I welcome the National Australia Bank’s business conditions survey today which showed a strong rebound in business conditions for the month of April. That’s what you would expect in an economy which has got low inflation, low interest rates and some good, strong consumer demand. It shows that you’ve got a picture of an economy which is giving good conditions for business and good opportunities for home buyers and for employees as well. Tomorrow night’s Budget is designed to build on the good economic work that the Government’s put in place over the last two years. It will be good for families, keeping interest rates low, good for small business, giving them opportunities with low inflation and low interest rates and it will keep business conditions strong in that environment over the course of the next year.

Treasurer, when you said yesterday that the Budget speech would be in the mould of a State of the Nation address, does that mean that we can expect more emphasis on the Governments’ record of achievements in the last two years than on new initiatives?

Look the object of this Budget is to do the, to put the last piece of the three year program into place. Our Government was elected two years ago, we’ve brought down two Budgets, we set ourselves a direction and we now put the last piece into place. It’s consistent with the way in which we’ve been approaching the economy of getting good, sound fundamentals, low inflation, low interest rates getting our budget position right, getting good business conditions; making sure that there are opportunities for employees. And what the Budget will do is, it will give us an opportunity to describe the state of Australia the challenges that it’s facing and to give the last instalment on good economic policy which we’ve been directed to for the last two years.

Given that you’ve already introduced the Telstra….

Last question.

…Telstra privatisation legislation into the Parliament, will the proceeds of the Telstra sale be incorporated as ….(inaudible) in this Budget?

Well I am not committing myself to individual measures in the Budget, but as you know Budgets are always framed against the backdrop of Government policy and there will be no difference this time.

Treasurer is the surplus…

No, no he gets the last one.

Who will be the loser from tomorrow’s Budget?

(laughs)

Is the surplus the most important part of the Budget, is it the centre piece, and who will be the losers?

Look as I said earlier, this is the third Budget of this Government. This is the final instalment of a three year program, this is the opportunity we have to lock in all of the important things that will be good for Australia’s economy like lowering inflation, good Budget position, low interest rates, business opportunities. And that is the way that we will be delivering it tomorrow night. Thanks.