Joe Hockey and THAT budget

This morning's SMH reports that Joe Hockey has resorted to his three key themes in a speech selling his Budget at the Sydney Institute (which is of course the wrong audience, they would mostly already be convinced.)

The first is to call opposition to the budget "class warfare." The second is to say criticism of the budget is all political, or it is politics not economics.  The third is to say it is not the job of government to pursue equality if outcomes but equality of opportunities.  

In reverse order, how does one measure equality if opportunity except by measuring the equity of outcomes? Surely if there were genuine equality of opportunity there would be equality of outcome. The only deviation could be from differential effort or dumb luck in terms of natural endowment, inherited endowment or simply being in the right place at the right time. 

If equality of opportunity were genuinely achieved then there would be no differential effort as each person would equally be aware of the opportunity before them. The opposite is the equivalent of blaming the unemployed because they haven't found a job, rather than blaming society for there being no job to find.

The variability of endowment is not something within the individual's control. Gina Rhienhart was doubly lucky, first to be born of Lang Hancock and secondly that Hancock was the one who discovered the Pilbara ore.  Many prospectors gather on a goldfield, only some find big nuggets.

The distinction between politics and economics is a false one. To the extent that economics is positive - a description of what is - it is no guide to action. To the extent that economics is normative - it describes what ought to be done - it is better known by its original name, political economy.

And to stand up for ordinary Australians, the Australians who make their living by what they do rather than by what they own, is not class warfare. The Labor Party makes no apologies for this, we do not represent the interests of capital. That does not mean we are the enemies of capital. Just that the design of markets and the distribution of surplus value must treat those who work for a living fairly.

Surely it is not too much to ask that the Treasurer resort to selling the budget on its merits rather than on slogans.

More on Qantas

As accusations flow about when people were told of the Qantas lock-out it is pretty clear that Joyce was so obsessed with the security risk that he never really made it clear to the Government. Ultimately he was speaking in code.

But Joe Hockey reckons;

(Qantas has) been saying it around parliament house for the last few weeks. They've been saying it privately and publicly around parliament house for weeks.

Perhaps there might be something based on this fact you'd have found about Qantas PR and Govt Relations Head Olivia Wirth if you'd followed the links in my earlier post.

A veteran of the Australian Tourist Commission and its successor, Tourism Australia, Ms Wirth was also an adviser to former tourism minister Joe Hockey and worked for the industry lobby group Tourism Council Australia.

Meanwhile Qantas is reported to have gone inot "damage control mode" as it tries to patch up strained relations with Gillard and Albanese. Ms Wirth was reported to have made a "flying visit to Canberra" to "repair a relationship which insiders now describe as toxic."

This is a prelude to an appearance Alan Joyce is going to make before a Senate committee on Friday. I would like to be a fly on the wall of the preparation session for that appearance. Only the very rare CEO can pull off the kind of beligerent performance Packer made before the print media inquiry.

My own thoughts would be that Joyce should try to drown the committee in facts about the global international air services market. He should take the approach that says he is willing to hear from anybody alternative strategies to save Qantas from the oblivion it faces; to remind them of the fate of other iconic airlines (Ansett domestically, Pan-Am globally).

More importantly he should not make Industrial Relations out to be the core issue - the core issue is the future of the airline, that future is in the national interest not just shareholders interest. The IR policy settings are just part of the "external environment" within which management has to make its decisions. The decision on the weekend was made to bring about an end to the dispute, and the lock-out was necessitated by the safety concerns. Others may have different views, but that was their view as the operators of the airline. (Emphasise more concerned about risks from stress than deliberate sabotage).

Finally note that thought they WERE flagging the possibility of the action they took, but were insufficiently clear in communicating it because they didn't want to inspire the fear. Could go as far as suggesting concerned that the Govt was too close to the unions in the matter.

But first and foremost - go hire a lobbyist!!!!!!! They need the "back-channel".

Novae Meridianae Demetae Dexter delenda est

Julia Gillard doesn't follow my advice!

I'm channelling my inner shock jock here, and expressing my outrage that the Prime Minister simply just doesn't do as I tell her.

I advised her via this blog to stop giving airtime to the leader of the opposition, saying;

Stop referring to coalition spokespersons by name. at most use their titles. Mr Abbott is never Mr Abbott, he is the leader of the opposition, Joe Hockey is just the shadow treasurer. Using their titles will show up the absence of substance.

Also as far as possible try to refer to them as "the alternative government" or simply "coalition" rather than opposition or liberals. Don't feed their brand.

And above all just don't mention them if you can avoid it. When asked about the carbon tax explain it without trying to talk about other points of view. Talking about the coalition means ascribing to them a policy credibility that they don't have on their own.

Then at the launch of the NBN she goes and mentions him a zillion times.

Let's face it there are people out there who doubt the worth of the NBN. Don't feed Abbott by giving him the position of being the logical home. Acknowledge the concerns of those who might doubt the value, identify the value and move on.

Meanwhile her comments have largely overshadowed the good work the shadow Treasurer did in admitting that once there is a Telstra/NBN Co agreement there really isn't a viable alternative policy for the coalition. This perhaps reflects the reality that their coalition partners are probably telling them they have no hope in regional Australia without it.



Novae Meridianae Demetae Dexter delenda est

The Liberals

The confidence with which Dennis Shanahan assert in this morning's Oz that the coalition will stick with its current front bench team almost guarantees a spill in October.

More importantly, aren't we all heartily sick of "journalism" that reports politics as if it is about the politicians and not the policies? Do journalists have no responsibility for the fact that Abbott got to do his "mini campaign tour" while the PM was out of the country but still managed to say nothing?

In response to questions spilling from Joe Hockey's absurd claims about being able to balance the budget earlier than the ALP, Abbott again got away with the old - "there isn't an election in the offing so we don't have to tell you details" line.

Novae Meridianae Demetae Dexter delenda est