THE Government has launched its bid for a fifth term with a bold budget promising $31.5 billion in tax cuts focused on the "Howard battlers" and delivering a king hit to Labor by pledging almost $9 billion on education.
And in a big sweetener, $4 billion in one-off payments will be handed out before the election to voters - including the elderly, veterans, carers and low- and middle-income earners - as tax-free lump sums.
The elderly, for example, will receive $500 each to "share in the economic growth they helped create".
Child-care benefits will be increased by 10 per cent, child rebates brought forward and those on $58,000 or less will receive $1.1 billion in a one-off Government top-up to their superannuation.
