A report from ACOSS said that of the 1.2 million people claiming negative gearing deductions, more than half are in the top 10 per cent of personal taxpayers, with 30 per cent earning over $300,000.

The reality is that this is a big spending high taxing government full of surprises. The ship has gone full circle and has run aground on the rocks. Talk of GST on fresh food, bracket creep, increase to GST, GST on health, GST on education, etc.

As if we needed further proof that this government governs for the rich. The rich love GST and other consumption taxes because their consumption represents a tiny fraction of their income - unlike the average punter, whose consumption is much higher proportion of income. Add to that the flat rate nature of the GST and you've got a great recipe for wealth distribution up the chain to the fat cats. Everyone knows that the biggest effect they could have on tax revenue is to close the super, negative gearing, family trust and FBT loopholes, but the wealthy and powerful lobbyists who bankroll and support this party are more important to them than the average voter.

Mr Hockey pre election, give me the treasury bench and I will fix the country's woes . Don't need to raise taxes ,don't need new taxes , don't need to touch super , don't need to touch the pensions .

The carbon price watchdog finds repeal savings don't match up to Abbott's promise and power bills have barely declined. If Abbott were a business one suspects the ACCC would have a strong case for misleading and deceptive conduct.

Had capital gains been taxed just like any other income, nobody would have thought of negative gearing.

The problem arises because the heaviest tax in Australia today is inflation - which is artificially induced through the RBA in order to eat away people's life savings, by taxing nominal increases rather than the real increase in the value of savings.

To coarsely and selectively compensate, the capital-gains-tax was made half of the normal tax. It doesn't help ordinary savers who only want to keep what they earned for a rainy day, because they are taxed, even if it's only half the rate, on assets whose value never truly increased in the sense that it could buy them more. Of course it doesn't help those who just keep their money in the bank, where the after-tax interest does not keep up with inflation.

Some people however, found a clever and convoluted loophole to earn money through real-estate manipulations by making use of inflation and this half-tax over assets they never worked for themselves. This is negative-gearing and the way to stop it is to tax all asset-value increases fully just as any other income, after taking out the nominal inflationary increase, which is not a profit.

Regarding GST, it bites even the rich because the moment it was introduced, the Australian dollar went down in value (because it buys less in Australia). Eventually, they or their children/grandchildren would be spending their money on goods and services and even if they spend it outside Australia, they get less for it because the Australian dollar is worth less.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will certainly make increasing demands on the budget. But as long as we as a society believe it is a good thing, we need to find finances to pay for it. To increase government revenues, we should consider an inheritance tax, remove negative gearing, close down overseas detention centers, introduce a progressive Medicare levy and remove the concessions on capital gains taxes, to name a few.

Hockey now faces a dilemma on myriad fronts. In opposition, he railed against profligacy and continually denounced the previous government's "debt and deficit disaster". That was with net debt at about 12 per cent of GDP.

That's all changed. After the community backlash from last year's budget and with the crash in commodity prices punching a $25 billion hole in annual government revenue, Tony Abbott reckons "a ratio of debt to GDP at about 50 or 60 per cent is a pretty good result".

A key industry survey has found the manufacturing sector contracted for a fifth consecutive month in April.
The Australian Industry Group's Performance of Manufacturing Index improved slightly in April to 48 points.
While it is still below the 50-point level that separates expansion from contraction, the pace of contraction eased.

All areas of manufacturing shrank in April.
"Weak local demand continues to weigh heavily on Australian manufacturing," said Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox.
A drop in construction in the mining industry and the closure of the auto industry are taking a toll on the manufacturing sector.

"While there are benefits from strong residential construction activity, low interest rates, and the weaker Australian dollar, these are being outweighed by subdued local business investment in equipment, the ongoing drop in mining construction and the progressive closure of the automotive assembly," Mr Willox added.
Reflecting ongoing weak trading conditions, manufacturers reduced their supplier deliveries and stock levels for a third straight month.
Manufacturing employment fell for a fourth month in April, albeit at a slower pace, up 2.1 points to 49.2.
Mr Willox said another cut in interest rates may help boost demand, but the real impact will come from the Federal Government.

PM&C told its workforce that managers already very busy with the tricky task of putting together a pay deal would have to drop everything in the event of industrial action to administer the strike.
Meanwhile over at Immigration and Customs, bosses say their 13500 officials, who have been waiting 10 months for a pay offer, would be jumping the gun by walking off the job.
Bosses at the soon to be merged departments say talks, on a new enterprise agreement to replace the one that expired in June 2014, are still at an "early stage".

The Abbott government will spend up to $11 million of taxpayers' money on its controversial Intergenerational Report advertising campaign starring science broadcaster Karl Kruszelnicki.

"Joe Hockey paid Dr Karl Kruszelnicki to front this campaign – now Dr Karl says he is so concerned about how flawed this report is he wants nothing to do with it. He feels so strongly about ,he has promised to give away his entire fee.

Australia is in the doldrums, we need monetary stimulus now. Manufacturing is sluggish to restart, and no one is spending money.

The truth about Dr Karl distancing himself from the Intergenerational Report is that he was on the butt end of a huge social media backlash; his critics accusing him of selling out. He admitted he couldn't take the Twitter abusive comments.

