While its critics have been quick to dismiss Tuesday night's budget as an attempt by a self-interested government to appeal to the most self-interested sections of the electorate, that is not entirely fair.
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We shouldn't overlook the fact that, as one commentator pointed out, the budget is heading back into the black for the first time since the rise of the smartphone.
It also offers the hope of meaningful tax reform in the form of a 30 per cent tax rate for the majority of personal income taxpayers a bit further down the track.
In the interim most low- and middle-income earners will have cause to celebrate the $1080 tax back cash splash that should kick in this year if the Coalition is re-elected to government.
And that, of course, is what this is all about; clearing the Morrison regime's decks and making sure there is no low-hanging fruit for the ALP and the Greens to pluck once the election is called.
This is why measures such as the additional funding for the NDIS, long overdue assistance for mental health sufferers, and the decision to spend $187 million to end the freeze on Medicare rebates for GP visits a year early were so important.
That said, all of these pre-emptive strikes have come at a significant financial, and potentially political, cost.
Given Morrison and Frydenberg are hell-bent on presenting themselves as better financial managers than Labor it would have made a lot of sense to deliver a surplus this year, even if it meant promising less in order to pay something down off the national debt.
Given the federal ALP has not delivered a surplus since the 1980s this would have sent a very strong message indeed.
And, in terms of social justice, the ongoing cavalier treatment of those unfortunate enough to be on Newstart is unconscionable. When even captains of industry are saying the payments are not sufficient to provide meaningful help in the search for work it is clear it is now at subsistence levels.
It appears that even the decision to extend the energy payment program to Newstart recipients was an unfunded afterthought. Those payments, by the way, will be arriving in people's mailboxes before the election. Does it get much more blatant than that?
Apart from the War Memorial, which always seems to fare well in budget season, a small boost for the National Library and $50 million for William Slim Drive and the Kings Highway, Canberra is not benefiting much from the $100 billion pledged to road and rail projects across the nation over the next decade.
This is Labor and the Greens' heartland and, as a result, is never going to get much love when the Coalition is in office.
In fact there is every possibility we could see more announcements about ACT public service jobs being farmed out to marginal regional seats under the guise of decentralisation in the future.
The key point to remember is this budget is only a statement of intent for now. The government will not be attempting to get key legislation passed before the election.
That means if Labor wins Josh Frydenberg's first offering will be remembered as "the budget that never was".
