Opinion

Australia is out of denial on debt, but has no will to act

The case for running large structural deficits is already crumbling. But there is no appetite for the measures needed to tame them.

Robert CarlingEconomist

Feb 9, 2022 – 1.25pm

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Fiscal discipline – not at its best even before the pandemic – has gone missing in the past two years.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is right to say it is time to draw “clear lines in the sand” to constrain government spending and restore some normality to budget settings. In other words, rules for sound fiscal policy have been suspended, and it is time to bring them back and adhere to them.

Robert Carling is a Senior fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies, and a former IMF and federal and state Treasury economist.

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