Labor’s long game: why trust and a little fear matter more than a balanced budget

With voters distracted by Christmas, the government has saved major announcements for 2025, using the mini-budget to prove it can get its sums right

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It's a staple of the political coverage of a mid-year economic update to flick to the decisions taken but not yet announced" line item, declare it an election war chest, and suggest sweeteners are hidden within.

But as the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, noted on Wednesday, that number (which includes other commercial in confidence spending) is a relatively small" $5.5bn.

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