Sadly, there has been overly negative reporting of Jim Chalmers’ 2024/25 budget in this newspaper, and it’s ongoing.
When the Albanese Labor government came to power in 2022 they inherited a fiscal disaster, with national debt approaching $1 trillion with little to show for it; no meaningful action on the climate emergency; aged care in crisis; wages stagnation; rapidly increasing inflation; rapidly increasing cost-of- living; a housing and rental crisis; rampant Coalition corruption.
These shocking results were the cumulative effects of nine years of Coalition incompetence and can’t be rectified immediately. After two years in government the Albanese Labor government has: wiped $3 billion in student HECS debt and fixed indexation; invested in additional bulk-billed Medicare Urgent Care Clinics; kickstarted the construction of over a million homes across Australia; paid superannuation on top of paid parental leave; delivered tax cuts to every taxpayer and back-to-back budget surpluses; established the National Anti-Corruption Commission; provided cheaper medicines and child care; implemented ten days of domestic violence leave and given women leaving violent relationships up to $5,000; wiped $3 billion off student debt and delivered fee-free TAFE places. They are driving a generational shift towards protecting the environment; transitioning towards renewable energy and a low carbon economy; getting wages moving again and fixing the industrial relations system and, last but not least, giving every household a $300 energy rebate, something the Echo’s editor singled out to vilify. In the interests of being a balanced community newspaper, the Echo should drop the constant negativity of all things Labor and give some credit where it’s due.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
