The importance of this budget is what it signals about the government’s fiscal policy over the medium term, and unfortunately that signal is not entirely encouraging.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, are still cruising. While the budget includes worthwhile initiatives in areas such as childcare, single-parent support and the unemployed – problem areas that were neglected by the Coalition – the Albanese government has yet to come to terms with the overarching macroeconomic challenge.