Do I trust Gillard ? Do I like Gillard ? Do I think Gillard is PM able ?

Do I want a fiscal baby sitter for Gillard no thanks!

Do I want to see Gillard go YES I do !

Wayne Swan needs someone to hold his hand to cross the road.

"Given the health of the economy a tax levy makes sense to fund rebuilding after the floods. "

In his inference that the economy is unwell, the author fails to acknowledge that this is the result of the poor health of the Labor Govt's economic management.

He cläims instead that "the new ALP Government could have done with some official steering, being unable to summon the resolve to really pare back its opponents’ excesses in its first budget."

The author apparently has been absent from Australia during the Rudd-Gillard Govt years. Otherwise, he would have acknowledged the substantial excesses of the ceiling insulation bungle, the vast over-spending in the BER project, and now the commitment of some $50 billion scarce budget funds to the NBN project which is not cost-benefit justified. An impartial competent independent fiscal advisor would not have overlooked such excesses.

One hopes that the author is not flagging the setting up of an independent fiscal advisor, for the purposes of advancing his potential appointment to such a position. If he is, he appears to be too one-eyed to qualify for consideration.

With regard to the imposition of the flood tax surcharge, he has not provided any convincing justification for it