Thursday 28th of March 2024

hubcaps, smoke and mirrors....

carcrash

You will need to go a very long way and look very carefully to find a worse decision than yesterday’s one to restore Automotive Transformation Scheme funding until the car industry shuts up shop in 2017.

Some decisions are bad policy but good politics, or vice versa. Some are good decisions but are poorly implemented, or vice versa.

read more: http://www.crikey.com.au/2015/03/11/rotten-politics-and-worse-policy-in-car-multinationals-going-away-present/

 

deception in the hubcaps...

The federal government's attempt to capitalise on a decision to keep $500 million in assistance for the car industry has backfired spectacularly, with senior colleagues of Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane accusing of him of bungling the announcement and scoring a political own goal.

Mr Macfarlane said on Tuesday that hundreds of millions in assistance would flow to the car industry, amid confusion over the policy backflip that was approved by the Expenditure Review Committee - including Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Treasurer Joe Hockey, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss  - but which bypassed the cabinet and Coalition party room.

But senior government sources said the expectation was that only about $100 million of the $500 million fund available through to 2017 would likely to flow to car makers and component manufacturers.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/this-is-an-own-goal-ian-macfarlane-accused-of-bungling-car-industry-assistance-announcement-20150310-13zto3.html

not a clue...

Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey are on track to destroy one of the most commonly held beliefs in Australian politics, namely, that the Coalition are better economic managers than Labor.

Indeed, smashing this "truism" may be one of their few lasting legacies.

Still, even as they undermine it, it is remarkable to see just how sticky the myth is. For instance, during his recent speech at the National Press Club, Mr Abbott intoned:

This government will deliver Australia's economic future because only a Coalition government can. As Liberals and Nationals, sound economic management is in our DNA. We've done it before and we are doing it again.

What's remarkable about this is not that he said it, or even that he believes it, but that his assembled audience of media heavyweights didn't burst out laughing.

I mean, what exactly does the government have to do before the press gallery and other distinguished commentators not only stop playing along with this little fantasy, but acknowledge that the Abbott Government is on track to be one of the most useless economic managers of modern Australia history?

It's not just that unemployment is rising and that the budget deficit persists; nor is it simply that the budget is stalled and in a complete shambles (imagine the conniptions sections of the media would be having if Labor were in this mess). It is that the Government simply don't seem to have a clue about what they are doing.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-12/dunlop-the-myth-of-coalition-economic-management/6308704

a job for the boys approved by the boys...

Former resources minister Ian Macfarlane said he checked with the prime minister’s office prior to accepting a job as chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council, following accusations he had breached the ministerial code.

The Coalition government’s statement of ministerial standards says ministers should not “lobby, advocate or have business meetings with members of the government” for 18 months, on any matters for which they were responsible. 

“It doesn’t [breach the code], the QRC is a registered representative body, not a lobbyist and I have also checked it off with the prime minister’s office and they approved it,” Macfarlane told Guardian Australia.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/sep/27/ian-macfarlane-sa...

Of course....