Happy post-budget day, Canberra!
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
We've woken up to another frosty and foggy morning (right now it's about minus 2) but we're heading for a mostly sunny day with light winds. The mercury is set to reach 18 degrees today and tomorrow and 17 degrees for the rest of the week.
Here's all the federal budget news you need to know:
The year the Coalition stopped smashing Canberra?
ACT just a bystander as Morrison spends big
Winners and losers: public service
The Department of Human Services will shed nearly 1200 jobs next financial year, Tuesday's federal budget revealed.
DHS was the biggest loser from agency resourcing of full time equivalent positions in Scott Morrison's second budget, coming as average staffing levels across the federal public service were set to remain steady in 2017-18 at about 167,000 positions.
Workforce numbers at DHS will fall by 1188 positions to 28,647 next financial year - a drop of 4 per cent. Tom Mcllroy has the story.
Defence boosts staffing, takes razor to private sector spending
Malcolm Turnbull and ADF chief Air Marshall Mark Binskin in Afghanistan. Photo: Andrew Meares
The Defence Department will grow its staff numbers by 850 public servants as it pulls funding from Canberra's lucrative private consultant and contractor market.
Defence's staffing levels will climb again after years of decline, growing by 620 to 17,970 in 2017-18 and stabilising from the next year at 18,200.
The growth will include more public service jobs in its intelligence, space and cyber security ranks as the department meets priorities set out in the 2016 Defence white paper. But Doug Dingwall explains that these will be offset by cuts elsewhere in its APS workforce.
Get out your 5c coins for Connie Johnson's last hurrah
But today is not just the day after the budget - Canberrans are expected to come out in droves for Connie Johnson's Big Heart Project.
Today, people all around Australia will thank a brother and sister for raising millions for cancer research and hopes are high that another million will soon be tacked onto the tally.
Gates at the Lyneham netball courts on Northbourne Avenue open at 8am, with Connie Johnson and brother Samuel to lay the first coin in what is hoped to be the world's largest heart made of five cent pieces.
