Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down the Albanese government’s fourth federal budget today. There are five key things to note writes Michelle Grattan.

Jim Chalmers likes to boast, or marvel, that he is the first treasurer since Ben Chifley to deliver four budgets in a term.

If Labor wins the May election, the Treasurer will reckon the budget will be done and dusted for this year. But actually, we really need another budget post-election.

That’s for two reasons. First, because this one will be short on any hard reforms or big savings because it is all about chasing votes.

From roads to health, this year has been give, give, give from the government. Much of the spending has been matched by the opposition.

Just in recent days, the Coalition has said yes to the government’s initiatives to boost bulk billing and to reduce the price of pharmaceutical scripts. At the weekend, it instantly embraced the announcement to extend energy bill relief ($150 dollars off bills in the second half of 2025).

Second, the budget could, to an extent, be quickly overtaken because it is being delivered days before the Trump administration’s April 2 tariff announcement. That........

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