This budget has exposed the faultlines for the next election
It's not yet clear whether there will be another budget before the next election. But a clear battleground has already been formed from this one - with the Coalition signalling it will fight Labor's Future Made in Australia policy.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he’s expecting to deliver another budget, and that he and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher are “raring to go for another one”.
“We have already started thinking about next year's budget, the day after this one,” Chalmers insisted on Wednesday after his speech to the National Press Club in the Great Hall of Parliament House.
“But that's in the hands of prime ministers. We know our place in these kinds of considerations and I will hand down a budget on the day that my prime minister tells me to. I'm anticipating that it will be on this side of an election, but that is for him to decide.”
As it stands, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is leaning towards holding an election in May next year, bringing forward the budget to March — but that could change depending on how the economy performs and how the politics around that develops.
