But reality has struck. Hockey will leave the Treasurers chair without delivering a budget surplus either.

The heads of treasury and finance signed off on a deficit of $30 billion dollars for 2014 and 2015, but the early months of the Abbott Government sealed their fate, when they rolled out a deficit forecast of $48 billion dollars, $18 billion in excess of the previous estimate.

Only one problem, they were caught out as $9 billion dollars was lost in revising down forecasts and tax receipts, and $8.9 billion went to the Reserve Bank of Australia, which was not even requested, resulting in a budget deficit of $40.4 billion dollars in 2014/15.

The Liberal theory of using the baseball bat on the usual victims with more costs, most who already have to spend all of their income or close to it every week to survive has consequences, the most severe of which is the influence on their capacity to spend and support business, and it comes as no surprise at all that consumer confidence is at a three year low. 

Everybody lives in hope, but telling people that their health no longer has the priority it previously had does nothing to improve the optimism of ordinary people struggling to survive.

Making education a privilege, winding down green energy investment, keeping legitimate welfare recipients in fear of their future does nothing to improve the optimism of ordinary people struggling to survive, who see themselves as nothing other than ducks in a shooting gallery.

What's your opinion?

Do you have some thoughts on this issue? Click here to send a letter to the editor.

Preference is given to letters of no more than 350 words.