KEY POINTS:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has splurged A$10.4 billion ($11.8bn) on pensioners, low and middle income families, and first home buyers in a bid to keep Australia out of recession.
Fearing that even the nation's booming resources sector could not protect it from what he called the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1920s, Rudd has whipped out half of his huge, A$21 billion ($23.8bn) budget surplus to keep the economy moving.
All of this will be stuffed directly into suburban hip pockets emptied by soaring food and fuel bills, and crippling rents and mortgage repayments.
About two million families will be given a one-off payment of A$1000 for each of the almost four million eligible children they support.
First home buyers will see grants doubled or tripled to up to A$21,000.
From today, people who buy an established home will receive a grant of A$14,000, up from A$7000.
Those who help the ailing housing industry by buying a newly-built home will receive an extra A$14,000, taking their total grant to A$21,000.
The nation's four million pensioners will also be given a one-off lump-sum payment.
Rudd called it a down-payment on a promised overhaul of pensions.
Age, disability support, wife and widow, war veterans and eligible over-60s will receive A$1400 for singles, or A$2100 for couples.
Rudd will also pump A$187 million into the creation of an extra 56,000 skills training places this financial year, effectively doubling the existing programme.