Thread by @albericie

On #Insiders @David_Speers makes the searing observation to @JoshFrydenberg that now is exactly the worst time to be taking $14m away from National Audit Office. When government is spending eye-wateringly enormous amounts of money "isn't that when we need more scrutiny not less?"

Worth noting too: ATO’s workforce 18% smaller than in 2014. 18,104 staff many now working from home suddenly have responsibility for Jobkeeper (on top of everything else they were doing) ie. 900,000 businesses. How many audits can they actually do to check it's not being rorted?

Was this a gender blind budget? That is, does it deliver equally for guys & gals? @swrighteconomy says government is counting on a "blokey recovery"

The evidence is pretty clear:

92% of new apprenticeships will go to men
8% of new apprenticeships will go to women

#Insiders

Clever @swrighteconomy spoke to loads of economists.

"All but one male economist and every single female economist said this was a gendered budget"

"These are some of the smartest people going around but the government doesn't want to talk about it"

#Insiders

What we learnt from @David_Speers interview with @JoshFrydenberg

Most unemployed women are over 35. This will be made worse in coming yrs given employers being incentivised to take on younger workers

Women are also 54% of the workforces hardest hit by the pandemic #Insiders

On #insiders @JoshFrydenberg said the gender pay gap was improving .. um yes it's much better than it was in 2014 but a bit meh since 2004

According to @WGEAgency men on average earned 14% more than women at May 2020. In November 2019 they earned just 13.9% more

An interesting remark from the Treasurer @JoshFrydenberg himself talking to @David_Speers He said studies had shown that putting those 1.4 million workers on JobKeeper meant they didn't get hired in more productive sectors #Insiders

We also heard confirmed that the last tranche of income tax cuts are baked in and will not be reversed.

1/3 of that $101 billion will go to the highest 10% of taxpayers

#Insiders

Despite all the government's efforts in #Budget2020 most Australians say they won't spend their tax cut windfalls @theheraldsun study of 10,303 people:

Save 38%
Invest 10%
Splurge on an item 14%
Mortgage 25%
Holiday 10%
Education (school costs) 2%
Further study / training 1%