About two weeks ago, in a bid to help Australian retailers, low and middle-income families received a one-off payment of $1000 per child while single pensioners and pensioner couples received $1400 and $2100 respectively.

Geoff Sellenger from Dempster Sporting said while he had noticed a difference in sales since the bonus handout, people were still being careful with their spending,

“It definitely has been busy and our sales compared to last year have gone up a bit but people are still being cautious with their spending,” he said.

“The handouts are a positive move and have made a difference because people have been holding off a little bit due to the current economic climate,” he said.

InnerTube Surf Shop manager Lisa Rose said while it was good to see people were spending their money locally, she doubted the handouts would boost sales significantly.

“We have had some customers tell us that they were spending their Christmas bonus but it has made little difference to the business,” she said.

President of the Esperance Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ECCI) Steve Neal said although Esperance will remain in a strong position economically for the remainder of 2008 and 2009, the town’s true economic strength would depend on the farming sector.

“Due to the Rudd government's Christmas bonus handout, combined with lower fuel price and a drop in home loan interest rates it would mean that consumers would have more money available to spend,” he said.

“Esperance still remains reasonably dependent economically on the farming sector and the late start to harvest combined with continuing rain will have a twofold effect on local business.”