His tried to make himself look better by saying the report didn't have enough about climate change in it and that he made the adverts without actually reading the report.

As the criticism continued he caved in and said he'd donate any money he earned, but he doesn't know what he was being paid. Yeah, right

Dr Karl is an idiot and I'm happy to see the government has not withdrawn the adverts. The last laugh is on Dr Karl.

In an interview with Reuters, Hockey said he was confident the economy would extend a run of annual growth that dates back to 1991, and was dismissive of talk that the sovereign debt rating was in danger.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs this week warned the rating could come under threat within months because of a change to the way Standard & Poor's assessed sovereign risk, combined with the outlook for years of budget deficits as a decade-long mining boom winds down.

Australia's net debt is forecast to rise to $245 billion by the end of the fiscal year in June, but at 15 per cent of gross domestic product it is very low by international standards. Still, the outlook is for debt to grow, with the budget deficit expected to be around $40 billion in 2014/15, with further shortfalls seen over the following three years.

Hockey's first budget last year proved deeply unpopular and many of its measures were blocked in a divided senate. Hockey had repeatedly warned of a "debt and deficit disaster" when campaigning for office in 2013 and ahead of last year's budget, prompting critics to accuse him of a scare campaign given basically sound economic fundamentals.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has promised this budget will be less of a drama, suggesting the government has given up on returning to surplus anytime soon.

"We tried to do 40 years of budget repair and a decade of structural reform in one document," Hockey said. "That was clearly too much."
I thought, according to the coalition's sales pitch, that Australia was in danger of losing the AAA rating.

Isn't that the whole debt & deficit argument?

Tony Abbott acted against the direct advice of the Defence Department when he talked up the possibility of Japan winning the $20 billion "Future Submarines" contract.

High-level departmental advice to the government reveals its overwhelming preference was for Adelaide-based, government-owned ship builder ASC to do the bulk of the work.

The department's swift release of the ministerial advice under freedom-of-information laws adds to the intrigue and confusion around the government's seemingly ever-changing submarine policy.

Reports emerged last year that Mr Abbott had indicated to his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe that Australia was keen to have his country supply the submarines

Tony Abbott has offered more soothing words before the May 12 budget after widespread outrage at his government's first effort a year ago.

The prime minister announced on Sunday $840 million in preschool funding as part of the government's more family-oriented focus - and promised people will feel happier after Treasurer Joe Hockey's second budget.

"Our country is coming back. Our economy is strengthening and I think people will be more confident and optimistic on budget night," Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney.

The best option for Abbott is to step aside and allow confidence to grow in the population. AU is deliberately being held up by his unpredictable attitude.

A ban on Facebook in Nauru was implemented at the request of the Australian Government to assist its Cambodian resettlement policy, a refugee advocacy group says, citing an anonymous source.

Nauru opposition MP Matthew Batsiua said Facebook users in Nauru discovered on Thursday they had been denied access to the social media site.

He said it was an attempt by the Nauru government to prevent free speech and curb any criticism it faces.

Pamela Curr from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said that one of her contacts within the Nauruan community told her the Australian Government was behind the ban.

Abbott’s East West road link in Victoria is dead and buried, The former govt; and Abbott should be had for fraud. A useless project without due thought. No contract just a signed paper that allowed preliminary works to begin. This whole project was rushed in an effort to save the Napthine govt, at any cost. Which failed miserably.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he was "very happy" to be met by the ambassador to France and his partner last month, despite a report suggesting the incident led to the ambassador offering his resignation.
Fairfax reports a "bizarre incident" occurred when Mr Abbott arrived in Paris on Anzac Day.
It said ambassador Stephen Brady was on the tarmac with his long-term partner, Peter Stephens, when the Prime Minister's travelling party sent an instruction that Mr Stephens should remain in the car.
The arrival was not a public event.
The ambassador reportedly refused and following the incident, offered his resignation to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
His resignation was not accepted.
The Prime Minister's office did not deny the incident took place, but said in a statement: "The Prime Minister was very happy to be met by ambassador Brady and his partner when he arrived in Paris last month."
The ABC has been told it is protocol for an ambassador's partner or spouse to be part of a welcoming party when the prime minister is travelling with his or her spouse.
However, Margie Abbott did not travel with the Prime Minister to Paris.
It would be unusual for a Prime Minister to choose the members of a greeting party at an airport.
The decision is most often made by staff or the foreign affairs department, according to protocols.
In a statement, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said, "I sincerely hope this isn't true".

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been working assiduously to keep a lid on the simmering disquiet about the National Broadband Network (NBN). No news is good news, as far as Turnbull is concerned, but it would be too early for him to claim that he has completely nullified all opposition to the Coalition’s multi-technology mix (MTM) NBN.

The government’s pre-election NBN related commitments have fallen by the wayside and Turnbull is yet to make any attempt to introduce legislation to repair what he described in 2011 as “a very complex Gordian knot of [Telstra] contracts and legislation that is going to be very hard to unpick." It should be apparent by now the government is attempting to utilise regulation to implement the changes necessary for the MTM NBN rather than attempting change through the Senate