2012 Australian Budget

[Vangelovski]

Yes you did.
The commies think they will make a surplus in 2013 which will reduce the debt you noted above by about 0.6%.

I'm willing to bet there will be no surplus and that the the budget will be well and truly blown by both expenditure and less revenue then expected.

[makedonche]

It's a clever budget

The really big savings came from areas that will not likely impact on the economy

1. Defence, where most of the money is spent on foreign equipment
2. Foreign aid, obviously not spending in the domestic market
3. Super benefits reduced for those over 300k, this group wont stop spending any-time soon

The company tax reduction of 1% was always going to be challenged by the opposition, companies didn’t try and lobby the opposition to try and change their position, instead they stayed silent, the government frustrated with the company heads decided to pass on the mining tax directly to the public as the school bonus, which under political pressure the opposition has now supported, so that one is going through unopposed

Basically it's a political budget that gets marks for fairness, particularly in areas of Dental care, Disability benefits, and tax breaks for those on low income, it does try to encourage people to go back to work, as well as reducing the benefits of those on very high incomes

Fiscally it is the tightest budget in over 20 years, with a potential modest/decent reduction in our deficit

I would have preferred a better deal for small business, but no one lobbied the opposition, only the Greens had anything to say regarding a solution

Throwing money at school parents smacks of the same politics of the Howard’s baby bonus, purely political which is disappointing but understandable in the light of Labor's poor polling

That's how I see it anyway

Cheers

BC
Not far off the mark at all mate!