Not sure why you put "Kevin07" in the title. Unless you are an Australian, you will probably not know what this means. In any case, you are pandering to Americans who are used to this sort of political campaign. It has now been shown to have great effect in this country also.

As for the Christmas 'bonus', it is merely an attempt to stimulate the economy in the short term whilst then creating long term stimulants such as infrastructure spending.

Whether this will work or not is another thing. I honestly don't think there is much any world government is going to be able to do to stop this train.

The time to act was 2-4 years ago. It is far too late. Australia however, in refernece to their budget, is in a far better 'starting' position than some countries.

In saying that though, when (and I say when NOT IF, as it is already happening) mining slow down, it is going to have a massive impact on our economy.

Don't be surprised if you see a double digit figure for deficit next year. The Liberals will blame the Labor government, but simply they've walked into a minefield. No action taken is going to increase demand in the long term (especially exports). Also, neither government would have done any better of a job, in fact, the Liberal party would do the same things.

Australia is the Lucky Country.