Posted on 01/29/2004 9:12:30 PM PST by NZerFromHK
It is going to be a bad year for responsible political and economic management at the federal level. All parties, major and minor, are in election mode.
As usual this will involve all kinds of promises and bribes for votes, and the appeasement of noisy pressure groups which might conceivably influence the outcome; as well it will deter the Government from implementing policy measures which may alienate or inflict pain on anyone, regardless of merit.
The Opposition, always tempted to irresponsibility, will do its best to embarrass or blame the Government for decisions which it knows are good and necessary, but which may be unpalatable. For example, it will complain about any increases in interest rates, even though it knows that these will take place because of independent decisions by the Reserve Bank of Australia board, and it would even more bitterly oppose any attempt by the Government to lessen that independence. The Government equally tries to have it both ways, by claiming credit for low interest rates and huffing and puffing about any RBA action to increase them.
The new Opposition Leader, Mark Latham, has shown that the good qualities which brought him to the leadership, namely independence of mind and an ability to think rationally about economic and social issues, will be abandoned or at least disguised. He is giving ground to the Hansonite left of his party which demands protectionism, over-regulation of everything that moves and handouts to all its pet causes. He is confusing his rather silly claims to hate the Big End of town with the anti-business animus of the upper middle class. This, of course, would remove still more rungs from his ladder of opportunity.
Not that the Government will be behind him. The year began with the launching of the biggest white elephant for years, the Adelaide-Darwin rail link. Fortunately for John Howard, much of the euphoria generated by this will last - just as long as it takes to become clear that while the line will be popular with domestic and foreign tourists, it will be a disaster for freight-moving.
Why would it make sense to any Asian manufacturer to send freight by way of Darwin to Adelaide, much of which would then have to be forwarded to Sydney and Melbourne, when it will cost more and take longer? There will be clamour for similarly wasteful projects elsewhere, and Howard and Latham can be expected to endorse everything and criticise nothing.
Latham is becoming something of a figure of fun for the rapidity and voracity with which he is eating his past words. Perhaps he is thinking of emulating the approach of our most recent disastrous prime minister, Paul Keating, who after clocking up a good record as treasurer abandoned all sense of responsibility after his seizure of the prime ministership.
All this means that Latham will be playing into Howard's hands - to the detriment of the nation. Now there is no impediment to the Government going ahead with any shonky project or handout to rural and regional lobbies, since the Opposition will feel compelled to endorse such proposals in principle instead of subjecting them to criticism, and will have to confine itself to complaining unconvincingly about detail or promising to do even more.
While this is going on, the Democrats, facing wipeout at the coming election, can only tout for business on their political street corner by offering wilder and wilder promises and by obstructing any government legislation, regardless of merit. They know that the Greens have even fewer principles or scruples, and no sense of reality at all. What did Churchill say about democracy being the worst system of government?
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