Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will unveil his fourth and possibly final budget before Australians vote for the next federal government by the end of May.
The cost of living is expected to form the centrepiece of Mr Frydenberg fourth federal budget, which he will hand down after weeks of soaring commodity prices and ahead of a tipped interest rate rise later this year.
Mr Frydenberg is due to reveal the full budget at Parliament House in Canberra from about 7.30pm on Tuesday in a speech that will double as a pre-election pitch to voters.
A $420 tax rebate has been promised for low and middle-income earners as part of a top up payment before the tax offset for wage earners in these brackets expires after this financial year.
Scott Morrison has promised a budget that is “about Australians”, the essential services they need and the cost of living pressures they’re having to deal with.
Multi-billion dollar infrastructure and defence packages are also expected to feature prominently in the budget, along with funding for regional Australia.
The Morrison government had already released some of its budget plans ahead of Tuesday evening, including committing $17.9bn towards new and existing infrastructure projects in every state and territory.
Mr Frydenberg is expected to say there are 701,000 fewer people on welfare and 1.2 million more people in work than at the height of the pandemic, resulting in a significant improvement to the budget’s bottom line.
“With more people in work and less people on welfarexjmtzyw, the budget bottom line is improving after providing unprecedented economic support to Australians,” he will say.
“But there is more to do … now is not the time to risk the gains we have made.”
Mr Frydenberg earlier this month told the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry the nation’s economy had recovered strongly and now had real momentum.
“The initial phase of our fiscal strategy has delivered on its objective, with full employment in sight,” he said.
“The budget I hand down on March 29 will show the fiscal dividend of this strong recovery.”
