Treasurer Jim Chalmers pointed to his $9.3 billion budget surplus, the first consecutive surplus in nearly two decades.
“A defining characteristic of this government is responsible economic management,” Dr Chalmers said on Tuesday morning.
The main driver of this year’s surplus is not commodity prices, as has been the case before, but rather the resilience of the labor market.
“Commodity prices have made a more modest contribution, a welcome contribution, but more modest on this occasion,” he said.
“But what matters when you get these revenue increases – and this one is just a snapshot of what we’ve seen in years past – is what you do with them.
“We almost banked it all this year.”
But not everyone is impressed.
Both the Greens and the Coalition have criticized the surplus for very different reasons.
Greens economy spokesman Nick McKim said Labor could do much more to look after those directly affected by inflation.
“I mean, what the surplus shows is that they’re prioritizing their own political gains over investing in the kind of programs that would provide real help to people who are really struggling right now,” he said. ABC radio.
Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said the government could do even more to rein in spending.
“This is a crucial differentiator between us and the Labor Party. They believe that the way to revive the economy in the medium term is to get the government to invest. We think it’s about incentivizing the private sector to invest,” he said.
Mr Taylor wants to reinstate rules introduced by former Coaliton treasurer Peter Costello in the late 1990s to restrict public spending.
“These are rules that ensure that the government, when it prepares its budget, has a process in which it exercises restraint,” he told the ABC. Insiders.
“That’s not what we saw… We’re proposing to put them back.”
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