Chalmers grilled about election ‘war chest’
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has declined to confirm his mid-year budget update will include a $5.5 billion war chest to fund cost-of-living relief and election sweeteners.
The money is expected to be squirreled away under a section of the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook labelled “decisions taken but not yet announced”.
According to the Daily Telegraph, that figure will amount to $5.5 billion. That figure is well short of the $15.7 billion figure allocated by the previous Coalition government at the same time of the election cycle.
Speaking with Sunrise, Chalmers insisted there was nothing to see here.
“That’s things which aren’t ready to be put out. Maybe there’s an negotiation
underway, or an element of commercial in confidence or something like that,” he says.“The decision’s taken not allowanced line in the budget update today will actually be smaller than what we saw under our predecessors in the last update before an election. It won’t stand out as a particularly unusual number to have there.”
Treasurer to hand down the mid-year budget update today
Two years of budget surpluses will be more than eclipsed by coming deficits as Treasurer Jim Chalmers juggles falling commodity prices, weaker economic growth and the need to fund pre-election household relief.
The government will claim credit for improving the budget bottom line “by $200 billion” since 2022, when pandemic spending was near a peak.
There is speculation the Albanese government will use Wednesday’s mid-year economic and fiscal update as its final launch pad to the election.
👋 Good morning
Hiya budget nerds. Welcome back to another day of the ABC’s federal politics blog. Courtney Gould from the Parliament House team here to guide you through the day.
Today’s main event? The mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (MYEFO).
It’s also our last fedpols blog of the year, so grab a coffee and strap in. We’re in for a fun day of numbers and speculation.
