Budget Paper No.01 Budget Statement

Purpose and scope

Budget Paper No. 1 Budget Statement provides information on the State finances in aggregate. The objectives of this paper are to:

• inform citizens of the State’s fiscal position and the Government’s fiscal strategy
• meet requirements under the Government Sector Finance Act 2018, which prescribes the content of the budget papers, including providing four-year projections of all major economic and financial variables, revised estimates for the preceding budget year and explanations of any significant variations
• meet requirements under s.8 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2012, including providing a statement of the Government’s fiscal strategy, a report on performance against the fiscal objectives, targets and principles contained in the Act and an assessment of the impact of any budget measures on the State’s long-term fiscal gap
• enable interstate comparisons by reporting in line with the Australian Bureau of Statistics Government Finance Statistics framework.

The scope of the Budget is the general government sector (GGS). However, this budget paper also includes estimated financial statements for the public non-financial corporations (PNFC) and the non-financial public sector (NFPS). The statements provide a comprehensive picture of the State’s fiscal position and strategy.

Where comparisons are made to previously published estimates, unless otherwise stated, the comparison is to the 2025-26 Half-Yearly Review.

For a list of definitions used in the budget papers, please see How to Read the Budget Papers.