Does Malcolm Turnbull have a $1.6 billion war chest of election goodies?

HAS Malcolm Turnbull been holding out on us? Some believe the Prime Minister is sitting on a $1.6 billion war chest of election goodies.

Is Malcolm Turnbull holding out on us? Pic Lyndon Mechielsen/News Corp

HAS Malcolm Turnbull been holding out on us?

Some believe the Prime Minister is sitting on a $1.6 billion war chest of election goodies that he will slowly reveal as the campaign unfolds.

Speculation has been swirling about $1.6 billion worth of spending included in the Budget but described mysteriously as “decisions taken but not yet announced”.

The line item has often stirred controversy, but especially when there is an election coming up.

Now the government has dismissed expectations it is keeping some sweeteners up its sleeve.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said reports about the potential election bounty were wrong.

“There is no money for the election campaign included in the budget line ‘decisions taken but not yet announced’,” Mr Cormann told news.com.au.

He described the measure as a “usual budget housekeeping line” and was also careful to note: “There are no items in this line that relates to grants to marginal seats.”

Mr Cormann added that the line was part of every Budget and was “much lower” than last year, and in the update released just before Christmas.

He said the value of the “decisions taken but not yet announced” was only a third the size it was before Christmas, having actually reduced in size over the past six months.

“There are a variety of reasons items are included in this line, including because of national security or commercial sensitivities, or because of sensitivities around the timing of announcements in relation to communications with other governments or other processes that have to be concluded before public announcements can be made.”

He said all the details of the revenue and spending, “except highly sensitive matters” will be published in the pre-election economic and fiscal outlook, due 10 days before election day.

But with recent polls showing many voters felt they would be worse off as a result of the Budget, the government could do with a lift.

A Newspoll found 39 per cent of voters believed they would be worse off while just 18 per cent believed they will be better off, and 43 per cent uncommitted.

Only 37 per cent of those surveyed in the Fairfax-Ipsos poll believed last week’s Budget was fair.

Along with the $1.6 billion in unannounced spending listed in the Budget, other unannounced decisions include measures that will see the government lose $425 million in revenue over four years.

As for the spending, it has earmarked $1.6 billion over three years but also expects to claw back almost $2 billion in the fourth year (2019-20). This means the government will be able to argue the unannounced spending is fully funded, and not just an election cash splash.

Mysterious expense measures in Budget 2016 explained as "decisions taken but not yet announced".

The Parliamentary Library has examined past decisions taken but not yet announced, which are generally listed in Budget Paper 2. It found there could be many reasons why the funds were not explained.

“These funds may relate to specific policies that would be announced in the near future,” it noted.

“However, there may also be other considerations, such as commercial confidentiality issues.”

It found that there was “no clear indication” that the amount of unannounced funding was related to the timing of an election.

“If anything, the analysis reveals that the size of the ‘decisions taken but not yet announced’ measures has little relationship to election years.”

Last financial year, the spending on decisions not yet announced was $1.3 billion over four years. On the revenue side it was $1.1 billion. The combined impact of these measures was therefore $35.7 million.

Originally published as Does Malcolm Turnbull have a $1.6 billion war chest of election goodies?