Australian Treasurer says budget to focus on elderly
( 2001-05-20 11:47 ) (7 )

Australian Treasurer Peter Costello said on Sunday he would be delivering a responsible election-year budget this week with a focus on the elderly.

Pensioners and self-funded retirees have been identified as two of the groups most antagonistic towards Australia's conservative government as it trails opposition Labor in opinion polls ahead of an expected year-end election.

Costello confirmed reported leaks from his sixth budget to be delivered on Tuesday, saying the elderly would benefit from the Liberal/National Party government's 2001/02 (July-June) economic blueprint.

"We are starting a new century, we want a budget which will build for the future but we are not going to forget those people who built in the past ... the pensioners and self-funded retirees," Costello told Channel Nine's Sunday programme.

"Within the limits of budget responsibility we are trying to make sure we address their concerns."

Leaks from the budget, reported in the Australia media, say self-funded retirees and pensioners will receive tax concessions and a A$300 ($160) annual bonus while the centrepiece of the budget will be a A$1 billion, four-year welfare package.

The five-year-old government is battling to boost its image among voters, which hit a low earlier this month when a leaked internal Liberal Party memo described the government as "mean, tricky and out-of-touch".

EXCITING BUDGET

Costello said it would be "an exciting budget" with expectations he would hand down his fifth consecutive budget surplus.

A survey of 23 leading analysts found the average forecast was for a surplus of A$600 million -- a sharp revision from a government forecast in March for a surplus of A$3.2 billion.

The surplus has been eroded by a slow down in the economy this year and a string of costly policy reversals and spending initiatives.

He also hinted that the government was set to announce special, one-off compensation in Tuesday's budget for Australians who were held prisoners of war by Japan during World War II.

"The Canadian government has (announced such compensation) and I think New Zealand has as well," Costello said.

"Obviously, this is a group in our community that suffered very greatly in the service of their country. This is very much on the government's mind and it's one of the priorities that we had as we faced up to this budget."

Costello has already said it would be a balanced budget.

"We now have the opportunity of reinvesting into the community from out of the proceeds of good economic management to build for the future," Costello said on Sunday.

"This will be a responsible budget. It will be the measure of a prudent government with good economic policy doing justice between taxpayers and those who receive payments and laying down some building blocks for the future."