It is not the Liberal/National party blocking the proposed budget but the Labor, PUP and Green Coalition. Also what this article clearly demonstrates is what a mess the Gillard/Rudd governments made of their time in office and the steps they took to ensure that their woeful actions were made difficult to rectify.

Of course, debt is like heroin - those who embark on that road can never stop.

No wonder that the coalition could not stop it - only God can - otherwise we will end up like Greece.

Yes Alan, and hardly surprising given the coalition's seeming bent on further entrenching or retaining privilege!? [Or when Ideology trumps pragmatism!?]
They could just stop preferencing family trusts, (taxpayer funded welfare for the rich) and pocket/retrieve the (lost) 30 annual billions that that is currently costing the bottom line.
Then there's millionaire's super tax concessions.
Eliminate that and hey presto, another (lost) 40-60 annual billions added to the budget bottom line!
And which is more vital?
An increase in defense spending of around 5 annual billions, or negative gearing!? Or 8 annual billions, if we but wound up, private health fund rebates!
And then kept virtual millionaires out of the public system, by fully means testing inclusion.
I mean, welfare must remain for the needy, not the greedy, who have been somehow inculcated into believing, they're somehow "entitled", because they pay tax?
Instead, and given the incomes our system allows, they should rather see it as a privilege to pay tax, and just for the income earning privileges extended to them!
Other than that, we could actually try genuine, real tax reform and massive simplification; [see my earlier posts on very business friendly tax reform,] plus remove the profit demanding middle man.
Now very doable, but only if we continue to roll out the NBN and the factory direct sales/individualistic (family/co-op) entrepreneur endevour/Celtic tiger recipe, it makes very doable/possible!
Removing the (do bugger all)profit demanding middleman, (legislation) would virtually halve the cost of living/doing business here! (put huge downward pressure on the price/cost/wages spiral)
And with that, double domestic economy supporting discretionary spending.
Which would be further enhanced by genuine tax reform and simplification, and a return to publicly supplied (much much cheaper) power.
The coalition just need to lift their "buried" collective heads out of all that "warm and comfortable" stuff, and just take, a great big new, never before tried, dose of real realty; or, just never before tried, pragmatism!.
Or perhaps even just try thinking, even if that meant they'd have to tolerate the burning smell, emanating from previously unused cerebral circuits!?
Rhrosty.

Alan, not sure what rock it is you climb out from from time to time to make a passing swipe, but are you seriously suggesting we can trust any prediction made by the worlds smartest man. You know, the one who on no less than 200 occasions GUARANTEED a surplus, AT ANY COST, then finally admitted what many of us expected, a hug deficit.

Waffle on my freind!

Ever heard the saying, dig a hole!

Good morning all.
Interesting comments. Thank you.
@EQ, yes and no.
The Final Budget Outcome actually enables us to identify precisely how much of the nation's debt was inherited by the current Government and how much it has incurred.
Correct?
It also adds to the weight of evidence that the previous Government actually did not leave much of a mess at all.
Don't let the media suck you in, EQ.
@Yuyutsu, no, not at all.
There is no chance Australia will end up like Greece. The two economies are about as far apart as you will find anywhere.
No other economy in the developed world has Australia's extraordinary profile of low debt, low jobless, strong growth, high income, excellent economic freedom, low inflation, optimum interest rates and low taxation.
@Rhrosty, yes, agree with most of that analysis.
All the evidence suggests that most of the budget problems - and hence the burgeoning debt - are on the revenue side rather than the spending side.
There will be a tax White Paper produced some time late next year which it is hoped will come up with Coalition policies. (Why this was not done during the six years in Opposition is a neglected question.)
But let's hope when they finally begin to think about fixing the tax system, they get it right.
@Rechtub, no, not at all.
As we are now seeing, all treasurers who quote forecasts from Treasury, the Reserve Bank and the Finance Department will be wrong more often than not.
That is not a function of being the world's best treasurer. It is a function of being treasurer.
Happy to discuss.
Cheers, AA

Has it ever occurred to you Alan that when all new money is created as debt for growth + inflation, debt in the longer term will always out pace growth.

In the USA in the 1950's and 60's $1.00 of debt produced $2.40 of growth. Today that $1.00 of debt produces 3 cents of growth. Soon it will be negative.

See Jim Rickards ' The Death of Money' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYW5OGWfqJc