Well said.

Besides implementing the supposed temporary deficit tax, Hockey will be increasing tax on big business to partly fund the paid parental leave (PPL) scheme. And there's more: he will be increasing tax effectively by not providing relief for bracket creep -- if he were serious about acting fairly, he would index the various tax threshholds.

Hockey would have had sound reason to renege on the 'direct action' and PPL promises, as both require substantial new expenditure that is unjustified.

The $2.55bn to be spent on tackling "climate change" is pure waste. There is no scientific or economic justification for any such expenditure.

The Commission of Audit opposed the PPL outright. It is hypocritical on Hockey's part to claim that the age of welfare entitlement must end , and then promptly turn around and instal more middle class welfare by way of the PPL.

Hockey happily goes along with Labor's exorbitant spending priorities.

The over-generous $28.5bn to be spent on childcare over the next four years is a case in point. Taxpayers should not be required to subsidise the provision of childcare so that women can go to work and earn income. Those women should fund the childcare themselves, or else borrow the funds from the government with a reasonable repayment period. In any case, childcare handouts should be subject to the means test.

Another bad feature of the Budget is that it does not show the billions of dollars that are to be poured into the NBN project -- a deliberate Labor ploy, now endorsed by Hockey, to treat it as "off-budget" so as to hide the massive expenditure involved. But the government will be funding it from borrowings, of course.