Federal budget improvement is good news for Jim Chalmers but households still face squeeze

While commodity prices are propping up revenue and a likely surplus, household consumption is flat and savings have fallen – and there’s an election coming

• Myefo 2023: federal budget on track for wafer-thin $1.1bn deficit
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Only a collapse in commodity prices or a sharp rise in unemployment – and probably both – will prevent the Albanese government from delivering back-to-back budget surpluses.

Jim Chalmers’ challenge as treasurer will be to fend off the inevitably rising demands to share some of his good fortune with households set to face a prolonged squeeze likely to last until mid-2025, when the next federal election must be held.

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