Testing times

THE litmus test of whether a federal or state budget is successful or not is when Tasmanians no longer have to sleep in cars overnight.

Trojan course

CASSANDRA’S warning of “Beware the Greeks who come bearing gifts” is still applicable. We would be wise to treat this kinder budget with a degree of suspicion. The Prime Minister still backs last year’s “absolutely necessary” measures and seems to realise that the only way he can get them in is to trick more people into trusting him.

We know what John Howard did when he finally gained a majority in both houses. This Budget is the sugar coating for the cyanide tablet that is the second course. The Trojans didn’t listen to Cassandra and we know what happened to them.

Mug-free zone

THE Abbott Government’s 2015 Budget is breathtakingly cynical. Last year Tony Abbott scrapped Labor’s $6500 small business depreciation allowance, claiming it was unaffordable. A year later he’s brought it back, increasing it to $20,000.

How can something supposedly unaffordable in one year be tripled in the next? For two years Tony Abbott has undermined business confidence by claiming

Staying mum

WHY this emphasis on women in the workforce? The most important work women do is bearing and rearing their children. The poor little kids are stuck in childcare while mum is at work. No matter how good the care, it can never be as good as mother’s care.

For centuries mothers cared for their children at home and I am at a loss to know why it is now mandatory for women to rejoin the workforce soon after they give birth.

According to the Federal Budget, there will be a $3.8 billion reform package to make childcare simpler, more affordable and accessible, $869 million for a child care safety net to assist vulnerable disadvantaged children, and $843 million invested in pre-school programs.

That’s a lot of money that could enable a woman to remain at home with her children. As the mother of seven children, reared at home, I firmly believe that children thrive on being with mum in their early years — leaving paid work for the numerous unemployed.

Dubious honour

WHAT better way for Christine Milne to go out on than a ticker-tape parade spray of bile from Piers Akerman (“Tassie a putrid Petri dish of Greens Lunacy”, Mercury, May 11) — a badge of honour.

Deft Leppard

TO Donald White (Letters, May 13), I’ve got a great life, working out ways to annoy parochial people in the south.

Fair go

MY Gran warned me that if someone had to tell me they were honest or not a racist, I should examine their actions very closely. I am reminded of this every time Prime Minister Tony Abbott tells us the he is being fair.