8 - 14 May 2012 – Issue: 411
BOW TO SIR GOTYE Aussie music world domination continues ENTERTAINMENT P9
SPEAKING OF AUSSIE SUCCESS IN LONDON
Meet Dr. Joanna Martin
WILL RICE BE FIT IN TIME? Countdown to the Olympics
JOBS & MONEY P13
SPORT P15
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BUDGET: ‘FAIR GO’ OR ‘COOKED BOOKS’? n
Swan says IMF have given his budget a “ringing endorsement” while Gillard says it will “conquer” the pressure on her government, but Abbott mocks a “cooked books surplus”. FEDERAL Treasurer Wayne Swan promised a “fair-go” budget for 2012/13, but the opposition believes it’s one of “spin” and fudged numbers because of the spending cuts needed to build a surplus. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has declared Labor will “conquer” the political pressure it is under and the promised surplus will be an important buffer against global uncertainty. She told the Labor caucus on Monday that “Labor reforms” including the National Disability Insurance Scheme, an aged-care overhaul and support for schoolaged children - as well as the carbon pricing compensation, would give members plenty to talk about in their electorates. Speaking to reporters at Parliament House on Monday, ahead of Tuesday’s budget speech, Mr Swan labelled it a surplus budget that also was a “fair-go budget”. “What we’ve seen overnight is a ringing endorsement from the International Monetary Fund,” the treasurer said. IMF chief Asian economist Anoop Singh says a commitment to return the budget to surplus in 2012/13 would help rebuild fiscal buffers against economic shocks. “Tighter fiscal policy combined with an easier monetary stance represents an appropriate policy mix,” he wrote in The Australian Financial Review on Monday. But Mr Singh warned of an upside risk to the Australian economy. “Investment in the resource sector could be larger than expected,
AUSTRALIANISMS Teach the Poms to speak Strayan | P6
Hockey says France vote will impact the world
LIBERAL frontbencher Joe Hockey says a swing to the left in Europe could see the continent’s promised austerity measures rolled back. Francois Hollande was elected France’s first Socialist president in nearly two decades on Sunday, dealing a humiliating defeat to incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. “The fact that the new president of France is advocating a rollback of austerity measures, and they are very modest measures compared to what we have in Australia, is of concern,” Mr Hockey told reporters in Canberra on Monday. He said the Europeans needed to make “sacrifices” if they expected the rest of the world to provide support. “I urged that we get something out of the Europeans in return, now the Europeans are turning ...continued on p3
boosting growth and pushing up wages and inflation,” he wrote. It also is clear that not all sectors of the economy are benefiting from the mining boom, he said. Mr Swan declined to comment on Deloitte Access Economics modelling that found the government would have to cut about $5 billion to achieve a surplus. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott told his shadow cabinet that while
Mr Swan would trumpet a budget surplus, it would be a surplus based on “fiddled figures”. “Whether it will be the things that have been moved from next year into this year, whether it’s the things that are moved off the budget that should be on the budget, it will be a cooked books surplus,” he said. In last November’s mid-year budget review, Mr Swan forecast a $37.1 billion deficit for 2011/12
followed by a $1.5 billion surplus in 2012/13 - which would be the biggest fiscal turnaround in more than 50 years. Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey questioned how Labor could be returning the budget to surplus after a series of budget leaks suggested it was spending more than it was saving. “Wayne Swan doesn’t know ...continued on p3