The budget was billed as one of the most important in the nation's history but that goes for every budget, doesn't it?

Marketing aside, though, this was definitely a budget with a difference as the Coalition Government attempts to buy Australia's way out of a pandemic with the sort of big-spending, high-debt budget it has routinely criticised Labor governments of favouring over the past 50 years or more.

Some of the numbers are eye-watering: tax cuts of up to $1080 for millions of singles and $2160 for couples; the creation of 250,000 jobs over the next two years; and $17.7 billion for aged care; not to mention the forecast $161 billion deficit and $1 trillion of debt over the next four years.

As always, though, the starter's gun on Tuesday signalled the beginning of an intensive 24-hour sales pitch to convince the media and public of the budget's merits.

But the starter's gun also marked the start of an extended federal election campaign with even government MPs conceding on Wednesday morning that this was likely the last budget to be handed down before we go to the polls.

Whether that will be late this year or early next year remains uncertain with the final date to be determined by a number of factors.

The first will be the progress of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout over the next six months. While the government's handling of the pandemic has been, for the most part, a success, the vaccination rollout has been marked by missteps and false starts that has left us well behind where we expected to be at this stage.

The government will want to see the rollout back on track before going to the polls rather than give the opposition a free kick with their campaign advertising.

But there will also be a real focus on how well the public receives this budget, with the government banking on the belief that no one has ever complained about a tax cut - even as the opposition accuses it of wasted spending and a missed opportunity.

The government will want to call an election while it is riding high in the polls and a cash splash can only help them.

Perhaps it's time for Labor to find their candidate in Calare. They might need one sooner rather than later.

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