Budget 2014: The promises Tony Abbott made versus what he will deliver

TONY Abbott made plenty of promises before the election — including no new taxes and no change to pensions — but he is already breaking them.

Trustworthy? Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he’s all for bringing the budget under control.

TONY Abbott made some big promises before the last election.

Among them was a pledge not to introduce new taxes and not to change the pension.

Already the Prime Minister’s words have come back to bite him in the lead-up to his government’s first budget.

Even some members of Mr Abbott’s own government have publicly declared the included deficit levy would be a broken promise.

“I don’t see that there has been a case made for a debt levy and I would see it as a breach of a promise,” Brisbane MP Teresa Gambaro told The Courier-Mail earlier this week.

Others are saying the same about a hike in the fuel excise, previously frozen under John Howard back in 2001.

“It’s another tax and I guess it could be a broken promise,” Queensland Liberal National MP Ken O’Dowd told ABC Radio.

Despite claiming there would be no change to pensions before the election, Treasurer Joe Hockey has already confirmed the pension age will rise to 70 by 2035.

But further changes to eligibility thresholds will be put on hold until voters next go to the ballot box.

So are they breaking promises to fulfill another vow? Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey both argue they promised the public before last September their government would get the budget under control and that’s what they want to do next Tuesday.

WHAT THE PM PROMISED -— AND WHAT HE IS SET TO DELIVER:

“No surprises, no excuses”

A new debt levy and a hike in the fuel excise weren’t ideas put to the Australian people before the last election — neither was a rise in the pension age.

Even some of Tony Abbott’s own colleagues have been surprised by the measures to be included in the Federal Budget.

That’s despite the prime minister pledging to lead a government of “no surprises, no excuses”.

More tax on fuel ... an idea not put to Australian’s before the election.

“No new taxes”

Cabinet has locked in a deficit levy to hit high income earners in next Tuesday’s Budget.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has said the only way to spread the weight of the repair job fairly was to look at “appropriately targeted measures through the tax system”.

“Let me assure you and be very clear that any special effort before structural reforms and structural savings kick in will truly be temporary,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

But it isn’t the only tax hike to come.

Motorists will be slugged more to fill up, with a change to the fuel excise which was frozen under the Howard Government.

“No change to pensions”

Before the election Tony Abbott pledged there would be no change to pensions.

Already before the Budget, Treasurer Joe Hockey has announced the pension age will rise to 70 by 2035, building on a scheduled increase under Labor to 67.

While the rise has been confirmed, Mr Abbott will take further measures to the people at the next election.

“To keep our commitments, there will be no changes to the pension during this term of parliament but there should be changes to indexation arrangements and eligibility thresholds in three years’ time,” he told the Sydney Institute last month.

Work longer ... what happened to no changes to pensions, Tony?

“No cuts to the ABC or SBS”

The ABC’s international service Australia Network is expected to be cut in next week’s Budget.

Cabinet this week confirmed the decision, which will save about $70 million, according to The West Australian.

The public broadcaster was awarded the 10-year contract under Labor in 2011.

“Budget back under control”

This is the promise Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey will focus on in Tuesday’s Budget.

Both argue it is the key commitment they gave to voters and their aim is to deliver.

“We will honour the commitment that we gave to the Australian people pre-election to get the Budget back under control, but we will do it in ways that are fair,” the prime minister said during his last public appearance on Wednesday.

“We’re not in the business of breaking promises. We’re in the business of keeping our promises to fix the budget and fix and strengthen the economy,” the treasurer told the ABC during a walk around Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin this morning with Senator Cormann.

Show us the money ... it’s all about fixing the budget, say Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Treasurer Joe Hockey.

Originally published as Budget 2014: The promises Tony Abbott made versus what he will deliver