The Australia Government pledged to deliver a small budget surplus in 2020/21, slapping big banks with new taxes to end more than a decade of deficits that have threatened its prized triple-A credit rating.
Flagging in the polls, the Liberal Party-led coalition conservative government also promised to fast track major rail and road projects and delivered some sweeteners for home buyers in an overheated property market in its annual budget on Tuesday.
Treasurer Scott Morrison said the country’s
profitable banks, which have been under fire in recent months amid a series of misconduct scandals, would bear the brunt of a budget “re-set” as he abandoned so-called “zombie savings” worth some A$13 billion.
Those savings, including welfare reforms, had artificially reduced the red ink in the budget after they were blocked by opposition lawmakers in a hostile Senate where the government has a wafer-thin majority. (Reuters/NAN)