Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
The thing to look for is the “fiscal strategy”. For the past quarter-century, it’s provided a surprisingly accurate insight into what each budget is doing.
Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Former treasury boss Ken Henry has fessed up to helping dumb down debates about tax and budgets to lists of winners and losers. He says what matters is what wins rather than who.
Australia’s past reports have been largely ignored big issues like housing and climate change. Ahead of the latest report’s release, here’s what we’re still missing – including giving you a say.
Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
From October, Australia will start routinely quantifying the benefits as well as costs of federal spending. It’s already shaping up as the new treasurer’s most important legacy.
Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Unemployment is far lower than predicted and isn’t setting off the kind of inflation seen in the United States. There’s no telling how much lower it can go.
The US debt ceiling is a form of self-delusion: a limit imposed on a borrower by the borrower itself. Australia had one until the Coalition and the Green us, abolished it.
MYEFO contains a long-overdue admission: that low wage growth is the new normal. It’ll take extraordinary spending restraint to make the surplus forecasts stick.
History suggests the government will spend most of the extra $10 billion per year that the MYEFO will reveal on Monday. The only problem is, those riches won’t last.