The secret items hidden in budget papers

Even after you close the last book of the federal budget’s 1,500-plus pages, you won’t have collected everything there is to collect. Every year, there are missing price tags (estimated expenses, estimated savings) that are censored by the government and ignored for a variety of reasons, from business sensitivities to their potential impact on negotiations.

There are plenty of hidden items in Chalmers’ budget this year, such as certain payments supporting the Albanian government’s response to the anti-Semitic Bondi terrorist attack, divestitures from the Department of Defense’s property control, an equity injection into Australia’s maritime infrastructure and more.