Jim Chalmers is preparing for his close-up on budget night … but he can’t do it without the public service.. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
The federal bureaucracy has gone into overdrive now that a 25 March budget is a certainty.
The threat of Tropical Cyclone Alfred put paid to any plans Anthony Albanese had of calling a federal election for April, with the Prime Minister now confirming the budget will be delivered this month as promised.
“People can expect a budget on March 25, which is what we’ve been planning and the Expenditure Review Committee concluded all of our portfolio budget submissions a couple of weeks ago now,” Mr Albanese said on Monday (10 March).
The problem is, up until now, no one inside the Australian Public Service (or the Federal Government for that matter) was really expecting a budget to be handed down before the nation was sent back to the polls.
With that minor hiccup sorted, public servants are now frantically striving to get everything into place in time for Treasurer Jim Chalmers to step up to the despatch box in the House of Representatives on the evening of Tuesday, 25 March.
Across some agencies, staff are being called in from leave, contractors are being engaged and overtime is a given.
Printers are working around the clock.
Feeling the pinch most acutely is Treasury and the Department of Parliamentary Services making preparations for budget lockups for media and other stakeholders.
These are the budget lockups they were not expecting to happen.
“Routine alerts went out about the lockups in February, but things have changed now,” one official told Region.
“The budget is being delivered and that means budget lockups on the day will go ahead.”
Another public servant put it this way: “It’s all hands on deck now.”
On Tuesday, the Department of Social Services released the third report from the independent Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee.
By law, the committee has to report to the government before each federal budget.
With the department only just releasing the report publicly, and so close to budget day, it also suggests the agency wasn’t expecting to put it out there at all before the election.
The report goes to cost-of-living relief measures for the disadvantaged.
The Treasurer’s response to the report also points to him not expecting to have to say anything about the committee’s recommendations just yet.
“These measures sit alongside our efforts to support economic inclusion on multiple other fronts, including through our historic housing investments and expanding our support for place-based work in communities,” Dr Chalmers said in a joint statement with Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth.
“The committee reflects the government’s commitment to hear from experts, stakeholders and the community.
“While we can’t fund every good idea and everything we would like to do, our record shows we have delivered responsible budgets as well as helping people doing it tough.”
With people feeling the cost-of-living crisis, all eyes will be on the budget’s content.
Assistant Minister Patrick Gorman insists the government will be honest with voters about the state of the economy.
“When it comes to the budget, I think we’ve been really open with people as we’ve put out two surpluses that we have achieved … but what we’ll say is that we are in very challenging international circumstances,” he said.
“The inflation challenge we have fought really strongly at home – we have to keep that fight up. But we’ll be open with people when the budget numbers come out.
“I don’t want to predict what those will be. That’s for the Treasurer to release on the 25th of March, but we’ll put forward a plan to make sure that we do the right thing by the Australian economy without doing the wrong thing by Australian households.”
Peter Dutton has a few ideas of what the budget should include and exclude.
“The first thing is that the government has to undo their reckless energy policy,” the Opposition leader said on Tuesday.
“The government’s energy policy – renewables only – it doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world except for California, which is a disaster.
“I want all Australians to understand this very important point. There’s no sense giving $300 with one hand from the government and taking $1000 back with the other.
“We don’t want inflation in the system. It is insidious.”
The PM isn’t giving much away at all – maybe because he’s been caught on the hop almost as much as the rest of the country over the budget actually being delivered in March.
“My government will continue to work on a strong economy,” he said when asked about the budget.
“Our budget will represent the same responsible economic management that we’ve seen making a difference in getting that inflation down whilst providing support for people who really needed it during what are globally difficult economic times.”
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Riotact.
