Disengaged voters unfortunately listen to the likes of Andrew Dolt, read the Hun or the Oz and believe their best interests lie with their interests.

All voters - disengaged or not - listen to their hip pockets, not the commentariat.

The average Joe isn't going to agree with Terry McCrann that it's a good budget if he's $700 worse off each year.

They have time, but it will take a miracle for the Coalition to turn around the disenchantment over the breakdown of trust. Gillard got crucified over the carbon tax, so the fallout from this is going to hang around for a long time to come. Abbott and Hockey have all but destroyed their chances of re-election with this budget.

Interesting that Labor are running TV ads branding Abbott a liar. I'm not sure to what effect - the carbon tax backflip is still pretty fresh and all this talk of broken promises might do nothing more than be a further pox on both their houses.

It's far too early to be talking of re-election. Howard and Costello delivered a much harsher first Budget (and second IIRC), and took a GST to the '98 election and won another term.

And one-term governments are rare - you really need to screw it up to be booted out after one term.

And one-term governments are rare - you really need to screw it up to be booted out after one term.

Correct, and I'm predicting that's what will happen.

Correct, and I'm predicting that's what will happen.

the liberal party have shown their deception & arrogance with the electorate.

The libs have exposed themselves to be on an ideological route to they're mecca. on they're merry way to trashing the australian workers jobs, then force safety & working conditions, & wages to be trashed under heavy unemployment... so as to fall in line with the Western worlds Right Wing of Political machines, to compete with the Asian labour costs.

...... All because the the worlds Right Wing Political machine decided a couple of decades ago, to out source the Wests Manufacturing sector & IT, so we could all wear collars & ties.

well its come around to bite us all hard, & Western Governments can't get they're economies, out of the bog they're in. This, is the beginning of the downward spiral toward a major world recession.

...... All because the the worlds Right Wing Political machine decided a couple of decades ago, to out source the Wests Manufacturing sector & IT, so we could all wear collars & ties.

d-l, i'm intrigued. Off-shore outsourcing of white collar IT workers means "we could all wear collars and ties"?

Are CentreLink now insisting on collars and ties before they will service anyone?

d-l, i'm intrigued. Off-shore outsourcing of white collar IT workers means "we could all wear collars and ties"?

Are CentreLink now insisting on collars and ties before they will service anyone?

Not those fake Fletcher Jones ties you wear to the CWA meetings when you sample tarts either .

The thing I find amusing is posters like RobbieF and other right-winged shock-jock-cheering simpletons promised us so much more.

Costello's charter of budget honesty allowed the opposition to know exactly what the books were in August 2013. Yet they still promised "as far as the eye could see". The shock-jocks and no doubt the tweed-wearing monarchist supporters excuse this. Yet Gillard, who opted for the "TEMPORARY" carbon tax as a minority government compromise, was condemned daily. Don't forget Tony says a temporary tax isn't really a tax...or a broken promise.

Read Wally's piece in The Age this morning...interesting reading.

Abbott is a joke. Imagine if Keating's kid, or Gillard's step-child snuck in a $60000 scholarship from a connection? While making savage cuts to students and the lower-class with the ideological budget. What possessed Abbott to let this scholarship go through? How dumb is he?

Then you have Brandis giving the nations lower-IQ the licence to be bigots for the simple reason of backing up a right-winged columnist. At the same time, we have crocodile tears for Goodes in the AFL by these same right-wingers.

What about the knighthood thing FFS. Sir Peter Vomit.

The $7 GP levy surcharge, it has been reported, won't make $1 difference to the so-called emergency deficit.

Yes, the Libs will send Australia to their halcyon days of 1950's White Australia. Yes we will pay the price of climate inaction, and a shift to tea-party politics. But Christ I'm enjoying this; and how silent are those Julia critics without a microphone.

The Libs are nothing more than unimaginative accountants. These mummy-boy private school-boy, scholarship seeking softies have never had to think and scrounge their way out of tough situations.

