Josh Frydenberg will need to tread a careful path between politics and economics when he hands down his pre-election budget at a time of already heated inflation and a Reserve Bank waiting in the wings with a rate hike.
Tens of billions of dollars of spending have already been announced ahead of the treasurer's fourth budget on Tuesday night - from infrastructure to health and from apprentices to national security.
But the government has remained tight-lipped on a much promised support package for households who are facing of cost of living pressures, particularly from a spike in petrol prices to above $2 a litre.
