JIM Chalmers, pictured, may be Australia's treasurer but on Tuesday night he will also have to shore up his credentials as a tightrope walker.
The Labor government will deliver its May budget with a clear needle to thread: relieve some of the brutal cost of living pressures faced across the country, but keep inflation from overheating further at the same time. In essence, they must relieve pressure on the hip pocket while discouraging spending.
Easier said than done, certainly, particularly when the Reserve Bank of Australia stunned a few with a 0.25 basis point rise in the cash rate to kick off May.
Many had expected them to hold steady, but the central bank clearly feels there is work ahead of it on the inflation front. Home owners and renters alike will be hoping the crank is not turned again in June.
Steven Hamilton, an associate professor of economics at George Washington University, said at the weekend the promised energy rebates would be expansionary - even if they were included in people's energy bills - because they would free up money for consumers to spend elsewhere.
Dr Hamilton said some upwards pressure on inflation should be tolerated by the government if it was trying to help those hit hardest by the cost-of-living crisis. A blanked $20 a week boost to JobSeeker also failed to find a fan in Greens social services spokeswoman Janet Rice, who said it fell short of the bar set by Scott Morrison's government.
Doling out the finite resources of the nation is rarely about making anyone happy, but instead spreading the least amount of misery. There is almost always a healthy dollop of political consideration in any plan for where the government will use money to make its mark, and the cost of living is the clearest battleground there is.
The investment in helping Hunter communities and other mining towns evade the worst consequences of the transition to renewable power unveiled late last week is one that will go a long way in this region and beyond. It is certainly far from the only project in need of financial backing, but it was perhaps the most urgent and undeniable.
Like most budgets, this one will fall short of transforming most lives. It will ease some pressures, but almost certainly exacerbate others or at least allow them to linger. There is no panacea in spending, but there can be disaster in spending without wisdom. Here's hoping Dr Chalmers can make the budget count for those who need support most.
