Coalition vows $14b improvement in budget bottom line over four years
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The news: Opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor has vowed to scrap Labor’s multi-billion-dollar off-budget spending programs as he released the Coalition’s costings showing an almost $14 billion improvement over four years.
The context: Taylor and Finance Minister Jane Hume released the party’s costings two days out from Saturday’s election, vowing to save billions of dollars by winding up the Housing Australia Future Fund, the Rewiring the Nation Fund and the National Reconstruction Fund.
The Coalition plans to reduce the budget deficit by $13.85 billion over the next four years and lower debt by $40 billion over the same period — with much of the savings occurring in the final financial year.
This expected debt reductions are $5.63 billion in 2025-26, $2.25 billion in 2026-27, $9.54 billion in 2027-28 and $12.19 billion in 2028-29.
The savings are partly made by repealing Labor’s “top-up” income tax cuts announced in the March budget, which would save $17 billion over four years.
The Coalition will also scrap more than $10 billion of production tax credits for critical minerals and green hydrogen, abolish the fringe benefits tax exemption for electric vehicles, and save about $10 billion by reducing the size of the Commonwealth public sector by 41,000 positions over five years.
It will also establish two nation-building funds within the Future Fund to “manage windfall revenue responsibly”.
What they said: "While Labor racks up debt and deficits, the Coalition will deliver lower inflation, cheaper energy, and a stronger economy,” Taylor said.
"Australians are paying the price for Labor’s incompetence and only a Dutton Coalition Government has a real plan to ease the cost of living.
"Labor spent the boom, wasted the windfall, and left families worse off — we’ll clean up the mess and rebuild Australia’s future."
The source: Coalition campaign
