Treasurer says he would welcome the opportunity to put the economy ‘front and centre’ in the upcoming election campaignFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSee all our Australian election 2025 coverageLabor’s fourth budget will contain another round of “meaningful and substantial” cost-of-living relief for Australian households, even as Jim Chalmers confirmed there would be a sharp deterioration in this financial year’s bottom line after back-to-back surpluses.The treasurer said next Tuesday he will unveil a deficit close to the $26.9bn predicted at the December midyear update, and that the windfall tax gains from high commodity prices and a booming jobs market were now a thing of the past.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailSign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading…Treasurer says he would welcome the opportunity to put the economy ‘front and centre’ in the upcoming election campaignFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSee all our Australian election 2025 coverageLabor’s fourth budget will contain another round of “meaningful and substantial” cost-of-living relief for Australian households, even as Jim Chalmers confirmed there would be a sharp deterioration in this financial year’s bottom line after back-to-back surpluses.The treasurer said next Tuesday he will unveil a deficit close to the $26.9bn predicted at the December midyear update, and that the windfall tax gains from high commodity prices and a booming jobs market were now a thing of the past.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailSign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading…
Labor’s fourth budget will contain another round of “meaningful and substantial” cost-of-living relief for Australian households, even as Jim Chalmers confirmed there would be a sharp deterioration in this financial year’s bottom line after back-to-back surpluses.
The treasurer said next Tuesday he will unveil a deficit close to the $26.9bn predicted at the December midyear update, and that the windfall tax gains from high commodity prices and a booming jobs market were now a thing of the past.
The Albanese government is keen to hold over potentially vote-winning announcements for the upcoming election campaign, and Chalmers in a speech in Brisbane downplayed the prospect of any new major spending decisions on budget night.
The treasurer did, however, commit to unveiling further assistance to households battling high cost of living.
“There’ll be cost-of-living help,” he said in response to a question following his speech, adding “the form of that will be made clear to you over the course of the next week or so”.
“It will be meaningful and substantial, and it will be responsible. It will be affordable. We can’t do everything that we would like to do because of the fiscal and other constraints that we have, and there’s always a premium on responsibility, especially now.”
The government has had to scramble to finalise a budget after ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred nixed plans to call an earlier April election.
But Chalmers in his address to the Queensland Media Club – which was briefly interrupted by two protestors demanding Labor end its support for new oil and gas projects – welcomed the opportunity to put the economy “front and centre” in the upcoming election campaign. He warned that a vote for Peter Dutton risked torpedoing a fragile post-pandemic recovery.
“Because of all our efforts, inflation is down, incomes are strengthening, unemployment is very low, interest rates are coming down, debt is down and growth is picking up,” the treasurer said.
“This is a remarkable combination, and it’s exceptional; exceptional when you look around the world and when you look back through history,” he said, pointing to New Zealand’s struggle with recession.
Addressing the deficit, Chalmers said: “Revenue upgrades have actually come off very significantly since the highs of October 2022.
“Treasury doesn’t expect the bottom line this year or over the forward estimates to change very substantially from Myefo.”
After Labor delivered its consecutive surpluses, the Coalition will use Treasury forecasts of rolling deficits into the next decade to attack the Albanese government for mismanaging the country’s finances.
The treasurer’s scene-setting speech comes amid signs of a substantial rise in Anthony Albanese’s personal approval rating, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.
A first RBA rate cut in four years in February and the government’s response to flooding in Queensland and northern New South Wales appears to have galvanised support for the prime minister over his opposite number, even as polls still suggest a swing against Labor on election day.
“The Australian economy has turned a corner,” Chalmers said.
“We saw that in the most recent national accounts which showed growth in our economy rebounded solidly. At the same time, real wages and living standards are growing again, supported by our tax cuts and the interest rate cut, and sentiment has been zigzagging up overall, as a consequence.
“These are all early and encouraging signs that momentum is building. We know people are still doing it tough and that’s why cost of living continues to be our major focus.”
Chalmers said the budget will contain provisions for further announcements to be made during the election campaign, and played down expectations of any new major spending next Tuesday.