Analysis

The facts that burst Chalmers’ budget balloon

The treasurer has staked his claim of the “biggest ever” improvement in the budget bottom line on projections that proved to be wildly wrong.

Michael StutchburyEditor-at-large

Mar 27, 2025 – 4.17pm

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Fact check. If Jim Chalmers wants applause for the “biggest ever” improvement in the budget bottom line since Labor’s May 2022 election, he really should accept the boos for what went wrong since then.

That would include most of the 13 Reserve Bank interest rate increases since the April 2022 Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook that the treasurer uses as the benchmark for his budget performance.

Michael Stutchbury is editor-at-large. He is in his fourth decade of writing for and editing national newspapers. After nearly six years as editor of The Australian, he returned to the Financial Review as editor-in-chief (2011-2024).