Federal Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips has welcomed the good news that the Albanese Government has delivered the first back-to-back budget surpluses in nearly two decades.
Announced on Monday September 30, the Final Budget Outcome for 2023-24, revealed an underlying cash surplus of $15.8 billion (0.6 per cent of GDP) which follows the $22.1 billion (0.9 per cent of GDP) surplus delivered in 2022-23.
“This is great news for the people of Gilmore, because it shows our strategy is striking the right balance between fighting inflation, rolling out responsible cost-of-living relief, while laying the foundations for a stronger economy for the future,” Mrs Phillips said.
The budget position has improved by $172.3 billion across the past two years.
The stronger budget position means gross debt is $149.1 billion lower in 2023-24 than what was forecast at the election, which means around $80 billion in interest costs will be avoided over the decade.
The surplus is larger than what was forecast at the time of the 2024-25 Budget entirely due to lower payments, not higher taxes.
Payments are $10.2 billion lower than forecast, largely driven by lower demand for some programs and delays in some payments.
Tax receipts are $5.3 billion lower than forecast, with a challenging outlook ahead as global economic uncertainty has weighed on the prices of key commodities.
“Two big Liberal deficits have been flipped into two big Labor surpluses because of our responsible approach which includes a combination of banking revenue upgrades and spending restraint,” Mrs Phillips said.
The Albanese Government has returned 87 per cent of upwards revisions to tax receipts in 2023-24 since coming to Government. Their predecessors only returned around 40 per cent.
The level of real payments is now lower than what Labor inherited. After falling 4.9 per cent in 2022-23, real payments grew in 2023-24 by 2.9 per cent. Real spending growth under their predecessors averaged 4.1 per cent.
Since coming to office, the Albanese government has found $77.4 billion in savings and re-prioritisations, including $12.2 billion in 2023-24, compared to zero expenditure savings in the last budget of their predecessors.
Payments as a share of GDP were 25.2 per cent of GDP in 2023-24, lower than the 27.1 per cent of GDP forecast at the time of the election.
“The Albanese government has delivered two surpluses at the same time as we’ve rolled out responsible cost-of-living relief including tax cuts for every taxpayer, energy bill relief for every household, cheaper medicines and cheaper child care,” Mrs Phillips said.
“We’ve taken decisive action to address some of the biggest structural spending pressures on the budget through our reforms to the National Disability Insurance Scheme and aged care system and our responsible budget management which means we avoid tens of billions of dollars in interest payments on the Liberal debt we inherited.”
Photo: Federal Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips with Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
Media contact: Katrina Condie 0437 662 967
