Carrington Clarke

Now, Alan, we have some crackling happening behind you for listeners.

That is Alan using an old school method of warming his home.

That is a crackling fireplace.

I'm not sure if that has been driven, Alan, by higher prices for other types of gas.

Wood prices have gone up.

It's ambient.

It adds to the feeling as we discuss what else is in this budget.

But one of the interesting things in this budget was once again about the electric vehicle taxation arrangements.

So this was well flagged ahead of time that the government will be looking to wind back some of the concessional treatment on purchases of electric vehicles.

It's obviously linked to the fuel crisis.

We have seen a major increase in the number of people who are trying to purchase electric vehicles so that they're no longer beholden to the higher prices of petrol.

What do you make of that move by the government that they are looking at winding it back in the coming years?

Is it the right time to be doing that?

given that the government says it wants people to be transitioning to electric vehicles instead of being reliant on fossil fuels powering their cars?

Alan, just like the Reserve Bank, the Treasury has come out with these forecasts about how it thinks the energy supply issue is affecting both the budget and the economy.

So, well, for the Treasuries, they're talking about the budget specifically.

The RBA didn't do that.

But they say, on one hand, the energy crisis is going to mean lower economic growth in Australia.

It means higher inflation.

But actually, for the budget bottom line, there's a windfall for the government because of our big energy-linked companies making more profits during this period.