Labor’s spending spree takes budget from surplus to deficit

Monday, 29 September 2025

LABOR’S SPENDINGSPREE TAKES BUDGET FROM SURPLUS TO DEFICIT

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Official budget figures released today confirm for the first time that the Albanese Government’s lack of fiscal discipline has driven th ebudget from a $12 billion surplus to a $10 billion deficit.

Since coming to office, Labor has been the beneficiary of a record revenue windfall, totalling more than $370 billion over its first four budget years alone. Much of this is due to higher taxes via bracket creep on hardworking, everyday Australians.

Jim Chalmers won the lotto and immediately went on a spending spree. This year, government spending will reach its highest level outside of recession since 1986.

In its first two years, the budget windfall was so large that the government was able to deliver a surplus even with this spending spree.

But as the spending spree reached new heights and the windfall subsided, the government’s fiscal irresponsibility has been laid bare for all to see.

The Final Budget Outcome for 2024-25 released by the government today shows that the government’s new decisions since coming to office in that financial year, totalling a shocking $22 billion, are responsible for the government delivering a deficit.

That is, had the Albanese Government shown the fiscal discipline to find savings to fund the new commitments it has made since coming to office, the government would be delivering a healthy surplus today.

Contrary to this government’s spin on the state of the budget, these are the strong budget settings the Coalition left for this government—having balanced the budget prior to the pandemic due to sustained discipline after Labor’s last time in office.

They’ve taken a Coalition surplus and turned it into a Labor deficit.

This is what happens when a Labor Treasurer in Jim Chalmers throws out the Coalition’s quantifiable fiscal rules. That’s why leading economists like former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry and former RBA Governor Phillip Lowe as well as leading international organisations like the IMF have urged the Albanese Government to bring them back.

The Coalition has not been calling for such rules as an academic exercise; we have been calling for them because they will improve the lives of the next generation.

Since Labor came to office, they have added $100 billion to the national debt, set to breach $1 trillion this financial year and $1.2 trillion by the time of the next election.

We are spending $50,000 on interest every minute, which is money that can’t be spent on essential services. And it is all going on the national credit card for our kids to repay.

When Labor spends, you pay.

ENDS