As I've said, budgets are boring; life goes on after them, and very few of us notice any difference in our lives and fortunes. Even more boring are small time politicians who can snipe, carp and criticise without having to do anything themselves. I can find no reason for this person's presence in the political class.

Before the coalition took power, debt and deficit was a disaster. Now that it'd double on both counts it's superior coalition management! Go Figure. Alan B.

Come on Alan, a bit of honesty occasionally would make your posts more worth reading.

Just think Gonski, NDIS, & NBN, all Labor, & in 2 cases time bombs set by Gillard & you have most of our deficit problem outlined.

Of course with a gutless idiot like Turnbull at the lodge, there is no chance of good government doing anything, like dumping the NDIS & Gonski first up.

Come off it, Hasbeen!
NDIS is designed to make disabled people more productive, so should be largely (if not completely) self funding. I know you'd prefer disabled people to have a poor quality of life with little or no opportunity to contribute to the future of this nation, but fortunately it's not up to you!

Gillard's NBN plan was a genuine investment in the future, unlike the complete waste of money it turned into once the Libs forced it to use inferior unreliable equipment which will have to be replaced in a few years.

As for Gonski - do you really not see how having underresourced schools is a false economy?

The "debt and deficit disaster" was always a lie, and gullible idiots like you fell for it.

David L has infinitely more legitimacy than the Citizen Frauds that seem to persistently crop up. He has more legitimacy than the Labor Icons that are consistently dropped into an electorate with mind-numbing speed and accuracy by the CFMEU crane drivers.

Why anyone would place Liberal (50% who are really Labor but don't have the integrity or intellect to know they are)Labor (50% who are really Greens but don't have the integrity or intellect to know they are), or the Greens (50% who idolize obtuseness but don't have the integrity or intellect to know they do) in a #1 slot is a mystery.

What are the differences? Labor think taxing and spending and hiring more bureaucrats to vote for them is the future. For Labor there is no God or religion and economic responsibility is a defacto form of religion. Some Liberals think there might be a God and that Economic Theory does have some relevance, as long as the Mob get their government benefits.

Anyone who has successfully run a small business for more than five years or a wage earner who has 2+ rental properties for more than 10 years would make a superior politician to 90% of the ones who have been elected.

Citizen users of NDIS report that disability scooters purchased via NDIS now cost 100% more that they did before NDIS. Early evidence mounting that NDIS is going to emulate the profligacy of the Education Revolution. Anyone surprised?

Speaking as one of the disabled who still has most of his marbles and contributes every day without payment. I saw nothing wrong with half of one percent extra medicare levy to lock in the NDIS scheme and the bipartisan support this progressive idea had when first mooted. As for adjusting a progressive tax scheme to remove the effect of bracket creep for everyone? Why not index the ceiling, so it adjusts upwards with inflation or the GNP, whichever is the highest? Meaning nobody pays the more comparative tax than anybody else does. After that why not a flat tax every income earner pays as either a PAYE or a PAYG. That excludes nobody. The latter only about the profits for that week or month. Just not able to be shifted offshore by some devious means that then offload the load onto the lifters. I've heard some dubious claims that those who earn the most pay the most tax? Well given the wealthiest can so arrange their income with super, salary sacrifice and income splitting and trusts etc. To effectively reduce their tax liability to just 15% or less? Given there are not that many of them. I fail to see how 500.000 can pay more tax than the rest or around ten million, who cannot so organise their incomes to minimise or avoid a fair share. Be they corner storekeeper or the bricklayer, or just the average joe, working 9to5. Or dawn to dusk! Alan B.

Alan B, my understanding is that the 'claims' that the highest income earners pay the most tax does not refer to the percentage of their individual incomes but the percentage of the total government income from income taxation. Hence you hear things like 50% of the income tax revenue is paid by 15% of taxpayers. i.e. those with the most incomes.

When Labor makes empty promises they're a 'Pledge', when the Coalition makes promises they're empty promises.
The outcome however is that nothing really is done to address the real problems, Tax & Welfare reform & economic stimulus because the Public Service sucks up all the funding before the pollies can make up their mind what to spend it on.

individual,
The point of economic stimulus is that it's extra money going into the economy. If it's funded by cutting funding elsewhere, it's not really a stimulus.

