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There are issues with the budget, but the Coalition are instead hell-bent on attacking the ideological straw men Joe Hockey likes to wrap up in pat phrases like -'the end of the age of entitlement'.
The true shape of the government's plan for the budget will be revealed early next week, and it is a document on which Joe Hockey can be clearly judged, given that he is 'immensely proud' of what he has produced.
The budget discussion to this point has been largely framed around the question of broken promises, something the Coalition is now complaining about. But that is largely because that is the test Abbott held the previous government to, and the basis on which he asked his government to be graded. And while the polls can be a somewhat unreliable measure, the continuing fall in popularity of Abbott and his government are the best measure we currently have.
The inconsistencies abound - a gold plated paid parental leave scheme in a time of supposed austerity. Removing a price on carbon and adding a bigger price to petrol. Protecting a fuel rebate for mega-rich, multi-national miners and slugging everyday Australians.
There have been a great deal of broken promises, and they will continue to hurt Abbott. Especially as the promises are being re-broadcast as they are broken - in an ironically similar manner to the scoreboards Abbott used to trumpet the Coalition's ugly record on how they had slowed boat arrivals.
But not only has he alienated all but the heavily rusted on Liberal voters, internally Abbott has divided the Coalition. And... as bad as things are now, they will only get worse by budget night.
What shouldn't be overlooked in all this is the exceptionally poor performance of Joe Hockey. There has been some praise for Hockey as being the best performing and most effective of the government ministers (very low praise indeed). But even if we set the bar that low, there isn't much Joe has to be 'immensely proud' of.
For a devastating assessment of Hockey as treasurer, read the article by Assoc. Prof. Evan Jones. In short, Joe is a big bag of wind with nothing to back up anything he has to say. And once budget night is here, and he can no longer dodge questions by saying he won't preempt the budget, Joe will be very quickly deflated.
The commission of audit, a political once used effectively by Peter Costello, in the hands of Abbott and Hockey was a damaging joke. Greg Jericho gives an excellent assessment of the Australian economy, that debunks many of the assumptions on which the COA have made their recommendations.
There is no getting past that everything the Abbott government says is underpinned by a huge lie - a supposed budget emergency. This has been debunked by economist after economist, with the OECD being just the latest to expose the lie.
And two more years of him won't improve things one iota.