Announcing the most important budget for years in Australia

Posted by Michael

May 12, 2009

Today is the day when all Australians listen to the Treasurer announcing his new budget for the coming year. Wayne Swan has the task of delivering one of the most eagerly anticipated budgets for many years - right in the middle of what some Australians consider to be the worst economic climate since World War II.

Ready for the new budget?

Whilst, in years past, speculation on what would or wouldn’t be part of the new budget was mainly media driven, this year the government has started releasing some information in the past two weeks whilst making sure that most of these releases were immediately retracted. That kept the speculation going and steered media interest from one subject to the other.

Only one thing is really for sure: we will see the forecast surplus of $20bn from last year being turned around to a record deficit of $58bn tonight - the largest ever swing in a budget. But let’s face it: a $200bn revenue shortfall blamed on the current global recession is not the easy to catch up with.

These days the Rudd government’s foremost concern is to keep unemployment growth under control. The planned budget will predict that unemployment will grow to 8.5% from a current 5.4%, meaning that 1 million people in Australia will be out of work, without the measures they will be taking, the government claims, we would have 200,000 more workers unemployed Down Under.

Let’s see what the saving measures will be to help fund the various stimulus packages, a new pension scheme and the various employment related measures. The heavy lobbying of almost every business group suggests, that every one needs to be concerned about their fair share.

Michael Brecht

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