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It is interesting to note that Julie Bishop (known within Coalition circles as the Cockroach because she seem able to survive anything politically) hasn't come within a country mile of any attempt to sell the budget.
But Smokin' Joe has ploughed on. He has tried to turn his hopeless defense of the budget into an attack at the Sydney Institute - claiming we spend too much on welfare. The general public clearly disagree. But then so does the research.
New figures demonstrate that working age Australians have become far less dependent on welfare payments since 2001 (when the Coalition was previously in government).
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- why the budget emergency was a lie,
- why a harsh budget was not necessary, and
- why the measures in the budget are clearly unfair.
Flavio suggests that shouting ever louder that the budget is both in the national interest and fair is unlikely to be effective against evidence and a widespread acceptance that it is not... but Joe seems likely to persist with his misguided belief.
Yet another example of the budget's unfairness is the fact that the young and unemployed (whose numbers have surged in the latest figures) will need to apply for 40 jobs a month for the 6 months that they are not eligible for unemployment benefits. As well as being unfair, such a provision would also suggest the policy is completely unworkable.
Abbott has labeled the rise in the fuel tax is a 'Carbon tax on steroids' - but Joe will keep trying to sell it with his head buried deep in the sand, as he remains 'immensely proud' of the budget. But unlike a price on Carbon which was aimed at the biggest polluters (and has been extremely effective), the petrol excise will disproportionately affect the poor and will not have a big impact on emmissions as it will (reportedly) exempt road transport. Meanwhile the savings that will flow through to consumers from removing the price on carbon will be negligible, certainly far less than the $500 Abbott was flinging around pre-election
Looking at fairness (from another angle) - Coalition electorates benefit at a ratio of 3 to 1 to non-Coalition electorates - three quarters of the new infrastructure spending is happening in Coalition electorates. According to Professor Currie from Monash University this level of pork barreling is unprecedented.
Labor's Andrew Leigh points out that Hockey's assertions at the Sydney Institute are ideologically driven rhetoric which brings him into line with the thinking of failed Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. In time he will go the same way as Romney.
But critics abound. Tristan Ewins sees through hockey's attempts at division, at playing one disadvantaged group off against another in order to drive through his un-Australian (anti-egalitarian) measures.
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Among the telling omissions in this year’s budget papers was the data comparing Australia’s deficit and debt with those of other countries, presumably because it showed Australia in a relatively good position. All budgets since 2005, when Peter Costello introduced the practice, have included a table showing how different family types on different incomes will be affected by the spending and taxing decisions outlined. This year, that table was missing. On the spending side, the sharpest cut was to foreign aid. In the past, governments have released a “blue book” outlining precise aid allocations; this year, for the first time in much more than a decade, the document didn’t appear.
Now that Tony Dumb Dumb has returned home and parliament is sitting again... keep an eye out for even more incompetence from the most inept government in this nation's history.
by Mark Enders