So the poor will pay. Having already targeted local battlers and refugees to pay for new spending and tax cuts, the Coalition has now targeted the world's poor - cutting $4.5 billion from future development aid.

Under its formula, Indonesia alone stands to lose $100 million this year, and up to $1 billion over the next four years. This will not help Tony Abbott's chances of getting the Indonesian co-operation he needs to stop the boats.

But if politics is about giving voters what they want, then Joe Hockey and Andrew Robb plan to pay their bills without hurting middle-income Australia too much. On their own estimates - and no independent costings have been released for any of their policies - they will raise taxes and cut spending enough to pay for their plans to cut taxes and spend more, and still cut the deficit by $6 billion.