Using a six-year-old statistic to plan for fertility rates could point to an attractive possibility for Morrison: baby bonus redux.
Despite a boost, this year's budget highlights the fact that the Morrison government lacks vision for our cultural sector.
If budgets were about addressing actual economic problems, this one would be a failure — but not a total one.
An ignorant media is attacking the government over the NDIS, reinforcing perceptions the Coalition doesn't care about people with disabilities.
Last night's budget was the 25th without an increase (in real terms) to the Newstart unemployment benefit.
Josh Frydenberg promised millions of additional funding for youth mental health services. But was the government's funding for Indigenous suicide prevention good enough?
The government used the budget to commit to a brave new world of "faster rail" but the money is nowhere to be found.
Mathias Cormann has been crucial to the return to surplus forecast for next year. But so too has the Liberal Party's addiction to taxing Australians.
The budget lock-up is an unnecessary, sometimes funny, occasionally grim affair.
Governments staring down the barrel of an election tend to write budgets that try to be all things to all people. This one is no exception.
