Anthony Albanese tightens purse strings for ministers as Labor turns focus to next election
Anthony Albanese has narrowed the scope of new policy announcements to political essentials only, telling ministers before the mid-year budget update that they can seek funding for measures that fulfil election promises and nothing more.
Guardian Australia has confirmed that the prime minister wrote to his ministers last week, making it clear that election promises are now the sole priority for any new funding in the budget update, due by mid-December but possibly sooner. Everything else approved but not yet funded will have to wait – possibly until a second term.
The letter follows one Albanese wrote last month informing ministers that he was revoking their automatic authority to seek funding from the expenditure review committee (ERC) to implement policy measures that cabinet has already approved.
Some in government have called that intervention highly unusual, while others argue it is in part designed to return to a more normal budget cycle. The previous two mid-year economic and fiscal outlook documents became de facto mini-budgets containing more-than-the-average number of significant decisions.
Some also argue that starting to prioritise finances within a year of the next federal election should be expected.
But the two letters surprised some ministers and officials with their explicit acknowledgment that not everything that has received cabinet’s imprimatur is going to come to fruition this term.
In a move that effectively suspends the second stage of cabinet’s approval process, Albanese declared in the June letter that budget submissions could no longer proceed to ERC unless his office had approved them first.
Then last week he went further, restricting submissions to measures that directly fulfil promises from the last election or are key priorities for the next.
Ministers have been told that if they have other pet projects they desperately want funded, which have not already been through the budget process, they need to find the money within their existing allocations.
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While the first letter prompted speculation about an early election, government sources suggest it was driven by economic and political imperatives that are understood to be less about timing than messaging.
Albanese wants to ensure the government’s pre-election communications are focused and clear and get political bang for their buck.
“ERC can’t consider 500 ideas,” one Labor insider said, adding: “It’s about clarity of messages and themes.”
In the 24 months since the government took office, ministers have brought their own policy ideas to cabinet for consideration, along with those that fulfilled explicit election promises and many have been endorsed to proceed but not yet been funded. Once cabinet has endorsed a measure, its proponent is authorised to take a budget submission to ERC to appropriate the funds to implement it.
It’s that second stage that Albanese has now halted for anything not already funded or deemed essential to the government’s re-election prospects.
The edict has been met with some annoyance but Albanese and his leadership team are insisting there be no muddying of the political messages on the economy in particular.
Jim Chalmers is spruiking his second consecutive budget surplus and emphasising frugality. At the same time the treasurer, Albanese and others are relentlessly reminding voters about cost-of-living support before the federal election, due by May next year.
“This cost-of-living relief is meaningful, it’s substantial, but it’s also responsible,” Chalmers said at a news conference on Monday in relation to tax cuts, energy rebates and other measures.
“We’re providing cost-of-living relief at the same time as we are managing the budget and managing the economy in the most responsible way. Two surpluses in two years are a powerful demonstration of our responsible economic management.”
The prime minister has also unveiled a swag of new federal Labor candidates, with four announced in Queensland last week, one more on Wednesday and another three to come before the week’s end, on a swing through multiple electorates in a key state.
These public preparations, combined with the budgetary edicts, are likely to give rise to questions about exactly how pre-election funding priorities are being determined.
On Wednesday Albanese was asked about the decision to change the location of the proposed new Brisbane Arena – part of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics development – to a cheaper site and whether the federal government still intended to contribute $2.5bn to the project.
“We have a fixed amount of commitment that we’ve said, we’ve budgeted for it,” he replied.
