Overview

• Final figures to be released Monday put the 2024–25 deficit just under $10 billion, ending two consecutive surpluses under Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
• Extra receipts from taxes reduced the shortfall by roughly $17–18 billion versus forecasts that had pointed to a deficit near $28 billion.
• Stronger employment and wages, plus higher-than-assumed prices for iron ore, coal and LNG, drove the improvement, with personal income tax collections near a record $350 billion.
• Gross debt came in closer to $940 billion versus a $1.2 trillion projection made in 2021–22, and it is still expected to surpass $1 trillion this financial year.
• Chalmers cited a cumulative $28 billion surplus since Labor took office and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher pointed to more than $100 billion in savings alongside cost-of-living relief and tax cuts.