This government is fond of comparing the economy to a household budget -- but there is one really major difference.

You'd struggle to argue that this year's budget cuts to funding for CSIRO and universities are going to give Australia any kind of advantage in science. It seems that anti-science agenda could also have a direct impact on our ability to deal with online attacks.

Proposed changes to university fees mean most students will pay more -- but just how much more? Analysis for The Conversation suggests that science students, nurses and female graduates will be particularly hard-hit.

In an article published yesterday and since withdrawn, we stated the proposed changes to higher education funding could result in "saddling some students with debt they cannot pay off in their lifetime."

Hey Lifehacker, As a recent university graduate I was a bit miffed by the Federal Government's proposed Budget changes to the indexation of HELP fees from CPI (around 2% per annum) to the Treasury Bond Rate (around 5.5% per annum) from 2016.

Changes in the 2014 budget mean that HELP repayments will be bigger and kick in sooner -- and studying for a PhD could now cost as much as $30,000. Emmaline Bexley from the University of Melbourne explains how the changes will hit students -- and potentially discourage research.

The Abbott Government's first federal budget has allocated funds for capital investment into the National Broadband Network (NBN) to continue up to 2017-18 but with a cap of $29.5 billion.

Brief news items of note for Lifehacker readers including: the best movie CGI from the previous century, best Budget 2014 reactions, six bad habits that could be killing your sex drive.

Many of the proposals in this year's Federal Budget were driven by recommendations from the National Commission of Audit. One that isn't reflected in the budget, though, is a suggestion that cloud computing should become the default model for delivering government services.

The first budget for the Abbott government is packed with broken promises and fiscal austerity. But whether you support it or hate it, it's going to make a difference to how you earn and spend your money. Here's what's changing (and when).