South Australian Premier Mr. Mike Rann is prepared to accept the results of his recent approval ratings, which dropped at 38 percent, taking into account the tight budgetary allocations.

In a report by ABC Online, Mr. Rann said he expected this and it could even worsen.

"It was supposed to be going to be a lot worse so 54 percent to 46 percent ... basically following the toughest budget - billion of dollars ripped out of the budget and three-and-a-half years before an election, that's better than I would have expected," he said in the ABC report.

He noted that this could be reflection of some budgetary cuts that compromised services and some entitlement benefits.

Reports said Minister Mr. Jay Weatherill came out stronger in the polls as the choice among SA voters to be the next ALP leader.

Tight government budget

Population ageing will increase spending on health, age-related pensions and aged care.

Escalating health costs associated with technological enhancements, such as new medicines, and increasing demand for higher quality services, will add to fiscal pressures from ageing.

At the same time, slowing economic growth as a result of an ageing population will reduce the capacity of Australia to fund this increasing spending.

Today, around a

quarter of total spending is directed to health, age?related pensions and aged care. This is expected to rise to around half by 2049?50.

As a result, total spending is expected to grow to around 27 per cent of GDP by 2049-50, around 4¾ percentage points of GDP higher than its low-point in 2015-16.

Rising health costs are by far the biggest contributor to fiscal pressures, accounting for more than two-thirds of this projected increase in spending.

Rapid growth in real spending during the 2000s economic expansion has locked in permanent increases in spending, compounding the challenges of an ageing population. This is in contrast to the temporary stimulus introduced by the Government.