CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
With no election date set, the Australian media have instead channelled all of their excitement and energy into the 2025 Federal Budget.
For the average Australian, this news has passed through the night like a ripple in the Pacific Ocean.
But this hasn’t stopped the major newspapers from absolutely pulling themselves over it.
In case you haven’t notice, this is the BIGGEST news story of the year, after Cyclone Alfred of course.
And Cyclone Alfred is a big part of this story, because it looks like there’s gonna be a few costs associated with the clean up.
And with an election set to take place at some point in the next few months, there was no real centrepiece in Treasurer Jim Chalmers fourth budget, other than a pledge to give taxpayers a $268 tax cut in 2026, then $538 each year afterward.
The treasurer called it “modest but meaningful” and described them as a “top up” in addition to the previous Labor changes to the stage-three tax cuts.
The Coalition have vowed to oppose this miniscule tax cut for Australians, and want voters to know that they would be better off under a Liberal Government because they are the better economic managers, despite not having released one economic policy other than their plan to allow alcohol-free tax-deductible long lunches for corporate bosses.
Both Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor have dismissed these new fiscal changes as ‘a pre-election budget’ – words that mean absolutely nothing to the average voter.
Labor has also pledged to eliminate ‘not compete clauses’ for workers making under $175k per year – a plan they say will stimulate the economy and allow middle to low income workers to shop their skills around.
Journalists were absolutely tying themselves in knots over the Treasurer’s speech last night, in turn showcasing the very real detachment between Australian voters and the Australian media.
Meanwhile, with Queensland and Northern NSW still reeling from the extreme weather events early this month, the supermarket duopoly of Woolworths and Coles still willfully price-gouging the fuck out of working families, and the opening rounds of the NRL and AFL in full swing – 95% of the nation would’ve had no idea that Jim Chalmers had delivered a rare 4th Federal Budget.
Nobody knows or cares. They are white-knuckling through a cost-of-living crisis caused by corporate profiteering and overwhelmingly complicated global instability. They have made peace with how shit things are. We will know who they blame for all of this on election day.
