Tonight’s Federal Budget is a mixed bag hampered by the Government’s political decision to bring in a surplus before the next federal election.

On the one hand the Budget contains some positive measures, for example the new supplementary payment to the unemployed, students and parents with young children and the increases to the Family Tax Benefit Part A.

In Denison, 8,400 people will be eligible for the supplementary payments of $210 for singles and $350 for couples every year.  Seven thousand families in Denison will benefit from the increases in the Family Tax Benefit Part A and will receive up to $300 a year extra for one child and up to $600 a year for two or more children.  This will help them deal with the increasing cost of living.

Another positive is tax relief for the 10,800 small businesses in Denison who will be able to carry back tax losses, and immediately write of assets off up to $6,500 to help them survive and prosper through the economic downturn.

Locally the Budget also confirms $8.7 million in funding for the KGV redevelopment in Glenorchy which will provide a vital boost to the local economy.  There’s also $2.3 million for construction of the Menzies building which will provide construction jobs and space for the institute to continue its life-saving research.

I also welcome the move towards a National Disability Insurance Scheme with $1 billion over fours years to kick-start the reform. This is genuinely nation-changing reform that will greatly improve the lives of people with disabilities and their carers.

Regrettably though the Federal Budget represents a missed opportunity to progress real reform in mental and dental health.  While the blitz on dental waiting lists is welcome, it is a drop in the ocean and does not go nearly far enough towards universal basic dental health care for all.  Sadly, mental health appears to have dropped off the Federal Government’s radar in this Budget.

Another disappointment is the cut to foreign aid and the Government’s delay on meeting its promise to spend 0.5 per cent of Gross National Income on helping the world’s poorest people. Seems the world’s most disadvantaged and vulnerable peoples were an easy target for a government intent on delivering a politically motivated surplus.

I’ll need to study the detail of the Budget before I can say for sure how I’ll vote on specific measures. But one initiative I still need to be persuaded to support is the Schoolkids Bonus because I’m yet to be convinced of the merits of de-linking the payment to education expenses, especially after learning that 80 per cent of eligible families in Denison are already claiming the education tax refund. The experience of the global financial crisis stimulus payments was that some of the Government largess was squandered on booze, the pokies and televisions.