The AFR View
Budget slide shows Chalmers’ fiscal luck has run out
If the government calls an early election before the budget is scheduled for March 25 next year, it would underscore how big a political problem – of its own making – economic management now is for Labor.
Since Labor came to office two and half years ago, higher than expected commodity prices and higher than forecast tax receipts have boosted the federal budget’s bottom line.
“Lucky” Jim Chalmers deserves some credit for the past two back-to-back surpluses for banking almost 90 per cent of the extra revenue. Hence the budget has swung back into the black, temporarily at least, after the emergency spending during the pandemic plunged the public finances deep into the red.
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