Opinion: Suppressing Fire Before an Early Election Call

Commentary Treasurer Jim Chalmers has delivered a national budget in which the Albanese government predicts a surplus for a second year. Remember that a budget is simply that: a budget. It is an indication of income and expenditure and a prediction about future trends. Mr. Chalmer’s mentor, former Treasurer Wayne Swan famously predicted a series of surpluses that never eventuated. The budget is as much a political document as an economic blueprint, and should be read in that light. As a budget expresses the government’s priorities, what does this year’s document reveal? First, it is an election budget. Hard decisions have been postponed. Expenditure is dependent upon hoped-for revenue in subsequent years, an assumption that in the words of “Yes Minister” is “courageous.”...