2019 Federal Budget: What to expect?

The annual federal Budget outlines how much revenue the Commonwealth expects to receive, and sets it out against how much, and where, the government will spend it.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann with a copy of the Budget Source: Getty Images AsiaPac

It looks at spending in the coming year, and also for up to four years into the future, known as the forward estimates period.

Richard Holden, a Professor of Economics at the University of New South Wales, says one talking point is dominating ahead of this year's federal Budget: the possibility of a surplus.