Joint Media Release | Treasurer Chalmers' $60 Billion Budget Black Hole | 28 January 2026

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE

Wednesday, 28 January 2026

TREASURER CHALMERS’ $60 BILLION BUDGET BLACK HOLE

The Treasurer has been caught attempting to conceal a near $60 billion budget black hole from the Australian people.

Jim Chalmers claimed in his mid-year budget update in late December that his revised medium-term budget outlook is “broadly in line” with what he took to the election. The truth is very different.

As reported on the front page of the Australian Financial Review today, on the basis of budget analysis by the Opposition, the projected deficit from 2029-30 through 2035-36 has blown out by close to $60 billion. The analysis was independently verified by highly respected independent budget economist Chris Richardson.

As Richardson told the AFR: “We don’t really know what has pushed up spending beyond the forward estimates… Where we’re not looking, suddenly it’s chock-full of money. That’s where politicians sweep stuff under the carpet.”

Australians deserve answers. Where did this $60-billion budget black hole come from? Why weren’t voters told before the election? Why wasn’t it disclosed at the MYEFO press conference? And what else is the Treasurer hiding?

Just weeks before the election, Chalmers told Australians, “one of the things I'm proudest about is we've got the Budget in much better nick.” Today’s numbers suggest he either had no idea about the true state of the books or deliberately chose to hide it.

It is bad enough that the Treasurer has added nearly $60 billion to the nation’s credit card. What makes it worse is his failure to be upfront with the Australian people about the real state of the budget.

Since the election, a near-$60-billion hole has opened up in the medium-term forecasts and nobody can explain why. Not the Treasurer. Not Treasury. Not the budget watchdogs.

Independent budget forecasts released by the Parliamentary Budget Office and updated following MYEFO do not contain the mystery budget blowout and the PBO has been unable to explain the discrepancy based on publicly available information.

This is not transparency. It is a Treasurer failing to be upfront with Australians about the true state of the books.

This is yet another black mark on Labor’s appalling record on transparency and accountability. The Treasurer must come clean and explain how he let this happen, and why Australians were not told the truth before they voted.

ENDS