Deficit: $22.6 billion, up from $12.3 billion in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) in November. This year’s deficit will increase to $49.4 billion from $41.5 billion in MYEFO. The famous “return to surplus” in 2012-13 remains intact — $3.5 billion, up a smidgeon from MYEFO. GDP: 4%, up from 3.75% in MYEFO. But growth this […]
Federal budget
Kohler: come back Lindsay, all is forgiven
Lindsay Tanner, come back! All is forgiven. The former finance minister would have been embarrassed by this budget.
Health: $1.5b for more targeted mental health services
Mental health advocates finally have the big-ticket funding package they’ve long campaigned for, with a co-ordinated $2.2 billion suite of initiatives to support patients and identify those most at risk.
Thomson: tackling skills, but no real business breaks
The Treasurer has managed to throw a few small bones to SMEs and one very big one, in the form of a $3 billion workforce package.
Swan faces the pack: the gallery in song for budget grill
“By now you would be familiar with the budget papers,” Wayne Swan remarked breezily at the start of his 4.15pm press conference, but judging by the questions on offer most of the nation’s leading hacks were still struggling to find the silver bullet to destroy the Treasurer’s fiscal rectitude.
Employment: how will Gillard put Australia to work?
Julia Gillard wants Australians to go back to work, using the budget to tackle a worsening skills shortage through training and apprenticeships.
The process of dumbing down budget policy
As a temporary member of the press gallery I had my “gotcha” question ready for Wayne Swan, but alas didn’t join the shouting match to get my question in. But I can share it with you gentle reader — a little esprit de l’escalier a few hours later, writes Nicholas Gruen.
Behind the scenes: the lowdown from the lock-up
There’s no bigger shattering of journalistic hubris than the annual scrum outside the budget lock-up.
Re-watch Crikey‘s 2011 federal budget live blog
Join Crikey’s federal budget live blog featuring Bernard Keane, Nicholas Gruen post lock-up and the rest of the Crikey gang!
healthcare 
What can we expect from the budget for health?
It has also said that a comprehensive dental plan will not be funded this year, although a ‘down-payment‘ will be made. Rebecca de Boer has investigated the backdrop to tonight’s budget announcements.
Get ready for Swan’s deep cuts
Crikey wrap: It’s a big day for Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan, who’ll be presenting the much-anticipated first budget of the Gillard government, with a focus on returning the budget to surplus by 2012-13.
The Holy Grail, 3am: welcome to the federal budget ‘Big Day Out’
The federal budget is “The Big Day Out” for the political and financial media in Australia, writes Mr Denmore, a veteran journalist and blogger at The Failed Estate.
Crikey Says: Name your poison
We’ve been here before with the “this will be a tough budget” routine from Wayne Swan.
Why Swan’s boom budget bottom line is baloney
We need to stop kidding ourselves that our comparatively robust budget position is the product of prudent fiscal management, and to acknowledge the huge boost we’re receiving from the resources boom, writes Karen Maley of Business Spectator.
Crikey Says: The magic S word
Today Bernard Keane writes of a time when politicians treated voters like they actually had half a brain …
Access’ prophet and loss record belongs in the budget bin
Access Economics was up to its old tricks overnight, forecasting doom and gloom for the federal budget and in the process scoring easy publicity.
Lindsay Tanner: Expect a tightarsed budget
Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner gives his warnings for this year’s federal budget. Expect big cutbacks in spending but apparently no “electoral bribery”. Let’s just wait and see on that one.
New economic data: no damn good for a government trying to frame a Budget
New economic data suggests an economy marking time — not what the government needed to hear as it works out how heavily to slash expenditure in the Budget.
Megalogenis: Put your hands together for… Tony the Slasher!
Tony Abbott’s not going to win any economic credibility by announcing more government spending. He needs to start a vicious budget slashing spree, writes George Megalogenis.
Gottliebsen: What if China’s boom busts?
Australia — from its government to its businesses — is basing its yearly budgets around the premise that the growth of China will continue. But the positive predictions of China’s economy may be deeply flawed, writes Robert Gottliebsen.
Revealed: The high cost of the CPRS
Yesterday’s MYEFO figures reveal in clear terms just what a policy disaster the current version of the CPRS is. It also gives the lie to the absurd line from ETS opponents that the CPRS is a giant tax.
The rich who will get richer, thanks to the Budget
Despite the rhetoric, Budget 09 wasn’t all bad news for the rich — in fact, a number of our richest entrepreneurs stand to profit.