Edited May 22, 201411 yr by TGR

Not those fake Fletcher Jones ties you wear to the CWA meetings when you sample tarts either .

ditched the fj ties long ago biffo for red'n'blue cravats. blue-rinsers just eat it up

ditched the fj ties long ago biffo for red'n'blue cravats. blue-rinsers just eat it up

The leather elbow patch set can get pretty radical I hear ,they just love a ride in a Volvo and a glass of sherry .

The thing I find amusing is posters like RobbieF and other right-winged shock-jock-cheering simpletons promised us so much more.

Costello's charter of budget honesty allowed the opposition to know exactly what the books were in August 2013. Yet they still promised "as far as the eye could see". The shock-jocks and no doubt the tweed-wearing monarchist supporters excuse this. Yet Gillard, who opted for the "TEMPORARY" carbon tax as a minority government compromise, was condemned daily. Don't forget Tony says a temporary tax isn't really a tax...or a broken promise.

Read Wally's piece in The Age this morning...interesting reading.

Abbott is a joke. Imagine if Keating's kid, or Gillard's step-child snuck in a $60000 scholarship from a connection? While making savage cuts to students and the lower-class with the ideological budget. What possessed Abbott to let this scholarship go through? How dumb is he?

Then you have Brandis giving the nations lower-IQ the licence to be bigots for the simple reason of backing up a right-winged columnist. At the same time, we have crocodile tears for Goodes in the AFL by these same right-wingers.

What about the knighthood thing FFS. Sir Peter Vomit.

The $7 GP levy surcharge, it has been reported, won't make $1 difference to the so-called emergency deficit.

Yes, the Libs will send Australia to their halcyon days of 1950's White Australia. Yes we will pay the price of climate inaction, and a shift to tea-party politics. But Christ I'm enjoying this; and how silent are those Julia critics without a microphone.

The Libs are nothing more than unimaginative accountants. These mummy-boy private school-boy, scholarship seeking softies have never had to think and scrounge their way out of tough situations.

It really is like they are totally detached from "ordinary" Australians.

I couldn't believe people were satisfied with Hockey's response on Q&A to the education reforms. Saying that people still only pay once they start working. Of course they do, that's never been the issue. The issue is that they are going to end up paying a hell of a lot more, with a whopping great interest bll heaped on top of it. That creates a FURTHER disincentive for people to attend university.

Meanwhile morons like a Bolt are still towing the company line as strong as ever. I read his blog the other day and the state of delusion with him and his followers is honestly amazing.

Sanity has to prevail here. Grit the teeth for 2 years and then send them packing, not to return until they get a leader who isn't a whack job.

Edited May 22, 201411 yr by P-man

. These mummy-boy private school-boy, scholarship seeking softies

I am one of those - but I didnt vote for the joke that is this current government.

I am one of those - but I didnt vote for the joke that is this current government.

Gee Nutbean, never picked you as a mummy boy! But you seem to have your political values in the right place. To me it is about values not the latest policies, although yes sometimes tough love is required. But for heavens sake can we spread the pain evenly, it is not just about kicking the poorest and the weakest.

Its interesting to see that the backdowns are already starting. Brandis after getting 8 gazillion negative submissions on the repealing of 18c is backing away from the changes. After Tony's huff and puff about no compromise on budget measures, we now have Chris Pyne, Minister for Gov't Business and C bombs saying of course they will negotiate. Ummm Chris - you will negotiate because you have the choice of two - a double dissolution election based on the toxic budget or negotiate.

One term-possibly half at this stage.

I wonder what Malcolm Turnbull thinks of all this. I always considered him on the moderate side of the conservatives. I understand that there is towing the party line but then there also "wtf "???? He surely must be thinking "wtf" ???

I can see this going incredibly pear shaped for Tony.
He never really realized that his election wasn't so much a vote for him as it was a vote against Labor. It wasn't like the country embraced him with open arms. They just loathed the theatrics and melodrama that was the ALP.

I like how he is trying to bully the opposition by saying 'Pass my budget or we go to an election.' As it stands, incumbency is his friend. An election is the last thing he wants. This isn't John Howard in 1998. He had a majority of Fraseresque proportions, still lost the popular vote and still had a workable majority. While Abbott has a comfortable majority, it's not so big it couldn't be wiped out quick smart.

