I never understood how people thought these two were great economic managers?? It was the long term effects of Hawke/Keating microeconomic reforms that led to the prosperity during the Howard and Costello years. The country was in terrible shape when Howard was treasurer from 77 to 83. The economy in that time and Lib party policies with it were woeful!!!! Though the Libs never admit it, the VERY best economic reforms in this countries history came from a Labour govt. It's the only way they could have come. The voting public wouldn't have accepted the reforms if they came from a Lib govt.
- floating the dollar - reduction of tariffs on imports - taxation reform - moving from centralised wage fixing to enterprise bargaining - Deregulation and privatisation of banking system - Broadening economic ties with Asia Pacific (where we actually live
^^^^ Just reading them, they don't look like somethign you'd expect from a Labour govt. do they????
What did Howard and Costello do in comparison to this??? These are the policies that opened our economy to the world and made us flexible. It's not a coincidence that we haven't had a recession since the one that was the initial result of such reforms. The liberal govt. of the day were a bunch of inward looking muppets who lacked any real vision. When Howard and Pistol Pete saw the powerful effects of these reforms, all they did was waste the money and tweak here and there. They didn't really have to do much, so they didn't.
It's a shame the Labour party is full of talentless hacks and cry babies today. A carbon tax, for a nation of 22 million ppl, who produce less than 2% of global emissions???? REALLY????
