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Sydney (AFP) May 8, 2011 Australia will this week release a "tough" budget designed to return to surplus by mid-2013, despite including a string of goodies such as a TV bonus for pensioners, Treasurer Wayne Swan said Sunday. The government is seeking to scale back what is reported to be a Aus$50 billion (US$53.4 billion) deficit as the country enjoys an Asia-driven mining boom, and balance the books by 2012/2013, in the budget to be released Tuesday. "This budget will get us back into the black, get more Australians into jobs and spread the opportunity of the boom," Swan said. Rich in coal and iron ore, Australia avoided a recession during the global financial crisis and now boasts an unemployment rate of 4.9 percent as the mining boom ramps up and the global economy recovers. But growth has been hit by massive floods and a destructive cyclone over the summer, which devastated huge areas, as well as a drop in export demand from Japan after its massive earthquake and tsunami in March. "The deficit in this financial year will be larger ... because of the natural disasters, because of the international uncertainty and the greater expected hangover effects on revenue flowing on from the global financial crisis," Swan said, without confirming the figure. The government has argued that it now needs to cut back on spending as the private sector regains strength, with Swan saying a "very tough fiscal policy" was in place and substantial savings would be made in the budget. He said the government had prioritised to allow for its new incentives which include increased payments for families with teenagers and assistance for small businesses. "In this budget, as we go through and put in place new initiatives, we are making savings elsewhere in the budget because budgets are about priorities," Swan said. Among the sweeteners is a Aus$309 million scheme for pensioners to be able to switch old analogue television sets for digital ones for free. "We don't want to leave those pensioners in the dark," Swan told the Nine Network. "So we are going to give them this very important assistance so they have the benefit of digital television."
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