Labor’s budget won’t undo three decades of neoliberalism, but it’s a modest step towards reversing its harms

As part of Labor’s cost-of-living package in the federal budget, commonwealth rent assistance will increase by 15%, which is expected to benefit 1.1 million low-income households. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Federal budgets are a complex balancing act. There are multiple competing needs – especially on a new government – between various groups expecting a return on their political investment, diverse electorates with competing projects and the often overlooked need for a new treasurer to make their mark.

The Albanese government’s first full federal budget was no different in this respect, but it faced additional challenges, ranging from a cost-of-living crisis driven by rising inflation and stagnant wages to a substantial, if manageable debt inherited from the previous government’s pandemic response.