Julie, the situation you describe is what the 'limits to growth' look like. Whilst cutting government debt is important there are far wider implications than just this!

What is your plan to deal with these limits?

< The Gillard government must get its own house in order - immediately. >

Well, of course they do, Julie.

And they’ve got to work vehemently on getting our national house I order, as does the Opposition.

But how?

Perhaps your next article on OLO in a few days time could outline exactly what the Coalition would do to achieve this. Or at least give us the fundamentals.

Currently we've got hardly a clue! It really doesn't seem as though they'd do much very differently at all!!

A fundamental part of getting the house in order is to aim directly at a sustainable future. That is: maximised effort to get us off of our addiction to oil, and a very big reduction in immigration so that the demand for everything stops rapidly increasing. This is surely an enormous factor in balancing the budget!

But I bet an Abbott / Bishop government would continue with record-high immigration and probably even boost it further.

Am I right Julie?

Yes, Ludwig.

Watching the opposition for any sign of direction or policy initiative is like an episode of Pick-a-Box. We see all the faces lined up, but we have no idea what's behind the facade.

Care to enlighten us, Julie?

Yes, i agree with other posts in general terms.

The writing on the wall for the West's difficulties,including Australia, have been evident for a few years now.

While Labor shows little sign of coming to grasp with the realities, so the Coalition is going to have alter their policy mix if Australia is to retain the positive developments of recent decades while gettign rid of the excesses.

While I have some faith that Abbott is a pragmatist, much like Howard, the challenges ahead for Australia are immense.

Just going over newspapers n the mining tax only reinforces my view that a lucky country mentality perists with an almost laughable reliance on China and mining to save the day.

The golden days were over in the 1970s, the last few decades merely postponed the inevitable through our reiance on debt, and now we have to be that much smarter with the tough decisions to be made

As the capitalist world implodes, it's interesting to see politicians chipping in with their thoughts which, of course, must reflect the party line and must put the boot in where possible.

The Coalition, led by Dr No, has about as much idea of what to do in this fraught world as the Gillard Government does.

Ironically, both major parties are also imploding now that the black and white, boss-worker paradigm has largely disintegrated.

Australia has no leaders, either current or prospective!

Lucky country? Was once.

Julie, what about enlightening us on what an Abbott/Bishop coalition would do as policy settings? No? Well here are a couple of suggestions. Jettison the current tax act in favour of a single stand alone expenditure tax. This will end the need for compliance and any and all associated costs, adding around 7% to the averaged Australian based bottom line. The accompanying repeal of all the other taxes, would add around an additional 30% to Australian based bottom lines and 25%, averaged, to household disposals.
Even if set at a virtually painless 4.8%, an expenditure tax would raise around 25% more revenue, than the current convoluted complexity euphemistically referred to, as an equitable tax act.
The 25% increase cures the current structural deficit. The additional revenue comes from former avoiders, no longer able to escape paying a fair share.
The proposal would also save the govt billions.
Money better directed at getting our education and R+D up to international standards.
Even if there is a very deep downturn in the global economy, it will still require energy.
The lights will still turn on, the trains and trams will still run, and the telephones will still work.
Japan is converting its nuclear power provision to gas fired alternatives. India is a huge burgeoning market with a lager middle class than the the USA. We are well positioned to take full advantage of all that.
Our economy is outperforming all others. So why would anyone in their right mind change the management team that gave us that result?
Those that bitch and carp and allow their simple-minded judgement to be changed because they don't like a particular leaders nasal tones, or the absolute need for compromise to make a hung parliament function, need to wake up to themselves.
Yes, we do face a very uncertain future and the only way to confront it is as a truly united people cooperating in bipartisan consensus.
We do not want to follow Spain, Ireland or Italy or the almost mindless counter-productive austerity measures that have simply made a very precarious position, very much worse. Rhrosty.

My favourite quote is: “Politics is not the oldest profession, but the results are the same.”

The Global financial system no longer serves a useful social purpose.

The cost to society of the private financial system is very high with the financial crisis, now four years old, going to cost the world economy between $60 trillion and $200 trillion in lost GDP. If you understand US GDP is about 15 trillion, this is telling us the crisis will end up costing real income loss of between 4-13 times the current US GDP. This could turn out to be an optimistic forecast.

The large economic loss from the financial crisis is still unprecedented; the enormous cost of the financial crisis has one single source, financial deregulation.

Deregulation is likely to prove to be the mistake that destroys our Global economy; it is financial deregulation that is destroying us, with help from jobs off-shoring and has dangerous and adverse consequences.

It ensures the public to absorb the costs of the banks’ mistakes and reckless gambling and permits banks to leverage a small amount of capital with enormous debt to maximise return on equity, thereby maximising the instability of the financial system and the cost to society of the banks’ bad bets.

