LAST couple of weeks the nation couldn’t help but wince as Joyce has muddled zeroes in trying to warn us of the calamity of Labor spending. In front of the national press club, he’s crossed his trillions and billions and been accused of being in ‘policy whacko land.’
“I think people are sick of politicians who just speak the kind of polly waffle we so often hear,” Boss Abbott shrugged.
“Now sometimes he is going to have to be corrected because he will get it wrong but honesty and candour are good things in our politicians.”
Joyce has been rustling the voter cattle on the issue of our spending.
Australia’s gross foreign debt of $638 billion is one of the highest in the developed world and is a record for the ‘insulated’ country.
Joyce warned we’re “up to our eyeballs” in the debt, but economics experts (who did a great job predicting the collapse before it happened) say it’s all good because Australian families are investing now, not saving our money.
Australia’s net foreign debt went from 15 per cent of our GDP to 47 per cent in a couple of months.
I cringe at pollies telling us we shouldn’t be giving aid to World Vision at such times but Aussies do think this is an issue an opposition finance spokesperson should get stuck into.
David Koch fired a broadside in the Herald Sun saying Joyce was irresponsible for saying such things while the world’s most powerful central bankers were in the country. I desperately hope our economy relies on something more stable than just the fear levels of some wealthy suits.
Ken Henry said Joyce’s warning was a ‘gross oversimplification of economic understanding.’
The Labor party proceeded to happily portray this as one of the leading economic brains hitting a half-buried Joyce over the head with a shovel.
If you read Joyce’s recent ‘The Australian’ op ed piece, it’s clear Joyce cuts directly into Henry’s tactics against the GFC.
This is the equivalent of someone calling you wrong, you reply that they’re wrong instead, and someone using that conversation as proof that you’re an idiot.
Awesome politics.
Mr Joyce, an ex-accountant, needs to treat the Australian public as his client.
All he needs to do is bring up the right numbers (some work needed here) and ask the right questions to let the government stumble over how they’re going to deal with their spending.
Leave the ‘We’ll all be Rooned!’ mentality in the bush and use honesty and candour to further alienate the voters from a Rudd government that leans back on Australian family’s differences between investment and concrete savings to justify its mammoth spending.
And practise your numbers. That’s a big one.
