Certainly, the federal government appears to have stepped back from the ideological brinkmanship of last year’s effort, which was roundly condemned as going too far too fast and singling those who could least afford it to carry an unfair share of the burden. 

With a large number of last year’s more extreme measures – including denying unemployment benefits to many young people for six months, which would have impacted hugely on our region - killed off in the Senate, we can only hope the government will live up to its promise of a fairer fiscal blueprint.  

To be fair in our own expectations, we must recognise that policy-makers in Canberra face steep challenges in very changed circumstances. The rivers of gold that flowed from the decade-long mining boom have all but dried up, cutting deeply into revenue. That will inevitably mean some cutbacks to services and tax breaks. 

However, the load should be shared with the big end of town, especially the multinationals that have made an art form of off-shoring their tax liability, although this has all but been ruled out. 

Flagged changes to pension arrangements suggest a tougher assets test for eligibility, which appear a little fairer. Some self-funded retirees with large assets portfolios will see their part-pensions reduced while ordinary pensioners will receive a small boost to their payments. 

Changes to superannuation tax breaks that benefit the wealthy have also been ruled out, a decision that will erode the fairness of the budget.

On Tuesday we can expect the government has come some way towards restoring balance to the burden but it will still have a long way to go.