Australia, Global Sentinel

Federal budget 2021 live: Josh Frydenberg prepares to deliver Australia budget; Victoria records positive Covid case

Ailing sectors targeted, as federal parliament returns in Canberra with question time and Josh Frydenberg preparing to release Australia’s 2021 budget. Follow all the latest news as it happens
• Aged care, women and infrastructure: what to expect from the budget
• Australia’s housing crisis: how is the Coalition going to fix it?
• Australia’s federal court rejects urgent bid to overturn India travel ban
• Guardian Essential poll: Australians divided over government’s ban on travel from India

Greens leader Adam Bandt calls on the government to support its policies of placing a 6% tax on billionaires’ wealth and placing a new super profits tax on big corporations making excessive profits.

Scott Morrison ain’t keen, unsurprisingly.

I’ve got a tip for the member for Melbourne, I won’t be listening to the Greens, Mr Speaker. And neither will the treasurer, and the Australian people, who value their jobs, Mr Speaker, who value the strength of an economy, a strength of an economy is what actually pays for essential services.

Labor’s Catherine King is on her feet. She says the government has “underspent on its infrastructure announcements by an average $1.2bn every year for the eight long years it’s been in office”. She asks how the public can be expected to trust the government.

Michael McCormack, deputy prime minister, takes the question for Scott Morrison.

I know that Labor hasn’t delivered a budget for nearly 10 years. They haven’t delivered, haven’t delivered a surplus budget since 1989. 1989. Surplus budget. That’s the last time you did it.