“Jobs, growth and opportunity” – that’s the message from the government. But they also say they want to present a budget that is “measured, responsible and fair”, and that charts a credible path back to surplus. It’s a significant move away from their pre-election promise to be the party that delivers budget surpluses.

But the challenge ahead of them is tough. With falling revenue and a commitment not to address that issue by raising taxes, it seems more budget cuts are the only way to stop the deficit blowing out further. But how do they bring about those cuts and still deliver the fair budget they’ve promised?

This Episode features: CEO of Lateral Economics, Nicholas Gruen,  Senior Lecturer in Accounting at the UTS Business School, Dr David Bond, and Senior Economist at The Australia Institute, Matt Grundoff.