Budget leaks galore

May 11, 2008, 9:47pm,  125 views

I really don’t know why there is so much security surrounding the release of government budgets.

Every year there are leaks galore before the official speech and Labor’s first effort in the Rudd era is no exception.

Treasurer Wayne Swan is tipped to “unveil”: A $2.3 billion climate change program; Medicare “relief”; a multi-billion Building Australia Fund and a new tax on luxury cars.

But there will still be a budget lockup for journalists and no official announcements until Tuesday night.

Governments use this pre-budget period to leak information for maximum publicity benefit, and partly I suspect, to test the water on some issues.

Team Rudd would have been a little taken aback by criticism of the Medicare plan, hence they started playing the “politics of envy” as multi-millionaire Malcolm Turnbull pointed out in relation to the Jaguar tax.

So after giving cash to affluent young singles through Medicare they took it away from the super wealthy who buy posh cars.