‘Get real’: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s brutal message to nation
After painting a grim picture of Australia’s bottom line, the Prime Minister has hit back at claims he’s trying to soften the ground for future tax hikes.
Anthony Albanese has issued a blunt warning, insisting it was time Australians “get real” about the state of the budget.
The final budget outcome for 2021/22, handed down on Wednesday, revealed an almost $50bn improvement to the underlying deficit.
Speaking on Thursday, the Prime Minister welcomed the improvement but was quick to hose down expectations of a return to surplus anytime soon.
“We need to get real … from some of the rhetoric of the (Coalition) this week; I found it astonishing. They were talking about how well the budget position was,” Mr Albanese told 5AA.
“Well, the truth is we have record deficits and those deficits are there far into the future.”
Expenditure on the National Disability Insurance Scheme, defence and security, and aged care was listed as a major challenge for the budget.
Overall, the budget took in $27.7bn more than expected due to strong commodity prices and more income tax due to low unemployment.
Mr Albanese noted the commodity price increase was only temporary.
“We’ve continued to benefit from our resources. What we need to do though is to ensure we take advantage of that in a serious way,” he added.
“Continue to export, sure, but where possible value add. We need to make more things here.”
On Wednesday, opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor accused the government of playing down the improvement to the budget.
“Perhaps he's just buttering up the Australian people for more taxes. For a big spending budget he needs to tax people more,” he said.
Asked if the government’s rhetoric was just laying the ground for future tax increases, Mr Albanese scoffed.
“The opposition left a trillion dollars of debt. They said they would produce a budget in their first year back in 2013 and that there’d be surpluses every year then on,” he said.
“They never did.”
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