Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Credit:Sylvia Liber SVZ The projected deficit for 2014-15 has also gone from just under $30 billion in May last year to almost $40 billion last month. Wind back the clock and the government's tone reflected the predicament. A "budget emergency" with "debt and deficit stretching out as far as the eye can see" was used to justify many tough and unpopular policies such as university fee deregulation, the Medicare co-payment and changes to welfare and pensions. But now, in the lead-up to the Abbott government's second budget, the tone has changed, as this trawl through the archives shows: TREASURER JOE HOCKEY

Now... Finance Minister Mathias Cormann. Credit:Andrew Meares "Under the government, we've come a long way to the point where the government can start to see some clearer air, start to have some sunshine, if you like, in relation to the budget. We've started the budget repair task." - February 26, 2015 Before... "Labor is now standing in the way of nearly $40 billion of budget savings out until 2017-18. This adds to Labor's debt and deficit disaster after their six years in office. Labor's debt is costing Australia more than $1 billion in interest alone every single month." - May 20, 2014

"Now is [Labor's] chance to join with us to fix this budget mess." - May 20, 2014 "It is a hugely important issue. The Labor Party have left a legacy of debt and deficit on a scale that Australia has not seen for some period of time." - March 24, 2014 PRIME MINISTER TONY ABBOTT Now... "This week, obviously, the Treasurer will be releasing the intergenerational report and while that shows the scale of the budget problem, it also shows the extent of the progress that we've already made." - March 2, 2015

Before... "What we're not prepared to do though is sell out the fundamentals and the fundamentals are that we have absolutely got to get this budget crisis back under control. I mean, Labor left us with a debt and deficit disaster." - August 18, 2014

"...the Labor Party left us with a disastrous fiscal situation, debt and deficit stretching out as far as the eye can see." - December 22, 2014 "I have been thinking for some time about how we can best adjust all of these things to best fit the circumstances of the budget emergency that we inherited." - April 30, 2014 FINANCE MINISTER MATHIAS CORMANN

Now... "We've made significant progress when it comes to repairing the budget. We're in a much stronger position than we would have been if we hadn't made many of the decisions that have already been given effect." - March 2, 2015 Before... "We are facing a budget emergency as a country, we are facing a very challenging fiscal situation but the government is dealing with it ... through the normal processes of the Parliament." - August 23, 2014



"We inherited a debt and deficit disaster from the Labor Party, we inherited a budget crisis from the Labor Party, we inherited a budget emergency from the Labor Party." - September 7, 2014 "We inherited a budget emergency from the previous Labor government and we are working in an orderly and methodical fashion through usual processes of Parliament to fix it." - August 24, 2014