Politics is essentially about Power. Politics about wielding power, exercising it and maintaining it. Politics is about power; it is means of obtaining it, and it is the end in itself. What you do with that power will be your legacy, that which lives on for millennia. In a democratic polity, the aim of the Politicians is to win the confidence and trust of the maximum amount of people. There are many ways to do that — different persons choose different methods. They choose them based on who they are, and what they want to be. In a democracy, the terms of conduct of politicians are regulated by the masses and their desires. Different sections of people have differing interests, which is what is regulated through democracy, That which has the direct or indirect approval of the majority of citizens can be done. If not, then the majority would respond on the streets or in the polling booth, meaning that radicals are neutralized, at least theoretically. You serve at the will of their people; you have your agenda of course, but you have to implement it on the basis of those restrictions imposed on you by those same set of people.
The purpose of anything that is done in politics is to win elections. Democracy rewards those who win over the masses, not those that are willing to antagonize to win in the future. The merit of the system is another question is another one all together, but that is the system that exists. To hold populism some how out of bounds is irrational. The purpose of spending in a democracy to win votes, and doing what is directly incentivized in a democracy is not inherently wrong. What should and must be kept in mind is that the spending must not be aimless and boundless so as to endanger the State itself. Otherwise, the state will inevitably implode. Those talking of “populism” in the Budget should think about this.