http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/james-paterson/ James Paterson is Associate Editor of the Institute of Public Affairs Review, and is a student at the University of Melbourne. James was previously a Liberal staffer and worked on Capitol Hill in Washington DC for a Republican Congressman. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Thats-not-a-tough-budget-this-is-a-tough-budget/ You might have picked up a theme in Wayne Swan’s fourth budget. It was tough. How do we know this? Because the government told us so. In a major pre-budget speech, Treasurer Wayne Swan said “tough decisions are required” and “this will be a tough Budget.” Finance Minister Penny Wong, in an interview in the lead up to the budget, used the word “tough” more than ten times, including four times in one answer. But did the reality match the rhetoric? In his budget speech, Swan announced $22 billion in “savings” over the next four years. Yet much of those so-called savings are actually tax increases like the flood levy, and regardless, they have been almost completely offset by increased spending in other areas. They’ve been roundly criticised already for failing to deliver a tough budget. feedback@thepunch.com.au (James Paterson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Thats-not-a-tough-budget-this-is-a-tough-budget/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Thats-not-a-tough-budget-this-is-a-tough-budget/#item5821 Wed, 11 May 2011 19:55:54 +0000 James Paterson | Author bios | The Punch