Well it’s that boring time of the year again, no it’s not time just yet to pay our taxes but it was time for the new Labor government to deliver its first budget in 12 years which happened two nights ago now. So from a television perspective it is a nice occasion to have a look at how the respective networks presented the facts to the public. Tonight opposition leader Brendan Nelson delivered his reply which will also be looked at, hence the delay in putting this all up.

First of all ABC1, 7:30pm the budget was shown live replacing the 7:30 report which followed the address at a special time of 8pm. Chris Uhlmann was in the ABC’s Parliament House studio to bring the telecast of the budget, with a small wrap-up at the end to cover the main points.

Kerry O’Brian was also in the Parliament House studio’s to talk to treasurer Wayne Swan as well as Malcolm Turnbull the shadow treasurer.

Network Ten’s coverage was within a special edition of its Late News bulletin with Sandra Sully, also incorporating a special dramatic opener. She was joined by Paul Bongiorno for his report on the budget, and also Ten have gone with a special graphics package for the budget which actually looked quite nice and very simple. Could this be a sign for a new look news in the future?

The best coverage for the night, besides ABC1 of course would have to be that from the Nine Network. At 10:30pm they had a special budget edition of Nightline with Michael Usher presented in front of a simular backdrop used for last years budget announcement which actually looks quite good. The whole bulletin was devoted to the budget except for the last story concerning the earthquake in China where Cameron Williams from the Today Show conducted a live cross which was also surprising. Of course with anything relating to politics Laurie Oakes was the man in the spotlight with interviews with Wayne Swan and Malcolm Turnbull.

Seven had a special presentation at 10:30 which only lasted about 15 minutes, presented by Samantha Armytage and like with the Ten News bulletin, Seven implemented some special graphical work especially for the budget announcement.

Tonight was the reply from the opposition and where Brendan Nelson was supposably putting his leadership on the line on how well he would reply to this budget. Coverage was again presented by Chris Uhlmann from Parliament House on ABC1 from 7:30pm with the 7:30 report bumped back to 8:00pm.

So there you have it, I didn’t manage to have a look at SBS but I’m sure there coverage would have been incorporated into there World News Australia bulletin. I hope this give a nice and easy look at how the networks covered the same story, and happy new budget.

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