Foreword

The costings of the measures in this document are consistent with those contained in Budget Paper No. 2, Budget Measures 2005-06 and the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2004-05. The costings may differ in some cases from those contained in election documentation, as a result of refinements made through the Charter of Budget Honesty process and reflecting final decisions on implementation issues. This document does not include measures contained in the Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2004.

Notes

1. The following definitions are used in this Budget Paper:
   • ‘real’ means adjusted for the effect of inflation;
   • real growth in expenses is measured by the non-farm Gross Domestic Product deflator;
   • Budget year refers to 2005-06, while the forward years refer to 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09; and
   • one billion is equal to one thousand million.
2. Figures in tables and generally in the text have been rounded. Discrepancies in tables between totals and sums of components are due to rounding.
3. For the budget balance, a negative sign indicates a deficit while no sign indicates a surplus.
4. The following notations are used:

*	The nature of this measure is such that a reliable estimate cannot be provided.
NEC/nec	not elsewhere classified
AEST	Australian Eastern Standard Time
-	Nil
..	not zero, but rounded to zero
na	not available
nfp	not for publication
$m	$ million

5. The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory are referred to as ‘the territories’. References to the ‘states’ or ‘each state’ include the territories. The following abbreviations are used for the names of the states, where appropriate:

NSW	New South Wales
VIC/Vic	Victoria
QLD/Qld	Queensland
WA	Western Australia
SA	South Australia
TAS/Tas	Tasmania
ACT	Australian Capital Territory
NT	Northern Territory

6. In this paper the term Commonwealth refers to the Commonwealth of Australia. The term is used when referring to the legal entity of the Commonwealth of Australia.
   The term Australian Government is used when referring to the Government and the decisions and activities made by the Government on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia.

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