libs, do you really want this mob in govt ????, page-39

"No slices too deep or too shallow for Abbott's razor"


"But with key areas effectively off limits, including Mr Abbott's pet $3 billion paid parental leave scheme,"


What a joke a scheme design for the rich and famous stays and jobs to go.



http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/no-slices-too-deep-or-too-shallow-for-abbotts-razor-20130128-2dgzo.html#ixzz2JJ0NpCLB

Shadow ministers are preparing for a line-by-line grilling beginning on Wednesday as the Coalition's own razor gang conducts a three-day meeting in a bid to craft a believable budget surplus.


Insiders say everything from the smallest programs to major expenditure items will be on the table before the shadow expenditure review committee.



The committee will convene for two days in Sydney, split by one day in Canberra, while the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, addresses the National Press Club.



Significant reductions in public service numbers are being examined, either through scrapping some functions or transferring them to other departments.



But with key areas effectively off limits, including Mr Abbott's pet $3 billion paid parental leave scheme, family payments, defence spending, and a pledge not to move the goal posts on superannuation, the task for the committee's chairman, Joe Hockey, is a monumental one.



While the government controversially abandoned its long-running 2012-13 surplus pledge just before Christmas, the Coalition technically remains committed to balancing the books this year.


Mr Abbott launched a 50-page ''Real Solutions'' policy document over the weekend, which committed a Coalition government to regain control of spending but stopped short of applying a timetable. In subsequent interviews, he and Mr Hockey appeared to differ on the firmness of the Coalition's surplus target.


''Obviously the government hasn't given us its new figures,'' Mr Abbott told the Seven Network. ''We've got to see their figures before we can tell you exactly what we'll do but I tell you what … the fiscal position will always be better under the Coalition because budget surpluses and reducing debt, paying back debt, that's in our DNA.''


Mr Hockey, however, said: ''Our commitment is emphatic. Based on the numbers published today, we will deliver a surplus in our first year and every year after that.''
The government immediately condemned what it saw as equivocation from an opposition that had a multi-billion hole in its costings while proposing to dump revenue streams such as the carbon and mining taxes.


One Liberal MP told Fairfax Media the ERC process was being driven hard by Mr Hockey because as a future treasurer he would be the one ''lumbered with unaffordable policies'' unless efficiencies were also identified.
''It's going to be a hard process, and no cut - if it's a politically wise cut to make - will be too small,'' said another MP.


''Joe's probably got more riding on this than anyone else because it is his credibility on the line, so he has to really own the process.''


In the last 12 months, the government has outlined at least three different fiscal base-lines, beginning with the last budget, which forecast a $1.5 billion surplus.
This was followed by its November released Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook which scaled that surplus back to $1.1 billion, and finally its Christmas Eve concession that any surplus was unlikely.


Since then, recovering iron ore prices have restored some revenue hopes, but with billions in new spending slated for the Gonski eduction reforms, and a new national disability insurance scheme, the prospects for a surplus remain grim.


http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/no-slices-too-deep-or-too-shallow-for-abbotts-razor-20130128-2dgzo.html#ixzz2JJ0bubB3