Apparently trick one for a wannabe populist right-wing politician these days is to try to sell a petrol tax cut to morons. We had Steve "Bong Costume" Fielding run it before the last election. We've seen John McCain and Hillary Clinton both trying to turn around their flagging political fortunes by calling for one over there. And last night, the laughable temporary opposition leader, Brendan Nelson, tried the same stunt:

In his reply Dr Nelson said he wants to see petrol excise cut by five cents a litre, which he said would have a modest downward impact on inflation.

"Watching petrol prices does not bring them down," he said.

"Petrol is now hurting Australians in every walk of life. This is a modest but meaningful way of helping all people."

"Meaningful"? You dolt. It's a transfer of public money to petrol companies that will help motorists not a jot, since it will quickly be subsumed by those companies as the price rises anyway. Ask an economist, Brendan, they'll all tell you the same thing.

Meanwhile, Brendan has finally stood up for the public health system:

Dr Nelson said the Government has perpetrated a fraud on the Australian people and he attacked its plan to raise the income threshold for the Medicare surcharge levy.

"We stand up for private health insurance," he said. "We have always stood up for people with private health insurance, and we will continue to do so. We will oppose this measure.

Ah, sorry, I was wrong. He continues not to give a shit about the public system. He's just worried about the bottom line of the private health insurers.

You poor people who'd rather that money be spent on public health? Don't vote for this doctor. Wait - you didn't! Well, you shouldn't have voted for his party six years ago either. (Bring on July and the Coalition having no power anywhere in the country above council level. I can't wait.)

This Budget, or Mein Kampf as we like to call it, will destroy Australian civilization utterly.

Finally, Brendan blamed anything bad that might happen in the next year on the Budget, including non-existent global warming, male pattern baldness, and the nasty internal Liberal Party processes that are about to result in his losing his job.