Labor throws billions on your kitchen table


This is an unrepentant election budget. I had started to think the Albanese government had no desire to win another term. That Albo simply wanted to snuggle up in his new clifftop mansion with his new bride; that he had grown weary of taking care of a grumpy and ungrateful nation.

Perhaps not. With the jaws of defeat looming wide for Labor, there’s a spark of life in the old dog yet. Who can say if the prime minister or treasurer ignited this spark, but someone in the party is showing survival instincts. And they’ve created a budget with a chance to cut through at the kitchen table.  

In the context of a cost of living crisis, this budget is firm in ignoring the big picture. Instead it points to the electricity bill pinned to your fridge and then opens the banking app on your phone. It is a budget deliberately injecting itself into the day-to-day conversations households have about income and spending.

“It’s a plan to help with the cost of living,” said Treasurer Jim Chalmers at the very top of his budget speech, and certainly there’s little in there to distract from this. 

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The budget will spend $1.8 billion on reducing electricity bills and an extra $17 billion on reducing tax bills. That supposedly means the median household will pay $150 less on their energy bill, and the average worker will get $536 more from their pay packets. Not bad. Quite nice, even.  

While the budget does not engage in profligacy, it barely glances in the direction of national vision or big-picture fiscal strategy. It’s simply not about that.

“We are cracking down on supermarkets,” said the treasurer in his budget speech. That’s a strong line, backed by some moderate policy announcements, such as more than $38 million for the competition watchdog to do a bit more. Even if it means little in practical terms, it nevertheless hints the government is placing the concerns of middle Australia ahead of those of the Chairman’s Lounge. 

The electoral motivation is so plain as to inspire my admiration. Indeed, this is a classic democratic pattern. You start your term with the big-picture stuff, try to set policy that will last 100 years, aim for the stars. The Albanese government tried that with its referendum on the Voice to Parliament. It was defeated, and it seemed to falter. But now, with the finish line in sight, it is remembering the marginal voter. 

Observers may be cynical. But this dance from high to low, from big picture to small, from the sublime to the mundane — it is one of the strengths of democracy. A parliamentary party needs a vision, but it can’t go on forever with its head in the clouds. People are material beings. We crave justice and inclusion, but we want cheap milk and petrol too. Indeed the latter may be a precondition for wanting the former.

At this point of the cycle, Chalmers is not afraid to say material issues are what Labor is about.

“At the core of our economic plan — and the very heart of our Labor government — is a simple objective: to ensure more Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn,” he said. 

The bulk-billing promise is another solid bribe. Nine out of ten doctor’s visits will be bulk-billed by the end of the decade, Chalmers says. That’s a pledge that will soak up $8.5 billion. It comes on top of caps on prescription prices and plays to Labor’s strengths in health.

My only quibble here is that bulk-billing has become a quaint enough practice that some Australians may be unfamiliar with the terminology. Bulk means big and bills are something you have to pay. But bulk-billing is the opposite of big bills. Perhaps saying “doctors visits free of charge” might be a better way of communicating what this particular bribe is all about.

(Credit: Jason Murphy)

Breaking down the budget from a demographic perspective is revealing. There’s not much in there for pensioners, while those in their 20s to 40s get more. HECS debts are going to be cut by 20%. Childcare is going to be cheaper too. One’s mind wanders to what the polling says about the ability of the government to shift votes in different age groups. Young men in particular are apparently turning to the right and rejecting “woke” ideologies, but can they be won back via hand-outs? Maybe.

Another small offering in the direction of the male voter is cash incentives for apprentices who take up building. These are being doubled from $5,000 to $10,000 — no doubt a better policy than the relentless asset write-offs that result in more utes plying our roads. 

Labor’s pivot from the ethereal to the material is complete. By May, we will know if it did what it hoped.

Happy with the budget? Write to us at letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.

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