The 2015 Australian federal budget was the federal budget to fund government services and operations for the 2015/16 financial year. The 2015 budget was the second and last submitted by the Abbott Government, since the Coalition's victory in the

2013 Australian federal election The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on 7 September 2013. The centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition led by Opposition leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal Party of A ...

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

Joe Hockey Joseph Benedict Hockey (born 2 August 1965) is a former Australian politician and diplomat. He was the Member of Parliament for North Sydney from 1996 until 2015. He was the Treasurer of Australia in the Abbott Government from 18 September ...

presented the budget to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

on 12 May 2015. The budget featured a $4.4 billion Families Package to reform

child care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

in Australia and a $5.5 billion Jobs and Small Business Package to assist small business. The budget was passed by both the

and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and took effect at the start of the 2015/16 financial year, which began on 1 July 2015.

Forecasts

Deficit

The budget is the eighth in a row to contain a deficit. In May 2015, the deficit for FY 2015/16 was forecast to be $35.1 billion (2.1% of GDP).Budget at a glance
/ref> In December 2015, this increased to $37.4 billion.

Revenues

The falling price of iron ore cut billions of dollars from forecast budget revenue. New laws were announced which sought to stop multinational corporations from using tax minimisation schemes.

Expenditure

General government

The budget included funding for the

2016 Australian census The 2016 Australian census was the 17th national population census held in Australia. The census was officially conducted with effect on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The total population of the Commonwealth of Australia was counted as – an incre ...

as well as money for the updating of information technology at the

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is the independent statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for statistical collection and analysis and for giving evidence-based advice to federal, state and territory governments ...

. Funding for a 'Digital Transformation Agenda' was included in the budget. $254.7 million is to be spent on a small team who will work "across government to develop and coordinate the delivery of digital services". Money was also allocated in relation to the new data retention scheme to provide technical assistance to the telecommunications industry as well as for the Ombudsman to monitor the scheme.

Social security and welfare

Failed attempts to index the age pension to inflation in the previous budget have been scrapped. Instead the asset threshold for eligibility will be decreased to $820,000 for couples and to around $550,000 for single people. More than $327 million of new funding is being used to support

for disadvantaged children. The budget contained a large savings measure through the pursuit of outstanding debts and the investigation of cases of fraud.

Community services and culture

Foreign aid saw further cuts following reductions in last year's budget. Aid to Africa was reduced by 70% and to Indonesia by 40%.

Reception

This budget marked a significant change from last year's budget emergency and fiscal crisis towards restoring faith and building confidence with the electorate. A number of economists described the economic growth forecasts as too optimistic, particularly the long-term rate of 3.5% as an over-estimate. Aid groups condemned cuts to foreign aid. A spokesperson from

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...

said the cuts would impact security and Australia's international standing. According to modelling conducted by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling low-income families could be face a 7% loss of their total disposable income by 2018–19 due to changes in this budget. Their research found that it will most likely benefit middle- to high-income families which use childcare.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2015 Australian Federal Budget Australian budgets Federal budget

Australian federal budget An Australian federal budget is a document that sets out the estimated revenues and expenditures of the Australian Treasury in the following financial year, proposed conduct of Australian government operations in that period, and its fiscal poli ...

Abbott Government Federal budget May 2015 events in Australia