Fed: Ageing report a smokescreen for Budget cuts, Labor warns
CANBERRA, April 16 AAP - A new report on how Australia would cope with its ageing populationcould be a smokescreen for crude Budget cuts, the opposition said today.
Opposition health spokesman Stephen Smith said the question of how Australia wouldcope with its ageing population was not new.
"My great concern is that Peter Costello is simply trying to use this report ... asa distraction from crude, cost-cutting measures in the Budget that will apply in the healtharea," Mr Smith told ABC radio.
"(The measures) are simply there to make up for the government's mismanagement of itsBudget bottom line."
When it hands down the Budget on May 14, the government will release a report examininghow Australia's economy will cope with the ageing population over the next 40 years.
The document is expected to reveal a $40 to $50 billion shortfall in health, aged careand welfare funding by 2042 unless action is taken to curb costs.
The government has already warned that defence spending and border protection willbe its top priorities in this year's Budget, foreshadowing belt-tightening from otherportfolios.
Treasurer Peter Costello told journalists in Melbourne today the report on ageing wouldshow what Australia would look like in 2042 if no changes were made to current healthand welfare spending policies.
"The report will be showing what the challenges are and what the situation will belike in 40 years time," he said.
"(It) can give us some kind of longterm picture of how we want to build Australia."
Mr Smith said the treasurer would prefer people to be thinking about 2042 rather than2002 on Budget night.
"I'm not surprised that on Budget night the treasurer would be wanting people to lookdown the horizon while he's got his hand in their pockets," he said.
The government is expected to try to slash $2 billion from its Pharmaceutical BenefitsScheme, prompting an anticipated 30 per cent rise in prescription charges.
It is also expected to toughen eligibility rules for disability pensions.
AAP so/daw/wjf/bwl
KEYWORD: HEALTH SMITH
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