KEVIN KRISTMAS

Well, admittedly he looked more like a Christmas elf than Santa Claus but there was Father Kevin Christmas out there yesterday, and again today, trying to put as many presents under as many trees as possible with the bonuses for pensioners, and the big handouts for families and the bribes for  first home buyers. Nothing of course if you are single, or married with no kids, or married with grownup kids. You’re never even in the hunt. But let’s not knock it. Especially as far as the pensioners are concerned.

As I said yesterday I think they should have got more – as an ongoing increase and not a one-off – but that could happen in next year’s Budget.

And it is amazing that only a few days ago the 22 billion dollar surplus was sacrosanct. Even two billion of it couldn’t be taken to give pensioners a ten dollar a week increase. Now Mr. Rudd has just handed out ten billion dollars of it and says there could be more.

It’s worth looking at some of the reactions since dole-out day yesterday. And remember it’s all designed to get us rushing into Harvey Norman to spend up big for Christmas and kick start the economy. It could also re-ignite inflation and give the Reserve Bank second thoughts about more interest rate cuts but in a crisis –and it is a worldwide financial crisis – risks have to be taken.

I’m not so sure though that the spending spree predicted by the PM and his Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner will happen. Look at the child bonus – which the Herald Sun headlines as ‘Battlers win $1000 to help with kids’. Battlers?  The $1000 tax-free bonus will go to one-child parents earning up to $100,000.  Two kids you can earn about $110,000.

But will the money be spent or has it been spent already? The family the Herald Sun features is the Marrett family. Dave Marrett is a clergyman. He and wife Melinda have five kids, four under 18. They’ll get $4000.

Will that money boost the economy? No. They’ll use the money to pay off credit card debt. Pensioners will spend their windfall because they have to. But it will be on necessities like food and petrol.

And the First Home Buyers grant? Well, one ecstatic young couple put it into perspective. She said ‘It’s great. That’s $21,000. It’ll pay the Stamp Duty’.

Yep. What one Government giveth another taketh away.

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2008