Budget 2025: Shadow Treasurer Urges Long-Term Focus as Budget Deficit Nears $47 Billion

This will be Labor’s fourth budget this term.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Feb. 17, 2022. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor has called for the impending federal budget to be focused on the long term, and not short term gain.

Taylor made the comments as Labor Treasurer Jim Chalmers prepares to hand down the Albanese government’s fourth budget this term—the first time since a government has done so since the 1940s.

Taylor said it needed to account for the next five years and beyond, not just for the next five weeks.

“We need a budget for all Australians, not just a budget for an election campaign,” he told reporters on March 25. 

Taylor said the Australian Public Service had become too big, and small businesses were struggling to deal with the regulatory burden, including hiring and paying overtime.

“They [Labor] don’t understand that the private sector drives prosperity, enables us to pay for those essential services we all need, enables us to pay for the Defence of this country that we need. It’s that strong private sector that’s the key, and that’s where this government has failed,” he said. 

The budget on May 25 is expected to show a significant deficit.

The government’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) had predicted a $26.9 billion (US $16.92 billion) deficit for the 2025 financial year, which is set to rise to $46.9 billion in the 2026 financial year.

Despite these figures, the government is set to hand out a $150 rebate on electricity bills for families and small businesses—likely an election sweetener before heading to the polls.

Medicine costs are also set to be reduced under a revamped bulk-billing measure set to cost taxpayers $8.5 billion, while more free GP visits are also on the cards.

Taylor suggested the government was no longer considering limits on spending, and it needed to cut back.

“When you do that, then you can bring down deficits, you can bring down debt, and you can get into the black. You can take pressure off, take pressure off inflation. You can boost growth in the economy,” he said. 

“You can encourage the private sector to invest and we’re seeing the exact opposite under Labor.”

Chalmers Says Budget Will Be Responsible

The budget on March 25 will be the final one before the next federal election, due to be held in May 2025. Polls are showing Labor and the Liberals neck and neck.

Treasurer Chalmers reiterated to reporters on March 25 that the budget would be responsible and help with cost of living measures.

“The Budget is about strengthening Medicare and the election will be an opportunity to secure it for the future. We’ve made a lot of progress together in our economy, but we know there’s more work to do because people are under pressure and the global economic environment is so uncertain,” the treasurer said.

Chalmers argued the government had delivered two surpluses and shrunk the deficit for this year, engineering a “$207 billion improvement.”

“That means less debt, and less debt interest at the same time. So that we can make room to strengthen Medicare and help with the cost of living and build Australia’s future as well.”