Words of wisdom! Politicians will now need to start earning what they are more than well paid to do.

The ending of the article is a non sequiter. Australia is financially sovereign. No matter how deep it gets into debt, it will always be able to borrow more just as easily as if it had no debt at all. We will never be like Greece.

Aidan,

Enough of this "financial sovereignty" business! Think of the massive interest payments the big borrowers have lumered us with.

ttbn,

Enough? How can it be enough when the lack of understanding of our true financial position and fear of impossible outcomes is pushing people like you to support policies that harm the Australian economy?

We have not been lumbered with massive interest payments. The interest payments are very small compared to the size of the economy, and with interest rates at record lows it makes sense to take on debt to invest rather than try to pay off debt. But the case for taking on more debt is a lot stronger than that, because the private sector is currently weak. Taking more money out of the economy would weaken it further, which would shrink the economy and reduce tax revenue, so there would still be a deficit but with fewer jobs and less growth.

If the economic cycle proceeds as it normally does, the private sector will we will reach the point where paying off debt becomes the better option. Indeed during the boom it makes sense for Australia to run surpluses and bank them even if we have no debt at all (because doing so would keep interest rates down). But the deciding factor should be the effect on the economy, not the desire to reach some arbitrary financial outcome at some point in the future.

Don while I agree anything is better than having Turnbull with his kooky brand of Chardonnay socialism gaining more authority over any government, hung parliaments are a disaster.

They lead to massive pork barrelling of a few in the electorate of swing members, to the determent of all others. At the same time, they allow the tail to wag the dog.

We saw this dramatically with ridiculous green policies getting the nod from Gillard, just to keep her in the lodge.

Here we now have the worst possible of all results. A kook likely to be PM, with not only his misguided ideas involved, but possibly the ideas of special interest candidates having far more control than their support entitles them to.

In this particular instance we are likely to see even more torrents of other people's money pouring into South Australia, to keep that failed state afloat, despite the dreadful management of it's state government. This unearned support will lead to even more bad government of the state in the future.

In a perfect world your principal may work, but in this very flawed world, I don't believe it does.

Angela Merkel has been Chancellor of Germany since 2005 and never enjoyed a majority.