If the government is serious about guaranteeing an excess of revenue over expenses, it must make spending cuts now, writes Adam Creighton, a research fellow at The Centre For Independent Studies.
Rudd government
Kohler: the Gillard regime is faceless no more
The men and women who work behind the scenes advising ministers and devising their policies, etc, definitely prefer to remain behind the scenes.
mental health 
Smoking and the homeless: who cares?
Katie Weiss set out to explore how homeless smokers were feeling the pinch after tobacco prices soared under the Rudd Government earlier this year. She discovered few options are available to tackle addiction among the destitute.
Taking stock of climate change — what now?
Greg Combet’s arrival as Climate Change Minister provides the opportunity to rethink where we go from here, given Labor has so badly botched the issue in its first term.
Lessons in competence, Part 2: the need for speed
When it came to competence, things didn’t improve much in the Howard Government’s final term. But while the Public Service was slowly improving its administration, the biggest problems were caused by ministers.
Parental leave: revolution it ain’t
As a long term activist I am pleased we have something and the support of both major parties for the concept of paid parental leave. But in the end, some women will gain nothing.
Kelly: If Labor wins the miner battle, it loses the financial war
Labor’s caught in a catch-22 and they only have themselves to blame. The mining tax has moved from being about miners to proving the government’s economic credentials, writes Paul Kelly.
Hyperbole: the ghost haunting our government
First, the government calls for an enquiry. After months of work and millions of dollars, a paper is released. Then, results are twisted for short term political gain and no real change is made. Rudd’s spin is killing them, writes Ben Eltham.
Kevin, will that be two terms, or four?
If the Rudd government wants to aim for four terms, it needs to come up with some measures that show it means business, writes Nicholas Gruen.
Has Kevin Rudd oversold himself?
Rudd and his office will now learn that high-handedness and manipulation are fine when things are going well – when you’re up against an inept Opposition and the polls can’t seem to flatter you enough. But times they are a-changin’.
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours: no longer the best Sydney broadcaster?
One ABC broadcaster needs to pick up his game, warns a tipster. Plus, what’s the real story behind the political donations return in Victoria?
Risky refugees trap Rudd
Four of the Tamil asylum seekers from the Oceanic Viking kerfuffle have been rejected for security reasons, putting the government in a difficult conundrum. They can’t send them back, can’t give them Australian visas and its unlikely any other country will want them. What now?
Remember the Murray-Darling? It’s still in deep trouble …
While the Murray-Darling has dropped out of the media cycle, the goal of sustainable management remains as far off as ever, particularly after events this month.
Taylor: How four people run our whole government
How controlling is Rudd and how does he compare to prior Australian PMs? Micro-manager, control freak Rudd keeps his leadership group small and lets his power loom. Is it time for more voices to be heard? asks Lenore Taylor.
Let’s not abandon them to die at sea
Another boat has sunk, leaving desperate asylum seekers to drown in their attempts to get a better life. Amongst all the tough talking and negotiations with Indonesia, we mustn’t forget ourselves as a civilised nation, writes Tony Kevin.
Don’t kid yourself Kev, it’s not just the refugees
Yesterday’s damning Newspoll result wasn’t just because of the government’s “tough but humane” rhetoric on asylum seekers. What about all the other stuff ups by the Rudd government like climate change, Timor Sea oil spill and supporting a corrupt Afghan government?
Is Rudd’s honeymoon over?
Everyone today has an opinion or three on whether the latest Newspoll is the 47th end of the Rudd honeymoon or a polling outlier. The most likely answer is probably a bit of both.
Hartcher: Is Swan the anti-Keating?
Wayne Swan is acting a lot more modest over the Australian economy’s GFC rebound than Paul “the recession we had to have” Keating, writes Peter Hartcher. But it’s thanks to Keating and Peter Costello that we avoided further trouble
Is it time for Australia to become a republic?
It’s ten years since the republic referendum failed and it’s time to restart the debate, says George Williams. Let’s have an initial popular vote to establish we do want a republic, then vote again for the type of republic we want.
Guy Rundle: A Costello on each knee, Rudd plays for laughs
What if Rudd’s appointment of Peter Costello to the Future Fund was a little too clever? What does he do if Costello takes the piss: finding safe harbour aboard the ship of state, he refuses to leave, despite continuing to denounce the government by means of messages in bottles?
“Tough but humane” will never cut it as a bumper sticker
“Closing the Gap”, “Education Revolution”, “Building Australia” — Kevin Rudd loves condensing his policies into neat little slogans. But asylum seekers are far too complex an issue to ever be summed up in a three-word sound-bite, says Lyndal Curtis.
Question Time fun: See Kevin run. See Kevin hide.
The pursuit of the Prime Minister over the Oceanic Viking made, inter alia, for a rather more interesting Question Time yesterday than we’ve had in some months.
Asylum policies hang in the balance
The “tough and humane” mantra of the Federal Government on asylum seekers could end up tipping very heavily towards just one of those words, says Andrew Bartlett — the question is: which one?
Shanahan: Coalition misses the boat
Kevin Rudd has his hands on the wheel of the boat people issue and he’s aptly steering it to his political power, writes Dennis Shanahan. Will immigration become the new economic management upper hand of Labor?
Rundle: The asylum seeker debate isn’t over. It hasn’t even begun.
The left hasn’t won the asylum seeker debate — yet — but there have been some small victories, says Guy Rundle: for a start, the government is speaking of refugees as fellow human beings, not child-chucking martians.
