Few expected unemployment could drop back to 4.6 per cent so quickly after the Delta lockdowns and border closures, and the GDP growth projections of 4.5 per cent for 2021 and 4.25 per cent in 2022 are also promising. The $7.4 billion reduction in the projected deficit to $99.2 billion would have also been a welcome Christmas present for a government that ended the sitting year on the back foot.

That said, the forecast unemployment will only drop by .35 per cent to 4.25 per cent between now and the 2023 June quarter indicates Treasury expects the rate of job growth to slow down. There is also the spectre of inflation.

From the government's point of view however, having been able to hand down what even Paul Keating would have to call a "beautiful set of numbers" under difficult circumstances, the LNP has some wind beneath its wings going into an election it is determined to fight on economic management.

Given the difficulty the PM has had in controlling his back bench he would be wary of what could happen if parliament was to sit again in 2023 in order to allow the delivery of an early budget only a few months after MYEFO. Mr Morrison could have a lot more to lose than to gain; especially given the MYEFO documents included $8.6 billion in funding commitments; albeit some of which have been recycled.

The MYEFO documents also included a $16 billion campaign war chest (aka "decisions made but not yet announced") which suggests we are likely to see more pork-barrelling on a grand scale in 2022.

As things stand the PM now has two clear options; either to keep his powder dry and go to the people in May, or to go in March. It will depend on what happens over the summer break.

The danger is all of MYEFO's optimistic projections are based on the heroic assumption Omicron is not as severe as Delta and that the new strain will not cause more lockdowns or border closures. That is a big call.

Other governments, including the UK, are taking the new strain a lot more seriously. Restrictions there are being reintroduced, not eased. Only time will tell who is right and who is wrong.

Meanwhile millions of Australians are very concerned about the new variant whose full impact is, as yet, unknown.

Omicron is a disease of the double vaccinated, not just the unvaccinated. The super-spreader event at the Newcastle nightclub proved that.

The masks are still on in NSW despite the dropping of the mandate and people are flocking for their boosters. People are frightened of this. Many state premiers, particularly in Tasmania, Qld and WA will be listening.

If cases rise to 25,000 a day (175,000 a week) in NSW as has been predicted there will obviously be a significant increase in hospitalisations and deaths; even if the rates of serious illness and morbidity are lower.

Perhaps the best thing Australia (and the government) has got going for it is we are heading into summer.

The annual migration to the beach is about to begin and a lot of the socialising over the next two months will be held outdoors.

The most pertinent point the shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers made in his MYEFO response was that the government wants to take credit for a lot of things - including wage increases - that haven't happened yet.

If it turns out the Treasurer has under-estimated Omicron they might not happen at all.

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