The Editor

Dear Sir,

Your editorial of May 17 cannot be let to go unanswered.

I am rather disappointed by the tone of the editorial lacking as it does the impartial objectivity we expect in the press.

The budget deficit of $1.2 billion last financial year was not brought about by a deliberate act of misleading the Australian public, as your comments seem to imply.

Your criticism of the Treasurer suggests an obvious bias against the Government, dismissing conveniently the events that arose last year, well after the budget was set.

You dismiss the illegal immigrant crisis and the September 11 terrorist attacks last year as being peripheral to your line of argument.

The reality is that these events did occur and they did incur a cost and that cost was not budgeted for.

I would challenge the writer to support the comment of "the truth of the matter" with facts rather than engage in a specious line of argument.

The Government has not got the luxury of ignoring such events simply on the basis that they might impact adversely on a budget forecast delivered many months prior to the unseen events.

It has obligations that must be met both domestically and internationally and will honour those obligations no matter how politically unpalatable they might seem.

In addition, increased spending on defence is predicated on the fact that we are facing a major capital replacement process to replace aging equipment.

We also have commitments to fight the war on terrorism that must be honoured.

And if you think that somehow Australia is immune from the threat of terrorism or that somebody else will carry the burden for us, then you are sadly mistaken.

The emotive language of the editorial is unfortunate and I would hope that in the future a more circumspect view will be put by your otherwise well-regarded newspaper.

Joanna Gash MP

Federal Member for Gilmore