Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

Today’s independent Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2016 (PEFO) confirms the integrity of the Budget delivered on May 3 and that the Turnbull Government is on track to bring the Budget back into balance as projected.

The PEFO shows the Secretaries of the Treasury and the Department of Finance have attested that the credible and conservative assumptions and economic forecasts underpinning the 2016-17 Budget are official estimates which were adopted in full by the Government.

Having had the Budget baselines and the government’s costings confirmed in PEFO, with the same bottom line over 4 years as the Budget, Labor must now release their costings and how they intend to pay for their promises over the next four years.

PEFO confirms the downside risks for our economy from global economic headwinds and the importance of the Coalition’s plan for jobs and growth through:

• Tax cuts and incentives for small and medium sized businesses and hard working families.
• A sustainable budget with crackdowns on tax avoidance and better targeting of tax concessions.
• An innovation and science programme bringing more great Australian ideas to market, providing tax incentives to invest in start-up businesses and helping prepare our children for the jobs of the future by boosting participation in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
• A defence industry plan that will secure an advanced defence manufacturing industry in Australia and create thousands of new hi-tech jobs.
• Export trade deals to generate 19,000 new export opportunities, give our farmers a competitive edge and open doors into expanding markets for our service industries.
• Guaranteed funding for health, education and roads.