The 2026 federal budget was delivered after a year of building expectations for bold reform.
Part of that buildup was last year’s economic reform roundtable. That highlighted a laundry list of “regulatory hairballs” from the Productivity Commission, as well as opportunities to boost tepid productivity growth by supporting new industries and technologies.
And part of the buildup was fuelled by the expectation that the government – with its strong majority – would be in the position to make some of the tough tax and spending choices previous governments have put off.
