“… the Commonwealth budget is in worse shape than many of the states' and territories' budgets at this point if you measured them like for like.”
What RMIT ABC Fact Check found
Yes, Senator Gallagher is correct, but there's more to it than her claim suggests. There is no single way of assessing the relative strengths of Australia's Commonwealth, state and territory budgets, but on two widely cited metrics the federal government fared among the worst. Measured by net operating balance, which provides an indication of a government's ability to pay for services, the Commonwealth recorded a deficit in 2021-22 equivalent to 3.2 per cent of the economy. That placed it sec...
Their words, from the summary they publish with the rating.
In short
Katy Gallagher (Minister for Finance) made this claim around 18 July 2022. RMIT ABC Fact Check (Australia) looked into it and published its finding on 31 August 2022, 44 days later. Its rating was “Yes, but more to it”.
Where the claim appeared
- financeminister.gov.auhttps://www.financeminister.gov.au/transcript/2022/07/18/tv-interview-abc-730
Links recorded by RMIT ABC Fact Check. Some posts may have been deleted since.
This check was done by RMIT ABC Fact Check, not by DoesItStand. We list it so you can find it. Their full evidence and reasoning are in their article.