Budget 2021: It's business as usual

There are several welcome standalone reforms but these do not add up to a coherent strategy to achieve a $5 trillion economy

The finance minister in her Budget speech this year returned to the basic business of the Budget and clearly outlined the macro-fiscal position. This is important, because the speech is a document in record, and citing the numbers makes the government accountable to parliament and to history for their veracity. It was also very positive that the minister committed herself to bringing off-Budget transactions on-Budget and made at least a faltering start to thinking about expenditure programming over a five-year horizon. It was a relief to see that vertical devolution to states has been left unchanged by the Fifteenth Finance