It’s a brutal time to be a Commonwealth public servant working on the budget. Portfolio additional estimates statements—the mid-year budget update for portfolio agencies—were tabled on February 11, yet with the 2022–23 budget brought forward to late March to clear the decks for the election, we’re only a month and a half away from budget night. In essence, the worker bees have been working on the PAES and next year’s budget simultaneously.
