My take on today’s Tasmanian “interim” 2025-26 Budget presented by Treasurer Eric Abetz. I see it as a missed opportunity to ‘get on’ with the task of ‘budget repair’, which as the Tasmanian Treasury has been pointing out since 2019, only gets harder the longer it is put off.

Saul Eslake talks to the host of ABC Radio National’s Breakfast program, Sally Sara, about the Western Australian Government’s campaign to defend what Saul calls “the Worst Public Policy Decision of the 21st Century Thus Far”, the undermining of the long-standing principles governing the distribution of revenue from the GST to the states and territories at the behest of Australia’s richest state, WA, at a cost to the Federal Budget of $60 billion over eleven years.

Ahead of the presentation of an ‘interim Budget’ for the 2025-26 financial year by new Treasurer Eric Abetz on Thursday 6th November, here is a set of charts depicting the performance of Tasmania’s economy relative to the rest of Australia, and the condition of Tasmania’s public finances. It’s not pretty.

Saul Eslake’s presentation to a luncheon hosted by the Urban Development Institute of Australia (Western Australian Division) at Crown Perth on 31st October 2025.

Saul Eslake’s presentation to the Australia Institute’s “Revenue Summit” held at Parliament House, Canberra, on 29th October 2025

Saul Eslake’s presentation to a Workshop for staff at the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics at the University of Tasmania on 28th October 2025.

Saul Eslake’s presentation to the 2025 Annual Congress of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, in Brisbane on 17th October. It looks at the contribution of the resources sector to Australia’s economy and government revenues, the impact of the on-going slowdown in the Chinese economy on its demands for Australian minerals and energy exports, […]

Saul Eslake: The Australian Economy and Housing Markets in 2025-26