But Godo, are you saying that Australians have been hoodwinked by a poor media?

Are you serious? Did not Swan predict a surplus a year ago. It was always obvious he was going to be wrong if one actually took note of trends happening all around us. Last year's budget even jugged the data and was more about wishfult thinking, treating Austs as fools.

I mean where was his holiness a year ago, to point out why the media was not attacking Swan and Treasury for their forecasts?

You Laborites need to lift your own game rather than blaming someone else when Labor is indeed led by simpletons.

You guys, referring to AA, cant even see your own contradictions and commentary shortcomings, yet you have the audacity to bag the whole of the Aust media, many of them passionate and experienced reporters.

Get real.

Then there was this one from Tony:

" There will be an affordable and responsible paid parental leave scheme because women should get their full wage while on maternity leave just as men should get theirs while on annual leave"

Maybe we are not supposed to analyse the words but I just don't understand what he is getting at:

Men and women in full time employment receive annual leave pay BUT many women (and men) who work casually or part time don't have such an entitlement. Is that his point, I don't think so ?
What is the correlation between annual leave pay and paid maternity leave: one is paid by the employer and Tony's is paid from a tax, by the government. Maybe having a baby is like being on holiday ?

Can anybody explain why such an obviously crafted sentence is so ambiguous ?

I haven't been to OLO for about 6 months but I see nothing has changed...same old right wingers always playing the man (author); so very disappointing that there are no sites where reasoned discussions can be held.

How about you children grow up and start an adult debate.

If you don't agree with the opinion piece then address each of the points and explain why they are wrong. Then it would be worth reading this site and maybe a sensible debate might ensue.

Fat chance from past visits I would say!

It is hard to accept Abbott as leader of anything… he just doesn’t seem to have it. During the past 3 years he and his colleagues were in a constant tantrum and almost destroyed the nicely built Parliament physically and morally. You can feel they are prepared to do “anything” just to be in government, hardly the conduct of responsible leaders or statesmen. Yet after a sudden act or one off measured speech we are supposed to believe that he is a respectable parliamentarian and can lead the nation!? It is clear that Mr Abbott and his colleagues take the Australian voters very lightly, if not with contempt.

after five deficits after and an absolute promise of a surplus why would anyone need to even look at Abbotts budget reply. Everyone has seen the economic vandalism and lies and Alan wants to defend their record. Alan uses lies lies and statistics to try and justify Labours waste. Thankfully the voters are not so gullible as they have seen what socialist Governments have done to Europe with their huge Government spending with nothing to show for it.

The budget is the product of treasury, not Wayne Swan Or Joe Hockey.
If treasury officials who prepared 11 budgets for the coalition, can't be trusted by the coalition, then that says something about their judgement as about anything else, or indeed, their "Infant terrible", political posturing.
The facts have become entirely irrelevant!
Labour has got to go!
With so much corruption and rubbish in the ranks, Labour needs to spend time in the wilderness, to find and put back in traditional core values, and rid itself of the stench of criminal corruption and filth?
Labour under Gillard has just lurched from one crisis to another. Gillard should have called for a spill, even if that permanently damaged an emotionally fragile Rudd beyond repair.
Besides, there's no place in traditional Labour ranks, for fiscal conservatives or economic drys.
A spill may have limited those damaging leaks, that more than anything else, have put labour in the position it's in today.
Without those leaks, Julia Gillard wouldn't have had to make that damaging deal with the greens; and all the damage control ever since!
As for Tony Abbott, well we can't yet fault his promises against his costings, we simply don't have them yet!
Moreover he's smart enough to remain a small target until just days before the election.
Gillard's only real response or remaining strategy, is to fully roll-out Her education and health funding policies, and then watch as completely disenchanted electors, fume furiously as they are progressively withdrawn?
We have somewhere around 150 different taxes, with only around 11 of them, collecting most of the tax.
One sees real tax reform as fixing the structural deficit and improving the economy and tax receipts, always providing, the current US recovery, we seem to be seeing, is not hijacked by the Tea Party and forced back into a double dip recession.
One can only hope the proposed free trade deal between the US and Europe is sealed, and the economy damaging food subsidies, are finally removed.
Rhrosty.