There is no getting away from it; the Gillard government is very unpopular at the moment. The Labor party has a primary vote of 27 precent and things are simply not getting any better. With all of this playing on the minds of the Labor front bench, they have conceived what is called the “battlers budget”. While commentators up and down the country analyse the implications in general terms we have taken a closer look from an auto perspective.
In truth there was not a considerable level of change announced for the vehicle owners of Australia.
As hotly discussed as they may have been, the following items did not see significant change this year.
While the budget may be considered good for small and medium income families it cannot be considered particularly intricate. Perhaps clarity of purpose was put ahead of deep or meaningful change. In any event the budget did not significantly deliver in terms of incentive for the road using public. There is very little built in to encourage spending in an industry which could do with something to offset currency woes.
The car industry is changing. Electric vehicles are coming on stream and litres per 100km is now a real sales point. Also, consumers now have a real choice when it comes to fuel type. While it’s not the governments job to decide what car you buy, more could have been done to encourage the current trends. It’s unfortunate but no particular theme seemed to frame the automotive articles in the budget. The reality is that this year’s budget did not show a real vision for the future of Australia’s roads or road users.