Aidan,
I know what you mean & that's the traditional spin of throwing money at something to be seen of doing "something".
Economic stimulus by way of funding is a proven waste. What's needed to stimulate first the local economy which will then flow over into the national economy, is to reduce the exorbitant Government fees & charges & leave everything else. More funding hasn't gotten us anywhere has it ? Funding has to come from enter[rise not handouts. Freezing Govt bureaucrat salaries is a good start. Can anyone really honestly argue that they don't get enough now ? I for one would like to see some proof of their worth.
Of course this is seen as an outrageous suggestion to take the leap away from the traditional & perpetual status quo but surely, to keep going that proven ineffective & enterprise killing way of the recent past should be enough to make anyone try a new direction.
Wage earners should be on a flat tax rate & those with high salaries should be on a higher rate.
Company tax is too generous & needs a little lift. If we want a better economic future then keeping on going the same tired old way is not the way.
Constantly asking for higher wages is nothing short of economic suicide. I have yet to see higher/improved productivity after a pay rise. People spending money is an economic stimulus. People having to skimp & save to make ends meet is the negative opposite of economic stimulus.
Doing "something" is vastly different to actually changing policies & make them work for the better of all & not just non-productive bureaucracy.

individual,
>I know what you mean & that's the traditional spin of throwing money at something to be seen of doing "something"
No, it's not that at all. It's that to address the problem of insufficient private spending, the government has to put more money into the economy.

>Economic stimulus by way of funding is a proven waste.
Proven by whom?
I'm not suggesting the government should waste money. There's plenty of useful stuff it could spend money on. But failing to stimulate the economy (and hence perpetuating the situation where lots of people are idle) is an even bigger waste than spending the money on useless stuff.

>What's needed to stimulate first the local economy which will then flow over into the national economy, is to reduce the exorbitant Government fees & charges & leave everything else
That's one approach that could work, but there are some obvious problems with it. For a start, most of those fees and charges are imposed by the state government not the Federal government. Also, reducing those fees and charges may not be a sufficiently big stimulus, whereas the Federal government always has the ability to spend more. And cutting fees and charges gives the government no direct benefit in addition to the economic stimulus, whereas higher government spending gives it the benefit of whatever it spends the money on.

You are obviously under the impression that those in the public sector are overpaid. But do you actually have any evidence for this?

Regarding the effects of pay rises, the stimulus results in more production (due to more people working) rather than more productivity from each worker. Having said that, productivity related pay deals are common so I'm surprised you've not seen the results!

Aidan, bureaucrats in the Public Service are overpaid, full stop ! Federal, State & Local Government. Here are some of the lesser paid.
Can anyone tell us what we get from them in return ? For example the ABC CEO who is on over $900,000 & there are the 'silent' others.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull: $517,338
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten: $368,224
Mr Turnbull's chief of staff Drew Clarke: $691,200
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian: $377,780
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk: $385,719
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews: $380,000
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr: $299,000
Commissioner of Taxation Chris Jordan: $772,920
Australian Statistician David Kalisch: $705,030
Australian Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg: $731,000
Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers: $522,240
Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs: $417,800
http://www.apsc.gov.au/about-the-apsc/the-commission/enterprise-agreement-2015

Add to this list the absolute waste due to bureaucratic incompetence. Bureaucrats must be made accountable & be either demoted or moved sideways or both when failing in their duties.
All explanations defending the status quo of the tax system are stock-standard spin but are not fact but are being used to retain status quo at all cost because a lot of bureaucrats make a lot of money & they don't want to risk their snouts being banned from the trough.
Do you know how much Facebook costs us in the Public Service ?
There are no difficulties in making our tax system more efficient & creating economic stimulus.
The word difficulties is nothing more than an excuse to prevent reform because status quo is extremely profitable for those who fight to retain it. They can rely on the low paid workers to keep struggling on so all that needs is empty promises from the Coalition or pledges as in the Labor jargon.
The defenders of this corrupt system always portray everything as more complex than it is. Tax reform & accountability aren't at all complex, we just need bureacrats with a conscience.