Today's mid-year budget update is likely the last look at the federal books until the next election.
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00:00On today's mid-year budget update, only one person's opinion really counts.
00:07Michelle Bullock, the Reserve Bank Governor.
00:10She's in the middle of a fight against inflation, weighing up when to start cutting interest
00:15rates.
00:16Into this comes the Treasurer's budget update, full of bad news.
00:20Consumers are in a funk.
00:21At the same time, government spending is going up, at rates rarely seen outside times of
00:27crisis or recession.
00:29The Treasurer is not backing down, defending new outlays on childhood education, aged pensions
00:35and Medicare, things he says no responsible government could deny.
00:40This may turn out to be Labor's final budget update before the election.
00:44$5.5 billion have been stashed into a hollow log for future announcements, with household
00:50energy relief on the minds of most.
00:52But what would most Australians prefer?
00:55Another handout, or a Reserve Bank free to cut interest rates.