Yesterday
Government debt to hit $1 trillion as soon as September
Economists are urging the re-elected Albanese government to prioritise getting the budget in order or else risk losing the nation’s AAA credit rating.
This Month
This time, a hung parliament is unlikely to be as bad
If Labor finishes with a seat count a handful shy of the absolute minimum of 75 seats, as polls indicate is a distinct possibility, there will be no bidding war.
Chalmers didn’t know a key budget number. This is why it matters
Treasurer Jim Chalmers failed to recognise a $47 billion deficit figure in an oversight that economist Saul Eslake says exposes the government for glossing over so-called “off budget” spending.
April
‘Debt $40b lower under us,’ Liberals claim
The Coalition is promising to reduce the budget deficit by more than $10 billion over the next four years, and to lower debt by $40 billion. But no surplus.
Labor’s missing $8b for housing makes a mockery of budget
More than 80 per cent of the $10 billion that the government committed to build 100,000 homes for first buyers was nowhere to be seen in its election costings.
The two worrying trends revealed in Australia’s AAA warning
The next federal government should be thinking about ways to get control of the financially imprudent behaviour of the state and territory governments.
Coalition counts on One Nation preferences to narrow gap
Almost nine in 10 preferences from One Nation and other right-wing minor parties are flowing towards the Coalition in some heartland Labor seats it is targeting.
Albanese’s budget deficit ‘lie’ challenged
The prime minister insists his government turned a $78 billion deficit into a surplus, despite the deficit never materialising
Mocking S&P’s credit warning risks Australia’s prosperity
The nation’s AAA rating is not an ornament. It was hard-won through decades of careful fiscal management by successive governments.
Chalmers raids public sector spending to find $7.2b in savings
Labor is vowing to clamp down on consultants as part of its cuts, while Angus Taylor is promising a mini-budget if the Coalition wins the election.
Threadbare Coalition agenda needs a burning platform on bracket creep
If Peter Dutton is victorious, the budget repair rhetoric will need tangible policy proposals to enable a serious conversation with voters about tax reform.
Labor and Coalition urged to fess up on deeming rate plans
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has left open the prospect that 900,000 welfare recipients could have their payments lowered soon after the federal election.
‘DOGE playbook’: Dutton vows to halve Canberra public service
Asked about his policy to reduce the bureaucracy by 41,000 positions, the opposition leader interjected with: “In Canberra.”
Tax surge improves budget but deficits still loom
Strong jobs growth and robust commodity export prices have put the federal budget on track to record a deficit about half the size of the $27.6 billion forecast last month.
Political scare campaigns can’t deliver the one thing Australia needs
Though Labor and the Coalition have made plenty of spending promises, neither has outlined a plan to resolve the structural issues in the federal budget.
Taxpayers are now handing a record $29,751 each to governments
A boom in taxes on personal income, businesses and property fuelled a record $802 billion tax collection by all levels of government last year, new data shows.
The biggest political lie no one will admit at this election
Amid the deluge of claimed political porkies, neither Anthony Albanese nor Peter Dutton is prepared to tell the truth about how to revive living standards.
Coalition’s last ditch pitch comes with a $110b budget warning
The Coalition is homing in on undecided voters in the final days of the election campaign with a massive ad blitz that doubles down on better economic management.
Housing tax break ‘would blow Coalition’s budget’
Economists say the Coalition’s tax deductions for mortgage interest could cost the federal budget billions of dollars more than the $1.25 billion it has claimed.
Commonwealth facing calls to fund nurses’ private sector pay rises
The nurses’ union has called on whichever party wins government to set aside billions to fund pay rises of up to 35 per cent for private sector nurses.