The Road – Highlights from the Federal Budget and the Budget Reply
Over the past few weeks, the Federal Government and the Opposition have outlined their respective economic plans through the 2025–26 Budget and the official Budget Reply.
Both parties discussed what is becoming the themes of the 2025 Federal Election: the ongoing cost-of-living pressures facing Australian households as well as the need to support economic resilience in a shifting global and domestic environment.
From the Treasurer, the Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP, the Budget was framed around modest economic growth and easing inflation, in the context of the challenges that remain. Cost-of-living pressures, weak productivity, and external risks, such as trade tensions and natural disasters, continue to weigh on household and business confidence. In addition to the personal income tax and energy bill relief, there were also targeted measures for our sector, including $2 billion for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), which could support further finance for low-emissions consumer technologies, and funding to strengthen consumer data protections and digital identity oversight. We discussed some of the industry partnerships with the CEFC in our Pre-Budget Submission , with our members doing great work ramping up EV uptake across Australia.
In his Budget Reply, Shadow Treasurer, the Hon Angus Taylor MP, provided a critique of the Government’s approach, arguing that Australians are not seeing the benefits of economic recovery in their day-to-day lives. He pointed to what he described as the ‘longest household recession in our history’, citing steep increases in everyday expenses and claiming the Government had failed to offer meaningful relief.
Proposals included:
Halving the fuel excise for 12 months
Reducing migration and unlocking superannuation for first home buyers.
Mr Taylor also committed to introducing legislation on the first sitting day of a new Parliament, including on energy prices, housing supply, community safety, and essential service funding.
Unsurprisingly, economic management is firmly in the spotlight, although while economic reform and transition will be like solving a puzzle, it might not be as complicated as The Butterfly Effect. AFIA will continue to engage with decision-makers to ensure that public policy proposals support efficiency, competition, innovation, and access to finance, particularly in areas such as housing, sustainable transport, energy, and hardship support.
If you missed it, you can read AFIA’s Budget economic analysis here, and policy analysis here.