Labor’s $2.3b energy bill legal error was ‘inadvertent oversight’, Treasury Department says
The Treasury Department has been grilled on how a key cost-of-living relief payment may have breached the Constitution.
Labor’s $2.3 billion energy bill subsidy to households and businesses may have breached the Constitution due to an “inadvertent error”, the Treasury has revealed.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced the cost-of-living relief, which was an extension of the previous year’s $300 rebate, in March.
However, the department disclosed in its 2024-25 annual report the payments had been authorised without Mr Chalmers’ written approval.
“The potential breach of section 83 of the Constitution that Treasury disclosed in our 2425 annual report has been raised in a number of Senate estimate sessions,” Treasury Secretary Jenny Wilkinson said on Thursday.
“While it’s never desirable to make such an error, I am impressed with how quickly the Treasury staff identified the issue, advised the treasurer, took corrective action, reviewed our systems and clearly disclosed the breach.
“Following careful consideration of this issue, I am satisfied these breaches amounted to an inadvertent oversight.
“No individuals are suspected of behaving improperly, and all individuals co-operated constructively with the reviews we undertook and the corrective action.
“On this basis, I do not consider there to be any suspected breaches of the APS code of conduct.”
Only two Aus states on track to hit housing target
Currently, less than half of all Australian states are on track with housing supply to have the Treasury’s confidence in hitting Labor’s ambitious housing target.
The government’s National Housing Accord has set a goal of building 1.2 million new, well‑located homes by July 2029.
When asked of the treasury department’s confidence in meeting the target, a department official said: “That’s a question that again, I would suggest you put to housing groups.”
“My recollection is that there are, I think, two of the states and territories that we feel more confident will meet their housing commitments based on current projections, but 2029 is still a number of years away,” the official said.
Earlier this week, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed the government was approximately 70,000 homes behind its target.
Originally published as Labor’s $2.3b energy bill legal error was ‘inadvertent oversight’, Treasury Department says
