Budget 2026: Labor announces 100% increase in backbenchers saying ‘hear hear’

The Labor government has announced a major increase in backbenchers saying ‘hear, hear’ during budget speeches.

Treasurer Chalmers has said this is “a record breaking investment in ‘hear hear’ production to deliver a sustainable responsible budget.”

“Previous governments have barely managed to average one ‘hear, hear’ interruption per minute, but the Labor government has gotten that number to over two per minute. This is what Labor does best.”

The announcement was followed with an enthusiastic ‘hear, hear’ from Labor members.

The question now becomes since this was not brought to the election, could this new cut out lead to a loss at the next election? We will have to wait and see.