Steven Hamilton is somewhat alarmist (“Treasurer Chalmers has lost control of the budget”). A government not doing things he wants does not make a budget “out of control”.

The projections of the budget and mid-year economic and fiscal outlook envisage a gradual return to (headline and structural) balance, and a gradual fall in the debt-to-GDP ratio over the next decade. It may not be as quick as commentators such as Dr Hamilton would prefer, but it does not justify the reference to bankruptcy with which he starts his piece.