Budget night coverage

Tonight, Labor will hope that it's budget will be well received, and detract attention away from the ongoing scandals involving Peter Slipper and Craig Thomson.

This is unlikely, considering everything Prime Minister Gillard touches turns to mud.

UPDATE: Swan praises ''sucess'' of policies, announces surplus

• Surplus years are here, says Swan
• Read the Budget online in full
• Peter Phelps NSW Liberal MLC on Twitter: ''The strength of the Australian economy owes more to the Chinese Communist Party than it does to this embarrassment of a Treasurer''
• Swan stumbles in speech badly ''Mr Speaker, this government, Madam...''
• Swan claims he has ''gone into bat for low income earners''
• 2011-2012 deficit: $44 billion - compared with $27 billion Swan predicted
• The Courier-Mail reports $52 million over five years to establish new diplomatic posts in China and Senegal
• Latika Bourke reports the Green Buildings Programme tax breaks worth $390 million have been scrapped
• More than 4000 government jobs to be cut
• Duty free cigarettes cut
• Indigenous Literacy and Numeracy Program worth $56.3m axed
• $1 billion in funding for National Disability Insurance Scheme
• Minor cuts, but massive new spending. Have Labor 'cooked the books'?
• New spending: E-Health: $234 million, Pacific Highway: $3.6 billion, NDIS: $1billion, Dental health (a greens demand): $300+ million, $2.1 billion school bonus, $54 million ''to encourage school kids to study maths and science'', $5.8m for Gonski review consultation, Aged Care $1.8 billion, $1.5 billion remote jobs programme,
• Budget an attack on the successful, rich
• Cuts: $5.4 billion defence, 1000 defence jobs, $2.9 billion foreign aid,
• Nine Political Reporter: ''So Fed Labor was happy to pay 80% of Pacific hwy upgrade when NSW was Labor now only wants to pay 50%''