(Image: Private Media) The Morrison government has committed Australia to an era of big government stretching into the 2030s, with a long-term rise in spending in key areas and a significantly slower reduction in the budget deficit than previously planned. The government will bank savings from a significantly faster economic recovery this financial year, pulling the deficit down from nearly $200 billion in December’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) to $161 billion. But the increase in government spending will begin next year: the forecast deficit for 2021-22 is barely changed at $106.6 billion, compared to $108.5 billion in MYEFO, while the deficits for 2022-23 and 2023-24 will actually increase above even the levels forecast in last year’s budget.