''Axe the tax, stop the boats, end the waste, repay the debt.'' It seemed pretty simple.

Ten months in and after a week of the post-Labor/Greens Senate, nearly all of this program is becoming less certain rather than more.

Even the boats policy is under a new cloud with the government forced into an embarrassing legal limbo by the High Court after getting too eager to protect its only clear policy score on the board - a six-month record of no successful arrivals on Australian shores.

Of the other three heads, the best that can be said is they are works in progress. A more accurate account is that they are stalled.

''Axing the tax'' applied to Labor's two most ''pernicious'' imposts, the carbon and mining taxes. The former worked so well it became the economy's job-killing wrecking ball and python squeeze all at once. The latter raised virtually no revenue to pay for billions in new spending justified against its projected growth.