By Alex Schlotzer:

The next few weeks will be ablaze with commentary and analysis of the federal Government’s 2010 budget,  detailing the winners and losers of Treasurer Wayne Swan’s third budget.

And the very early analysis has declared that the budget isn’t an election budget; that it is truly no thrills and no frills, that it is in fact “economically responsible” in an election year.

But in my humble opinion, this is definitely an election budget and a very clever one. It clearly outlines how the government will return the economy to a position of surplus and illustrates that it will continue funding programs and delivering services.

At this stage there is much hysteria about government spending, which the Liberals seem to repeat ad nausea until told to stop and move on.  Unfortunately, the truth is that the government had to spend to ensure Australia was insulated from the impacts of the global financial crisis.  At the time, the sky was falling in and there was a significant threat to the economy, so much so that the government dithered on developing its climate change policy.

At the time, Australia’s export industries, including the mining industry, queued up for hand outs to be cushioned through the hard times.  Australia’s taxpayers forked out to ensure that we didn’t go down; and it’s paid off. Our economy is the strongest and according to the stock exchange, Australia’s resources sector isn’t suffering too badly from the prospect of a “tax” on super profits.  It was critically exposed last week on Lateline by their economic analyst saying that the “tax” didn’t kick in until particular criteria were met.

The government presented a careful budget that maintained funding in areas, on interest like climate change, paid parental leave, public hospital system and education. For me the most disappointing aspects to the Budget 2010 was that it took away funding from important environmental sustainability programs and neglects key environmental and climate change promises.

And what did we get from Tony Abbott?

Nothing. Ok we were told that WorkChoices is back, it’s just not called that; and public sector cuts are on the drawing board; with details to be outlined by Shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey on Wednesday at the Press Club. Unfortunately for the Opposition, this looks like a complete cop-out from the alternative Prime Minister.

A guy that says nothing in 30 minutes then defaults to his deputy on the big question. On this evidence the question of  can the Liberals manage the economy should be seen with a great deal of scepticism.

Alex Schlotzer is a straight talker when it comes to politics and loves to vent his spleen. Actively involved in Australian and international politics with a keen understanding of the dynamics of the political machine, Alex has a prolific online presence and has been a cyber activist for over 15 years. Regional editor of theangle.org, he can also be found at his blog and his exciting online project Australian Politics TV.

Tags: australian economy, australian politics, budget 2010, Joe Hockey, Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott, wayne swan