Treasurer Scott Morrison Delivers 2017 Federal Budget

The Treasurer, Scott Morrison, has delivered the Turnbull government’s second Budget, forecasting a return to surplus in four years, abandoning stalled budget cuts, guaranteeing Medicare and the PBS, incresing the Medicare levy and imposing a new levy on the commercial banks.

The Budget also includes provisions for first home buyers to salary sacrifice into their superannuation. It includes a crackdown on welfare recipients.

The Budget marks a break with the Abbott years. It abandons the “zombie” cuts stalled in the Senate whilst increasing spending in traditional Labor areas. Morrison said it was a “reset”.

  • Listen to Scott Morrison deliver the Budget (32m)
  • Watch Morrison (32m)

Budget Documents – PDF downloads



Treasurer Releases MYEFO – Mid-Year Economic And Fiscal Outlook Projects Lower Growth But Surplus In 2020-21

The Treasurer, Scott Morrison, has released the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, a budget update that projects lower growth but with a return to surplus still forecast in 2020-21.

Morrison

MEYEFO projects that economic growth in 2016-17 will fall from 2.5% to 2%. In 2017-18, it will be 2.75%, down from 3%. The 2018-19 and 2019-20 projections of 3% growth remain.

The government says the underlying cash deficit is expected to narrow from $36.5 billion (2.1% of GDP) in 2016-17 to $10.0 billion (0.5% of GDP) in 2019-20.

Treasurer Scott Morrison told a press conference with Finance Minister Senator Mathias Cormann this afternoon that in six weeks of parliamentary sittings since the election the government has legislated two-thirds of its budget repair measures.

MYEFO has confirmed that Tony Abbott’s Green Army will be abolished. The government will also save $970 milllion from cuts to family payments.

Tax receipts are down $31 billion from the May Budget forecasts.

Unemployment is predicted to remain at 5.5% through to 2017-18, falling to 5.25% thereafter.

  • Listen to Treasurer Morrison and Finance Minister Cormann at their press conference (44m)
  • Watch the press conference (45m)

Media release from Treasurer Scott Morrison and Finance Minister Senator Mathias Cormann.

Today’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) confirms that the Budget is projected to return to balance in 2020-21.

The underlying cash deficit is now expected to narrow from $36.5 billion or 2.1 per cent of GDP in 2016-17 (down on the $37.1 billion reported in the Budget and PEFO) down to $10.0 billion (0.5 per cent of GDP) in 2019-20. [Read more…]


Government And ALP Agree On Budget Repair Deal

The Turnbull government and the ALP have negotiated a deal over budget repair.

Turnbull

The agreement on spending cuts will add to the budget’s bottom line and ensure that the government’s Omnibus Bill will pass through the Parliament.

Earlier in the day, the ALP announced the agreement. The deal included an agreement that the ALP would make the first announcement. [Read more…]


Morrison Warns Of Economic Complacency And Calls On ALP To Support Budget Repair Measures

The Treasurer, Scott Morrison, says there is a “terrible risk” that Australia’s economic success has sown the seeds of complacency.

Morrison

In a speech to Bloomberg, in Sydney, Morrison said there was a new divide in Australia between “the taxed and the taxed nots”. He warned of the complacency of a generation that “has grown up not ever having known a recession” and an attitude where “deficits are dismissed as temporary, cyclical and self-correcting”.

Morrison said there were three things the government must do over the next three years.

Firstly, it must “get debt under control by returning the budget to balance”.

Secondly, it must “support and implement policies that help us to increase what we can earn as a nation..in a low growth, low interest rate, low inflation, low wages growth, volatile world”.

Thirdly, Morrison warned against a return to “renewed protectionism” and an attitude that “trade, investment and positive immigration policies are increasingly seen as the problem and not the solution”. Whilst many Australians “feel the system no longer works for them”, Morrison cautioned against a cynical and populist political endorsement of this sentiment. “We cannot pull the doona over our head,” he said. “Rather than secure our economic future, it will cost it.” [Read more…]