Determined to assert its authority over the nation’s finances after almost a decade of Coalition rule,Labor decided to deliver its first budget seven months ahead of schedule which meant 2022 was the first time two budgets were handed down in a single calendar year. But what type of budget would Labor’s be?
Clearly a believer in the “under promise,over deliver” school of political communication,fresh-faced Treasurer Jim Chalmers was determined to set expectations low. Rather than an extravagant fiscal feast,he had cautioned Australians to expect a “fairly standard bread and butter budget” ahead of the big day.
As devoted foodies know,though,all forms of bread and butter are not made equal. Was Chalmers going to serve up a loaf of Tip Top white bread or artisanal sourdough? Down-to-earth Flora margarine or Lurpak butter imported from Denmark?
It turned out Chalmers was right not to over-hype his first budget. Anyone craving a policy revolution was going to go home with their tummy rumbling.
The offering Chalmers and his sous chef,Finance Minister Katy Gallagher,laid out on the table on Tuesday was more humble than highfalutin’. Indeed,jaded observers reckoned it resembled a jazzed up budget update (known officially as the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook or MYEFO).
There were some significant initiatives to be sure,almost all of them leaked out by the government in the lead-up to the budget or revealed by enterprising reporters. An expansion of the paid parental leave scheme,extra money for childcare and a vow to increase the nation’s stock of affordable housing. The overwhelming focus was getting Labor’s small-target election platform on the books as official government policy.