It has allowed financial institutions to sweep aside the position limits on speculators and to dominate commodity markets, turning them into a casino and driving up the prices of energy and food.

What happens if Greece exits the EU on its own or by the German boot? What happens if the other EU members reject Chancellor Merkel’s austerity, as the new president of France has promised to do? What is the policy steps needed to deal with a cooling China? Answer me that Julie.

The problem is correct economic policy is blocked by the enormous influence made to political campaigns.

A few people, particularly in and around the financial system, have become too powerful. They were allowed to take a lot of risk, and they continue to do damage to the Global economy.

If the opposition were to reveal their policies this far out from an election I would think them extremely stupid. I wonder how many footy teams send a copy of them game plan to the opposition ahaed of the game just so they can be prepared? This is a ridiculous line from the government. Its not up to the opposition to give them ideas, it is up to the to deal with the mess they are in.

Julie, Thank you for being there, I have noted a lot of people asking for Coalition policy outlines and outright asking for the policy itself. These people are obviously not poker players, I would not trust my policies to be trashed by this current government. Trashed and with possible minor alterations trotted out later as one of their own. Wait till the election campaign begins and then start trotting them out. No team sends its game plan to the other side before the game!

Yes, i agree that policies will be released late.

However, the overall strategy will have to be much more than a message of living within our means

Davelon and Uaskt - welcome to the forum.

The two newest users to OLO, then two subsequent posts within 15 minutes of each other, both on the same comment thread and both saying almost the same thing... including the 'team' and 'game' reference!

What are the chances? Amazing, but not subtle.

Come on you Labor supporters!

If the opposition were to telegraph any of the ways they well go about fixing the economy, what do you think would happen?

Knowing that She is about to be told to get on her bike, & POQ out of here, that vicious vindictive bitch would put in place every nasty bit of legislation/regulation she could come up with, to make the repair job as difficult as possible.

In the same way she has gone to pains to make unraveling her fool carbon[dioxide] tax as difficult & damaging as she can.

"What are the chances? Amazing, but not subtle."

Well I shall add to your amazement and agree that any policy release by the opposition too soon before an election will enable this hopeleesly tainted and useless government to plagarise what it likes while seeking its attack dogs on the rest.

There are many problesm facing Australia right now, most of them at the making of this government which has no control over anything except sections of the MSM and various union run institutions.

However given we have energy resources to power the world cheaply and reliably I would see that the main thing which needs to be done in Australia is to marginalise the misanthropic greens, get rid of the ALP until it retains its historical integrity, abolish any vestige of programs to 'solve' AGW and instigate a space exploration program.

The two newest users to OLO, then two subsequent posts within 15 minutes of each other, both on the same comment thread and both saying almost the same thing... including the 'team' and 'game' reference!

What are the chances? Amazing, but not subtle.
Posted by WmTrevor, Thursday, 24 May 2012 4:42:28 PM

Sorry WmTrevor. If you are suggesting we are the same person I assure you I have no idea who Davelon is. I have never met this person. it is just a coincidence or he/she may have read my comment and agreed. Obviously a sensible person though.

Ms Bishop,as the No Position Party, of which you are the deputy leader, are in the pockets of the big end of town, why not talk to Sam Walsh the Rio local ironore chief or better still take a trip to your own state of WA and see for yourself that Rio is shipping ore day and night. Being 'on the ground'he is better placed to know that China is still going ahead building infrastructure (in contrast to the 'Howard years) and using steel as quickly as they can can make it.
Talking down our economy by you, Nony Abbott and the rest of the negative push is a significant reason for the loss of confidence of the community in both the Government and the economy.
When you write such an article make sure you are really aware of the realities of our economy and give credit where due for we escaped the post GFC recession and are still in excellent shape today.
It is easy to have surpluses, as did your Howard government, when you spend nothing on building the country's infrastructure or education facilities and give money to the greedy.
The people of Australia, from the behaviour of the current no position opposition, should be careful what they wish for.

"The people of Australia, from the behaviour of the current no position opposition, should be careful what they wish for."

How grotesque! Careful what they wish for!? As opposed to what they getting, a 'government' which has turned a $20billion surplus into a $250billion deficeit in just over 4 years.

Why don't you thrill us and name anything worthwhile that we got while this rabble compiled such a debt; and don't say the NBN which isn't factored into the current accounts since it nominally is owned [sic] by a private entity.

No, not the same person, Uaskt… I trust that GraemeY's sign up procedures preclude that. But I was going to buy a lottery ticket based on the happy chain of coincidences – seemed like a good omen – glad I didn't then.

Though I know you consider Davelon a sensible person you may wish to consider suggesting they use a more original and less 'borrowed' style of posting because that's certainly not subtle.

What are the chances? Obviously no more than just amazing. But the welcome to the forum still stands.

every nasty bit of legislation/regulation she could come up with, to make the repair job as difficult as possible.
Hasbeen,
Hear,hear.!

