It’s been a busy weekend for the Morrison government as it prepares to unveil the 2020-21 federal budget tomorrow, with a bevy of pre-budget announcements hitting the pavement already.
In what is shaping up to be a policy package that balances spending for specific industries and tax cuts with supply side reforms, we learned last week that public servants will be asked to partner with the private sector in new ways and pursue a broad-based deregulation agenda.
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Scott Morrison added to the list of pre-budget measures, unveiling a $1.2 billion wage incentive program for apprentices and trainees that will see the Commonwealth subsidise 50% of pay packets for up to a cap of 10,000 places and $7,000 for each business per quarter.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg also took to the airwaves to talk up an extension of the First Home Buyer grant scheme on Saturday, with an additional 10,000 places provisioned in a 33% increase in the size of the program.
Commonwealth smorgasbord: what we know about the 2020-21 federal budget
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has vowed to flood the economy with tax cuts, wage subsidies and business incentives in an effort to rebuild the nation’s crippled economy.
In what the Treasurer had hoped to be his “back in black” budget surplus speech, Mr Frydenberg instead announced an eye-watering $213.7 billion deficit and $703 billion debt, with the full effects of the devastating coronavirus pandemic finally laid bare.
