In mid-April, Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack described Treasurer Scott Morrison as "Santa Claus" in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, also hinting that there would be spending on transport infrastructure.

Morrison stated that the $5 billion Melbourne Airport rail link would be part of this budget.

[4] Polling prior to the budget revealed that the public thought the most important issues for the government to address were the cost of living and improving health infrastructure.

[6] A Deloitte Access report issued in April 2018 found that total revenue was $7.6 billion more than had been forecast in December 2017.

[7] The budget proposes to introduce a Low and Middle Income Tax Offset (LMITO) of $530, from July 2018.

The Social Welfare Debt Recovery scheme (dubbed robo-debt by the media) will be extended for another three years, until 2022, and is expected to recover $300 million from current and former Centrelink customers.

[14] There is to be no increase in the Newstart Allowance,[15] and the Department of Human Services was targeted with further 1,200 job cuts.

[17] Sea imports will be subject to a levy to help the government identify and respond to biosecurity threats.

[29][30][31] An analysis of how the budget measures will affect women has concluded that the taper effect will create a disincentive to work.

[36] In response to an anticipated tax cut, the hashtag #keepmytendollars trended on social media.

[42] The second stage of the Coalition's company tax cuts for big business was rejected by the Senate on 22 August 2018.