Budget shows Turnbull ‘just starting reforms’

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has shown he is “a master of the long game” by strategically using the 2017 federal budget to neutralise Labor policies, says one of Australia’s leading political marketing experts.

“This budget was all about pressure – taking it off the government and putting it on Labor,” says Andrew Hughes from the Australian National University school of management in Canberra.

“The scary thing really is that Malcolm Turnbull is only getting started. This is his first budget with his stamp on it, and with perhaps two to go until the next election, he has shown himself a master of the long game.”