Coalition's economic flair loses its luster

The nation's gift of Scott Morrison was to be a powerful economy.

But the first post-election federal budget and economy update came in Christmas processing like a bunch of brown coal.

The first surplus in 12 years, the mid-year update, based on higher than expected profits, updated the estimate from $7.1 billion to $5 billion.

The projection for economic growth was decreased by 2.75% to 2.25% for 2019/20.