2008 Australian federal budget

The 2008 to 2009 budget was released on 13 May 2008, with a particular emphasis on family welfare (expansive tax cuts and a lift in the threshold of the Medicare levy surcharge) and capital investment (national accreditation ) funds, the Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan selling it to the House of Representatives as "a $55 billion Working Families Support Package" which "strengthens Australia's economic foundations, and delivers for working families ["sic"] under pressure" from increasingly high interest rates. [cite web
title= Australian Government, 2008-09 Commonwealth Budget
work=Australian Government
url=http://www.budget.gov.au/
accessmonthday=May 14
accessyear=2008 ] [PDF| [http://australianpolitics.com/issues/budgets/2008/08-05-13_budget-speech.pdf Budget Speech 2008-09 Delivered on 13 May 2008 on the Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill (No. 1)] |136 KiB. Retrieved on 2008-08-11.] Net savings from the taxation and spending decisions amounted to only $2 billion, a significant change (the lowest spending growth rate) from the resources boom of the Howard Government, when federal spending grew by approximately $44 billion. This prompted then Shadow Treasurer Malcolm Turnbull to claim the increased taxation will contribute to inflation, but Swan argued casually [cite news
last = Dusevic
first = Tom
coauthors =
title = Comes a time after months of toil
work = Australian Financial Review
publisher = Fairfax Media
date = 2000-05-14
url =
accessdate = ] that the tax will only affect high income-earners, dispelling any "custodian" line of attack. [Cite news
title = Turnbull accuses Swan of 'voodoo economics'
work=ABC News
publisher=ABC
accessdate = 2008-05-14
date = 2008-05-14
url =http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/14/2244944.htm?section=justin] Heavy spending by the states had been inefficient at managing past underinvestment on infrastructure, and "the conduct of expansionary monetary policies will be less complicated" as a result of the new reform agenda to avoid (supply-side) case-mix funding of the health care and vocational training sectors of the economy. [cite news
last = Mitchell
first = Alan
coauthors =
title = It's clever, but is it just a trick
work = Australian Financial Review
publisher = Fairfax Media
date = 2000-05-14
url =
accessdate = ]

The World Wildlife Fund of Australia has criticised the ambiguity of the Budget's timeline for developing clean coal technology, while the Australian Conservation Foundation has urged the government to reconsider taxes that promote the creation of pollution. However, multinational real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle lauded the $90 million Green Building Fund, which subsidies half the cost of fitting office blocks with environmentally friendly design features. [Cite news
title = Budget didn't do enough on emissions: green groups
work=ABC News
publisher=ABC
accessdate = 2008-05-14
date = 2008-05-14
url =http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/14/2244875.htm]

Senior citizens representative group Seniors Australia criticised the budget for not increasing the seniors pension, and Carers Australia expressed dismay over the lack of change for carer payments. A day after the Budget's release, the government promised a future inquiry into carer and pensioner payments and asserted that the pensions will increase after a specialised review. [Cite news
title = Carer budget inquiry
work=Sky News Australia
publisher=BSB
accessdate = 2008-05-14
date = 2008-05-14
url =http://www.skynews.com.au/news/article.aspx?id=234405] Citation broken|date=September 2008

A new $3 billion tax increase on alcopop drinksCite news
last = Maiden
first = Samantha
coauthors =
title = Brendan Nelson's budget reply: slash petrol tax
work = The Australian
publisher = News Limited
date = 2008-05-15
url = http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,24897,23704438-601,00.html
accessdate = 2008-05-15 ] was designed to slow down a projected increase (from the Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, tabling Treasury advice) in alcopop sales by 43 million bottles, curtailing binge drinking. However, the opposition described the increase as merely a revenue raiser, with Shadow Health Minister Joe Hockey arguing that consumers of alcopop will switch to other drinks, such as champagne, and binge drinking will not decrease. In response, the Prime Minister told Federal Parliament that the tax increase had wide support in medical and alcohol support services. [Cite news
title = Govt says Nelson 'flip-flopping' on alcopop tax
work=ABC News
publisher=ABC
accessdate = 2008-05-15
date = 2008-05-15
url =http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/15/2246137.htm?section=justin] Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson counter-offered with a $1.8 billion petrol tax cut, reversing years of policy opposing lowering petrol taxes. The Opposition pledged to block the alcopop tax in the Senate, which it will control until July 2008, and has also pledged to block a move to remove a surcharge tax trap for people who fail to take out health cover, which it claims will drive up insurance premiums and steer people away from private healthcare.

An increase to the luxury car tax was defeated in the Senate, with Steve Fielding of Family First joining the coalition in blocking the budget legislation. It had been supported by the government, the Australian Greens, and independent Nick Xenophon. [ [http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/one-vote-costs-555m/2008/09/04/1220121382925.html One man blows $555m hole in budget over luxury car tax: SMH 4/9/2008] ] It was later passed by all non-coalition Senators after amendments were made. [ [http://business.theage.com.au/business/luxury-car-tax-bill-passes-senate-20080924-4mqu.html Luxury car tax bill passes Senate: The Age 24/9/2008] ]

References