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Spending

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Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers is applauded by colleagues after delivering the Budget speech.

Government spending takes $35 billion chunk out of the budget

Despite a $4 billion fall in one of its biggest expenses, new tax cuts and higher spending on healthcare have eaten into the government’s progress in cutting back on deficits.

  • Millie Muroi

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Luxury cars, cigarettes and beer purchases are helping to prop up the budget.

Sin taxes prop up the budget, but the most important one is fading

From fuel to fancy cars and a cold one at the pub, there are some vices – and necessities – that are carrying an extra cost.

  • Millie Muroi
Car thieves were also rampant in Victoria, with the number of insurance claims rising 70 per cent in 2024.

Australia’s worst regions for car theft revealed

The number of stolen cars in one state has more than doubled in a decade, with insurance premiums likely to rise as a result.

  • Savannah Meacham
The end of pandemic-era assistance has contributed to Australian income inequality reaching its highest level this century.

Lucky for some: the older get richer in the worst wealth divide in two decades

A long-running survey of Australians has found inequality has shot up, just as young people find themselves shut out of the housing market.

  • Shane Wright
Elbridge Colby

Trump admin to Australia: spending $56 billion on defence isn’t enough by half

One of Trump’s top Pentagon picks, Elbridge Colby, made the United States’ first explicit call for Australia to massively increase defence spending to counter China.

  • Matthew Knott
Despite Kmart profits rising, spurred by growth in its private label Anko products, uncertainty over interest rate cuts could bring gloom on the horizon for the big retailer.

‘We’re not out of the woods yet’: Kmart owner says rate cut not enough to entice shoppers

Although consumers continue to flock to Kmart in search of better deals, Wesfarmers’ CEO remains cautious.

  • Cindy Yin
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Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock.

What Michele Bullock really meant in speech after cutting interest rates

We’ve deciphered the RBA governor’s comments on Tuesday, after the Reserve Bank cut rates for the first time in more than four years.

  • Matt Wade and Shane Wright
Michele Bullock, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), speaks during a news conference at the bank’s head office in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. Australia’s central bank cut interest rates for the first time since 2020 as inflation approaches the top of its 2-3% target, while saying it will take a cautious approach to future decisions.

RBA dashes hopes of further rate relief after first cut in four years

The big four banks moved quickly to match the cut to their mortgage rates to alleviate the pain mortgage holders have been feeling since rates started rising in May 2022.

  • Shane Wright, Millie Muroi and Sumeyya Ilanbey

Want to keep your local cafe in business? Start paying them $7 a coffee

As a coffee-obsessed nation, Australia has been holding terrified cafe owners to ransom for too long. It’s time we enter our $7 coffee era.

  • Rachel Clun
A treat here and there won’t break the bank, but being more mindful about it could leave you with more cash to save.

Are your small spending habits sending you broke?

In some ways, our discretionary spending money feels the most real to us. But it can also be the most dangerous.

  • Victoria Devine

Original URL: https://www.theage.com.au/topic/spending-hp0