I notice that Julie makes ref to China's big 4 state banks creating a $ trillion which now has dropped off sharply.China has had growth rates of 9-12% for a decade now.There has to be a downturn for structural adjustments and more efficiencies to evolve.The Chinese economy runs on very cheap labour but in reality is not very efficient.It could not grow with our OH&S laws,taxation,regulation etc

The other big positive for China is it's State banks they can create money debt free to equal their growing economy.Our Govts borrow all our money to equal our productivity from private and foreign banks.This is why we have so much debt and cannot grow or have the money for infrastructure.

The only industry that provides money for us to grow is the mining industry.

Prof Michael Hudson in 2009 went to our RBA and asked them why do they not create the new money for growth instead of borrowing from foreign private banks.He was greeted with a wall of silence.

The cause of the GFC is our banking system which expresses increases in our productivity + inflation as debt.This is why we are all drowning in it.

China and Russia have initiated the BRICS trading and financial community which includes Brazil,Russia,India,China and South Africa.This is their hedge against the Western disease of printing money to pay for debt and bailing out financial criminals.China is also sourcing energy/resources in Africa and South America.Our boom will soon end.

The great recession has just begun.

"The great recession has just begun."

Not necessarily. While generally agreeing with your comments about banks and noting that bankers should be put in stocks at least one day a week to have rubbish thrown at them, the point about not being able to sell our vast energy and mineral resources is that we can then use them to finance our own manufacturing and productive industries to compete globally; just as long some witless loon doesn't advocate some form of pricing parity; or more importantly, cutting our own throats to 'solve' the non-existent problem of AGW.

This is very interesting.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg27ul4KhIo&feature=g-all-u Here you will see an interview of Christopher Monckton whereby the EU now want compulsory ID for all internet users.

Monckton says that the EU will break up. He also tells of how the Secret Police and Govt Tax Offices were were used to try and silence him.

We have to watch the Coalition very carefully when they get into power,since we have the NDAA, Patriot Act,Preventative Denention,in the USA and now many attempts trying to censor the internet and restrict our freedoms.

"We have to watch the Coalition very carefully when they get into power,since we have the NDAA, Patriot Act,Preventative Denention,in the USA and now many attempts trying to censor the internet and restrict our freedoms"

What rot; I suppose it is the coalition not Conroy who is proposing an internet filter; and its the coalition not the ALP which is proposing a censorship muzzle based on Finkelstein's insidious recommendations.

And I suppose it is the coalition not the green left which is proposing things like this contemptible ratbag:

http://hauntingthelibrary.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/global-warming-author-says-bar-code-everyone-at-birth/

I suppose the confusion comes from all those death threats the climate scientists were getting.

Cohenite we cannot trust any political party with maintaining our freedoms.If you assume the Coalition will do all the right things without the blow torch of truth to their bellies,then that will be a grave error.Labor are a farce but that does not make the Coalition saints.

When the Coalition start talking like Ron Paul about freedom and small Govt,I will be less critical.Govts follow trends within our populations rather than lead us to a better life.

The Sedition laws should be repealed like Bush's Patriot Act,since Govts cannot keep us safe by with drawing basic human freedoms such as trial by a jury of our peers.

In my mind,the most important docmentary in recent times depicting our monetary enslavement is 'The Secret of Oz' by Bill Still.

L Frank Baum in 'The Wizard of Oz' had deep economic meaning for us all.His book was written at the height of the 1890's Depression.The elites in 1873 removed all the silver money from the US economy and replaced it with their gold.Since they had most of the gold,they assumed most of the wealth.80% of the money during this depression was removed from the economy.In the book Dorothy had silver slippers and not the ruby ones worn by Judy Garland in the movie.The silver slippers represented the currency of the working people and the yellow brick road the gold of the elites which enslaved them on their road in search of freedom.

The Tin Woodman represented the factory worker who needed oil or the liquidity of money to move.The Strawman was the seemingly the ignorant farmer who in all reality knew what the relationship of toil and money really meant.The evil witches of the East and West were J D Rockefeller and JP Morgan.

Dorothy did not realise that she had the secret of freedom on her feet.She had the silver slippers of the productive masses that could set them free.We have yet to realise this reality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swkq2E8mswI

Wm Trevor, you might think you were surprised at the similar content of Uaskt's post and mine. Not as much as I was,I can assure you. Let me make clear to your 'conspiracy thinking mindset' I do not know Uaskt, however somone who has or does follow any team sport would come to the same idea set very quickly. I found this website and registered, and within 20 minutes I was able to post a response to the article. 'Personal thought' With the low satisfaction level as it is concerning our current government any person who played a team sport would not give away their game plan because of the lack of scruples displayed to this point, BUT WAIT, there will be more.

Ahh well all, welcome to the post peak oil world !