Vlad Putin delivers Aussie surplus but don’t blink

Monday, 1 May 2023

The AFR is trumpeting its usual short-termist drivel this morning:

The federal government is within reach of posting its first budget surplus in 15 years, as surging tax revenue from iron ore, coal and gas, and record numbers of people in work deliver Treasurer Jim Chalmers a financial windfall.

Inflation and the ultra-low unemployment rate of 3.5 per cent are lifting tax revenue and reducing welfare payments, while the return of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers is delivering a bigger fiscal dividend.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.