‘Debt bomb’: Treasurer pushes spending scrutiny onto Coalition
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The news: Treasurer Jim Chalmers has lashed out at the Coalition for uncosted policies leaving future generations with a “debt bomb” as he fends off criticism over the 2026 budget.
Chalmers accused his political rivals of risking “much bigger deficits, higher debt and higher inflation” through its policies and pushed for answers about where cuts would come from to fund the proposals.
The numbers: According to the government’s costings, the Coalition’s commitments since the election would have a $110.5 billion impact on the underlying cash balance over four years and $544.4 billion over nine years with gross debt about $530 billion higher by 2036-37.
The government has released its criticism of the Opposition’s spending plan ahead of a fight over its bundled legislation of negative gearing, CGT and the $250 working Australians tax offset.
What they said: “The Coalition’s reckless and irresponsible approach to the budget would blow a half a trillion dollar hole in the bottom line,” Chalmers said in a media statement.
“More than half a trillion dollars’ worth of unfunded commitments disqualifies them from any sensible conversation about deficits, debt and inflation.
“This is a multi-billion-dollar debt bomb that the Coalition would drop on future generations of Australians.”
Chalmers defended the government’s budget, saying Labor has “taken difficult decisions for the right reasons, delivering a budget that is now $44.9 billion stronger than was forecast in December”.
On the weekend, Opposition treasury spokesman Tim Wilson said Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have “admitted they’re hitting us with $273 billion in taxes Australians didn’t vote for” following a report in the Sunday Telegraph that the government’s changes to taxes add up to this sum over the next nine years.
“The prime minister and the treasurer said before the last election over 50 times that they wouldn’t slug Australians with these new taxes,” Wilson said.
The source: Treasurer media release
