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It's Federal budget night and there's no shortage of opinion out there.
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Initial reaction to Treasurer Joe Hockey's Budget is coming through and it will probably come as no surprise to the government.
Budget 2014: A regional overview Are the issues the same down the eastern seaboard - in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales? Check out what's being said around regional Australia.
Budget 2014: The day in pictures
Budget 2014 Interactive: Where your tax dollars are going
Fairfax economics editor Ross Gittens' verdict:
HEALTH: Shoalhaven Hospital’s emergency department faces being overwhelmed by patients unable to pay the $7 co-payment for visits to the doctor, according to South Coast MP Shelley Hancock. Read more
►Don't get sick, old or lose your job, or you'll pay. That's the message from Tuesday's Federal Budget according to the peak pensioners' group, the CPSA. Read more
►THE federal government has delivered on its election promises to Indi and Farrer, including funding for the $5 million Border cardiac laboratory. Read more
PENSIONERS: Tuesday night's budget will affect virtually every pensioner and retiree to a greater or lesser extent, says one pensioner and superannuants group. Read more
FUEL EXCISE: The Federal Government'’s decision to reintroduce fuel tax indexation will not affect the net fuel price paid by trucking operators, according to the Chief Executive of the Australian Trucking Association, Stuart St Clair. Read more
EDUCATION: Full deregulation of the university sector was confirmed in Tuesday night's budget, following on from warnings from Deakin University vice chancellor Jane den Hollander last month that such a move would limit the opportunities of south-west students. Read more
NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE SCHEME: The scheme appears on course after seemingly escaping delays or cuts in the federal budget, but the head of an organisation supporting potential beneficiaries of the scheme is not counting on anything just yet. Read more
BUSINESS: Small businesses would suffer from an increase in petrol taxes, Charlestown Business Chamber vice-president John Wheeler said. Read more
FAMILIES: The Cummings family of Wallsend face cutbacks on the good things in life, following Tony Abbott’s austerity budget. Read more
► Joe Hockey has called on all Australians to contribute and build the nation, but it seems to Wagga mum Jenny Stephens that families are being asked to do much of the heavy lifting. Read more
►There was only pain in the Abbott government’s first budget for Don and Angela Ferris who have three girls. Read more
► Ballarat mother of three Faye Caris said she understood why people might think families would be hit the hardest, however, believed everyone was being hit with some of the costs being shared. Read more
► The federal budget was a step in the right direction, Coaster Patrick Fagan believed. "We will pay extra and I think it's manageable,'' Mr Fagan said, for his family particularly. Read more
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<center> <h4><a href="http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/2280103/budget-2014-broken-promises-bring-echoes-of-past/?cs=12">Broken promises bring echoes of past
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How to read the 2014 budget: Treasurer Joe Hockey is right. The Commonwealth will be at least $450 billion in debt by 2018, meaning its gross debt will be about eight times what it was when the Howard government gave way to Kevin Rudd in 2007. Read more
Little joy, plenty of pain for New England residents: Abbott government's first budget contained little joy but a lot of pain for residents in the New England electorate already struggling with cost-of-living pressures. Read more
Eden-Monaro MP Peter Hendy: the MP believes the Government has made the difficult but necessary decisions to put the Budget on a more sustainable footing so that we can all share in prosperity in the future. Read more
ARTHUR RORRIS, South Coast Labour Council secretary: ''For regional Australia it’s particularly tough - tough on our kids who can't find work, who will be punished for problems not of their own making. It will be tough for the pensioners and it will be tough for families, particularly those in need of more regular medical care. If the Abbott Government had told Australia last year that it was going to deliver this attack on the country, there is no way on earth they would have been elected. That’s what makes this budget the greatest act of deception that we have seen in this country for many decades.''
BOB BALDWIN, Paterson MP, NSW: With this budget there will be a push for people to contribute to our economy rather than take from it. The Hunger Medical Research Foundation will benefit from the $20 billion which will be collected over the forward estimates. Read more
Hunter MP JOEL FITZGIBBON: There is no budget emergency and therefore, no budget emergency action is required. Read more
AVERAGE JOES: Who are they? Where are they? And what do they think of the budget? Read more
HARRY CREAMER: The Climate Change Australia, Hastings Branch president and publicity officer for the Mid North Coast branch of the Friends of the ABC: Listen below
SENATOR URSULA STEPHENS: The Country Labor Senator said the budget was built on broken promises and twisted priorities and would particularly impact on young people.
Even before Joe Hockey has officially released details of his first Budget, people were only too willing to have their say ...
► Before you click anywhere else, check out the Fairfax Regional video wall - The Word on the Street
BATEMANS BAY: The chair of the peak body representing councils on the NSW South Coast is looking for the former Regional Development Australia scheme to be revived and adequately funded in Tuesday's Federal Budget. Gordon Bradbery, the Southern Counci's Group chair, said that fund and Federal assistance grants in general were vital sources of funding for local government. "We've got a lot of money through those grants in the past, but that hasn't happened under this new government," he said. Read more
VICTOR HARBOR: A feud between the South Australian state government and their federal counterparts looks set to cease, with Adelaide's notorious South Road to benefit from a $1.5 billion overhaul. Read more
BUDGET PREVIEW: Charles Sturt University Professor of Economics, John Hicks previewed the budget for Fairfax Media.