http://larvatusprodeo.net/2008/05/13/liveblogging-budget-2008/

Oh, but life is now good.

That Tip was always a danger to our baby bonus plasma. My door stop and tele can relax, tonight, as Mr Smirk works feverishly on his bucketload of shite memoirs, in the background.

This working family will be singin’….
“How I loves ya, how I loves ya, my dear old Swanny”
….as it is, indeed, a time of glorious change!

Means testing is going to be a pretty tricky affair - does it depend on your income before the baby arrives or after, as the family income often changes quite significantly for at least a year. If its after, is it based on the financial year the baby arrives or 365 days after it arrives? If its the former then those families who have babies in june are going to be at a disadvantage compared to those who have them in July. Lots of pot-holes ahead!

Conventional wisdom on the baby bonus has it that it will either become a much smaller niche payment (probably delivered as income support over a period of months) or disappear altogether when they introduce paid maternity leave next year.

Means testing of the baby bonus may lead to some interesting incentives regarding returning to work - eg encouraging mothers to take a bit longer off in order to get the bonus.

Riffing off Kim riffing off Zoe’s crystal ball liveblogging, tigtog proposes a budget drinking game.

I’ll pick up some T**t Fuel on the way home.

What a smart fellow he is!

Family Tax Benefit Part B, which is paid to stay-at-home mothers regardless of household income.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23682162-5013404,00.html

Far easier to stop at X number of cans

Just as easy with a bottle as with premixed cans: When the bottle is empty, stop drinking
I must have been asleep when Labor announced they were going to do something with Family Tax Benefits. Unfortunately, Swan has a slightly soporific effect when on the TV.

On going out you know exact quantities, which is important for knowing when you can drive home. Oddly enough this isn’t an issue for young people - who aren’t allowed to drink and drive at all.

At home it stops the lack of judgement from excess consumption. Far easier to stop at X number of cans, far too easy to let the mix slip higher and higher due to impaired judgement as the night goes on, at the end of which you’re throwing back glasses of whiskey with a shot of coke in them.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23689921-662,00.html
Frontbencher Tony Abbott said the Rudd government’s first Budget was shaping up as anti-mothers and pro-bludgers.

“If it’s true that they are going to means test the baby bonus and abolish work-for-the-dole … this looks like being an anti-mother, pro-bludger Budget,” Mr Abbott said at Parliament House.

How difficult is it to turn a bottle of scotch and a bottle of coke into a night’s entertainment? Shame shame etc.

It a lot easier to keep track of the number of drinks when consuming premixed for determine when one is sober enough to drive home. It also prevents the slide of ever increasing drink strength as the night wears on (and the drinkers become more experienced).