Mr Abbott has no judgment, that has been proved time and again. Telling the Chinese how to run their affairs, is bad enough. And now he wants Nauru to work like it did during the Golden Years. Situations have moved along since then. No doubt it will cause a flush of court cases, and cost bucket loads for something that could have been avoided.

Pericles,

After 5 years of planning, it would not require a further 2 years before the first phase started to be implemented. This is either incompetence typical of Labor or a cheap shot to save the budget.

Also if the CDDS was such a failure why keep it going for 5 years. PS how many billionaires used it. I would guess close to zero. The rorting does exist, as it does for medicare, but this is a small portion, and is just an excuse to close the scheme to pull the money out of treating the underprivileged. As quoted:

""Government statements that the Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Scheme was widely rorted are not supportable on the available data," Professor Zoellner said.

Dear Pericles,

Perhaps Shadow Minister would prefer that
we all go back to Dentistry - under the "Golden
Age," of Menzies - where everyone had their
teeth pulled and ended up wearing dentures?

Who needs expensive root canal - when its cheaper
to wear horsey choppers?

SM is worried the budget is going to balance. That's his latest worry.
This govt; does not slash and burn like the noalition lot. You were told by the worlds best treasurer that the budget will balance. If adjustments have to be made along the way, so be it isn't that what it's all about. To predict a balance 12 months in advance without adjustment is unrealistic.

By completely sidestepping my question, Shadow Minister, you confirm my suspicion that you are merely stirring the pot in your own inimitably one-eyed fashion.

>>Pericles, After 5 years of planning, it would not require a further 2 years before the first phase started to be implemented. This is either incompetence typical of Labor or a cheap shot to save the budget.<<

You patently have no clue how projects work. The impression you want to give is that there has been this army of government people, slaving for five years to produce a plan that takes another year and a half to implement - thus proving to your own satisfaction that they are incompetent.

Get real. Developing a policy that will stand the test of time is not the work of a couple of policy wonks doodling on the back of a napkin. It doesn't even work like that in real life (i.e. business, as opposed to government). Especially when you are replacing a policy that has been shown to have so many holes in that it wouldn't even pass muster as the rubber duck in your bathtub. At the very least, you want to avoid showing the same defects as the existing plan.

Also - as any competent business manager will tell you - there is a vast difference between the formulation of a policy, and its implementation. Check in with Craig Dunn, and ask him how much time was spent on the planning for the acquisition of Axa, and how much on the integration. Have a word with Alan Joyce about the difference between preparing a plan for Jetstar's Asian expansion through a JV with China Eastern, and getting their first three planes in the air.

You are being deliberately blinkered, having convinced yourself that everything the government proposes must, by definition, be flawed.

But that is pretty much all that we can expect from you, is it not.

You are certainly right there. SM thinks the public servants are standing around waiting for the govt to come up with an idea that will keep them busy, for the next couple of hours. That is where Gonsky report comes in, because there is no one within govt available to do it.
But Mr Abbott will find some excess labour in the ranks and sack 20,000 if he ever gets the chance. Just so he can feed his ego, and cause unemployment, because business likes unemployment. But what business doesn't like, is borrowing expensive money from banks and other private institutions.
Mr Abbott has a huge problem with women in places of power, something he should get counseling on.