Last week’s budget has been poorly received by voters, and Julia Gillard’s approval ratings have worsened. But Tony Abbott hasn’t benefited.
Joe Hockey
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A surplus of rhetoric as the government chases battlers
There’s a surplus of narratives and rhetoric on a budget day obscured by scandal and sleaze.
Crikey Says: A budget day of biblical proportions
March 22. The last time parliament sat. And lo, many things have come to pass since then.
Richardson: is it back to the 1980s for the Liberal Party?
Every now and then, the Liberal Party tries to think of itself in philosophical terms, dedicated to smaller government and the free market.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Challenge Abbott and Hockey’s world view, lest we slide to Rome
Crikey readers have their say.
Political snippets: Raising taxes on the poor
Perhaps Joe Hockey will borrow the next stage of the American Republican solution to economic problems.
Hockey goes off the reservation on handouts — at long last
Joe Hockey has gone off the Coalition reservation on handouts, and in doing so started reconciling the Liberals’ rhetoric with reality.
Political snippets: A new version of the yellow peril
Joe Hockey the macho-man, with his comments from Europe overnight, has just given me my first doubt about the inevitability of Labor losing the next election.
The Power Index: is Joe Hockey up to the job?
Joe Hockey looks set to have the toughest job in Australian politics come September next year. That’s when, if current polls bear out over the next 18 months, he’ll become treasurer.
Budget surplus: why everyone agreed to the wrong path
Wayne Swan’s 2012-13 budget will be Australia’s sharpest fiscal U-turn since the dramatic rebalancing of Treasury finances in 1951. And there’s no stopping the bipartisan approach, says Rob Burgess of Business Spectator.
Come in Spinner: when political rhetoric comes back to haunt you …
One of the great things about shameless use of rhetoric and ridicule is that it inspires backbenchers to bay for more. One of the less great things is that it can come back to haunt you. Take Joe Hockey, for example…
Kohler: economic reality is all budget bets are off
So the question for both Wayne Swan and the alternative treasurer, Joe Hockey, is: how, exactly, will you produce a surplus in 2012-13 if economic growth is below previous forecasts and tax revenue is $40 billion short?
Eventually reality will hit the opposition’s fiscal frolic
The Coalition has serious budget problems and they won’t escape the consequences forever. A series of fumbles makes them look totally at sea on fiscal strategy.
Bank bashing: forget mortage holders, what about savers, renters and biz?
All this talk ignores the fact that many bank customers are hooked into banks for savings products and at the moment are getting a “good deal” from their term deposits which carry rates above where they should be
Nostalgianomics and the ongoing rewriting of economic history
The Coalition’s rewriting of economic history continues apace as part of its obsession with the Howard years.
The Coalition’s fog of fiscal confusion
The Coalition’s confusion over its fiscal policy reflects the gap between its small government rhetoric and political reality.
Does automotive assistance work? We’ll know ‘in future years’
We could better debate manufacturing assistance if we knew what worked and what didn’t. But we can’t, not yet.
Abbott, Hockey trash the Coalition’s economic credentials — again
The crass attempt by Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey to exploit the Eurozone crisis has blown up in their faces, courtesy of David Cameron.
Abbott and Hockey: a pair of economic clowns
If Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey really mean what they say about not contributing to the International Monetary Fund then heaven help us if they are ever in a position to practice what they preach, writes Richard Farmer.
Hockey hunts for class on the Swan gong
Joe Hockey’s attack on Swan over the Euromoney award was not just graceless but missed an opportunity.
Gillard cops ‘no’ from all sides
Crikey media wrap: Julia Gillard’s plan of changing the Migration Act remains in troubled waters, with both the Coalition and Labor MPs threatening to sink the refugee policy.
Conversion or convergence … or just Hockey schtick?
Aided and abetted by The Australian’s Peter van Onselen, opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey again has made a goose of himself.
The Power Index: meet #2 on the list — Christopher Pyne
Christopher Pyne is attack dog, enforcer, messenger, organiser, whipper-in and tireless spruiker for the Opposition cause. And if Abbott becomes prime minister he will be amply rewarded.
