Ghosts of PMs past
One the the things I’ve found frustrating about the federal ALP’s approach to economic policy in recent years has been the way that the Hawke/Keating economic reforms - and their contribution to our current prosperity - have been disowned.
So I found it fascinating to see three allusions to Keating in the first 15 minutes or so of tonight’s Leaders Debate. It was just a pity that the leader making those points was Howard, not Rudd! First, a reference to the “10 to 20 years of economic reform” in Australia. Then - asserting his commitment to reform - a mention of voting for “reforms to tariffs and deregulation of the financial system”, under Keating. And finally, he characterised himself as a “true believer”.
arleeshar wrote:
I noted the first and third comment particularly. The first because it came out of nowhere, and Rudd failed to capitalise on it. The third, because I like it when parties start swapping rhetoric and going hard to capture each others’ bases, so delectably confusing. Rudd is “an economic conservative” and Howard is “a true believer”. What next? Bob Brown will declare that he is an economic rationalist?
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