Secret advice from the Treasury offered to the Albanese Government called for taxes to be raised and spending to be cut.
In an extraordinary blunder, the Treasury department accidentally released the secret document while responding to a freedom of information request by the ABC.
It included briefing notes by the independent Treasury and offered to Labor, after its re-election, which stated ‘tax should be raised as part of broader tax reform’ in order for the federal budget to remain ‘sustainable’.
Treasury workers pleaded for journalists to destroy the document, labelled the ‘incoming government’ brief, but the ABC divulged its contents in a report on Monday.
Specifically highlighted was the Treasury’s belief Labor’s pledge to build 1.2 million homes over five years in response to the housing crisis ‘will not be met’.
Other notes included a call for Treasurer Jim Chalmers to find ‘additional revenue and spending reductions’ and consider raising ‘indirect taxes’ and superannuation tax.
Despite suggesting taxes for everyday Aussies, the Treasury seemed to prefer lower taxes for companies.
The advice stated: ‘Improvements to the budget will need to come from economic growth, additional revenue and spending reductions.’
More to come…