Once the leader of economic policy in Australia, a politicised Treasury is now marginal to debate and has a growing track record of failure.
Crikey readers discuss the Reserve Bank's interest rate cuts and Australia's productivity stagnation.
Australia now has a real productivity crisis. So where's the wailing and gnashing of teeth that accompanied the fake crisis claimed to have happened under Labor?
Labor's proposal for a floor price for milk reflects an inability to see that agriculture is an industry like any other.
Irrigators have been getting hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer handouts to return water to the Murray-Darling when far less expensive, and more effective, ways of achieving the same goal have been ignored by governments.
While we're focused on what to do about under-performing superannuation funds, there's also the question of compensation for the egregious behaviour of financial institutions.
In concentrating on underperformance, we're in danger of missing another big superannuation rort: high fees charged by fund managers.
Based on its recent performance under Peter Costello, the Future Fund shouldn't be allowed anywhere near super. So why is a publication controlled by Peter Costello's company spruiking the idea?
Australia's foolish protectionism, when accompanied by base political calculation, makes for a policy mess.
After publicly confirming the massive underperformance of retail super funds, the Liberals then unwittingly set the scene for an exposure of the rorts that riddled the sector — all in the name of attacking industry super funds.
