The budget is in a 'structural deficit' despite boasting a second surplus

Sky News political contributor Chris Uhlmann has said the budget is in a “structural deficit” given government spending. The 2024 federal budget has boasted a second surplus but with deficits projected in the years to come. “We are essentially, over time, spending way more than we have the capacity to raise,” Mr Uhlmann told Sky News Australia. “The good thing that the government has recognised at the moment, is that resources do pay the rent. “We export more metallurgical coal than any other country on earth and almost as much as any country on earth when it comes to liquid natural gas. “At the moment, they are the sources of our wealth.”