Labor has for political reasons chosen to forecast a budget surplus this time around. That might be seen as political brilliance from a tactics point of view with the next election in mind. Josh Frydenberg has previously stated that he regrets not doing so himself when he had the chance, when he instead forecast a small deficit. The Coalitions overspending during the pandemic response has finished so a lot of that spending has disappeared but the inflationary effects still linger. The Coalition also engaged in pre-election inflationary spending in an attempt to win votes. Labor also say that the Coalition had some programs where the funding was due to run out that they have decided to provide more funding for.
Usually if either side cuts funding for something they spend the money somewhere else that aligns with their priorities. It looks like we'll have to wait and see what Labor's pre-election budget looks like to judge how restrained they are. Will they take some risky tax reform agenda to an election or play it safe.
