Australians feel poorer than they are, the Turnbull government has amassed less debt than the May budget shows, and the median Sydney property is $100,000 cheaper than in reality.
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Those are the findings of more than 240,000 responses to a Fairfax Media pre-budget survey that matched the Turnbull government's spending per portfolio but was more pessimistic about the economic conditions presided over by the Coalition.
The average response accurately mapped the government's 35 per cent spend on welfare, 15 per cent spent on health, and 7.5 per cent spend on education per budget, proportions that have remained largely consistent over the Coalition's term in office.
But readers also believed they are now poorer than they actually are, with the average weekly income hitting $1108 per week, $55 less than the actual average of $1163 per week, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The responses came a week before new wages figures showed Australia had now entered negative real wage growth territory, stalling at an all-time low of 1.9 per cent as inflation hit 2.1 per cent, driving up the relative cost of living.
Respondents made their awareness of that rising cost known, with the average reader predicting the increase in the cost of every-day groceries to within one index point.
The lower than expected income also matched lower than expected property prices of Australia's most expensive city, which has seen prices soar by 18 per cent in the past year.
The survey found that on average, the median sale price of a Sydney dwelling was $870,000, while according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics the median sale price was $970,000 as of December 2016.
But perhaps the largest discrepancy was between the opinion of those surveyed and the government's ability to bring the budget back into balance, with the average response finding Australian federal government net debt was $28 billion less than reality at the end of 2016.
The government's latest figures show the net debt is now expected to peak at $375 billion, or 19.8 per cent of GDP in 2018-19, after the deficit increased by more than $100 billion under the Coalition despite vowing to rein it in when it came to office.
Economists and business groups have criticised the government's prospects of bringing the budget back into surplus by 2020-21 which rely on "optimistic" assumptions of 3.75 per cent wage growth.
KPMG chairman Peter Nash lashed out at the government on Friday, warning failing to do so would have dire future consequences.
"It is the most profound economic challenge we face at the moment and all we are doing at the moment, both sides of government, is kicking the can down the road and leaving it for someone else to solve," he said.
Peter Nash, chairman of KPMG Australia. Photo: Sahlan Hayes
"I'm really worried that when my kids are pushing me around in a wheelchair they are going to push me over the edge and say 'thanks dad for all that debt that you left us with, because your generation spent our money as well as your own'.
"We should be under no illusion that is precisely what is happening," he said.