I must say though I am surprised. I thought he would be a shameless weather vane in office. It appears that the Tony who appeared in 'Battlelines' is actually who he truly is. A hard right ideologue with a religious zeal to bring about the Australia that the Tories have always wanted but dare not say in too loud a voice.

Edited May 28, 201411 yr by Colin B. Flaubert

The Monk does not believe in equity.

apparently so

I can see this going incredibly pear shaped for Tony.

He never really realized that his election wasn't so much a vote for him as it was a vote against Labor. It wasn't like the country embraced him with open arms. They just loathed the theatrics and melodrama that was the ALP.

I like how he is trying to bully the opposition by saying 'Pass my budget or we go to an election.' As it stands, incumbency is his friend. An election is the last thing he wants. This isn't John Howard in 1998. He had a majority of Fraseresque proportions, still lost the popular vote and still had a workable majority. While Abbott has a comfortable majority, it's not so big it couldn't be wiped out quick smart.

I must say though I am surprised. I thought he would be a shameless weather vane in office. It appears that the Tony who appeared in 'Battlelines' is actually who he truly is. A hard right ideologue with a religious zeal to bring about the Australia that the Tories have always wanted but dare not say in too loud a voice.

spot on

Tony is off to DDay celebrations where we apparently stood shoulder to shoulder with the USA, Canada and France! I don't think we were there apart from some RAAF pilots.

Edited June 2, 201411 yr by Viscount Hood

Tony is off to DDay celebrations where we apparently stood shoulder to shoulder with the USA, Canada and France! I don't think we were there apart from some RAAF pilots.

Correct -we were causing a diversion by using our troops in the actual war-D-day was another one of those little things Winston decided not let us in on-despite Ming following him around like a puppy.

Tony is off to DDay celebrations where we apparently stood shoulder to shoulder with the USA, Canada and France! I don't think we were there apart from some RAAF pilots.

Didn't he compare the D-Day landings with his 'battles' to repeal the mining and carbon taxes? I saw that flashed up on one of the newsboards in the CBD a couple of days ago.

If he wasn't before, he is now.

Didn't he compare the D-Day landings with his 'battles' to repeal the mining and carbon taxes? I saw that flashed up on one of the newsboards in the CBD a couple of days ago.

Colin I thought you were joking so went and googled his recent speeches and comments on them. It looks like you are correct, he has drawn it out a bit but yes the Normandy landings somehow have something to do with his heroic battle against carbon and mining taxes. It all beggars belief that this moronic throw back to the 50's, somehow was a Rhodes Scholar but worse is now our leader!

Yes, Viscount, I often find myself wondering how such a dimwit could have won a Rhodes scholarship. Hes one of the worst speakers ive heard; amazing how he'll sometimes just stand there like a stunned rabbit.

I know nothing about the circumstance of the scholarship, but I find myself wondering about the selection process, whether it was based on academic achievement or whether there was some sort of bias in his favour because he was a right-wing headcase.

As for the budget ... Jeez. The most brutal attack I've ever seen upon the lives of ordinary Australians, a blatant effort to redirect money from the poor to the rich.

I wonder what Malcolm Turnbull thinks of all this. I always considered him on the moderate side of the conservatives. I understand that there is towing the party line but then there also "wtf "???? He surely must be thinking "wtf" ???

I dont usually quote myself - but is this a little prophetic ?

I dont usually quote myself - but is this a little prophetic ?

Nutbean I am still trying to deconstruct the latest goings on with Turnbull, Andrew Dolt and Alan Jones! Is it all a diversionary tactic to avert people's attention from the stinking turd that is Joe's budget? That is my thinking, Dolt and Jones are running interference for Tony. Malcolm is expendable and can look after himself of course. But it is a high risk strategy that could set up a permanent destabilising mindset while Malcolm is around. But gee Abbott looks more and more like Forrest Gump who somehow found himself in the top job for all the wrong reasons and committed to all the wrong policies!

I would love to be a fly on the wall when he meets Obama and the discussion turns to climate change!