And the shift risks further confusing voters who have had the debt and deficit disaster hammered into them for the entire 18-month life of the government until now. The marked shift in rhetoric is the latest twist in a series of contradictory fiscal messages in recent months, culminating in last week's declaration by Prime Minister Tony Abbott that the debt growth trajectory was manageable and that the main work of budget repair had been achieved. A new softer approach includes dropping a five-year time-line for achieving broad balance – which would necessitate further harsh cuts - and replacing that aim with an open-ended intention to get there "as soon as possible". But it is in the area of fairness that moderate MPs were most pleased after agitating internally for an end to what one called "hairy-chested" messaging which had been used to justify "scorched-earth economic policy", leading to "awful politics". "All new spending will be offset by savings that are responsible and fair," Mr Hockey told them.

He confirmed families would get additional childcare assistance and small businesses were to get a tax cut as part of a jobs and confidence building package. The calming words came in a PowerPoint presentation to the last Coalition party room meeting before the May budget – a budget which, only a few weeks ago, had appeared to be slipping from Mr Hockey's grasp as a side-function of the move against Mr Abbott. Fairfax Media has learnt that a number of MPs confronted Mr Hockey in the days immediately following the failed spill motion last month, telling him in direct terms that the insurrection among Liberals was "as much about at him as it had been about Tony Abbott". Those same MPs now say the leadership situation has stabilised in the medium-term, acknowledging that Mr Hockey had bought valuable time by dropping last year's unpopular economic "tough guy" persona. Government MPs were also buoyed by a bounce in the latest Newspoll which put the Coalition within 2 percentage points of Labor and showed Mr Abbott continuing to gain ground on the still more popular Bill Shorten.

While the Treasurer's "slide show" was pilloried by some as "patronising in its simplicity", another MP who had been a harsh critic called it "Joe's best effort," and remarked that it had been "all about a glass half-full" approach. In Parliament, Mr Hockey reinforced the message declaring, "The focus of the 2015 budget will be to build a stronger Australian economy". "The budget will be responsible, it will be measured and it will be fair," he said. The government's change of heart follows its rapid-fire abandonment of a slew of the most odious policies from the last budget including cuts to defence force pay, the GP co-payment, a cut to university funding, as well as indicating it could undertake a rethink on pension changes. But Labor continued to attack the Coalition on Tuesday, arguing its obstuctionism in the Senate had saved the government from itself and had saved the nation from bad policies such as the GP co-payment. John Roskam, from the free market thinktank Institute of Public Affairs, criticised the government's new fiscal approach.

"I fear [as soon as possible] sounds like 'not in our lifetime'," he told Fairfax Media. "What this does is it saps the initiative for reform and I fear we are missing the opportunity to communicate to the public that difficult decisions and choices are going to have be made." Former Howard government minister Peter Reith has expressed fear the government's claims of a "budget emergency" before the election and subsequent fiscal response "do not add up". Writing in Fairfax Media, Mr Reith said the promise of a surplus in 2020 is a meaningless promise that can't be believed. "Anything could happen in the meantime," Mr Reith wrote.

"Most of those who voted for the Coalition expected the Coalition to fix the mess left by Labor, not to sit back and see the fiscal situation become significantly worse. "The real fear is that both sides of politics might persuade themselves that they have no choice but to walk away from fiscal repair prior to the next election." Asked for comment on Mr Reith's article, cabinet minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters the current level of debt is "too high" but has to be reduced "in a responsible way". "As Tony Abbott said many times, our number one commitment was to fix the budget and we are determined to do that," he said. "There is no one on our side who thinks the current deficit is at a satisfactory state of affairs," he said.

With Latika Bourke Follow us on Twitter