Andrew, yes I can actually agree with you almost entirely on this occasion.

So it begs the question: what is Labor going to do to make sure that they win the next election and set things right?

Abbott has put himself and his government totally on the nose with the Australian people. However, Labor is also still highly on the nose after the Rudd/Gillard era.

This massive disillusionment really does set the scene for a third party to rise right up and steal the show at the next election. PUP perhaps? Or something that has not yet even appeared.

And it gives Labor an enormous opportunity to get their act together and regain power. But given how terrible they have been, they will need to do it very soon, to give themselves maximum prospects of convincing the populace that they are genuine.

So then, is Labor going to do the following:

1. Instigate some form of legally binding system to make sure that when pollies promise something, they keep their promises or get booted out of office, if not into a jail cell!

2. Tackle the cosy relationship between politicians and the big end of town head-on, by abolishing donations and making the funding of political parties as neutral as possible and by substantially increasing taxes and the overall contribution of the wealthy to fixing the budget, our infrastructure woes and everything else that the public purse supports.

3. To this end, reinstate the carbon and mining taxes, and boost them into something substantial rather than just token efforts.

4. Slash immigration and consequently slash the enormous ongoing demand for new infrastructure and services. This is a huge factor concerning the budget, which no one seems to even consider at all!

5. Embrace Gillard’s desire for us to achieve a sustainable Australia, not a big Australia.

That’s just a few things off the top of my head.

continued

So Andrew, what are the chances of Labor doing anything like this?

Zero?

Unfortunately, as much as I agree with you regarding Abbott and Hockey and the budget, I can’t see that Labor is in ANY position to criticise… as there is just no indication that they would do anything substantially different!

All they are likely to do tinker around the edges, rearrange the deck-chairs…. and continue to take us down a totally unsustainable path, where the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen.

Well Andrew;
One simply can't continue to live off of an already maxed credit card, and broken promises are not exclusive to the coalition!
One can remember L.A.W tax breaks, and there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead!
Having said that, let me say this, the govt could have kept all the pre-election commitments, and created a surplus, with the following.
Jettisoning health insurance subsidies=3 billion.
Repealing negative gearing=5 billion.
Winding back tax breaks on the wealthiest's super=30 billions, and defensible if the, (shoveled by the shipload) age of entitlement is truly over!?
Further, reducing the GST share to all state governments by around 15 billions, (we've all gotta tighten the belt) would leave them with no other choice, but to means test state welfare, on incomes above $80,000.00; i.e., totally free health care and largely free schooling?
Now 3+5+30 + 15= 53 billion, or around 13 billions more than the current deficit?
However, the real debt crisis may well be domestic debt, (higher than the super fund) and or foreign debt, already at record levels and reportedly now roughly equal to China's foreign reserve?
We need something more imaginative, besides selling the family farm or sell the family silver, or our national sovereignty, to keep the economy growing!
I mean, what the far king good does it do for us, if it essentially belongs to someone else somewhere else; particularly, when we could garner all the foreign capital we need, with self terminating govt guaranteed 30 year bonds!
If there were to be a double dissolution tomorrow, just what would Labor do differently?
More of the same old same old, fire sale of public assets?
I mean, the CBA,, telecom the airlines and the power delivery schemes in public hands, used to earn enough to pay the pensions of those folks, whose lifelong sacrifices, gave those assets to the nation in the first place!
And now we moan about a shrinking taxpayer demographic!
Rhrosty.

One contends that returning the fair go is only doable by growing the economy!
If you make a bigger cake Andrew, you can then distribute larger slices to everyone!
Doing what you've always done, will only get you what you've always got!
Thinking within limited traditional (socialist) circles, (them and us) will limit the questions, and by definition all the available answers.
Growing the economy is just not that hard!
Removing all the parasitical practices, [the entire convoluted collection methodology,] and replacing all that, with a single stand alone unavoidable expenditure tax, will finally end the need for Australian based companies to shell out around 7% of the bottom line, just to comply with entirely unnecessary complexity!
In a 1.6 trillion dollar economy, an 18% expenditure tax, will raise some 380 billions!
And also result in significant saving, due to the fact, we can make around 5,000 public servants redundant!
No problem, in a growing economy, with plenty of new jobs for number crunchers!
The second part of the equation, after creating the lowest effective tax system of around 11%, [if you factor in the new savings created by unavoidable transparency,] is the roll out of cheaper than coal thorium power stations, as new public assets.
Which given that latter, would be not only self funding, but placed adjacent to the new industrial estates, more than halve current industrial energy costs!
Couple the world's cheapest tax system to the world's cheapest energy supply, and, you have the energy dependent companies of the world queuing to relocate here, along with the 95% of Australian companies, who have off-shored just to lower tax and or, production costs.
Plus a bunch of seriously self funded retirees, and cashed up entrepreneurs.
If you also, roll out self funding rapid rail and commit to nuclear power, very fast roll on roll off ferries, as a new national fleet, I dare say, no nation on earth would be better placed, to compete on a global market, and without saddling the nation to serious costly subsidies!
Don't just stand there duck shoving responsibilities, do something!
Rhrosty.

Sure the coalition will struggle to sell its tough message, but all Labor will do is hope that public dissent will continue and give them a victory.

I mean where are their policy options? They will merely allow the coalition to do much of the dirty work for them, and then come in and tinker at the edges before telling us how progressive Labor is.

Andrew
It is more than appropriate that you as a labor member of rudd gillard rudd greens coalition governments express your understanding of budgets in the terms you use and the anology of budgets being like toilets.
While The Libs budget might have a whiff your labor ones were full of it.