Less than 1/3 of Australian voters say budget is good for economy: poll

Only 28 percent of voters believe the Australian federal budget for 2011/12 will be good for the economy, a latest poll showed on Saturday.

The Galaxy poll, taken in the two days after Tuesday night's budget, showed only 28 percent of voters thought the budget was good for the economy, while just 11 percent of voters believed the budget shows Labor government is reliable economic managers.

The negative assessments mark a dramatic shift from last year, when 43 percent of voters rated the 2010/11 budget as good for the economy.

The survey published in the Daily Telegraph also showed among Labor voters, only 47 percent believe the 2011 budget is positive.

According to Finance Minister Penny Wong, she is not concerned by the figures, because the budget was about getting the economy back into surplus and creating new jobs.

"The only numbers I'm focused on is 500,000 jobs that will be created in the years ahead and getting the budget back into black by 2012/13 as we promised and that's what this budget will deliver, " she told Herald Sun on Saturday.

"We'll just keep doing what's right for the country and what's right for the country is this Budget."

Earlier, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said getting the economy back into surplus in two years and creating 500,000 new jobs are the biggest priorities of her first budget.

Under the budget, there are new programs in health, money for regional Australia, tax write-offs for small business, and programs to encourage low-income families to better educate their children.

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