Last night, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg triumphantly declared in his 2021-22 Federal Budget address that “Australia is coming back.

After a year of pandemic that plunged Australia, and indeed the world, into the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has triumphantly given his Federal Budget address.

Arguably Australia has weathered the crisis better than most, with the economy contracting by just 2½% compared to the 8% suffered by a number of the Euro economies and 5% by Canada. Further, employment levels are now above those pre-pandemic.

The focus of the Treasury has shifted now from crisis management to formulating protection measures and plans to create a more resilient economy. With interest rates currently at record lows, the Government clearly sees its role is to fuel the economy, increase employment and secure wages growth.

Pleasingly, economic security and protection for women is also a stated focus of this Budget. To drive Australia’s competitiveness on the world stage, there were also a range of measures aimed at stimulating commercial innovation and attracting the best of overseas talent.

This is a Budget of big spending – $110 billion infrastructure pipeline, funding for the NDIS and aged care systems, mental health initiatives and environmental concerns. But the Treasurer is confident that we can support this record funding with the economy being forecast to grow by 1¼% this year and to 4¼% next year.

This budget is the country’s blueprint to secure our economic recovery.

We are pleased to share our Federal Budget summary detailing the specific measures with a particular emphasis on private business.