Okay… this one still feels a bit surreal to say out loud. Right after the federal budget dropped, I sat down with Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher to ask the questions our She’s on the Money community actually wants answered. We covered a lot.

We spoke about housing affordability, negative gearing, capital gains tax changes, childcare costs, women’s health, paid parental leave, fuel prices, the gender pay gap and what the government is actually doing about the cost of living pressure Australians are feeling right now. We also had a really honest conversation about why the government changed its position on negative gearing, and whether politicians genuinely understand how financially stretched people are feeling.

But because this is still She’s on the Money… things also went slightly off the rails. We somehow ended up talking about ChatGPT, Bluey, subscription creep, the Met Gala, free McDonald’s burgers, sourdough, single people being forgotten by the system, and the Prime Minister’s thoughts on Sabrina Carpenter’s outfit choices. Which, to be fair, was not where I expected budget week to go.

If you’ve been trying to make sense of what just happened in Canberra, this is the budget breakdown you actually want to hear.

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Acknowledgement of Country By Nartarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements.

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