Australian Government, States Agree on Spending Plan

By Gemma Daley

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the federal government and the states agreed to a A$15.1 billion ($9.9 billion) spending package that will create jobs as the country confronts the global financial crisis.

The plan, chiefly targeting health and education, will generate work for 133,000 people, Rudd said in Canberra. Forecast budget surpluses will fund new spending to start this fiscal year and extend over the following four years.

“This A$15.1 billion addition to the states will create jobs and stimulate the economy,” Rudd told reporters in Canberra today after meeting with eight state and territory leaders. “It will drive a reform agenda in health, education, as well as housing and businesses deregulation.”

Today’s meeting was part of annual talks on national government funding for the states, including allocations from the 10 percent tax on goods and services. The package adds to A$332 billion of funding for the states forecast for this and the next three financial years. The government on Oct. 14 announced A$10.4 billion in grants to pensioners, families and first-home buyers as the global financial crisis freezes credit.

Rudd increased health funding by A$5.55 billion to A$64.4 billion over five years and added A$1.4 billion to an education package worth a total of A$42.4 billion. He also bolstered funds to build properties for the homeless.

‘Modest Surplus’

The spending programs, which have an average timespan of four to five years, won’t push the government into deficit, and would allow it to maintain “a modest surplus,” Rudd said.

“Projecting surpluses four years out is pretty heroic, particularly in current economic times, and we hope to see the government’s accounts in good shape,” said Craig James, a senior economist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. “Still, Australia needs to invest in infrastructure and be ahead of the curve on spending to boost the economy.”

Treasurer Wayne Swan on Nov. 5 slashed the forecast budget surplus by 75 percent, citing the slowest economic growth in eight years. Rudd said Nov. 26 the government may allow its budget to go into deficit for the first time in seven years if the global economic slowdown worsens.

Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens said Nov. 19 he would be comfortable if state and federal governments increased public spending, “even if that involves some prudent borrowing.”

Growth Forecast Slashed

Australia would join other developed nations forecasting budget deficits in 2009. The U.S. government shortfall may top $1 trillion next year and spending in the U.K. will swell the budget deficit to 118 billion pounds ($181 billion) in the year starting April 2009.

Australia’s budget was last in deficit in the year ending June 30, 2002. The budget was in deficit for eight years of Labor’s last term in office between 1983 and 1996.

The Reserve Bank of Australia this month reduced its 2008 economic growth forecast to 1.5 percent from 2 percent. The central bank has slashed its benchmark interest rate 2 percentage points since September to 5.25 percent.

Australia’s leading economic index fell in September, signaling the nation may slip into a recession, ending 17 straight years of economic expansion, Westpac Banking Corp. and the Melbourne Institute said on Nov. 19.

“This investment will deliver a significant stimulus to the Australian economy in the face of the global financial crisis,” Rudd said. “2009 is going to be a tough year.”

Australian business confidence plunged in October to a record low, consumers were pessimistic in November for a 10th straight month and house prices dropped in the third quarter by the most since 1978.

“These are important steps towards better outcomes in health, education, business regulation and other fields,” Business Council of Australia Chief Executive Katie Lahey said in an e-mailed statement. “This commitment to reforms that build the productive capacity of the economy can provide a timely boost to business confidence.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Gemma Daley in Canberra at gdaley@bloomberg.net