The new Labor government won't backflip on its support for tax cuts for high-income earners despite the state of the budget, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.
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Mr Albanese has also used an interview with Sky News to concede the party must learn its lessons about parachuting candidates into seats after Kristina Keneally's shock defeat in Fowler.
The new Prime Minister's first week in power has been dominated by international affairs and the rising influence of China in the Pacific.
But Mr Albanese faces challenges on the home front, including managing a budget still under strain from the massive COVID-19 spending.
Labor agreed to back the tax cuts last July, a decision which ensured it avoided a fight with the Coalition ahead of the election.
"We are committed to delivering what we said we would," Mr Albanese said.
"We said on the stage 3 tax cuts, that they had been legislated [and] people are entitled to operate on the basis of that certainty."
Mr Albanese reiterated that Labor would seek to find savings via a line-by-line audit of the budget by the Treasury and Finance departments.
"This is a budget that's full of waste and rorts," he said.
"We're going to search for them [and] find them, line-by-line."
"We need to get to work to make sure that every dollar of expenditure is regarded as the precious commodity of taxpayers, not a political party."
In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Albanese said the election defeat of Ms Keneally - who was Labor's deputy Senate leader and would've been a senior member of his cabinet - was a "loss" for the party.
Mr Albanese acknowledged there were lessons to be learnt in the result, which saw Labor surrender the once-safe seat south-western Sydney seat to independent Dai Le.
Labor had been heavily criticised for parachuting Ms Keneally, then a resident of the city's affluent Northern Beaches, into the seat at the expense of a local candidate.
"You have to learn lessons from an outcome like that," Mr Albanese said.
"The lessons are very clear that the community sent a message."
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
