Strategies and Significance of Budget Lockup

Exploring the tradition and evolution of the budget lockup, this chapter delves into how the government strategically releases information before the budget speech to shape media reporting and public perception. It discusses past budget failures, upcoming budget priorities like cost of living relief and defense spending, and the debate on managing aggregate demand to avoid inflation. The chapter also delves into Labor's historical context of surpluses, challenges the significance of a surplus as the sole measure of competence, and compares budgeting approaches of Labor and the coalition over the years.