- Bligh unveils 20-year infrastructure plan
- Torres Strait pleads for climate change action
- Overcrowding in parliamentary precinct worsens, Opposition says
- Minister apologises for 'boisterous' comment
- Junee senator questions Australian Quarantine rules
- Carbon price 'disastrous' for mining companies
- Local MP urges PM's carbon tax tour to visit Riverina
Federal Labor seizes the "responsible economic manager" mantle
In a column today, Lindsay Tanner puts the case for Labor's claim to be better economic managers than the Howard Government. He outlines a plan to use budget surpluses to provide for the future, to cut government waste, and to reduce hand-outs. This cuts heavily into traditional Liberal Party territory that has been effectively abandoned by Howard. The plan shows a position that is more economically responsible than Howard and paints Howard as a reckless economic manager who has squandered the good times of the past few years.
Given the positions he has taken, Tanner has made a plausible claim. There is the possibility here that the positioning from 2004 will be exactly reversed, with Labor being the Party that has credibility in claiming to be worthy of being entrusted to manage the economy.