The Federal Government has fended off accusations its plan to get the budget back into the black is banking too heavily on a continuing mining boom and big taxes.

Treasurer Wayne Swan unveiled his "no-frills" 2010-11 budget last night, his pre-election pitch to voters focusing on spending restraint and conservative economic management.

The forecasts paint a vastly different picture for Australia's economic prospects than what was predicted just a year ago and the Government says its strict fiscal controls are a major driver of the improvement.

The budget is expected to return to surplus in three years, with the biggest terms of trade in 60 years and resources demand from China contributing to the turnaround.

But the Opposition has been quick to attack the budget assumptions as rubbery and unbelievable, saying they rely on $12 billion in revenue from the mining tax which is yet to pass Parliament and $5 billion from the increase in tobacco taxes.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will be outlining his response tomorrow night and is so far tight-lipped about the detail.

But he says the Government's claim to be fiscally conservative is not believable.

"This Government is now asking us to believe that it can go from being a crazy spender to being a great conserver of public finances," he told AM.

"It's asking us to believe it can change its nature from Paris Hilton to Uncle Scrooge.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/7212313/government-rejects-rubbery-budget-claims/

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MEANWHILE BACK AT THE Hockey TAR and FEATHER Pit IN 2009:

This Budget [2009] reveals the high price all Australians will pay for Labor’s reckless spending spree over the past 18 months.

-          One million unemployed by 2010-11,

-          a record $58 billion deficit, and

-          record net debt of at least $188 billion by 2012-13 are all key markers of the failure of the Rudd Government’s economic management.

Two thirds of the debt owed by taxpayers in 2012-13 will be due to spending decisions taken by the Rudd Government over the past 18 months.

Since the November 2007 election, Labor has announced measures which have increased Commonwealth spending by $124 billion.

That is an average of $225 million of new spending per day. 

Labor pretends the destruction of our nation’s balance sheet is an unavoidable consequence of the global recession. But Labor has lost control of the public finances.

The 2009-10 Budget delivers a dismal trifecta: record spending (29 per cent of GDP), a record deficit (5 per cent of GDP) and a further severe increase in the jobless rate to 8.5 per cent.

Mr Rudd and Mr Swan have failed to deliver a credible plan for recovery.

The Budget relies on rubbery figures projecting what would be an unprecedented future economic boom to show a path back to surplus.  Having blown all the proceeds of the last mining boom, Labor is betting the house on another upswing that hasn’t even begun yet.

Buried in the Budget’s detail are unrealistic and unachievable economic projections that rely on six successive years of above-trend economic growth and a further three years of trend growth to return to surplus and pay down Labor’s record debt.

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Gus: In fact, since the 2009 budget, Australian government spending has been less than forecasted. The projections were outdone by better outcomes.

Unemployment dropped in Australia when, all over the western world, unemployment climbed to dizzy heights and spending cash reached unheard of numbers. The US deficit runs now at a undeclared 10 trillion US dollars while the Europeans just voted themselves another slice of cake valued at one trillion deficit...

Sure there are things that could be improved in the budget, such as encouraging more green power but the shonks (persons of shonky attitude) of "free" enterprise have killed that goose by doing shoddy jobs and blaming the government for it... And the Greens have also killed the ETS by refusing to do a small step for mankind, in order to prove a point...

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Employment TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased to 10,991,900
• Unemployment decreased to 611,000
• Unemployment rate at 5.3%
• Participation rate remained at 65.2%
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased to 1,540.5 million hours

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