With a $7.4b black hole, Gallagher tries to explain the unexplainable
Budgeting no money for public servant wage rises may have made sense under a stingy Coalition, but it makes no sense under a Labor government hiring like mad.
It’s not easy to leave nearly all of Australia’s top budget experts scratching their heads, but Finance Minister Katy Gallagher managed it in an interview on Wednesday night.
The Australian Financial Review revealed on Wednesday the government had put aside almost no money for rising public sector wages over the next three years, in a forecasting blunder worth a cool $7.4 billion.
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Michael Read is the Financial Review's economics correspondent, reporting from the federal press gallery at Parliament House. He was previously an economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia and at UBS. Connect with Michael on Twitter. Email Michael at michael.read@afr.com
