Spending pressures and weaker economy impacting the federal budget

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Spending pressures and a weaker economy are leaning heavily on the federal budget. The treasurer will hand down his mid-year update tomorrow and it may provide an insight into Labor’s election plans.

Transcript

00:00It was the night before my IFO and all through Parliament House, not a surplus was stirring.

00:12A pretty good set of numbers, I think, considering...

00:15All things considered.

00:16Even one as small as a mouse.

00:18Despite all the pressures on the budget, we've delivered two surpluses,

00:22smaller deficits than we inherited and less debt as a consequence.

00:27Tomorrow's mid-year budget update will confirm much of what we already know.

00:31Increased spending and smaller tax takes are hitting the budget's bottom line.

00:35And we've tried to get those deficits down compared to what we inherited.

00:38So it's been a lot of progress made.

00:41We've had three budgets from this hapless Treasurer.

00:44Every decision he's taken has hurt Australian families and small businesses.

00:47Amid talk of budget pressures, new tax figures point to possible solutions.

00:52Highlighting the benefits of capital gains tax discounts, negative gearing and franking credits

00:58are largely shared among the country's highest earners.

01:01Overhauling all three was once Labor policy.

01:05It's an important piece of analysis. It's not a statement of policy intent.

01:09My IFO usually flies under the radar just before Christmas.

01:13This is probably the last major budget update before the election,

01:16so it's getting a bit more attention.

01:18But these aren't the figures Labor wants to be talking about.

01:21Instead, pointing to the Coalition's nuclear numbers.

01:24Now the biggest risk facing the budget and the biggest risk facing Australians right now

01:30is Peter Dutton's nuclear scheme.

01:33The Coalition has been defending its plans and its assertion that power will be cheaper.

01:38Part of that is a much bigger role for gas, with the Coalition reviving its gas-fired recovery.

01:45So gas is going to be incredibly important for peaking

01:47and it's going to be important for the grid to operate.

01:50And we've been very open about that.

01:53An energy debate still firing up.

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