This essay by Jennifer Westacott was published in The Weekend Australian on 25 February 2017. It was the fourth Priorities For Prosperity essay — a series exploring the challenges of ensuring Australia’s future prosperity.
You can’t say we weren’t warned about the federal budget. For almost a decade, the nation’s foremost economists and policy experts have been raising alarm about a perfect storm brewing on the nation’s balance sheet, fuelled by an ageing population, spiralling federal costs and deepening debt.