With the dark clouds of inflation and a polling date looming, a federal budget to future-proof the economy has been handed down—albeit with a loosening of the purse strings to brighten the Coalition’s election chances. 

Fiscally breaking bread for a fourth time, treasurer Josh Frydenberg has predictably served up a feel-good budget “for all Australians” that he promises will give “certainty in uncertain times”. 

In announcing the headline numbers, he declared the government was delivering “the largest and fastest improvement to the budget bottom line in over 70 years”.