It pains me to say nice things about politicians, but this is a good budget

May 13, 2026 — 5:00am

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Much as it pains me to say anything nice about politicians, this is a good budget. Translation: there’s a lot in it you’re not gonna like, and not much you will.

The budget’s far from perfect, of course. We’re talking about politicians, after all. But it’s good because it gets on with doing what needs to be done - not something you can say about every budget.

You were hoping there might be a big tax cut? Sorry, your timing’s out. The first rule of budgets is that they follow a cycle. If the budget comes before an election, guess what? It’s about time we had a tax cut.

But if the budget comes after an election, it’s time for some spring cleaning. Get the budget deficit heading down, not up. Stop that wasteful spending over there. End that special tax break you’re giving someone who doesn’t particularly need it.

The area where government spending has really broken out is on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Some of it’s going to people who probably didn’t need it, so let’s stop their payments. Doing so will save more than half the net savings of $64 billion over four years the government claims it’s making.

This budget will be attacked as a nightmare. That’s........

© The Age