Budget deficits would be expected to worsen by around $2 billion a year if Federal Labor fulfills all its promises to voters made during the 2022 election, an official parliamentary analysis has found.
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The additional spending would amount to about 0.1 per cent of GDP each year.
The Parliamentary Budget Office's election commitments report found that compared to the budget outlook before the election, Labor's promises would have increased the budget deficit, or underlying cash balance, by nearly $7 billion over the forward estimates.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher noted the PBO report found the impact of Labor's election commitments was consistent with what the party had published during the campaign.
"After inheriting a budget position weighed down by a trillion dollars in Liberal debt, we have a big job ahead when it comes to fixing the budget and will be starting the budget repair task in the upcoming October budget," Senator Gallagher said.
"The Coalition went to the election without any plan to fix the long-term challenges facing the economy or the budget. In contrast to this approach Labor took carefully design policies that would start to address the serious challenges in our economy like addressing climate, making childcare cheaper and ensuring that we train for the jobs of the future by investing in skills.
"We were upfront about these investments before the election and we are getting on with the job of implementing them in government including getting rid of the waste and rorts riddled through the budget."
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Labor's commitments would have a stronger impact than the Coalition's promises on the headline cash balance as well, the PBO found, increased by loans and equity policies such as the housing equity plan to address the country's affordable housing crisis.
Labor made 154 election commitments during the campaign that the parliamentary budget office determined would have a budget impact, far higher than the 41 commitments from the Coalition, as the then-government was able to announce policies in the March 29 budget prior to the election period.
The Coalition's promises would have reduced the budget deficit by around $1 billion over the same period, with only a slight decrease in spending and no material increase in tax receipts for the government.
The Greens' promises were projected to increase the budget deficit by more than $26 billion over the forward estimates.
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