Cheaper petrol, cash handouts in Morrison government's vote-buying budget

By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

The Morrison government’s election budget halves petrol excise for six months and gives handouts to taxpayers, pensioners and welfare recipients in a cash splash aimed at clawing back votes.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who unveiled the giveaway budget in Parliament House on Tuesday night, has been able to juggle big spending with a reduced deficit thanks to high commodity prices and strong employment.

The budget’s centrepiece is aimed at families’ rising cost of living with a package Frydenberg described as “responsible and targeted, delivering cheaper fuel, cheaper medicines…

Read complete article

~	Is the capital gains tax discount an act of intergenerational ‘bastardry’?

~	Cyclone Narelle: ‘compact’, dangerous and unusually predictable

~	Heading to Bali, Vietnam or Thailand? Why a measles vaccine is more important than ever

~	Tanzania: Bystanders Shot in Post-Election Crackdown

~	Bahrain: Sweeping Arrests Amid Conflict

~	India: Kashmiri journalist and human rights defender Irfan Mehraj held for three-years in pre-trial detention

~	How melodrama became the theme running through the 2026 Perth Festival

~	What were you reading in the 90s? 5 literary experts go back in time

~	Soaring gas prices prompt Trump to ease oil tanker rules – how waiving the Jones Act affects what you pay at the pump

~	Albanese government appoints fuel coordinator as ACCC investigates major suppliers’ conduct in regional Australia