Last night, Treasurer Jim Chalmers handed down the Budget, aka the economic plan for the next four years and beyond.

On the positive side, he delivered his second consecutive surplus and a bunch of cost of living sweeteners – including a new $300 payment in energy bill relief for every Australian household, which he reckons will help put downward pressure on inflation.

We saw more detail on Treasury’s optimistic new forecast showing inflation will drop below 3% by Christmas, plus the things we knew already about like Stage 3 tax cuts and $3 billion in student debt being wiped.

But on the negative side: critics have described it as a “band aid” budget that relies on a lot of variables for its economic outlook, benefits billionaires and multinationals and could actually make inflation worse.

And while the Treasurer can pat himself on the back for this year’s surplus of $9.3 billion, looks like we’re heading deep into the red next year with a $28.3 billion deficit, followed by a $42.8 per cent deficit in 2025-26.

With an election looming, the year ahead will be critical in determining if he hit the right note between bringing inflation under control without hurting the economy.

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