Is 20 billion bucks for medical research going to cure my major disease — cynicism?

I repeat: Is 20 billion bucks for medical research going to cure my major disease — cynicism?

The 2014 federal budget asks all Australians to take one for the team and tighten their belts. And by 'all' we mean the poor, students, the sick, scientists, and anyone in the arts, writes Ben Eltham.

Joe Hockey’s much-leaked first budget promised wholesale surgery to the Australian body politic.

“Pain all round” will be the rallying cry of the night. Joe Hockey says this first budget - tonight - will hit everyone from high earners to politicians to Australians too poor to pay to see the doctor. All of us will have to “contribute budget repair”.

Except that we won’t.

It’s difficult to find words to adequately describe the spectacle of the Abbott government setting about hiking income taxes and fuel excise in its first budget. “Beyond belief,” as one of the prime minister’s colleagues quipped, comes close.

From the man who promised no new taxes, and argued that “no country has ever taxed its way to prosperity,” here come the new taxes.

Governments are not like businesses. They provide services because the citizens demand them, not because delivering them is profitable. They collect taxes from citizens, not charge prices from customers. While a business has a legal responsibility to maximise the dividends it pays its shareholders, it makes no sense for a government to generate a surplus from its own citizens.

Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey has been accused of inappropriately using a senior economist conducting an independent review of government policy as a "drawcard" for a $3000-a-head budget day fundraising event for the NSW Liberal party.

Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen has written to Mr Hockey voicing his concerns about the appearance of Professor Ian Harper on a list of speakers at an exclusive event organised by a secretive Liberal Party fundraising body, the North Sydney Forum.

Members of a secretive fund-raising body associated with Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey are being invited to pay $3000 each to be part of an exclusive budget day event attended by his most senior staff and key ministers.