What to expect from the 2026 Budget: all the leaks, predictions and pre-announcements
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is expected to hand down a budget including some of the Albanese government’s most ambitious gambits yet.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers will deliver his fifth budget tonight needing to juggle both short and long-term crises.
Having always framed himself as a reformist, now would have been the perfect time for Chalmers to act. Labor has two-and-a-half years before facing voters again, and enjoys an historically dominant grip on power, aided by an unstable Opposition.
But the US’ war on Iran, and its catastrophic impact on petrol prices, has for months framed Chalmers’ options as he prepared a budget he has described as his most important yet.
But while Chalmers is correct to say that Australia is essentially “hostage” to decisions made in Washington and Tehran, he’s also hostage to decades of decision making by successive governments.
