Skip to content Skip to menu
Australian Government Coat of Arms

Budget | 2014-15

Budget 2014-15
Australian Government Coat of Arms, Budget 2014-15
  1. budget.gov.au
  2. 2014‑15
  3. Budget Overview
  4. Reducing the size of government

Reducing the size of government

To free up resources and assist individuals and businesses to succeed the Government will reduce spending, privatise assets and shift to a fully funded military superannuation scheme

The Government is transforming its role to be smaller and as efficient and well-targeted as possible, with some changes informed by the National Commission of Audit's recommendations.

Reducing spending

The Government understands that the money it spends comes from taxpayers and that every hard earned dollar must be respected.

This Budget contains substantial savings across the forward estimates from reducing wasteful spending, improving the sustainability of our safety net and redirecting resources to productive investments.

Payments as a share of GDP are expected to decline from 25.3 per cent in 2014‑15 to 24.8 per cent in 2017‑18. This is down from 25.9 per cent of GDP projected at MYEFO for 2017‑18. There is, however, more to be done.

Privatising government assets

The Government has announced the sale of Medibank. It will continue selling assets where no compelling reason for government ownership exists with scoping studies to be undertaken into the ownership of Australian Hearing, Defence Housing Australia, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission Registry function and the Royal Australian Mint. The proceeds from future privatisations will be reinvested into the Asset Recycling Fund for new productive infrastructure.

Military superannuation

The Government is shifting to a fully funded military superannuation scheme. This change does not affect any current or ex-contributory personnel and will see future members who serve shorter service periods better off.

This shift will also strengthen the Australian Government's balance sheet by reducing unfunded superannuation liabilities by $126 billion by 2050.

Government payments as a percentage of the economy are decreasing
This chart shows commonwealth government payments from 2014-15 to 2024-25 as projected at the 2013-14 MYEFO, and as projected at the 2014-15 Budget. Payments are now projected to have a general downward trend over the next 10 years decreasing by around 1 per cent of GDP to 2024-25. This compares with payments increasing by over one per cent of GDP as projected at MYEFO.