Trevor Cook on public relations, social media and politics

Tag Archives: budget

What’s Tanner been doing?

May 22, 2009 – 6:53 am

Traditionally, the Finance Minister is the tough guy. The Finance Minister is the one that imposes fiscal discipline on his more or less unwilling colleagues all of whom are usually keen to protect their patch and deliver the goodies for their portfolio’s clients. As Peter Walsh (pretty much the creator of the tradition) used to [...]

By Trevor Cook | Posted in Business & economics, Federal politics, Media | Also tagged | Comments (1)

Turnbull calls Rudd’s election bluff

May 14, 2009 – 8:30 pm

Turnbull did his job tonight. Rudd now has a choice. He can accept Turnbull’s proposal to raise tobacco excise instead of means testing private health insurance or he can hold an election this year. Rudd can’t afford to let Turnbull get the better of him in Parliament, so he will have to call the election [...]

By Trevor Cook | Posted in Federal politics | Also tagged , , | Comments (1)

How the Budget was lost

May 12, 2009 – 9:01 pm

It looked clever. All those stage-managed leaks (complete with handy background fact sheets and tables), with the media dutifully reporting each and everyone. The toughest budget in living memory, we were told over and over. With nauseating repetition. It was over-sold.
The horror didn’t match the hype. Swan was dying on stage. He had nothing new, [...]

By Trevor Cook | Posted in Federal politics | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Can a 70 billion buck deficit be called a “tough” budget?

May 6, 2009 – 8:04 am

Next week’s budget will deliver the biggest DEFICIT in Australian history, and yet journalists, particularly those embedded in Parliament House, insist on pushing the Government’s spin about it being ‘tough’. The SMH even runs with ‘horror‘. How the media minders must chortle.
Tough is when you deliver a surplus, delivering huge deficits is not tough. Tough [...]

By Trevor Cook | Posted in Business & economics, Federal politics | Comments (0)

Six more deficits, still think we can afford a mad military buildup

May 5, 2009 – 5:46 pm

The bad news is seeping out, conditioning the populace:
It will take at least six years for the federal budget to return to surplus, smh.com.au has learned.
Although the Government has been describing the need for the budget to go into temporary deficit, it is believed Treasury has advised the Government to expect deficits until at least [...]

By Trevor Cook | Posted in Federal politics | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

UK soak the rich tax slug a hit with voters

April 24, 2009 – 11:25 am

Will Rudd, Swan and co be emboldened by Darling’s popular move?
Alistair Darling’s decision to introduce a 50 per cent tax rate for high earners next April is backed by a majority of voters, according to the first post-Budget opinion poll.
The Populus survey on Wednesday evening shows broad support for the main Budget measures, though there [...]

By Trevor Cook | Posted in Business & economics, Federal politics | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Rudd cash splash ’supports’ ALP re-election.

February 4, 2009 – 8:13 am

The Rudd Government’s nation-building strategy contains much that is good.  Anything that is infrastructure will help overcome the terrible public sector disinvestment that has occurred in Australia in recent decades and help to ensure our economy can take maximum advantage of the global recovery when it comes.
But the package also includes a lot that is little [...]

By Trevor Cook | Posted in Business & economics, Politics | Also tagged , | Comments (0)

Nathan Rees contra mundum

November 6, 2008 – 8:24 am

A friend of mine has this letter in the SMH:
The biggest issues facing Australia are the global economic crisis and climate change.
The Federal Government is spending to stimulate the economy and taking steps to reduce emissions. The Reserve is reducing interest rates to spark consumer spending.
Meanwhile, Nathan Rees is working hard in [...]

By Trevor Cook | Posted in US Presidential Election | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)