Jim Chalmers is slammed after boasting about back-to-back surpluses: ‘Prioritising political benefit’
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has talked up his $9.3billion Budget surplus, which marks the first back to back surpluses in almost two decades.
‘A defining feature of this government is responsible economic management,’ Dr Chalmers said on Tuesday morning.
The biggest driver of this year’s surplus was not commodity prices, as has been the case previously, but rather the resilience of the labor market.
‘Commodity prices have made a more modest contribution, a welcome contribution, but a more modest one on this occasion,’ he said.
‘But what matters when you get these revenue upgrades – and this one is only a sliver of what we’ve seen in years past – is what you do with that.
‘We are banking almost all of it this year.’
But not everyone is impressed.
The Greens and the Coalition have both hit out at the surplus for very different reasons.
Greens economics spokesperson Nick McKim said Labor could do a lot more to look after the people directly impacted by inflation.
‘I mean, what the surplus shows is that they’re prioritising their own political benefit over investing in the kind of programs that would provide genuine help to people who are really doing it tough at the moment,’ he told ABC radio.
While Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said the government could do even more to limit their spending.
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