The environment minister, Murray Watt, has urged ministers to stop undermining the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, as Labor struggles to sell its budget and looks to cut popular clean energy subsidies to help with the fight against inflation.
Cabinet ministers met again on Monday to discuss potential budget savings to be included in next month's mid-year update, part of efforts to reducing spending to ease pressure on the economy.
Watt was asked about speculation of tension between the treasurer and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and whether he'd like to see an end to "undermining and leaking" against Chalmers.
"Yes, I would," Watt said. "As a member of the government, I take seriously the responsibility to work together to support government policies and also to get our work to support each other in what are very difficult times.
"I think that Jim Chalmers is doing an excellent job as a treasurer in what are very difficult economic times; many of the features that are impacting on our economy are sort of well outside any treasurer's control, and I very much support Jim Chalmers in his efforts."
Watt conceded Chalmers was being undermined from within Labor.
"It's pretty obvious that there are all sorts of people making all sorts of comments."
A new round of opinion polls added to Labor's political pain on Monday, with the Resolve Political Monitor in the Age and Sydney Morning Herald showing Labor's primary vote falling to 28 percentage points, down from 34.6% at last year's election.
The Coalition also dropped one point to 22%, while One Nation was steady at 25%.
A Redbridge poll in the Financial Review showed Labor's primary vote slipped two percentage points to 26%, while the Coalition's jumped four points to 25%. One Nation was down one point to 28%.
Monday's meeting of the expenditure review committee of cabinet comes after last week's interest rate hike from the Reserve Bank. The governor, Michele Bullock, said while it is up to governments to manage their budgets independently of the RBA, public and private spending had caused "excess demand" in the economy.
Watt accused the Coalition and minor parties of leaving existing spending proposals to linger in parliament, including savings from changes to the private health insurance rebate for over 65s.
"Let's not forget that for all of their demands that we find more savings, the Coalition currently are blocking the government from saving $10 billion in measures that are before the parliament," Watt said.
Albanese has confirmed spending in the public service will be scrutinised as the government looks for savings in the budget update, expected in the middle of December. Last year, departments and agencies were asked to identify potential savings of as much as 5% from their annual budgets, part of the government's efforts to cut lower-priority spending.
Spending on Labor's $7bn home battery subsidy program and incentives for electric vehicle purchases could be reined in.
Announced in April 2025, the batteries program was originally designed to cost about $2bn. More than 600,000 systems have been installed, but the program could have means testing rules added.
Separately, subsidies designed to promote uptake of electric vehicles has cost the budget far more than originally anticipated.
Angus Taylor announced an opposition "red tape razor gang" on Monday, designed to reduce the burden on business from costly regulation.
