ANZ Bank chief economist Saul Eslake says the Federal Government should have made better use of the revenue it has made from Australia’s resources boom.

Mr Eslake has addressed the Australian British Chamber of Commerce and told the gathering the Government has spent or given away almost every single dollar associated with the windfall gains.

He says it has put upward pressure on interest rates and the money should have been used to address some of the national issues.

“It should, for example, have been putting money away to pay for some of the costs associated with the ageing of the population, which they’ve spent the last six years telling us is the biggest fiscal challenge we face as a nation,” he said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/26/2044302.htm?section=australia

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/23/2372427.htm?section=justin

Put your money on Geelong, all up Manly. You might get around $7.50.

Well, I saw Geelong demolish the Swans too, at the same venue (ANZ Stadium). Absolutely unstoppable. They looked invincible in any circumstances.

So, you reckon Geelong and Manly?

Hmmm…

So, BB, we have an admission that Governments should have unchecked discretion to govern if they win an election. Rubbish.

If the people of Australia wanted no checks on the Government’s mandate, they would have handed the ALP a Senate majority. They didn’t.

Everything else you said is petulant, conceited dribble.

Why are you still raving on about, 1996 was in political terms pre-history. The points you raised were played out at the last election.

Your guys fought the election on who were the better economic managers – and lost.

Game over.

The ALP are not claiming to be “the greatest economic managers since sliced bread”, and you know that.

All they are claiming – and it’s hard to dispute – is that they won the election. They should be allowed to govern in the way they see fit. The constant carping and meddling by the Opposition and independents is doing this country harm.

If there was a scintilla of sincerity in it all, you could forgive them. But so far all we have seen is uncosted stunts – the 5c a litre excise reduction (which Howard would never have countenanced), and the pensions hike (Versions #1, #2, #3… and counting) which is totally unplanned, unfunded and typical of the shoot-from-the- hip, finger-in-the-dike populism that got us into the fiscal mess we are in. We have nothing going for us except digging bigger holes inthe ground until there is no more to flog off to overseas clients. Australia, under Howard, became lazy and bubble-orientated: our whole economy has been based, for the past decade, on stubbing our toes on a nugget of some mineral or other and selling off the windfall to others who know its true worth: value adding.

For weeks and weeks now we have had these “policies” (and I use the word advisedly) from the Coalition front and centre. They have hardly made a dent in the public’s voting intention. You’d think that banging your head against the wall would eventually fail as a strategy, as it feels so great when it stops. But no… the Opposition keep it up, distracting the national discourse, sabotaging the Budget and pleasing no-one except currency speculators and a few deluded, denialists at the Murdoch press, plus a smattering of topless wrinklies in the pension bracket who should know better than to believe Howard would have looked after them if he’d been re-elected.

Go back to Google, GP and do a search, preferably for a brain. You might be surprised what you find, if you’re honest about it.

Costello wont have the guts to front up. He has too much to answer for besides inflation and rates.

Costello would have to be one of Australia’s worst Treasurers, after Howard. There is no skill in standing at the till raking in the global boom revenues and wasting that prosperity.