Posted by Blogger Name. Category:
Australian Federal Budget
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Cuts
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Decade of deficits
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Joe Hockey
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Tony Abbott
The reporter on TVNZ summed it up perfectly - "Joe Hockey swung his axe, and he didn't miss". The Australian Federal Budget is full of cuts.
And as the Herald reports, the sales job starts today for Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey:
The Australian Government will today start selling one of the nation's most unpalatable Budgets in decades.
Leavened by a handful of sweeteners, Treasurer Joe Hockey's axe has hewn through almost every area of Government spending.
"Doing nothing is not an option," Hockey said. "The days of borrow and spend must come to an end."
The Budget aims to cut the deficit from almost A$40 billion ($43.3 billion) to A$29.8 billion next year, falling to A$2.8 billion in 2017-18.
By 2024 Hockey predicts surpluses of more than 1 per cent of GDP.
Australia has its own Decade of Deficits to deal with; a legacy of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years where spending continued as revenue dropped in Labour's last months. Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott have inherited an economy in freefall, with a $20 billion negative turnaround revealed as Wayne Swan and Kevin Rudd packed their bags and headed off to greener pastures.
We'll be looking at reaction from across the ditch as the day progresses, but thus far it is relatively mild and pragmatic. Commentators seem to accept that drastic measures are required to address the decline into deficit. As Hockey himself said "Doing nothing is not an option".
And we wish Messrs Abbott and Hockey good luck in getting MP's to support the proposed one year pay freeze for MP's; things must be especially dire when they ask the turkeys to vote for an early Christmas!
