Another year, another Budget lock up. Most voters probably only glance at it, just to keep an eye on what might be in it for them, or what taxes are going up or down.
Some people may even worry about debt and deficits – but perhaps fewer than once did.
Away from such disinterest in the Budget, journalists can’t escape it. Tonight the Treasurer Jim Chalmers will deliver his Budget speech.
While more Australians are probably keen to see if his wife Laura again wears an expensive designer outfit while watching on, it is the job of political and economic journalists to make sense of the details within the Budget.
And importantly, they need to make sure not just to focus on what the Treasurer chooses to highlight in his speech – that’s an exercise in spin, let’s face it.
The parts of the Budget that matter most are usually hidden within the thousands of pages of detail dumped on journalists when they enter the official lock up.
Ah, the lock up….an artificial vacuum in time. It starts at 1.30pm.
Journalists hand in their phones and pledge (under the threat of jail) not to attempt to access the internet or make contact with the outside world in any way for the following six hours, until the Treasurer starts his speech.
More Australians are probably keen to see if Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ wife Laura (pictured together on Budget Day 2024) again wears an expensive designer outfit while watching on
The ostensible reason put forward for that is that what they get preemptive access to is market sensitive information.
But the reality is that most of what’s in every Budget has already been leaked by government beforehand, in an attempt to generate days’ worth of good news in the lead up… or soften the blow of the bad news on Budget night itself.
Why don’t THEY all go to jail for breaking their silence on what’s in the Budget?
The lock up is within Parliament House, now specifically within the press gallery itself. Treasury officials roam the corridors and look on with beady eyes checking that no one is breaking the rules.
Once you’re in, save a medical emergency, you can’t get out. Even then, you better be dying or they’ll just send a doctor in to look after you, forcing them to also stay inside too.
The food is appalling. The company – dozens upon dozens of journalists – isn’t much better. Luckily for me, they’ll only read this after they (we) are out, making them think twice if my nice conversation with them – in between writing endless pars about this boring Budget – had been confected.
You can probably tell I’m cynical about the whole charade. It comes from having attended 15 of these things.
The REAL aim behind locking everyone up is to force down journalists throats only one side of the Budget story.
The real aim behind locking everyone up is to force down journalists throats only one side of the Budget story
You can’t get expert insights from economists, for example. You can’t sound out the Opposition or the crossbench for their thoughts on the Budget. You can’t ring former Treasurers to hear what they think about it either.
Locked up journalists only hear from the Treasurer – who walks around the lock up like some sort of poor man’s rock star – his staffers and treasury officials. It is the most one-sided six hours of a journalists’ life.
The more lock ups you’ve been to the less susceptible to the spin you become. The better you understand what to look for. The less reliant you are on the summary notes and the word for word copy of the Treasurer’s speech.
Knowing where to look within the Budget papers is the antidote to the political spin.
The Treasurer holds a media conference within the lock up to help those in attendance build their news stories and analysis that will go live after it’s over.
Few journalists bother to watch the Treasurer’s actual speech. Some do, of course, to pick over his diction or see if he makes changes from the copies distributed.
The politicians all sit in the chamber pretending to be either impressed or unimpressed with what Chalmers has to say, before making their way to the various fundraising events.
This is the really important part of the night for the political parties, especially with an election just around the corner.
Another year, another Budget lock up. Most voters probably only glance at it, just to keep an eye on what might be in it for them, or what taxes are going up or down
So spare a thought for all of us journalists, probably currently munching on a cold spring roll while trying to understand the Budget, all the while being stared at by distracting Treasury officials.
This year the Budget aftermath will quickly give way to the siren call of the election campaign.
But before then we’ll hear from the Opposition leader Peter Dutton on Thursday evening with his Budget reply speech.
The best news about that? No lock up beforehand….