutton recalled that King Charles has visited Australia on 16 occasions spanning 10 different prime ministers to attend numerous official engagements. He also recalled lighter moments including when he was interviewed on Countdown by Molly Meldrum.

“Over many years, King Charles III has got to know Australians. And Australians have got to know him.

“We’ve come to know the philanthropist who has established more than 20 charities and is a patron of hundreds more.

“The conservationist who has passionately campaigned for environmental protection and sustainability since his first public speech aged 21.”

Dutton quoted King Charles having said that the “true celebration of this nation is in its Constitution”.

“In those dry-sounding but hard-fought-for rules and regulations, every family in this remarkable country has its rights protected and cherished,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says tonight’s budget will be about helping people who are struggling - without raising inflation.

“Supporting vulnerable Australians, growing the economy and strengthening the budget to make our finances more secure for the future,” he said.

Deputy Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley challenged Albanese to make use of his economics degree to explain why core inflation in Australia was relatively higher than in other countries including the US, Canada and United Kingdom.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese say the budget will focus on Australians who are struggling. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Albanese accused the Morrison government of fuelling the “inflation fire” with a “big spending” agenda in its final federal budget last year.

Albanese said inflation had taken off well before Labor took office.

He also encouraged Ley to remind people that he earned an economics degree from the University of Sydney “at every opportunity”.

“I can bring it in here, and perhaps you could table it and frame it and put it up in her office,” he said. “Indeed, I use it each and every day.”