Public budgeting and resource management

Public budgets are important tools for managing resources and holding governments to account. The federal budget is one of the most important annual political events, with live coverage and extensive reporting in the media, and lengthy Senate Estimate sessions, where ministers and senior public servants are called to answer questions from senators related to the budget. At all levels of government, budgets set out government priorities by appropriating revenues and allocating resources. In Australia, the politics of achieving budget surpluses has proven a powerful weapon in elections. The role of public budgets has changed over time, reflecting shifts in ideology and the balance of economic and political power. Changes to budgeting rules have been key to the liberalisation of the economy and the rise of new public management, by transforming states to more closely resemble corporations or markets. Alternatively, budgeting has been used to reveal gendered inequalities and ecological harms. Understanding public budgets involves much more than understanding fiscal accounting terms; budgets reveal what Goldscheid called the skeleton of the state and the organisation of state power.