The government will aim at driving unemployment below pre-pandemic levels and avoid any sharp pivot towards “austerity” in its May 11 budget, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will say on Thursday.
Newspoll showed most people approved of the Coalition’s budget, with 42% saying it would be good for the economy and 49% saying Labor wouldn’t have delivered a better alternative.
In Opposition leader Anthony Albanese’s budget reply, he spoke of a $20 billion plan to modernise Australia’s electricity grid, and an extra $6.2 billion over four years for affordable childcare.
The government has brought forward planned future tax cuts. And while some say we shouldn’t be cutting taxes during a recession, the plan has its merits.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne