Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor says the federal government needs to stop making excuses for Australia’s inflation crisis and get on with the job of stopping it. In his Budget Reply speech, Taylor said the Albanese government’s budget would worsen the current economic situation. “This is the crisis government has to deal with now,” Taylor said…

Truckers are the latest group to hit back at the federal Australian Labor government after it raised a bevy of new taxes to offset welfare and net-zero spending in its latest budget. From July 1, the federal government will increase the Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge to six percent each year, according to a communique…

Commentary Budgets set priorities. Be it a household, or business enterprise a budget will not only tell you about the source of anticipated income but also where the expenditure and investment for futureproofing is directed. Budgets provide a window into the thinking and aspirations of those involved. Government budgets are no different except for one…

News Analysis With the stark realities of global economic turbulence rapidly seeping into Australian livelihoods, Labor is approaching a crossroads. It must decide between gearing its fiscal policy towards softening the blow of the cost-of-living crisis for households or maintaining sizeable levels of spending to fulfil its initial election promises. Earlier last week, Federal Health…

Commentary Australia’s federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is a young man in a hurry. While his mentor was Treasurer Wayne Swan, for whom he worked between 2007 and 2013, he appears to have Paul Keating’s trajectory in mind—treasurer to the prime minister. But Keating’s rise was meteoric. Winning office in only March 1983, he had done…

Commentary Will the AUKUS nuclear subs consume the Australian budget? It’s a good question. The expenditure is huge in Australian terms. The total deal is currently worth $386 billion (US$260 billion) and will be spread out over 30 years. So, on average, it will cost $12 billion a year. This is about one-third of the…

Former Commonwealth Treasury official Gene Tunney says the federal government must cut spending to have any chance of reining in inflation. Tunney, now-director of Adept Economics, says multiple factors contributed to Australia’s current inflation rate of 5.1 percent—likely to be higher at the next announcement—including the war in Ukraine and billions in COVID-19 era subsidies….

Jim Chalmers, the new Australian treasurer, said the nation cannot achieve a return to 1.5 percent productivity growth under current policies. The treasurer said he wanted to have an upfront national conversation on the challenge of increasing productivity, which enables wage growth. “But the starting point needs to be a more realistic assessment of where…

Australian Labor Party’s leader Anthony Albanese has avoided questions regarding whether his party’s cost of living packages will continue to deliver benefits to households in one-year’s time amid rising interest rates that are expected to hinder the benefits from the proposals. It comes as handling the household budget becomes one of the most important election…

Support for mental health will be one the key planks of the federal budget in just over a week’s time, Health Minister Greg Hunt says. Hunt says mental health is one of the four pillars of Australia’s long-term national health plan. The other areas are primary care with a strong focus on access to new…