Just wondering.

When can we expect our politicians to stop looking backwards, and instead start formulating policies that are relevant, coherent and constructive, and that demonstrate a sense of responsibility to the Australian people?

We can all pretend to retrospective omniscience, Mr Leyonhjelm. But ultimately all you can offer is nothing more than hot air and bluster. Continuing to blame previous governments for [insert hobby-horse topic here] is essentially a sign of fundamental, even terminal, weakness.

Sadly, the Abbott campaign ahead of the last election proves conclusively that we, the electorate, respond enthusiastically, viscerally even, to negativism. Voting "against", rather than voting "for", seems to provide a warm glow of self-congratulation to our communal psyche, in a manner that exposes a deep fear of actually having to think before we vote.

That's not a swipe at Abbott, but an observation on where our entirely superficial approach to the election of our government has landed us. If David Leyonhjelm has any value at all to the Australian public - in itself a highly debatable point - it is as a constant reminder that we get the politicians we deserve.

Well opinion pieces are just that David, opinion.

Julia may well have proscribed to the theory that what was fair for her generation, was also fair for all those who follow?

That a good education in a land as wealthy as ours is almost a right?

Always providing it was a means tested right, so as to make it both affordable, and give those with the ability to succeed, the basic tools with which to do so?

For mine, the Abbott government is on the right track, and instead of providing grants to schools or state government agencies, with their often top heavy administration fees?

Give the same level of means tested funding to the student, who is then free to use this funding where it produces the best result!

Meaning, and given fully informed parents, a drift away from poor performing schools, who will have no other option than cut out the dross!

And the real fear of a unionized workforce! Who put so called teachers, their perceived rights and a well padded pay packet ahead of the kids they claim to care about?

Moreover, given a direct funding model rather than federal government grants, the states will have few other options than to grant schools far more autonomy; and only as a cost cutting measure, given that one measure could reduce the pressure on their funding mechanisms, by as much as 30%, the estimated average cost of a centralized administration?

Replete with the double and triple handling that it then requires.

To be fair, Julia operated through the calamitous GFC, and through her and Kevin 07's stewardship, got us through it virtually unscathed; and with the admiration of the IMF, and some of the world's leading economists.

For mine, it never was a case of overspending by the Rudd Gillard government, just revenue shortfall, and able to be rectified even yet, by the simple expediency of eliminating tax avoidance in all its forms and guises! And, just too easy!
Rhrosty.

'When can we expect our politicians to stop looking backwards'

Well Pericles when the Labour/Greens have a good look at what stimulus and giving away tax payer money has done to Greece. Until the regressives learn basic maths they will need to be reminded of reckless spending and promises that can't possibly be fulfilled whether in the name of Gonski or any other 'hallowed' terminology.

Australia is a sovereign currency issuer, and therefore has unlimited credit. The time to tighten fiscal policy should have been in the boom, when bigger surpluses could have prevented the interest rate rises. But now inflation is under control and interest rates are at record lows.

So instead of worrying about short term budgetary considerations, it makes sense to support policies that increase long term productivity.

Particularly as, had the government cut aggressively to balance the budget, it would have been a dismal failure, as rising unemployment would've made the population much worse off, and the falling tax revenue would still prevent the budget from balancing.

Forcing austerity onto a fragile economy has failed everywhere else, and if we try it here it will fail here too.

University fees. Strictly user-pays, and scholarships for the clever but poor. There is no other sane way.

There are many sane other ways, ttbn, including financing it from the increased tax revenue, When governments remove the financial barriers to prosperity we all benefit.