Budget 2016: Morrison delivers the plain fare the nation needs

Liberalism and democracy. Enterprise and competition. Fair taxes, free trade and the defence of the free world. The budget reaffirms the Coalition’s commitment to freedom as it shepherds the nation into a 21st-century economy. There are only modest savings where a more radical corrective is required to return to surplus, but the pre-election political risks posed by austerity have been mitigated by savvy policy settings.

The Coalition has cut up the statists’ credit card. The new economy it envisions is built on relative government thrift, tax breaks for small and medium-sized businesses, tax relief for middle-class workers, a crackdown on tax avoidance in the big end of town, rational ­immigration policy, and support for regional health and disadvantaged youth. The government’s jobs and growth mantra, however, doesn’t capture the value proposition. The budget resets the economic agenda by replacing the boom and bust cycle of Labor cash splashes and Liberal austerity with a more sustainable plan. The focus of growth is on infrastructure, ­defence, science and technology, and youth employment.

The Coalition’s political pitch is subtle, but dead-ends Labor’s run on populism. It resets the agenda by undercutting Labor’s class war rhetoric, closing off superannuation tax concessions for “Australia’s most wealthy” and cracking down on multinational tax avoidance. It launches a pre-emptive strike against union protectionism by investing in a $50 billion infrastructure plan and a homegrown defence manufacturing industry.

The greatest damage done to Labor’s traditional campaigning on health, education and equality, however, have been self-inflicted. The revelation on budget eve of a $19.5bn shortfall in Labor’s education policy illustrates the party’s economic credentials have not improved since it left office with a debt of $250bn. And it still believes that taxing Australians more — $100bn more — is the solution to their compulsive spending.

The Coalition’s fairness agenda is more modest that Labor’s Keynesian dreaming, but it is costed and sustainable. It includes ­significant funding for rural health, indigenous education and higher education for students from low socio-economic backgrounds. There is a new initiative, PaTH, to assist 100,000 disadvantaged young people find work. It closes the gap on Labor’s unfunded promises by ensuring education funding is sustainable and tied to school performance in raising students’ literacy and numeracy. And it creates a dedicated savings fund to safeguard the ­National Disability Insurance Scheme at risk of cost blowouts.

The country is used to high drama at budget time. The egoism of Labor’s big spender spin was ­followed by grim reaper economics as Joe Hockey and Tony ­Abbott tried to catapult the country into surplus. This budget reflects a government with very little money determined not to plunge the fragile economy deeper into debt, but committed to stimulating growth. It is plainly worded and wrapped in plain packaging by a government with a declared commitment to living within its means.

As the press corps amassed at Parliament House for budget lockup, I checked the clock — not a clock you will find on the wall in the hallowed halls of the capital. I checked the national debt clock. The total government debt read over $400bn. It rises so rapidly the numbers run in a blur, as though trying to catch lost time.

Props are not permitted in the House of Representatives, but I would wager Australians would cheer to see a national debt clock hung that rang out whenever a politician made a promise that sent our future generations deeper into debt. Scott Morrison has not presented an exciting budget. He has delivered the budget the ­nation needs. One day, the country may thank him.

See Eric Lobbecke’s illustration here