Nadine Blaney

It's nice to be here.

Thank you.

The main story this morning, and the final touches, Sean, are being applied to the federal budget due to be released at 7.30pm tomorrow night, Tuesday.

It will be a budget with a focus on tax changes, productivity, and savings.

What we know so far is there will be changes to tax rules applying to capital gains, negative gearing and trusts.

There could be a small cash splash for wage earners in the $200 to $300 range.

And businesses should benefit from more generous rules around R&D expenditure.

There's also an extra $53 billion for defense over 10 years.

And yesterday, just yesterday, the government announced $2 billion to enable infrastructure building, things like water and sewerage piping for housing developments.

And already I note that the HIA is coming out in big support of that.

Middle East conflict has a lot to answer for.

We heard that in Michelle Bullock, the RBA governor's address last week, didn't we?

But Sean, the federal government's economic forecasts are likely to show higher inflation for longer and slower economic growth.

Now, the budget bottom line is always closely watched.

And of course, it includes many moving parts.

But some economists suggest it might be lower than previous forecasts.

So the starting point, as per the Mid-Year Review, is a deficit of $36.8 billion.

We know it won't be in surplus any time in the next four years.

I mean, we heard that from Treasurer Jim Chalmers yesterday.

But there are a bunch of reasons it might actually be better than that.