Australian Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers announces the 2023-24 federal budget is a $15.8 billion surplus.
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00:00Well today Katie Gallagher and I are releasing the final budget outcome for the year just
00:06finished which shows that the Albanese Labor Government has delivered a second consecutive
00:12budget surplus.
00:15This is a powerful demonstration of our responsible economic management.
00:20Responsible economic management is a defining feature of the Albanese Labor Government.
00:26These are the first consecutive surpluses in almost two decades.
00:30In our first year a $22 billion surplus which was a $100 billion turnaround.
00:36In our second year a $15.8 billion surplus which is a $72 billion turnaround.
00:43That $172 billion turnaround in just two years is the biggest nominal improvement in the
00:51budget in a parliamentary term ever.
00:55And it wouldn't have happened without our responsible economic management, it wouldn't
00:59have happened without our spending restraint, without our savings, and it wouldn't have
01:04happened without the way that we've taken the right economic and fiscal decisions for
01:09the right economic and fiscal reasons.
01:13It's really important to recognise that this surplus is bigger at the end of the financial
01:18year than we anticipated in May, not because taxes are higher but because spending is lower.
01:25Spending in the last financial year was much lower than anticipated at budget and revenue
01:31was lower as well.
01:33Spending was down by almost, by around twice as much as revenue was down.
01:38So this bigger surplus is not because we taxed more, it's because we spent less and that's
01:44an important thing to recognise.
01:48Now we don't see a surplus as an end in itself.
01:52These surpluses are all about fighting inflation, making room for cost of living relief, building
01:58a buffer against global economic uncertainty and also paying down the Liberal debt that
02:03we inherited.