Australia politics live: Chalmers says there is no ‘expectation’ of a recession; Pocock condemns stories of aged care residents ‘charged $200 to have a shower’

Treasurer says government’s inflation forecast from a fortnight ago is now looking ‘conservative’. Follow updates liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast‘Everything should be on the table’ says RustonPut everything on the table at national cabinet today, says shadow health and aged care minister, Anne Ruston.I think the thing that I would be most critical of the government to date has been that they really haven’t been upfront with Australians about what’s going on and they haven’t provided Australians with the certainty that they have a plan going into the future. So I think everything should be on the table.We’re very, very worried that older Australians may well be going without the services they need.I’m hearing stories of people being charged $200 to have a shower, and so older Australians simply aren’t showering, or they’re not getting the help that they need. They were promised that they would be no worse off. That clearly isn’t the case.We need far more transparency around pricing to try and avoid some of the price gouging that we’re hearing about. A pack of smoothies that you can buy online for $20, older Australians are being charged $120 for. We cannot go down the path of some of the things that we’re seeing in the NDIS. The government needs to get on to this now. Continue reading...