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‘Boring budget’ could signal an early election
The absence of serious reform or policy in last week’s federal budget has led some to suspect that an October or November election may be on the cards.
‘Boring budget’ could signal an early election
The absence of serious reform or policy in last week’s federal budget has led some to suspect that an October or November election may be on the cards.
According to Change Accountants CEO Timothy Munro, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s latest budget isn’t just “boring”, but a pre-election plug.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if they go to the polls in October-November. Right after the footy grand final and before the cricket season,” he said.
Speaking to nestegg, Mr Munro was confident that the crowd-pleasing bent of this year’s budget aligns with the possibility of a federal election later this year.
“Everyone feels good about stuff. The economy is moving along and the government doesn’t have any surprises. They’ve had a lot of stuff happen recently which has detracted from economic conditions and other things, but if things keep going well on the economy, it wouldn’t surprise me,” Mr Munro said.
Although he’s far from the only speculator saying that the 2021 budget will be the last before the next federal election, Mr Munro’s prediction puts him ahead of the timeline previously suggested by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Speaking to Brisbane radio station 4BC back in January, the Prime Minister insisted, “2022’s the election year, that’s when it’s due, too much to do this year. This year is about jobs, and that’s where my focus is.”
As per the official Australian Parliament website, the next federal election should take place before 21 May 2022 but could be called by the sitting government before that date.
The 2019 election was widely predicted to end in a victory for Bill Shorten and the Australian Labor Party. Instead, Scott Morrison and the Liberal Party were returned for their consecutive third term.
Labor’s 2019 loss has been frequently attributed to the party’s position on issues like negative gearing and franking credits in the years since. Changes to either of these issues were not mentioned in Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese’s recent budget reply speech.
The Property Council of Australia, highlighting the omission, called the speech a “missed opportunity for the opposition to rule out changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax arrangements”.
“Changing current negative gearing or CGT arrangements would be the wrong policy at the wrong time and have a perverse impact on housing affordability,” Property Council chief executive Ken Morrison said.
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