Sussan Ley vows to introduce a path to budget surplus
Sussan Ley has declared she won’t be cowed by Labor’s anticipated scare campaigns, after vowing to slash government spending and reveal a path to surplus.
Sussan Ley has pledged to reveal a pathway to surplus funded by spending cuts ahead of the next election, adding that she wouldn’t lead a party that “rolls into a small ball” in the face of anticipated scare campaigns from Labor.
In her strongest comments yet spelling out how she would repair the budget, the Opposition Leader declared she would fight against any new government programs providing universal benefits, singling out Anthony Albanese’s universal childcare scheme, due to start in 2026.
When asked directly if she’d outline a pathway to surplus before the next election, Ms Ley said cutting government spending would be a key policy pillar for the Liberals as part of her pitch to stop the next generation of voters being saddled with debt.
“It’s important we give Australians the confidence that we are going to tackle intergenerational unfairness, deficits as far as the eye can see, and unrestrained government spending,” she said at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney.
She added that her party opposed universal benefit schemes “in principle” and that “it’s … important we respect that if someone can afford something, then the government shouldn’t be subsidising them”.
Ms Ley made the comments after her address to the CIS, where she unveiled plans for the Coalition to take a package of income tax cuts to the next election.
The Liberal leader was supported by colleagues at the CIS, including Ted O’Brien, David Sharma, Andrew Bragg and Anne Rushton following a weekend of the Coalition being buffeted by news of Barnaby Joyce’s impending departure.
Ms Ley said she wouldn’t fear a Labor scare campaign on cuts, despite signalling what could be a flagship policy two years out from an election.
“I refuse to lead a Liberal Party that rolls itself into a small ball because of a fear campaign,” she said, adding that an announcement of income tax cuts would weld her party to the promise.
“I have decided to make this very clear today, because (if) you set the goal and you are determined to get there, then it cannot fall by the wayside.”
Her comments came hours after Jim Chalmers responded quickly to news of Ley’s tax cut plan by instantly reigniting Labor’s Mediscare attack platform it has used previously.
“They’re promising more spending and smaller deficits; Australians deserve to know how they’re going to do it,” the federal Treasurer said. “This can only mean savage cuts to Medicare and other essential services to pay for their promises.”
Ms Ley added that pinpointing income tax cuts would likely come at the expense of other major tax reform policies, like rejigging tax brackets, saying the former reform was the “priority”.
“I hear the frustration of people who are creeping into the next tax bracket … We’re going to start with tax cuts – that’s where we can give the most relief to low and middle income earners … that will be the priority,” she said.
Ms Ley had earlier used her speech to declare that the Coalition election policy railing against work from home arrangements was “wrong”, saying her party now unquestionably supported the move as well as flexible work hours in a bid to bolster hobbled productivity.
She explicitly ruled out government legislating or mandating a work from home policy – something the Allan government in Victoria has pledged – saying it was up to business and their employees to establish between themselves.
“Let me be very clear: we support ‘work-from-home’,” Ms Ley said. “This is something that we got wrong in the lead-up to the 2025 election.
“And we have listened.”
She repeatedly referred back to young Australians who she had labelled the country’s “new forgotten generation”, saying their plight could be turned into an election winner for her party.
Ms Ley said “intergenerational unfairness” could be used to “effectively prosecute the argument” with voters who weren’t focused on government debt by instead tying that into falling standards of living being passed on to younger Australians.
The tack of targeting younger votes comes after Newspoll analysis last month showed support for the Coalition plummeting to just 18 per cent of voters between 18 and 34 – down from 28 per cent in March.
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