A threat to impose a fee for consular support after Australian activist Colin Russell was detained in Russia has opened the prospect of broader charges for government support of thousands of Australians who find themselves in trouble overseas.

On Friday foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop said the activities of the Australian government on behalf of Mr Russell had cost tens of thousands of dollars, and she would look very closely at recovering the costs.

"Of course cost recovery can be an important part of providing consular support," she said.

From Gunter Ratingaher (picture of tree regeneration, by Gunter  Ratingaher).

Presumably Joe Hockey believes these Treasury figures, so here’s the simplified bottom line beyond the deficit hyperbole and predictable politics as he danced the MYEFO on the National Press Club stage:

It’s time for our annual round-up of the biggest Pinocchios of the year. This was not a presidential election year, so in some ways the subjects that needed to be fact checked were more substantive. In reviewing The Fact Checker’s more than 200 columns in the past year, we found an interesting evolution from statistics about gun violence to claims about President Obama’s health-care law. Our general rule of thumb held: the more complex a subject is, the more tempted politicians are to make misleading claims...

On the day that Joe Botch-Up lays down his "crooked" budget blown out like a Picard helium ballon at 45,000 feet, we're in for a treat from the merde-och press... Pass the mustard and spread it thick.

With its usual contempt in double layers, the boffins at the Scheiße-press lay the blame of the disastrous incompetence, petty infantilism, nasty heartlessness and grand shame of the dizzy silly Abbott government onto the previous Labor government with such a large spoon, it would be funny if it was not so tragic...

The Christian zealots, who gained control of many government seats with the Tea Party push back in 2010, are taking stands and actively impeding progress toward acceptance and tolerance across the U.S. and replacing it with biblical-based intolerance. 

The Federal Government has approved the creation of one of the world's largest coal ports near the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, sparking outrage from conservationists and the Greens.